Blogging is here to stay. It is both a way to express one’s personal interests and also widely used by companies as a way to tell personal and relevant stories related to the company and giving the brand a face. According to Technorati, people spend more and more time and resources on maintaining blogs.
People today speak of the blogosphere as a collective term of bloggers. The blogosphere, even though it is spread across the world, can be considered as social network in itself or a community where people are inspired by each other and share information and views.
The blogosphere in many ways reflect public opinion and influential bloggers are part of forming the public debate. Just as there are trending topics going on on the microblogging platform Twitter that show sentiment and tell a story of what is being talked about, the same can be said about the blogosphere.
Girl power
Even though the majority of bloggers are male, the influence of female bloggers have become an interesting topic lately for brands and the media in general who can benefit from identifying for instance influential mom bloggers. Analysis shows that women are more susceptible to the branding of products and more likely to write about brands on their blogs. Therefore the opinion of mom bloggers is of great value to brands and companies who through the bloggers can get mention of their products and word-of-mouth.
The voice of the people
According to BlogPulse there are around 150 million blogs registered. This makes the blogosphere a powerful entity reflecting many people’s opinion. And bloggers read other blogs as a source of information.
Most bloggers from time to time write about brands and products whose reputation they approve of and can identify with. And for the blogger it is usually a crucial element whether the mention of a product corresponds with the content and values of the blog.
A blogger is in control of his or her own blog, which is what makes blogs an authentic and credible source of information. It is therefore also debated whether or not paying bloggers for a mention of a product would undermine the blogosphere, as the information or a recommendation would seem less credible. Therefore transparency is crucial as it is the case with social media in general. As a reader you need to be able to identify whose voice you are reading.
5 facts about the blogosphere
– The majority of bloggers blog for fun and mere personal satisfaction without earning an income from it
– Approximately two-thirds of the bloggers are male
– Most bloggers have either a college degree or graduate degree
– Most bloggers use social media like Facebook or Twitter to promote their blog and share content
– One of the largest blogs, The Huffington Post, has just been acquired by AOL for 315 million dollars
(source: Technorati.com)
