Blogs in the United States

By: Casey Harvilla, Jon Tirk,

Calvin Rose & Jess Valentino

Weblogs?• Justin Hall 1994- one of the earliest

bloggers•“weblog” John Barger December

17, 1997•“blog” Peter Merholz 1999•Ongoing documentation that can

be viewed by mostly anyone•Frequently updated

What came first?• 1999 Pitas- first free build your

own weblog tool

• Release of Blogger and Groksoup

• Weblogs flourished

• Free, quick and easy

BLOG• Word of the year in 2004• ABC declares that bloggers are the

People of the Year• Average blog author

–White, male, educated, familiar with being online and has broadband access to the internet

–Rapid growth among women and minorities

Statistics•184 Million Have started a

blog•77.7 million readers•12 million US Bloggers (8% of

US adult internet users)•57 million readers (39% of US

adult internet users)

Personal Blogging•An ongoing diary or

commentary by an individual•Most common type of blog• Looked at as a way to just

communicate, or to reflect• Can also be looked at as

therapeutic (creative writing)

Popular Personal Blog Sites

• Xanga - Twitter

• MySpace Blogs - WordPress

• Blogspot - About

• BlogFlux - Blogger

Questions. . .•Who has started/kept up with a

personal blog?

• Other reasons to start a blog?

• Do you read personal blogs?

Diddy’s Blog• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYqqU

Eqz6Z4

Celebrity/Reality Show Blogging

•Why do reality shows blog?

•Ratings

•Keep fans interested

Why do fans write back?

•Feel a connection with cast members

•Keep in touch after the show