Blogs in the

United States

By: Casey Harvilla, Jon Tirk,

Calvin Rose & Jess Valentino

Weblogs?

• Justin Hall 1994- one of the earliest bloggers

• “weblog” John Barger December 17, 1997

• “blog” Peter Merholz 1999

• Ongoing documentation that can be viewed

by mostly anyone

• Frequently updated

What came first?• 1999 Pitas- first free build your own weblog tool

• Release of Blogger and Groksoup

• Weblogs flourished

• Free, quick and easy

BLOG• Word of the year in 2004

• ABC declares that bloggers are the People of the

Year

• Average blog author

– White, male, educated, familiar with being

online and has broadband access to the

internet

– Rapid growth among women and minorities

Statistics• 184 Million Have started a blog

• 77.7 million readers

• 12 million US Bloggers (8% of US adult

internet users)

• 57 million readers (39% of US adult internet

users)

Personal Blogging• An ongoing diary or commentary by an

individual

• Most common type of blog

• Looked at as a way to just communicate, or

to reflect

• Can also be looked at as therapeutic

(creative writing)

Popular Personal Blog Sites

• Xanga - Twitter

• MySpace Blogs - WordPress

• Blogspot - About

• BlogFlux - Blogger

Questions. . .• Who has started/kept up with a personal

blog?

• Other reasons to start a blog?

• Do you read personal blogs?

Diddy’s Blog

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYqqUEqz6Z4

Celebrity/Reality Show Blogging

• Why do reality shows blog?

• Ratings

• Keep fans interested

Why do fans write back?

•Feel a connection with cast members

•Keep in touch after the show