Blogs to Peak in 2007 - Gartner
The BBC reports predictions from research company Gartner that blogging will peak at the 100mn mark in 2007:
Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer said the reason for the levelling off in blogging was due to the fact that most people who would ever start a web blog had already done so.
He said those who loved blogging were committed to keeping it up, while others had become bored and moved on.
“A lot of people have been in and out of this thing,” Mr Plummer said.
“Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they’re put on stage and asked to say it.”
Will it? Well I think it’s common sense in some respects. If you fancy the idea of blogging, you’ve probably already had a go. The report says that 200mn people have already stopped writing their blogs. Here’s three ways in which it won’t go away, though:
(a) Only about 5% of businesses have a blog (read it somewhere (??)). Almost any business could benefit from one. So plenty of room for expansion there.
(b) Asia represents 56% of the world’s population, but only 10% have internet access. Africa is a further 14% with only 3.6% internet access. (internet world stats)
(c) There are lots of different types of blog. Not all of them are the public soapbox style you see here. In the little report I compiled about Asian blogging last week, I noted that most Asian blogs are written for small groups of friends and family. This sort of informal, intimate usage, which might be considered to run to things like Piczo pages and Twitter accounts haven’t been registered on Technorati nor promoted outside its intended audience.
