Finding a Marketer in the Blogosphere

If you are like me, you did not grow up in a world in which blogs were a major source of knowledge sharing.   It could be that your reading patterns were established in the world of traditional media before blogging became popular.  Maybe you don’t spend that much time on the computer and internet or just plain have too many other things to do with your time (ie: you have a day job, or better yet, a life).  I admire you for that.  Those things do tend to take time and energy.

Technorati is a blog ranking and sharing site on the internet.  They just published some statistics in their report: 2010 State of the Blogosphere.  Seems like your average blogger is 25-49 years old, more male (60%) than female (40%), rather highly educated and a substantial number of them (>20%) do this for a living.   

But in any event, blogging is a writing forum that is actually being taken more seriously and is more widespread than ever as popular posts get discovered and shared on mainstream social media like Facebook and Twitter. You are only a Google click away from a blogger’s expertise on your search topic. Many bloggers are predicting blogging to overtake traditional print media in the not-so-distant future. 

Who Blogs and Why?
Bloggers are a diverse group. First there are a lot of folks who like to write and would love to simply catch up with friends and share their passions and interest.  This Hobbyist group is the biggest group blogging (64%), with personal satisfaction of writing as their primary goal.  

Another group is more professional in nature.  I think it is tied to the decline of traditional media.  There are a lot of intelligent journalists that are former employees of traditional media - commenting on art, music, the latest gadgets, travel, celebrities or business trends.  While trust in traditional media continues to decline, blogs seem to have a certain “genuine-ness” due to the community forum approach where comments are encouraged and welcome.  The author’s personality comes through, as they are often sharing of themselves rather than trying to report “just the facts”.  The new entrepreneur, consultant and small business owner are another big part of this group. 

A trend to watch;  Big companies are realizing that their brands can make significant guest appearances in consumer blog discussions, and are actively pursuing bloggers with large  audiences. The “mommy” blogger is a growing sector of bloggers that is attracting significant attention from consumer product companies.  A convention, named BlogHer, aimed at the growing female bloggers group was held at McCormick Place in Chicago last year.  In the size and scope of a major consumer products trade show, most of the the major packaged goods companies were in attendance.

As you can see from the chart, I am a new blogger, whose likely audience is fellow “marketeers” and business colleagues I have met along the way, and am learning as I go. 

Let me know your take on this world.  Is it new to you?  Do you read more blogs now than in the past?  Or maybe you have some words of advice for a new guy like me?   Somewhere among the millions of blogs out there, there could be one or two smart marketers like me  that would like to start some dialogue.