Monday, 29 September 2008

State of the Blogosphere / 2008 (Technorati)

You've read about the most recent 'State of the Times' address.

Here is some of the Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2008 report.

If you're interested in the future of newspapers, you'd better understand at least some, if not all, of it.

There's a lot of info to digest and it's laid out as follows:

Introduction
Day 1: Who Are the Bloggers?
Day 2: The What And Why of Blogging
Day 3: The How of Blogging
Day 4: Blogging For Profit
Day 5: Brands Enter The Blogosphere
Previous reports:
2007, Index



I'm just going to show the Introduction and Day 1 here. (And I promise, no Coldplay songs.)

Just imagine if you had some smart ideas how to make money out of all this.


State of the Blogosphere / 2008

Welcome to Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, which will be released in five consecutive daily segments. Since 2004, our annual study has unearthed and analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, we resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. For the first time, we surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially. Our bloggers were generous with their thoughts and insights. Thanks to all of the bloggers who took the time to respond to our survey.


Blogs are Pervasive and Part of Our Daily Lives
There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, yielding widely disparate estimates of both the number of blogs and blog readership. All studies agree, however, that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream.
The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay.


comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)

  • Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
    Facebook: 41.0 million MySpace 75.1 million
    Total internet audience 188.9 million


eMarketer (May 2008)

  • 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
    22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008)

  • 184 million WW have started a blog 26.4 US
    346 million WW read blogs 60.3 US
    77% of active Internet users read blogs


What is a Blog? The Lines Continue To Blur
Wikipedia defines blogs as:
A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues. But as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear. Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs (see
The Bivings Group).


What is Technorati Looking At and Why?


With blogging so firmly entrenched in the mainstream, the story now is about the Active Blogosphere. The trends, stories and behaviors here influence not only the rest of the Blogosphere but mainstream media as well.



Technorati defines the Active Blogosphere as: The ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the convergence of journalism and conversation.


For the 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, we wanted to go beyond the numbers to deliver insights into bloggers and the state of blogging today. Who are the bloggers, why and how do they do what they do, and what is the impact on their lives and work?


To find out, we conducted a survey from a random sample from more than 1.2 million bloggers who have registered with Technorati. In addition, we have supplemented the survey results with our traditional analysis of Technorati’s index data.


For more information, please see Technorati’s methodology.



Key findings from the report include:
All Blogs Are Not Created Equal
Take a quick journey into the size of the Blogosphere







Blogging is…



A truly global phenomenon: Technorati tracked blogs in 81 languages in June 2008, and bloggers responded to our survey from 66 countries across six continents.

  • Here to stay: Bloggers have been at it an average of three years and are collectively creating close to one million posts every day. Blogs have representation in top-10 web site lists across all key categories, and have become integral to the media ecosystem.

  • Bloggers are…



    • Not a homogenous group: Personal, professional, and corporate bloggers all have differing goals and cover an average of five topics within each blog.


    • Savvy and sophisticated: On average, bloggers use five different techniques to drive traffic to their blog. They’re using an average of seven publishing tools on their blog and four distinct metrics for measuring success.


    • Intensifying their efforts based on positive feedback: Blogging is having an incredibly positive impact on their lives, with bloggers receiving speaking or publishing opportunities, career advancement, and personal satisfaction.


    Blogs are Profitable



    The majority of bloggers we surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it’s paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month. Note: median investment and revenue (which is listed below) is significantly lower. They are also earning CPMs on par with large publishers.


    Bloggers are sophisticated in using self serve tools for search, display, and affiliate advertising, and are increasingly turning to ad and blog networks. Many bloggers without advertising may consider it when their blogs grow – the inability to set up advertising will not be a factor.


    Brands Permeate the Blogopshere
    Whether or not a brand has launched a social media strategy, more likely than not, it’s already present in the Blogosphere. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).



    Company information or gossip and everyday retail experiences are fodder for the majority of bloggers.

    Companies are already reaching out to bloggers. One-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates.


    Global Snapshot of Bloggers



    Demographics
    U.S. Bloggers(N=550)
    European Bloggers(N=350)
    Asian Bloggers(N=173)
    Male
    57%
    73%
    73%
    Age
    18-34 years old
    42%
    48%
    73%
    35+
    58%
    52%
    27%
    Single
    26%
    31%
    57%
    Employed full-time
    56%
    53%
    45%
    Household income >$75,000
    51%
    34%
    9%
    College graduate
    74%
    67%
    69%
    Average blogging tenure (months)
    35
    33
    30
    Median Annual Investment
    $80
    $15
    $30
    Median Annual Revenue
    $200
    $200
    $120
    % Blogs with advertising
    52%
    50%
    60%
    Average Monthly Unique Visitors
    18,000
    24,000
    26,000



    Segment Snapshot of Bloggers




    Demographics
    Personal(N=1015)
    Corporate(N=156)
    Professional(N=590)
    With Advertising(N=695)
    No Advertising(N=595)
    Male
    64%
    70%
    72%
    66%
    66%
    Age
    18-34 years old
    52%
    45%
    48%
    53%
    45%
    35+
    48%
    55%
    52%
    47%
    55%
    Single
    36%
    24%
    31%
    34%
    34%
    Employed full-time
    52%
    51%
    55%
    49%
    56%
    Household income>$75k
    37%
    49%
    42%
    40%
    37%
    College graduate
    70%
    74%
    74%
    69%
    72%
    Average blogging tenure (months)
    35
    35
    38
    35
    33
    Median Annual Investment
    $100
    $200
    $150
    $100
    0
    Median Annual Revenue
    $120
    $250
    $300
    $200
    0
    % Blogs with Advertising
    53%
    64%
    59%
    100%
    0%
    Average Monthly Unique Visitors
    12,000
    39,000
    44,000
    46,000
    4,000


