Portrait of a Blogger: Under 30 and Sociable

On 19th July, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a survey of bloggers - who they are and why they do what they do.

- more than half of bloggers are younger than 30
- a majority use their blogs as a mode of creative expression
- only 15% of bloggers is motivated by money-making possibilities
- 11% of blogs focusing on politics
- less likely to be white than the general Internet-using population
- more than half live in suburban areas
- about 60 percent of bloggers maintain their Web sites to keep in touch with friends and family, and half of them blog to network or meet new people
- the number of people regularly reading blogs has doubled in the past two years, and more than 49 million blogs are now on the Web
- of all the bloggers out there, there are only about 10,000 that have an audience beyond their friends and families
- about 33 percent of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism
- the average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat
- the typical blogger spends less than five hours per week posting material on a blog
- there's a new blog every five minutes

"Bloggers in general don't intend to have a lot of impact," said Amanda Lenhart, who directed the survey. "The motivation comes from within; it tends to be very personal. They're not out to change the world."