How Bloggers Use (or Don’t Use) Twitter
Bloggers matter to our work because they’re often more sympathetic to our issues than the mainstream media. Bloggers also need a constant stream of content, which we can provide — including news of local protests, poltical intrigue, framing up news stories, etc. Blogs are also often the place to begin to get the word out about an issue, especially when political and media elites are keeping a close eye on what’s bubbling up through the blogsphere. This is why Crib Notes obsessivly tracks analysis of the evolving blogsphere — we see bloggers as yet another audience grassroots groups need to parse and understand.
So here’s another recent study by Technorati entitled “State of the Blogosphere 2009”, which reviews the use of Twitter by bloggers in 2009. They found that:
- Bloggers use Twitter much more than does the general population. In a poll conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates in May 2009, just 14% of the general population used Twitter – but 73% of respondents in this survey do. Those who use Twitter say they do so to promote their blogs, bring interesting links to light, and to understand what people are buzzing about. 50% of Part Timers say they use Twitter to market their businesses. Other uses of Twitter, like interacting with companies (24%), politicians (11%), and celebrities (9%), are much less popular.
- 52% syndicate their blog posts to their Twitter Account, and 41% do so while also posting tweets that are not associated with their blogs. Twitter usage appears to be most pronounced among 18-24 (52%) and 25-34 (47%) year olds.
- 26% of bloggers who also use Twitter say that the service has eaten into the time they spend updating their traditional blogs – though 65% say it has had no effect. Even among the technologically sophisticated audience of bloggers, 35% of those who do not use Twitter say it’s because they do not understand the point . And 54% report that they don’t feel the need to broadcast their life, despite the popularity of “personal musings” as a blog topic.