    Global Bloggers by Gender
    Demographics
    Female(N=438)
    Male(N=852)
    Personal Blog
    83%
    76%
    Professional Blog
    38%
    50%
    Age
    18-24 years old
    9%
    15%
    25+
    91%
    85%
    Single
    29%
    36%
    Employed full-time
    44%
    56%
    Median Annual Investment
    $30
    $60
    Median Annual Revenue
    $100
    $200
    % Blogs with advertising
    53%
    54%
    Sell Through a Blog ad Network*
    16%
    7%
    Have Affiliate ads*
    41%
    32%
    Have Contextual ads*
    61%
    73%* Among those with advertising on their blogs



    The Blogosphere is Continuing to Evolve



    We asked some of the leading minds on the Blogosphere to give us their thoughts on where blogging is headed:


    “In 2004 when Technorati started, the typical reaction to the word ‘blog’ was ‘huh - can you repeat yourself?’ Today, blogs are everywhere —even presidential candidates have blogs. The blog has forever changed the way publishing works —now anyone can be a publisher. The issue is no longer distribution; rather, it's relevance.”
    Brad Feld
    Managing Director
    Foundry Group
    http://www.feld.com/



    “The idea of blogging will never disappear, but the process by content is created for one blog or a series of blogs will continue to undergo radical upheavals. This past year, we saw the introduction of countless "microblogging" platforms, to the point where they (themselves) have become a commodity —further pushing individual voices to the Blogosphere’s melting pot. Brand will continue to decentralize, and micro-communities will form within any one of the loosely-structured services (like FriendFeed, which values the continuation of conversation as much as it does the initiation portion).”
    “Video will also become increasingly important to convey complex messages that are often lost in text - while audio will continue to fall away to this new medium, save those 'casts with high production values. YouTube will continue to be the place where most people will view their on-demand Internet video. Live video events will soon saturate the landscape, and our attention will become even further fragmented —lending more credibility for the need to archive and index certain video clips and wrap them with text for Google and other search engines to discover.”
    Chris Pirillo
    Internet Content Producer (Since 1992)
    chris.pirillo.com



    “I blog in Spanish and English for different reasons. In English I blog to communicate my ideas and views, in Spanish, where for some unknown reason many more people comment, I write to learn. The collective intelligence of my commentators is greater than mine.”
    Martin Varsavsky
    Founder and CEO
    FON
    english.martinvarsavsky.net
    spanish.martinvarsavsky.net



    “Blogs will fill every niche in the ecology of public writing. They'll be good examples of blogs and a far larger range of sites that are sort-of, kind-of blogs. This is as it should be. It's also as it already is.”
    David Weinberger
    Writer
    Fellow, Harvard Berkman Center
    Johotheblog.com



    “Blogging has gone from a cutting edge, mostly American phenomenon to a global main-stream activity generating an increasing larger share of the world's ‘user generated content’ and the sharing economy driving up the value of search and advertising worldwide. In addition to increasing in scale, bloggers continue to become increasingly diverse become both a core economic as well as social driver online.”
    Joichi Ito
    CEO, Creative Commons
    Venture Capitalist
    joi.ito.com


    “From a journalistic perspective: Blogging and other conversational media are entering a new phase when it comes to community information needs — they're growing up. Traditional media are using these tools to do better journalism, and are beginning to engage their audiences in the journalism. Entrepreneurial journalists are finding profitable niches. Advertisers are starting to grasp the value of the conversations, and so on. The big issues remain, including the crucial one of trust. Here, too, we're seeing progress. The best blogs are as trustworthy as any traditional media, if not more. The worst, often offering fact-challenged commentary, are reprehensible and irresponsible. But audiences are learning, perhaps too slowly, that modern media require a more activist approach. We need to be skeptical of everything, but not equally skeptical of everything. We need to use judgement, to get more information — and to go outside our personal comfort zones.”
    Dan Gillmor
    Director
    Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship
    Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship
    Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Arizona State University
    startupmedia.org



    “The word blog is irrelevant, what's important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”
    Seth Godin
    Author
    Tribes
    sethgodin.typepad.com



    “Blogging is getting easier and easier and some day, we'll all have blogs of one sort or another. Most won't look like my blog, maybe more like mytumblog or my twitter feed, but even more likely they'll look like something else.”
    “Earlier this year I wrote on my blog [
    http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/06/my-vision-for-s.html], ‘Honestly I am not envisioning anything other than this; every single human being posting their thoughts and experiences in any number of ways to the Internet.’ That's where we are headed and blogging is a big part of that.”
    Fred Wilson
    Managing Partner
    Union Square Ventures
    www.avc.com/a_vc


    “Although today's form of blogging is a volunatary form of self-expression, in the future our experiences, actions, locations, and preferecnes will be auto-recorded directly to the web.”
    “The future of blogging will be an auto-synching of our lives directly to the web —often a quiet recording in the background”
    Jeremiah Owyang
    Senior Analyst, Social Computing
    Forrester Research
    web-strategist.com/blog



