Some Blog Readers Don't Know What a Blog Is
Posted on July 17, 2005
Mouthpiece, a BuzzMetric blog, has a blog entry about the results of a new study which were delivered by Charlie Buchwalter, head of research for Nielsen//Netratings, at the WOMMA Metrics Conference. The study found that only 6% of people read blogs and over 60% had never heard of them. However, a deeper analysis of the data (which included site traffic logs) found that 2/3 of the people who said they had never heard of blogs or don't read blogs were actually reading blogs.
They found all sorts of interesting stuff - Charlie's main takeaway was that blog readers are remarkably similar in profile to early internet users... But here was the shocker for me...Many people clearly have difficulty distinguishing between a blog and a website. It wouldn't be surprising either to find that many people have trouble explaining where they are exactly on the Internet. It is obvious to tech people and frequent web users when they switch domains or sites but most likely there are still some even confused even by the transition from one website to another.They asked those individuals whom they had observed visiting blog sites the same question as I listed above, and 13% answered (e)!!! 13% of the people trafficking blog sites had never heard of blogs. Even more astounding, a full 50% of the individuals answered c) or d)!
That means that almost 2/3 of blog readers don't realize they are reading a blog. It is a fairly common theory amongst folks analyzing the blogosphere that blog readership is underreported in surveys - but Charlie's team found a way to quantify that with staggering results.