Off-topic: Blogs are growing, not dying

Tweet this post The Regator Blog tells why blogging isn't dead yet and why blogs' role as information sources is still growing. Turns out that Facebook and Twitter took the “I just did some laundry and am going to sit down to watch TV now” bloggers out of the blogosphere, reducing the number of bloggers but increasing the quality and depth of blogs. And that's good news. Kimberly Turner explains:

Stan Schroeder of Mashable recently published a post based on research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The post was originally titled: “Everyone Uses E-mail, But Hardly Anyone Blogs Anymore.” Then, perhaps realizing that 14 percent of all internet users certainly doesn’t constitute “hardly anyone,” the headline changed to “Everyone Uses E-mail, But Blogging Is On the Decline.” Since that post was published last week, it has been re-blogged dozens of times (often with alarmist headlines about the demise of blogging: “victim of Facebook?”), emailed to us here at Regator several times by well-intentioned friends and users, and Tweeted hundreds of times. But we’re not at all worried. And you shouldn’t be either. Here’s why:

Let’s start by looking at the full report at the original source—always a good place to start when the waters are murky. The Mashable article’s (current) headline states: “Everyone Uses E-mail, But Blogging Is On the Decline.” According the study Schroeder based the post on, this is false. As the handy-dandy chart below (from the same Pew study) shows, blogging is on the decline in Millennials (18-33) and G.I. Generation (74+) but on the increase in all other age groups with an overall increase from 11 percent of internet users in December 2008 to 14 percent in May 2010. In general, blogging is on the rise. One more time for those who are still freaking out: Blogging is not in decline. Put away your shovels and call off the funeral.

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