    “Although new ‘right-now’ web tools like twitter and lifestreaming aggregators like friendfeed have shifted some attention from classic blogging, they've actually deepened the conversation and made the blog, as a place to comment, reflect, and analyze, more central than ever. Blogging has become part of the daily discourse within many communities, and more and more essential is a growing number of disciplines outside of the technosphere.”
    Susan Mernit
    co-founder, People's Software Company
    peoplessoftware.com
    susanmernit.com

    “Blogs represent the best chance for companies to inform the conversation.”
    Richard Edelman
    President and CEO
    Edelman
    www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/



    “Until recently, 'the Blogosphere' referred to a small cluster of geeks circled around a single tool. Now it refers to hundreds of millions of people using a vast warehouse of tools that allow people to behave increasingly online like they do in real life. We have entered the Age of Normalization in the Blogosphere.”
    Shel Israel
    Social Media writer & speaker
    co-author, Naked Conversations
    globalneighbourhoods.net



    “The Blogosphere has added spice to our democracy, making it more appetizing to more people.”
    Michael Powell
    Senior Advisor
    Providence Equity Partners
    Former FCC Chairman



    “The future of blogs will have arrived when you check your favorite blog for sports news in the morning, instead of your local paper.”
    Richard MacManus
    Founder / Editor
    ReadWriteWeb
    http://www.readwriteweb.com/

    “Blogging is all about the sharing mindset and voice being expressed. In the future, it will look different and take many forms, but it will always feel the same.”
    “Blogging isn't defined by a technology or the way words are laid out on a page. Rather, it's a mindset, and as such, will be around for a long, long time, evolving and improving.”
    Charlene Li
    Thought Leader
    Altimeter Group
    http://www.altimetergroup.com/


    “The Blogosphere continues to evolve - with micro-blogging, long blogging, video blogging all taking off this year. Of course, more and more companies and politicians are playing with blogs but most importantly, it's becoming something that more and more 'civilians' do - ordinary folk. And that's what's going to change its impact from here on in.”
    Mark Earls
    Consultant
    HERDmeister
    Author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature
    Former Chair, Global Planning Council, Ogilvy Worldwide
    herd.typepad.com



    “Blogging continues to splinter into many different categories, providing an incredibly rich ecosystem of self expression tools and compelling content for readers. The prototypical personal blog, where a single writer simply writes their daily thoughts on their life and/or topics that interest them, will always be hugely popular. But multi-author blogs will continue to thrive as well. And a huge percentage of blogs focus on single topics of interest, from tech news to wine to knitting. Whatever it is you are interested in, it's likely to have a community of people who share that interest.”
    “But perhaps the most interesting development is the steady evolution in the definition of a blog itself. Today photo and video blogs are already common. Microblogging platforms like Twitter and Friendfeed are the fast food equivalent of the blogging world, and continue to gain popularity because they let people update multiple times per day with 140 characters or less on what they are doing, how they're feeling, etc. Not only is microblogging a terrific method of self expression, the value of the raw data that's created is enormously important. The Twitter messages I read during the two presidential conventions gave me a good idea on how people reacted to the various speeches. It's not statistically relevant, but pollsters will be watching that data more and more closely over time.”
    “Whatever happens next with blogging, it's here to stay. And I can't wait to see what comes next.”
    Michael Arrington
    Founder
    TechCrunch
    http://www.techcrunch.com/



    “In many ways the proliferation of blogging has transformed the 
 venture business — entrepreneurs expect a level of transparency 
 that simply didn't exist before venture investors started blogging.”
    “I can not imagine staying current in this fast moving, high tech world without using blogs and bloggers as a powerful filter of the 
 overwhelming torrent of information we all face.”
    David Hornik
    August Capital
    http://www.ventureblog.com/


    Demographics
    Personal(N=1015)
    Corporate(N=156)
    Professional(N=590)
    With Advertising(N=695)
    No Advertising(N=595)
    Male
    64%
    70%
    72%
    66%
    66%
    Age
    18-34 years old
    52%
    45%
    48%
    53%
    45%
    35+
    48%
    55%
    52%
    47%
    55%
    Single
    36%
    24%
    31%
    34%
    34%
    Employed full-time
    52%
    51%
    55%
    49%
    56%
    Household income>$75k
    37%
    49%
    42%
    40%
    37%
    College graduate
    70%
    74%
    74%
    69%
    72%
    Average blogging tenure (months)
    35
    35
    38
    35
    33
    Median Annual Investment
    $100
    $200
    $150
    $100
    0
    Median Annual Revenue
    $120
    $250
    $300
    $200
    0
    % Blogs with Advertising
    53%
    64%
    59%
    100%
    0%
    Average Monthly Unique Visitors
    12,000
    39,000
    44,000
    46,000
    4,000
    Global Bloggers by Gender
    Demographics
    Female(N=438)
    Male(N=852)
    Personal Blog
    83%
    76%
    Professional Blog
    38%
    50%
    Age
    18-24 years old
    9%
    15%
    25+
    91%
    85%
    Single
    29%
    36%
    Employed full-time
    44%
    56%
    Median Annual Investment
    $30
    $60
    Median Annual Revenue
    $100
    $200
    % Blogs with advertising
    53%
    54%
    Sell Through a Blog ad Network*
    16%
    7%
    Have Affiliate ads*
    41%
    32%
    Have Contextual ads*
    61%
    73%* Among those with advertising on their blogs


    The Blogosphere is Continuing to Evolve


    We asked some of the leading minds on the Blogosphere to give us their thoughts on where blogging is headed:


