Do Kids Read Blogs? New Study Aims to Confuse

A new study released earlier this month seems to contradict findings from Pew Internet Project's February report on the declining blog authorship and blog readership among the youngest generation of online users. Instead of seeing a downward trend in blogging, the latest research appears, at first glance, to have us questioning those prior reports. According to the latest study, this one from BlogHer and iVillage (red flag?) and co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company , young adults known as "millenials" are the top demographic group in both reading and writing blogs with nearly one-third reporting they read blogs and just over 40% saying they blog themselves. So was the earlier study - the one claiming "kids don't blog" anymore - wrong? Sponsor Odd Demographics Studied In the new study, the focus was on four age groups: millenials (ages 18-25), Gen X/Y (26-42), Boomers (43-61) and Seniors (62-76). This is a confusing segmentation of demographic groups because they've lumped in some of the millenials with the the "Gen X" group to create a hybrid group called "Gen X/Y." The term "millenials," however, is often used interchangeably with "Gen Y," so it's unclear why they've decided to break up that demographic group in this way. To boost Gen X's numbers, perhaps? We can't be sure. Ignoring Those Under 18 More importantly, the study simply ignores the youngest generation, the one we like to call "generation I" or the "iGeneration" (you can guess why), which was a major focus of Pew's study. In fact, Pew's study showed that only 14% of tweens and teens ages 12 to 17 now report that they blog , down from 25% only four years ago . And only 52% reporting reading and commenting on their friends' blog, down from over three-quarters back in 2006. In other words, the Internet's newest users aren't blogging or all that interested in reading blogs. Instead, they prefer Facebook, said the study. It's their method of communication between friends and for getting the latest news. Yes, sigh, Facebook is the new Internet. And the social network's latest moves will only further solidify that position with the launch of the universal "like" button for the entire web, the "instant personalization" provided by websites like Pandora and Yelp (to start), the "sign in with Facebook" boxes that appear on seemingly every site now and so on. How this youngest online generation uses the Internet is an important trend to watch. Although their habits may change over time, it's worth considering that their general disinterest in sharing their thoughts, feelings, news and ideas via blogging is a trend that will continue as they age. After all, who needs to blog when you have Facebook? BlogHer/iVillage's Findings For what it's worth, the BlogHer/iVillage study found that those 18-25 were the group most likely to write or read blogs, with 40.4% reporting the write blogs and 30.3% reporting they read them . The mysterious Gen X/Y group was a close second with 28.1% of the group saying they were blog authors and 29.3% saying they were blog readers. Some of the other numbers are questionable, although we have no way of proving their legitimacy or lack thereof. But really: 12.8% of bloggers are seniors? This is perhaps the most shocking number of them all. Nothing against seniors, of course, but I live in a state filled with them , and I have yet to meet a single senior who even knows what a blog is, much less authors one. At the end of the day, the study's numbers just feel a little too bullish on this whole blogging thing for my tastes. Plus, there's little info about the methodology included in the report and, then there's the fact that BlogHer, a blogging community for women, is, in part, behind the research. The truth of the matter is that neither this latest study nor Pew's research is likely painting an entirely accurate picture of the blogging landscape. We've questioned Pew's methodology many times in the past and we're skeptical of positive studies put out by those who would benefit from the news.

Tags:demographics, facebook, friends, internet, latest, likely-painting, news, Pandora, research, social, study, words

Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible

Our readers know ReadWriteWeb as the blog that's ahead of the technology curve. Our sponsors know us as that, too. Once a week we introduce our sponsors to our readers and let them know a little more about who they are and what they do. You can say thanks to the companies that make ReadWriteWeb happen by tweeting them (see the link below each sponsor) or following them using our Twitter list. Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO . Sponsor Skip to info about: Crowd Science : Demographic data | Medill School of Journalism : Digital journalism programs | Mashery : API management services | Rackspace : Cloud computing experts | Global Delight : Mac and iPhone Producs | Sproutbox : Start-up investors | OptionsHouse : Online Brokerage | Aplus.net : Web hosting | Search Engine Strategies New York : Conference in New York | Conduit : Customized components | MyDomain.com : Domain registrar | Toopia : Our iPhone app developer Crowd Science Crowd Science gives online publishers reports on the demographics and attitudes of their audience. We at ReadWriteWeb have signed up to this new service, because demographic data is something we've struggled to get in the past. It's important for any online business to know their audience, so Crowd Science is a welcome addition to the stats armory that most of us in the Internet biz use. Sign up to get demographic data from Crowd Science. Thank Crowd Science on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University offers programs that combine the enduring skills and values of journalism with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in a digital world. You might have a passion for creating finely crafted prose, or for telling stories using visual tools. Maybe you are invigorated by the possibilities of interactive publishing , or by videography for the small screen . Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program. Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Mashery Mashery is a platform for Web services, allowing companies to manage their APIs using Mashery's expertise. At the "Business of APIs" conference, Mashery CEO Oren Michels explained to the audience that while APIs are a technology, their use is a business decision. He went on to say that Mashery has helped customers such as WhitePages.com, Thumbplay, Compete.com, and Calais. Check out the white paper " Five steps to scaling your business development using Web services " to discover how you can use APIs for your business. You can find out more about APIs and their business use at www.mashery.com . Thank Mashery on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Rackspace Rackspace is one of the world's largest hosting providers, but it's also competing in the cloud computing arena. Rackspace Cloud Hosting offers a suite of services which combines a scalable web and application hosting platform (Cloud Sites) with a cloud storage solution (Cloud Files) and on demand server instances (Cloud Servers). The addition of SliceHost a popular cloud computing and hosting provider and JungleDisk, a favorite online backup service that supports Cloud files, makes the Rackspace Cloud a powerful cloud hosting solution. Explore Rackspace 's hosting and cloud computing solutions. Thank Rackspace on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Global Delight Global Delight is a dedicated team of developers passionate about everything Mac, iPhone and iPad. Global Delight has churned out some of the widely recognized applications for Mac and iPhone. Voila , nominated as the Best Consumer Software in the Macworld Awards 2009 , is a powerful screen capturing, image editing, organizing and sharing tool on the Mac platform. Voila enables users to quickly capture and annotate anything and everything on their screen, turning their manuals, documents, courseware and more into a visual delight. Camera Plus Pro , currently nominated as The Best App Ever 2009 under the Photography section, is a power-packed camera app for the iPhone, thrilling users worldwide with its amazing capturing, editing, managing and sharing options. It is the only iPhone camera app that offers geo-tagging, full-resolution photo editing, and multiple and simultaneous photo uploading to various sites. Thank Global Delight on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Sproutbox SproutBox is an elite team of product developers, creatives, and business experts that invest their talent full-time in start-ups. SproutBox's new approach to venture capital has helped launch several successful companies including: CheddarGetter , a subscription billing and analytics tool; ScheduleThing , an online scheduling and reservations app; and Squad , a web-based collaborative code editor. To apply for start-up funding or find out more information visit sproutbox.com . Thank Sproutbox on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. OptionsHouse OptionsHouse is an online broker, serving self-directed investors interested in options, stocks, and IRAs. We offer a streamlined, professional-grade trading platform and some of the lowest, most competitive rates available in the industry. Thank OptionsHouse on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Aplus.net Aplus.net offers a variety of services relating to Web hosting, including shared hosting, Web design, marketing and online advertising services, search engine optimization, e-commerce solutions, and domain registration. You can register for Aplus.net here . Thank Aplus.net on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Search Engine Strategies New York Taking control of your business's online destiny at Search Engine Strategies New York: From Social Media to Mobile, Video and Local Search, Search Engine Strategies New York will guide you through the complexities of search marketing and take you beyond the everyday fundamentals. Discover how this seemingly innocuous art touches and affects every aspect of your business' online existence, and how mastering it will transform both your brand and your profit margins. Register now through Jan 15 and save $600. Enter RWW15 to save an additional 15%. Thank Search Engine Strategies New York on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Conduit Conduit enables Web publishers to distribute their offerings both directly and through its global network of 220,000 publishers and their 100 million users. The Conduit platform is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to offer the best of your site through a custom app or Community Toolbar , send desktop alerts to your users, and much more. The Conduit platform opens a new world of content sharing. Your site visitors can add your content right to their browser by clicking on a branded 2go button that you place on your site. You can also share your content in the Conduit Marketplace , where all the publishers and users in the Conduit network can grab it. The platform has been adopted by major brands such as Fox News, iWin, Major League Baseball, TechCrunch, and Travelocity, as well as thousands of small and medium organizations in 120 countries. If you would like to Conduit your website, go to www.conduit .com . Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. MyDomain.com MyDomain is a leading ICANN-accredited provider of domain name registration and online business solutions. For over 10 years, MyDomain has offered low-cost domain names and free domain services including complete DNS management. Today, sub-$10 domains without the constant upsells you'll find at some competitors are the norm at MyDomain. MyDomain's complete range of solutions include Web hosting and VPS hosting, email, SSL Certificates and more. Toopia Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia . Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here . Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer. Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk. Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support! Discuss

