Brian Solis recently posted on the results from Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2011 survey. This survey is something I have followed for a while. Here are some thoughts on the State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006. Brian begins with a thought I completely agree with as he puts blogs at the top of the social media list. Bloggers were the pioneers in this space and blogs still offer the best to offer a complete thought. Here is a 2009 post I did on Why You Should keep Blogging in the Age of Twitter. As Brian writes, “Over the years, blogs have formed the foundation of social media, democratizing the ability to publish thoughtful commentary, build a noteworthy community and equalize influence along the way.”
Twitter offers the sound bytes and blogs can go into depth. Many of the most useful tweets contain links to blogs and other content that goes into more depth. If you are tweeting but not blogging then you are mostly pointing readers to other people’s idea. Most bloggers also tweet but many tweeters do not blog.
The 2011 reports finds that the vast majority of bloggers have been doing it for over two years and close to half for over four years. Many bloggers have more than one. I have a number of blog sand this one is the oldest, starting in May 2004. In terms of frequency, the report states that bloggers across the board will publish two-to-three posts per week. However, a notable percentage of professional, corporate, and entrepreneurial bloggers post once or twice per day. I advise company that they should publish two to three posts a week. In my case I have doing a post a day since 2005. Most respondents to the survey note that blogging has proven to be valuable for promoting their business or professional standing.
It was interesting to me to find that as many as 40% of today’s professional and 35% of corporate bloggers once worked as a writer, reporter, producer, etc. in traditional media. I was a frequent writer for publication as an academic and then as a businessman in industry publications. I wonder if that qualifies?
Bloggers also continue to prove useful for brand marketing, advertising, and engagement. The research found that between 40-50% of all bloggers, whether personal or professional blog about brands. I would fall into this group for several reasons. The advantage of blogs for brands comes down to resonance and permanence. Blog posts live longer than Tweets and are more accessible that other forms of social media.
It is nice to see the blogosphere remain healthy. Blog on.
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