    “In 2004 when Technorati started, the typical reaction to the word ‘blog’ was ‘huh - can you repeat yourself?’ Today, blogs are everywhere —even presidential candidates have blogs. The blog has forever changed the way publishing works —now anyone can be a publisher. The issue is no longer distribution; rather, it's relevance.”
    Brad Feld
    Managing Director
    Foundry Group
    http://www.feld.com/


    “The idea of blogging will never disappear, but the process by content is created for one blog or a series of blogs will continue to undergo radical upheavals. This past year, we saw the introduction of countless "microblogging" platforms, to the point where they (themselves) have become a commodity —further pushing individual voices to the Blogosphere’s melting pot. Brand will continue to decentralize, and micro-communities will form within any one of the loosely-structured services (like FriendFeed, which values the continuation of conversation as much as it does the initiation portion).”
    “Video will also become increasingly important to convey complex messages that are often lost in text - while audio will continue to fall away to this new medium, save those 'casts with high production values. YouTube will continue to be the place where most people will view their on-demand Internet video. Live video events will soon saturate the landscape, and our attention will become even further fragmented —lending more credibility for the need to archive and index certain video clips and wrap them with text for Google and other search engines to discover.”
    Chris Pirillo
    Internet Content Producer (Since 1992)
    chris.pirillo.com


    “I blog in Spanish and English for different reasons. In English I blog to communicate my ideas and views, in Spanish, where for some unknown reason many more people comment, I write to learn. The collective intelligence of my commentators is greater than mine.”
    Martin Varsavsky
    Founder and CEO
    FON

    english.martinvarsavsky.net
    spanish.martinvarsavsky.net


    “Blogs will fill every niche in the ecology of public writing. They'll be good examples of blogs and a far larger range of sites that are sort-of, kind-of blogs. This is as it should be. It's also as it already is.”
    David Weinberger
    Writer
    Fellow, Harvard Berkman Center

    Johotheblog.com


    “Blogging has gone from a cutting edge, mostly American phenomenon to a global main-stream activity generating an increasing larger share of the world's ‘user generated content’ and the sharing economy driving up the value of search and advertising worldwide. In addition to increasing in scale, bloggers continue to become increasingly diverse become both a core economic as well as social driver online.”
    Joichi Ito
    CEO, Creative Commons
    Venture Capitalist

    joi.ito.com


    “From a journalistic perspective: Blogging and other conversational media are entering a new phase when it comes to community information needs — they're growing up. Traditional media are using these tools to do better journalism, and are beginning to engage their audiences in the journalism. Entrepreneurial journalists are finding profitable niches. Advertisers are starting to grasp the value of the conversations, and so on. The big issues remain, including the crucial one of trust. Here, too, we're seeing progress. The best blogs are as trustworthy as any traditional media, if not more. The worst, often offering fact-challenged commentary, are reprehensible and irresponsible. But audiences are learning, perhaps too slowly, that modern media require a more activist approach. We need to be skeptical of everything, but not equally skeptical of everything. We need to use judgement, to get more information — and to go outside our personal comfort zones.”
    Dan Gillmor
    Director
    Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship
    Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship
    Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Arizona State University

    startupmedia.org


    “The word blog is irrelevant, what's important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world.”
    Seth Godin
    Author
    Tribes

    sethgodin.typepad.com


    “Blogging is getting easier and easier and some day, we'll all have blogs of one sort or another. Most won't look like my blog, maybe more like mytumblog or my twitter feed, but even more likely they'll look like something else.”
    “Earlier this year I wrote on my blog [

    http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/06/my-vision-for-s.html], ‘Honestly I am not envisioning anything other than this; every single human being posting their thoughts and experiences in any number of ways to the Internet.’ That's where we are headed and blogging is a big part of that.”
    Fred Wilson
    Managing Partner
    Union Square Ventures
    www.avc.com/a_vc


    “Although today's form of blogging is a volunatary form of self-expression, in the future our experiences, actions, locations, and preferecnes will be auto-recorded directly to the web.”
    “The future of blogging will be an auto-synching of our lives directly to the web —often a quiet recording in the background”
    Jeremiah Owyang
    Senior Analyst, Social Computing
    Forrester Research

    web-strategist.com/blog


    “Although new ‘right-now’ web tools like twitter and lifestreaming aggregators like friendfeed have shifted some attention from classic blogging, they've actually deepened the conversation and made the blog, as a place to comment, reflect, and analyze, more central than ever. Blogging has become part of the daily discourse within many communities, and more and more essential is a growing number of disciplines outside of the technosphere.”
    Susan Mernit
    co-founder, People's Software Company

    peoplessoftware.com
    susanmernit.com


    “Blogs represent the best chance for companies to inform the conversation.”
    Richard Edelman
    President and CEO
    Edelman

    www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/


    “Until recently, 'the Blogosphere' referred to a small cluster of geeks circled around a single tool. Now it refers to hundreds of millions of people using a vast warehouse of tools that allow people to behave increasingly online like they do in real life. We have entered the Age of Normalization in the Blogosphere.”
    Shel Israel
    Social Media writer & speaker
    co-author, Naked Conversations

    globalneighbourhoods.net


    “The Blogosphere has added spice to our democracy, making it more appetizing to more people.”
    Michael Powell
    Senior Advisor
    Providence Equity Partners
    Former FCC Chairman


