Blogosphere Part 1: Technorati releases its State of the Blogosphere 2008

This week, Technorati released its 9th State of the Blogosphere report, providing some really valuable insights into the blogging space. The results include some very interesting and anticipated information on who these bloggers are exactly. The report is quite extensive and the results impactful enough that we feel it merits a series of posts dedicated to the blogosphere and the tremendous impact/opportunity it possesses for brand marketers.

We'll start by covering who exactly is out there blogging (see below). Future posts will discuss what people are out there blogging about, the challenges and advantages with marketers engaging the blogosphere and a bit about "mommy bloggers" which have garnered quite a bit of press and attention.

Who are these bloggers?

For the most part, young, male and affluent-remarkably similar to most early adopters including early Internet users.

• Two-thirds of all bloggers are male
• 50% are 18-34
• 70% have college degrees
• Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+
• One in four have an annual household income of $100K+

And there's a lot of them! According to eMarketer 2007, 22 million to be exact. Perhaps even more powerful than that are the readership numbers....3/4 of the total Internet audience. Those kind of numbers are exactly what's peaked the interest of marketers. More on that in a later post.

The report also reveals that within the United States, bloggers are widely geographically distributed with 73% living outside major metros like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago.

While 48% of all bloggers are in the U.S., it is very much a global phenomenon.

And what the heck are all these people blogging about? At an aggregate level, bloggers are separated into personal, professional or corporate content.

• 4 out of 5 bloggers are personal bloggers who blog about topics of personal interest (like moms blogging about all their favorite baby products)
  
• About 50% of bloggers are professional bloggers...they don't necessarily blog as a full-time job but they do blog about their industry or profession in an unofficial capacity (giving much heartburn to corporate relations officers everywhere!)
  
• 12% of bloggers are corporate bloggers, having been designated as their corporation's official blogosphere "voice" (many have a PR background)

More to come on blogs including a deeper look at the topics being covered. Stay tuned!