Read more from the original source:
Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible

Tags:browser, Business, companies, consumer, demographics, domain-name, industry, internet, iphone, multimedia, netherlands, Online Advertising, search-engine, sponsors, technology

The Most Popular YouTube Videos and the Bloggers Who Embed Them

YouTube is, by far, the most popular online video service, but we actually know very little about how bloggers use the service to embed YouTube videos on their own sites. Sysomos , the Torronto-based social media analytics and monitoring firm, just took a closer look at how the blogosphere links to and embeds YouTube videos . Overall, the company analyzed over 2.5 million YouTube videos that were embedded in blog posts between July and December 2009. Sponsor Most Popular Music Videos on YouTube Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) MiIey Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A. - Official Music Video (HD) Miley Cyrus - The Climb - Official Music Video (HQ) Top News & Politics Videos on YouTube Taylor Swift VMA Award Moment Ruined by Kanye West Barney Frank Confronts Woman At Townhall Comparing Obama To Hitler Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird The most popular YouTube videos in the second half of 2009 were the JK Wedding Entrance Dance , the Evian Roller Babies , the Muppets' version of " Bohemian Rhapsody ," a video of musicical stairs in Stockholm and " United Breaks Guitars ." What YouTube Videos do Bloggers Embed? Bloggers mostly embed music videos (31%) and entertainment clips (15%). Sports (6%), animation (3.2%) and science videos (2.9%) rank at the bottom of the most often-embedded YouTube videos. Interestingly, the film (3.6%) and how-to (3.1%) categories also ranked very low in Sysomos' index. We would have thought that how-to videos would have ranked higher, but while videos about how to make a BristleBot can be quite popular, they can't quite rival the popularity of Miley Cyrus and the Muppets. Who is Embedding Them? The study also looked at the demographics of bloggers who embed these videos. In general, 20-to-35-year-old bloggers embed most of the videos (57%), followed by teenagers (20%) and bloggers over 35 (20%). While music videos are the most popular category across age groups, older bloggers tend to embed far more videos in the news and politics categories than younger bloggers. A few more interesting YouTube stats from the report: Videos about news and politics get the highest average number of comments (561), followed by sports (490) and entertainment clips (436). Sysomos did not find any clear correlation between how high users rated a video and how often they were viewed. The most popular videos actually had rather average ratings (2-3 stars). North American bloggers link to a lot more News and Politics videos with a specific interest in health care, global warming and U.S. political issues. 20-to-35 year old bloggers are most active in embedding and linking to videos within their posts with 57% of total videos coming from this demographic group. The average length of a YouTube video is 4 minutes and 12 seconds. The average number of views for the YouTube videos Sysomos analyzed in this report was 99,160. European bloggers embed even more music videos than the rest of the world. Discuss

See the rest here:
The Most Popular YouTube Videos and the Bloggers Who Embed Them

Tags:demographics, film, news, official-music, party, Social Media, videos, woman