    “The future of blogs will have arrived when you check your favorite blog for sports news in the morning, instead of your local paper.”
    Richard MacManus
    Founder / Editor
    ReadWriteWeb

    http://www.readwriteweb.com/


    “Blogging is all about the sharing mindset and voice being expressed. In the future, it will look different and take many forms, but it will always feel the same.”
    “Blogging isn't defined by a technology or the way words are laid out on a page. Rather, it's a mindset, and as such, will be around for a long, long time, evolving and improving.”
    Charlene Li
    Thought Leader
    Altimeter Group

    http://www.altimetergroup.com/


    “The Blogosphere continues to evolve - with micro-blogging, long blogging, video blogging all taking off this year. Of course, more and more companies and politicians are playing with blogs but most importantly, it's becoming something that more and more 'civilians' do - ordinary folk. And that's what's going to change its impact from here on in.”
    Mark Earls
    Consultant
    HERDmeister
    Author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature
    Former Chair, Global Planning Council, Ogilvy Worldwide

    herd.typepad.com


    “Blogging continues to splinter into many different categories, providing an incredibly rich ecosystem of self expression tools and compelling content for readers. The prototypical personal blog, where a single writer simply writes their daily thoughts on their life and/or topics that interest them, will always be hugely popular. But multi-author blogs will continue to thrive as well. And a huge percentage of blogs focus on single topics of interest, from tech news to wine to knitting. Whatever it is you are interested in, it's likely to have a community of people who share that interest.”
    “But perhaps the most interesting development is the steady evolution in the definition of a blog itself. Today photo and video blogs are already common. Microblogging platforms like Twitter and Friendfeed are the fast food equivalent of the blogging world, and continue to gain popularity because they let people update multiple times per day with 140 characters or less on what they are doing, how they're feeling, etc. Not only is microblogging a terrific method of self expression, the value of the raw data that's created is enormously important. The Twitter messages I read during the two presidential conventions gave me a good idea on how people reacted to the various speeches. It's not statistically relevant, but pollsters will be watching that data more and more closely over time.”
    “Whatever happens next with blogging, it's here to stay. And I can't wait to see what comes next.”
    Michael Arrington
    Founder
    TechCrunch

    http://www.techcrunch.com/


    “In many ways the proliferation of blogging has transformed the 
 venture business — entrepreneurs expect a level of transparency 
 that simply didn't exist before venture investors started blogging.”
    “I can not imagine staying current in this fast moving, high tech world without using blogs and bloggers as a powerful filter of the 
 overwhelming torrent of information we all face.”
    David Hornik
    August Capital
    http://www.ventureblog.com/

    Day 1 Who Are the Bloggers

    http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/

    Bloggers are not a homogenous group, but they are an educated and affluent one: three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, and 42% have attended graduate school. They skew male, and more than half have a household income over $75,000.
    They are experienced: although it has only recently exploded into the mainstream, blogging is not a new phenomenon. Half of bloggers are on their second blog, and 59% have been blogging for more than two years.
    Over the next several days, we will introduce you to some of the bloggers who participated in our study. We are highlighting bloggers with a range of motivations, topics, profitability, and sophistication, so you can see how diverse the blogosphere really is.


    Who are the global bloggers?



    • Two-thirds are male

    • 50% are 18-34

    • More affluent and educated than the general population

    • 70% have college degrees

    • Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+

    • One in four have an annual household income of $100K+

    • 44% are parents





    U.S. bloggers are more educated and affluent than the general Internet population
    Compared to the general Internet population, U.S. bloggers are more male, single, and employed full-time.



    One-third of bloggers are 25-34 (versus 19% of Internet users), and one in five are self employed (versus 8% of Internet users). Three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, and 42% have attended graduate school. More than half have a household income over $75,000. As a group, they are educated, affluent, and influential.


    Within the United States, bloggers are located across the country
    The majority of bloggers do NOT live near the largest metropolitan areas.




    Within the U.S. we saw the highest concentration of bloggers in the San Francisco Bay Area (followed by New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles). However, we did hear from bloggers across the country, from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Bangor, Maine, with Bentley, North Dakota, in between.


    Blogging is a global phenomenon
    Although our survey was only administered in English, we heard from bloggers on six continents (although we’re sure someone is blogging from Antarctica). We had respondents from 66 countries, who publish blogs in 20 different languages.




    43% of blogger respondents live in the U.S.
    72% publish their blog in English (survey was only provided in English)



    Nearly half of active blogs have some authority
    In looking at the just over 5 million blogs tracked by Technorati who posted in June, 45% have a
    Technorati Authority number of 1 or more, meaning they can truly claim their place in the active blogosphere.





    Hundreds of thousands of individual blogs, which make up the top 10% of blogs as measured by Technorati Authority, and more than 75,000 bloggers have an authority of 50 or more — meaning at least 50 other bloggers found their content worth linking to.

    Bloggers Self-Identified as Personal, Professional, or Corporate
    Bloggers are not a homogenous group. One way of segmenting bloggers is by their blog type:
    1. Personal: blog about topics of personal interest not associated with your work
    2. Professional: blog about your industry and profession but not in an official capacity for your company
    3. Corporate: blog for your company in an official capacity


    Four out of five bloggers are personal bloggers who blog about topics of personal interest. About half of bloggers are professional bloggers — blogging is not necessarily their full-time job, but they blog about their industry or profession in an unofficial capacity. 12% of bloggers blog in an official capacity for their company.

