ArsTechnica takes a look at the newest Pew study on Bloggers - who they (Pew) call the “Internet’s New Storytellers.” The study is great and deserves a read, but here’s a few stats that I like:
- About 12 million Americans keep a blog
- 39% of Americans read blogs
- When asked to pick a focus for their blog, 37% of bloggers chose “My Life and experiences”
Lots of other stuff in there, but those are just a few highlights.
In probably what is the first “big” video blog defection/move/breakup, Amanda Congdon has left (or been fired from) popular video blog Rocketboom (click on the links - the story does shift depending on which side you look at). In the world of video blogs - where often the sucess of the show rests not just on the content, but on the relationship the viewers feel they have with the host (something Congdon excelled at) - this will be interesting to watch. Will Rocketboom stay Rocketboom without Amanda Congdon? (Just as “Would Ask a Ninja be the same if they replaced him with another Ninja?”)
Newsgator and the future of RSS (TechCrunch)
NBC and YouTube make nice, run promos (Micro Persuasion)
Finally, a public service annoucement regarding the 4th of July, fireworks and your digital cameras from Gizmodo - and have a safe (and fun) holiday weekend!
Jeff Jarvis over at the Buzz Machine highlights a study done by the Telegraph Media Group that looks at blog participation (reader and writership) across a variety of different countries. While most of the numbers match up somewhat with infromation passed on in Technorati’s most recent State of Blogosphere, I do have to wonder about what’s missing - while the data is presented as worldwide data, the information highlighed by Jeff indicates that it was more Eurocentric (with stats on the US, UK, Denmark and Germany) than worldwide (with the inclusion of some of the largest blogging communities in China and Japan. In any case, Jarvis notes that, “Every nation approaches blogging differently but I don’t think we know why,” and his discussion of the issue is something I’d love to see more of.
Google recently annouced and invited webmasters to test a Cost Per Action AdSense program - basically, allowing them to be paid on a “action oriented” basis vs. an clicks or impression oriented basis. Reactions on some sites were certainly mixed, but it looks like an interesting progression for AdSense (or as one commenter called it, “full-on-assult to the affiliate marketers“)
Of course, I’m intersted in the user side experience - what will the more CPA oriented ads look like (if you read some of the language included in the accompanying posts, it appears Google is pushing a different type of ad for its CPA participants) and how much response they get from consumers.
Scoble leaves Microsoft, and LOTS of people blog about it (Technorati) (Congrats to Robert on the new gig - I’ll be watching PodTech far more than I did Microsoft, and a round of applause for being so positive about the whole blog avalanche that followed his annoucement)
Page Views 2.0 - is there a difference between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0’s modus operandi? (ReadWriteWeb)
Blogging for Dollars: Bruce Sterling on the lack of need for Web 2.0 advertising (Wired)
Feedburner and TypePad hook up (Digg)
The features of IPTV: Wishes vs. Reality (CNET)
Technorati: Myspace massive source of incoming traffic (Niall Kennedy via Micro Persuasion)
Web 2.0: What Will be Different? (Marketing Shift)
PerSecond Podcast - Advertising by the Second (Micro Persuasion)
Microsoft Introduces Contextual Email Advertisements (AdJab)
Perplex City takes Alternative Reality Gaming to the Next Level (Slashdot)
eBay adds blogs, wikis and more to help its sellers (Micro Persuasion)
Skype comes to Mobiles (Gizmodo)
Blogging: The Generation Gap (New York Times via Slashdot) - for some interesting reading, check out the comments on the Slashdot article.
YouTube views, ads, tv math and that dancing guy (Engadget)
Happy three day weekend to all!