Apparently, I don’t meet the definition of the typical blogger:
They consider themselves digital natives.
They’re young. They’re addicted to instant messaging and social networks. And they’re more apt to dish about the drama at last night’s party than the president’s latest faux pas.
Bloggers have become influential fixtures in cyberspace, but the term covers about 12 million people who write Web logs, known as blogs. The Pew Internet & American Life Project yesterday released a survey of bloggers aimed at getting a better grasp on who they are and why they do what they do.
More than half of bloggers are younger than 30, and a majority use their blogs as a mode of creative expression, the survey found. Money-making possibilities motivate only 15 percent of bloggers, and most blog on a variety of topics, with 11 percent focusing on politics.
They are also less likely to be white than the general Internet-using population, and more than half live in suburban areas, according to Pew.
Of some interest are the reasons that most bloggers maintain their sites to begin with:
“Bloggers in general don’t intend to have a lot of impact,” said Amanda Lenhart, who directed the survey. “The motivation comes from within; it tends to be very personal. They’re not out to change the world.”
About 33 percent of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism, the survey showed.
“The average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat,” said Alexander Halavais, an assistant professor of interactive communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
For the record, I’m not 14, I’m not a girl, and I don’t own a cat.
July 20th, 2006 at 11:09 am
The thing is, “blogging” the way *we* do it isn’t the mainstream. Most blogging is the myspace or livejournal variety. People talking about life, trying to make friends, etc.
I’d say that what we do has more of a real impact on the world, but considering most of the “myspace bloggers” are probably too young to vote, they don’t even notice us!