    Of course, these groups are not mutually exclusive. More than half of professional and corporate bloggers are also personal bloggers. This could be on a separate blog, or they may blog about personal interests within their professional blog.


    Corporate bloggers:
    69% are also personal bloggers
    65% are professional bloggers
    Professional bloggers:
    59% are also personal bloggers
    17% are corporate bloggers




    Bloggers: Not New Kids on the Block!
    Blogging is no longer a new phenomenon. Half of bloggers who responded are on at least their second (or 8th!) blog, and 59% have been blogging for two years or more.




    Non first-time bloggers contribute to four blogs on average, and the average blogging tenure is three years.

    http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/






    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT

    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris
    http://www.montmartreabbesses.com

    McCain aide: NYT not legit news source

    One of the problems newspapers face is that they are regarded by many within their target demographic as being partisan.

    If we compare the NYT with an Ipod for a second, both products have brand stature. However owning an Ipod - although it says lots of things about you - doesn't carry any political baggage.

    If a large segment of the target demographic of Ipods wouldn't buy them because it thought owning an Ipod would signal them either as believers in and clone followers of elitist, establishment MSM or as liberal, anti-Republican people, then Apple would eliminate a sizable part of its target audience.

    This wouldn't be smart.

    However, whether you agree with either of those characterisations of the NYT or not, the fact is that many people do, and therefore don't buy it.


    Witness this article below from Politico:

    McCain aide: NYT not legit news source
    By
    9/22/08 12:25 PM EDT

    Steve Schmidt, a McCain campaign senior adviser, declared on a conference call with reporters Monday that The New York Times is "not ... a journalistic organization.”
    His lengthy broadside, prompted by an article Monday documenting ties between the campaign and lobbying for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was the latest in a series of grievances with the Gray Lady that that aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have aired publicly.
    “Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,” Schmidt said. “It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. [Sarah] Palin. It excuse Sen. Obama. …
    “Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective — that it is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition, to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case, John McCain — and to advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.”
    Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said in a statement of response: "The New York Times is committed to covering the candidates fully, fairly and aggressively. It's our job to ask hard questions, fact-check their statements and their advertising, examine their programs, positions, biographies and advisors. Candidates and their campaign operatives are not always comfortable with that level of scrutiny, but it's what our readers expect and deserve."
    Bill Burton, the Obama campaign's national press secretary, called Schmidt's accusation laughable, and said the Times had published more than 40 "probing stories ... over the course of the campaign about Barack Obama, his life, his religion, his childhood, his politics, his time in the state Senate, his time in the U.S. Senate, his family, his religion, his friends, his fundraising and all other manner of associations."

    Burton attached a list of 42 citations, pasted below.
    On Monday, the paper published an article on page A18 tying a McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, to lobbying group set up by troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
    When CNN’s Dana Bash asked about the article, Schmidt unloaded.
    “Let me first say: We are First Amendment absolutists on this campaign,” Schmidt said. “The press, and anybody who wishes to cover this race from the blogosphere perspective or from a media perspective, … of course is constitutionally protected with regard to writing … whatever they want to write. But let’s be clear and be honest with each other about something fundamental to this race.”

    Schmidt said that the Obama campaign has been “abetted” by a compliant media that gives more scrutiny to the Republican than to the Democrat.
    Then, naming the Times, he said: “There is no level of public vetting with Sen. Obama’s record, his background, his past statements. There’s no level of outrage directed at his deceitful ads. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be. But let’s not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is.”
    Burton's list of Times articles probing Obama:
    1. In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice [New York Times, 1/28/07] 2. So Far, Obama Can’t Take Black Vote For Granted [New York Times, 2/2/07] 3. Obama Had Slaveowning Kin [New York Times, 3/3/07] 4. Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized [New York Times, 3/6/07] 5. Obama, in Brief Investing Foray In '05, Took Same Path as Donors [New York Times, 3/7/07] 6. Obama Says His Investments Presented No Conflicts of Interest [New York Times, 3/8/07] 7. Charisma and a Search for Self In Obama's Hawaii Childhood [New York Times, 3/17/07] 8. Clinton Camp Challenges Obama on Iraq. [New York Times, 3/22/07] 9. After 2000 Loss, Obama Built Donor Network From Roots Up [New York Times, 4/3/07] 10. A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith [New York Times, 4/30/07] 11. An Obama Patron and Friend Until an Indictment in Illinois [New York Times, 6/14/07] 12. In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd. [New York Times, 7/30/07] 13. In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama. [New York Times, 9/9/07] 14. Loyal Network Backs Obama After His Help. [New York Times, 10/1/07] 15. Obama’s Account of New York Years Often Differs From What Others Say. [New York Times, 10/30/07] 16. It’s Not Just ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nays’: Obama’s Votes in Illinois Echo. [New York Times, 12/20/07] 17. Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate [New York Times, 2/3/08] 18. Daschle Uses Senate Ties To Blaze Path for Obama [New York Times, 2/5/08] 19. Old Friends Say Drugs Played Bit Part in Obama’s Young Life [New York Times, 2/9/08] 20. Seeking Unity, Obama Feels Pull of Racial Divide [New York Times, 2/12/08] 21. Obama Walks a Difficult Path as He Courts Jewish Voters [New York Times, 3/1/08] Obama in Senate: Star Power, Minor Role [New York Times, 3/9/08] 22. A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path [New York Times, 3/14/08] 23.cPastor Defends His Predecessor at Obama’s Chicago Church [New York Times, 3/17/08] 24. Obama’s Narrator [New York Times, 4/1/07] 25. Wright Remains a Concern for Some Democrats [New York Times, 5/1/08] 26. A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps [New York Times, 5/1/08] 27. A Pulpit-and-Pews Gulf on Obama’s Ex-Pastor [New York Times, 5/2/08] 28. A Fiery Theology Under Fire [New York Times, 5/4/08] 29. Obama Secret Service Agent Tied To Sex Joke [New York Times, 5/15/08] 30. The Story of Obama, Written by Obama [New York Times, 5/18/08] 31. Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church [New York Times, 6/1/08] 32. Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough [New York Times, 6/5/08] 33. Where Whites Draw The Line [New York Times, 6/8/08]

