Updating the blog reports

By Ian, on July 22nd, 2006

Two quick updates on earlier stories about blogging.

On Thursday 20th July, UK newspaper the Guardian reported that one in four of those people who are online in the UK possess a blog — around 7mn in total. This was according to a poll conducted by ICM commissioned by MSN Spaces. “Nearly half of those surveyed in the ICM report said they had made new friends through their sites, and 4% claimed they had more than 1,000 online friends.” Hold on.. what ever happened to traditional British reserve? Looks like we’ve become a nation of people who can’t stop yapping.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by Porter Novelli and Cymfony of corporate blog owners, showed that more than “three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) reported increases in Web traffic and media attention as a result of their blogs, and yet are still expecting more from these blogs”. Almost 40% felt that their brand had been improved through blogging and could point to a specific instance where this had happened. This was despite a slightly haphazard approach to the medium: “Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63 percent) reported starting their blog because they felt they needed to participate in the medium rather than to satisfy a specific need.”