Bloggers confess to self-obsession

Survey finds most bloggers write about their personal life

Although political blogs are all the rave today, the vast majority of bloggers write online diaries to talk about themselves, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Of the bloggers surveyed, 37 per cent indicated that their personal life was the blog's main topic.

Politics and government was selected by 11 per cent, followed by entertainment (seven per cent), sports (six per cent), general news and current events (five per cent) and business and technology (four per cent).

Most people (77 per cent) said that creative self-expression was a 'major' or 'minor' reason for them to write a blog. Documenting and sharing personal experiences ranked a close second with 76 per cent.

Politically motivated reasons such as rallying others to action and influencing opinions were mentioned by 61 and 51 per cent respectively. Making money was mentioned by 15 per cent.

Younger and lower-income bloggers are more likely to blog as a way of self expression and to document their lives in an online diary. Older bloggers (50 to 64 years-old) named sharing practical knowledge or skills as the primary reason.

Despite a raging debate within the media about whether bloggers should be considered journalists, 65 per cent of the people surveyed said that they do not consider their online diaries as a form of journalism.

Only 57 per cent of the authors link to the original source of their posts, while 56 per cent spend extra time to verify facts before they publish them online.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed 233 respondents between July 2005 and February 2006. A second part of the study surveyed 4,753 internet users, 380 of whom were bloggers.

A PDF of the report, Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers, is available for download. 

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