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13733.html



    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT

    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

    Long over-due: NYTimes.com's New Social Network TimesPeople Launches in Public Beta

    Now this is long over-due. I always wanted to do this for IHT readers, who are far more dispersed and would actually benefit much more from this than a NYT reader.

    I'll sign up, give it a whirl, but who needs more time on the Net. Not me.



    NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2008 – NYTimes.com announced today the public beta launch of TimesPeople, an opt-in social network that connects The Times’s unique and influential audience through shared interests in news and information. TimesPeople provides NYTimes.com readers with a way to share their thoughts and recommendations about The Times’s content with other readers, making their public activities on the site more open.
    Members of the TimesPeople network can share recommendations and comments and view the public activities of other members. Members can also share ratings and reviews of movies, shows, restaurants and hotels.
    TimesPeople activities are visible to members in a toolbar at the top of most NYTimes.com pages. Members also have profile pages, which display their public actions and the public actions of other network members, and list their followers.
    “We created TimesPeople as a community built around sharing news and information, giving our readers a way to connect with other like-minded readers,” said Marc Frons, chief technology officer, digital operations, The New York Times. “TimesPeople is a great way for our readers to discover content on the site they might not have otherwise.”
    TimesPeople members can sign up for RSS feeds with the latest activities of other users in their network and sync their updates to their Facebook news feed through a
    TimesPeople application available at http://apps.new.facebook.com/timespeople/.
    New users can sign up for TimesPeople on the homepage of NYTimes.com or at www.nytimes.com/timespeople. Existing Firefox beta users will not be affected by today’s public beta launch. TimesPeople is free.
    The public activities included in TimesPeople are readers’ comments, recommendations, reviews, ratings and other actions they take on NYTimes.com that are intended to be visible to other users.
    TimesPeople
    FAQs.
    According to Nielsen Online, NYTimes.com had 19.9 million unique visitors in August and is the No. 1 newspaper Web site in the United States, a position it has long held.

    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE
    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT


    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

    NYT Strategy Question of the Day.

    How do the international global edition of the NYT (the IHT), the NYT, (and a possible change from the IHT to the International NYT) fit with The New York Times International Weekly into an overall global strategy?

    Here are the latest players to join the party.


    The New York Times International Weekly Launches in Three Additional Newspapers Worldwide
    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2008--The New York Times announced today that it recently launched its weekly news supplement in three major newspapers around the world: Colombia's daily paper, El Espectador; Kosovo's Koha Ditore; and Kenya's Sunday Nation.
    These three publications join the existing 24 newspapers around that world that have begun publishing the supplement since its launch in 2002.
    The
    International Weekly retains the layout and typography of The New York Times and includes news coverage, commentary, color photos and graphics about the United States, world affairs, business, culture and social trends. It is prepared in New York by a team of editors and designers from The New York Times News Service.
    "We are excited to welcome these three papers to the International Weekly community," said Cristian Edwards, president, The New York Times News Service. "The Sunday Nation in Kenya, Koha Ditore in Kosovo and El Espectador in Colombia share our commitment to the ideals of sound journalism and the importance of a free press. We are very pleased to be taking The New York Times's journalism to their audiences."
    "We have heard nothing but positive feedback from our readers since incorporating The International Weekly into our publication," said Fidel Cano, director of El Espectador. "We are excited about this new collaboration as it helps us to provide our readers with a broader understanding of events happening around the world."
    El Espectador, founded in March 1887, is the oldest Colombian newspaper with a daily circulation of 50,000 and a Sunday circulation of 250,000. El Espectador became a weekly in September 2001 and returned as a daily in May 2008.
    "The collaboration between The New York Times and Koha Ditore is a great moment for our newspaper and the Kosovar society as well," said Agron Bajrami, editor in chief of Koha Ditore. "The New York Times is a symbol of a free press in a free society. A kind of professional press and responsible society that Kosovo's citizens and journalists strive for."
    Koha Ditore, the daily newspaper of Kosovo, is the first independently owned daily established in Kosovo. The paper is published by Koha Group LLC, which owns the national television station, Kohavision, and one of the biggest printing houses in Kosovo, Koha Print.
    "The Nation Media Group has been one of the key players in the independence campaign for Kenya, and a champion of democracy in East Africa," said editorial director Wangethi Mwangi. "Quite apart from enhancing the Sunday Nation's innovative profile, the International Weekly provides the paper's readers with a different perspective on the world, empowering them to discuss, analyze and question issues that the globalized community brings to their doorstep."
    The Nation Media Group is the largest media company in Africa outside South Africa and Egypt. It is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has subsidiaries in Uganda and Tanzania. The company portfolio includes television networks, radio stations, and newspapers. The Sunday Nation is one of five newspapers in Kenya owned by the Nation Media Group.
    The New York Times News Service provides articles from all sections of The New York Times to more than 600 news organizations around the world. The News Service also maintains The New York Times Photo and Graphics Service, which distributes images via the Web site www.NYTimages.com.
    About The New York Times Company
    The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
    http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-pressArticle&ID=1200194&highlight=





    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT

    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

    International Herald Tribune to Celebrate Suzy Menkes's Anniversary with a Museum Retrospective in Paris

    Below, the press release from the NYT's about Suzy's party in Paris on Saturday.

