Americans Still Unaware Of Blogosphere

As blogging continues to engrain itself into the everyday life of the Internet, some have wondered just how far the blogosphere has penetrated into normal day-to-day life. To clarify this issue, Pew Internet conducted a survey that measured the Darren Rowse and lots of others do on a daily basis. For the first time, Pew also questioned those surveyed about their exposure to the RSS/XML methods of content syndication. According to Pew's study, the use of RSS readers stands at 5% of American Internet users. Because RSS is still considered a fledgling method of content delivery, the 5% is viewed as a strong foothold. As RSS use and the subsequent advertising continues to grow, it's quite possible syndication may develop into an effective method of content delivery. While blog readership continues to increase, it has not quite solidified itself within the general American public. Of course, the concept of search engines took some time to take off with the general public too. While blogs may not be as popular as their inflated sense of self leads them to believe, as the term continues to become apart of the American mainstream and readership continues to increase (as it has in each of the last Pew blog surveys), one can expect their influence to grow as well. Of course, these numbers may hurt the monetization potential of blogs in the short-term. If the majority of the American Internet population is unaware of the blogosphere, it's highly unlikely that major advertisers would consider the blogs a viable outlet for their promotions. Although, popular blogs like Boing Boing may beg to differ. But, as readership continues to climb, securing 3rd party, non-AdWords-based advertising should become a stronger possibility. Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for latest search news