There has been a bit of commentary around the web this week about the statistics that 48% of Americans have never knowingly read a blog and that only 7% are regular readers. Whilst bloggers might be a little disappointed in such statistics I actually think that they are good. It means that 52% of Americans must have some idea what a blog is (they must have some idea to even answer that question).
It reminds me of an article I read a month before the US presidential election last year – in it the author spoke of a study which found that presidential candidate John Kerry had a name recognition rate of 60% of the American public. I was staggered that 40% of the population didn’t seem to recognize the name of the guy who could be their next president!
I know I’m comparing apples and oranges (or Kerry’s with Blogs) and don’t really have a major scientific point here – but I don’t think these studies really need to be taken too seriously other to say that at this point in the history of blogging that perhaps there is still some room for growth of the industry.