    If you were there, you're in, if not you're not.

    NB

    Note below how IHT tries to reference the IHT's longstanding relationship and coverage of fashion, before Suzy.

    Why?


    Suzy is a year or two off retirement and the big question is this: will the IHT retain all that fashion advertising if she goes. Actually, it's not certain Suzy would retire, she's under no obligation to, and certainly the IHT wouldn't want her to. That said, there is a succession issue of some importance to be considered.

    What I find curious is how the NYT isn't leveraging Suzy more in their pages. I personally don't know the name of the NYT fashion editor nor what her influence is. To be followed....


    The International Herald Tribune (IHT) will hold an exhibition to celebrate a milestone in the career of its world renowned fashion editor, Suzy Menkes. The exhibition entitled "Suzy at 20" will be held at the Galliera, Musee de la Mode de la Ville de Paris from September 28 to October 6, 2008. It will be free to the public.
    "Suzy at 20" will be a retrospective of the high quality, international journalism Ms. Menkes has contributed to the IHT during the twenty years she has been fashion editor. It will give a flavor of the great diversity of her work, from her critique of the collections to her analysis of the trends in the global luxury goods industry. It will also cover Ms. Menkes's reviews of major cultural exhibitions.
    The IHT has had links with fashion since the early 1890s when its first pages dedicated to fashion appeared. It has enjoyed the contributions of great fashion editors like Eugenia Sheppard and Hebe Dorsey, but during the past twenty years the quality and quantity of the IHT's international fashion coverage has increased beyond measure under Ms. Menkes's editorship.
    Alongside her influential reporting and exclusive video interviews with fashion's movers and shakers on iht.com/style, Ms. Menkes created and hosts the IHT luxury conference series, a gathering of the top commercial and creative figures that is held annually throughout the world. This year's conference will be held in New Delhi, India in December.
    Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, publisher of the IHT, said: "We hope that this exhibition marking Suzy's two decades at the IHT can pay some small homage to her great achievements. Her talent is rare and her contribution to the paper is enormous."
    In recognition of her remarkable contributions to fashion journalism, Ms. Menkes was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in France in 2005. She then received the OBE - Officer of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth, about whom Ms. Menkes has written several books. The exhibition materials were printed by Hewlett-Packard.
    NOTES TO EDITORS:
    About the International Herald Tribune (www.iht.com)
    The International Herald Tribune (IHT) is the premier international newspaper for opinion leaders and decision makers around the globe. It combines the extensive resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times, is printed at 35 sites throughout the world and is for sale in more than 180 countries. Based in Paris since 1887, the IHT is part of The New York Times Company.
    About The New York Times Company
    The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.






    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE
    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT
    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

    Monday, 22 September 2008

    I'm taking a week off from Think!

    I'm taking a week off from Think! I think I may have had enough of it. I'll see.

    Check back in next Monday for news.




    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE


    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT

    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

    Creative thinking at Washington Post (AP)

    'Wash Post' Launching New Political Site -- With Links to Rivals
    WASHINGTON he Washington Post is launching a new Web section linking readers to the best of political coverage-- even scoops by rival newspapers.
    The idea behind the Political Browser, expected to start Monday, is to brief political junkies on the top "must reads" of the day, from an article on a scandal to a humorous video making the rounds on Google Inc.'s YouTube.
    Encouraging readers to leave one's own Web site to find more content was unthinkable not long ago. But traditional news organizations including the Post have started breaking down their "walled garden" mentality in the past few years.
    The shift is partly a response to the growing influence of bloggers, who link to items they find interesting regardless of the source.
    News organizations that continue to resist could find themselves irrelevant in the digital age _ an unnerving prospect when news companies need the Internet to offset declines in print advertising and circulation.
    "Our relationship with readers is changing," said Jim Brady, the site's executive editor. "We're not just about providing readers with terrific journalism from The Washington Post but access to great journalism, period.
    "Readers may not trust the paper and come back if they sense Post editors try to play down scoops by competitors, Brady said. Knowing readers tend to check multiple sources anyway, he said, the Post hopes at least to be the front door to political coverage online and encourage more people to visit its ad-supported site.
    The Post, a unit of The Washington Post Co., already lets some columnists link to other sources in blog-like fashion, but Brady said this would be the Post's first whole section to offer such links. The Political Browser will be separate from the Post's existing political section, which features coverage by the Post's own reporters.
    The Post's new section won't be the only outlet aggregating political news from around the Web. Many blogs perform that role, as do some e-mail newsletters. Brady said he hoped the Post's offering will find a niche through its brevity and its perch in Washington.
    Call it a "cheat sheet for politics," Brady said. "This is not something others haven't done, but the Post has a pretty strong brand name in this area."
    http://www.editorandpublisher.com:80/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003853083



    A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

    International Herald Tribune
    IHT
    New York Times
    NYT

    Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris