Blogosphere Part 2: What's everyone talking about?

The array of blogs and subject matter being discussed on them is just mind boggling. You can quite literally find a blog on just about anything. From obscure and completely random topics like cupcakes and crocheting men's communities (no, I'm not kidding) to more mainstream blogs about the election or consumer products, people seem to have a whole lot to say about stuff out there and plenty of time to write about it. Based on the number of people reading blogs, we all seem to have plenty of time to read what these folks have to say. It's not like there are suddenly more hours in a day so all this time is coming at the expense of some interesting other activites...more on that in a future post. But as marketers, let's look a little deeper at what categories of things are being discussed.



According to Technorati, three-quarters of bloggers cover three or more topics. The average number of topics blogged about is five. The statistics globally are quite interesting with Asian bloggers more likely to blog about music than politics and European bloggers less interested in personal, lifestyle and religious topics.

Why are people blogging? Self expression and sharing expertise are the top reasons followed by networking. “Other” reasons include: activism, book publicity, personal satisfaction, self promotion, share my passion and to become known as an expert.




And while most personal bloggers aren't in it for the money, they certainly wouldn't mind making some! When asked what their main motivation for blogging is, most said they do it for fun. 20% are currently making some money blogging, and another 42% hope to make money on their blog in the future.



Blogs with 100,000 or more unique visitors a month earn an average of $75,000 annually—though that figure is skewed by the small percentage of blogs that make more than $200,000 a year. The estimates from a 2007 Business Week article are slightly out of date but still interesting with gossip king Perez Hilton raking in scoops up $111,000 per month!!!

Next up we'll discuss a very interesting and powerful segment of the blogging community--the "mommy bloggers". Though small in number, these young, tech-savvy moms are thirsty for ways of communicating with like-minded women and represent an incredible opportunity for brand evangelizing.