Interactive PR

PR 475

Brett Atwood

Three New Web Usage Studies

Web 2.0 Social Networking Blogging

LinkedIn Exercise

Web 2.0 Statistics

Pew Internet has a new study that contrasts early Web site usage with “Web 2.0” usage

Photobucket vs. Kodakgallery

Wikipedia vs. Encarta

Wikipedia Traffic by Age

Encarta Traffic by Age

MySpace vs. Geocities

Social Networking & Teens

Pew Internet just released a study on social networking usage among teens

Key Findings

55% of online teens use social networks 55% have online profiles Older girls predominate

70% of older girls have used social networks Compared to 54% of older boys

Key Findings

66% of teens who have a profile limit access to “friends”

48% of teens visit social networks “daily or more often”

Reasons for Usage

Managing Current Friendships91% use the sites to “stay in touch” with

friends they see frequently in person82% use the sites to “stay in touch” with

friends that they do not regularly see

Most Popular Sites

85% use MySpace 7% use Facebook 1% use Xanga Others:

Yahoo Piczo Gaiaonline Tagged.com

Usage Patterns

84% post messages to a friend’s profile 82% use internal messaging/email system

of the social network site 61% use the “bulletin” feature to send

message out to all “friends”

New Blogging Report

A major survey on “blogging” was released July 2006

Largest U.S. based “blog” sites

MySpace.com Owned by NewsCorp

Blogger.com Owned by Google

Other big sites: LiveJournal.com Xanga.com Typepad.com Tripod.com

Who is Blogging?

Bloggers are youngMore than half (54%) of bloggers are under the

age of 30. 55% of bloggers blog under a pseudonym,

and 46% blog under their own name.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Who is Blogging?

54% of bloggers are first-time writers They have not published anywhere else

44% have previously published

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Is it Journalism? Most bloggers do not think of what they do

as journalism. 34% of bloggers consider their blog a form

of journalism, and 65% of bloggers do not.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Is It Journalism?

Most have not “trained” to be journalists57% of bloggers include links to original

sources either “sometimes” or “often.” 56% of bloggers spend extra time trying to

verify facts they want to include in a post either “sometimes” or “often.”

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Blogging Topics

Blogs are viewed as “personal journals” by many37% of bloggers cite “my life and

experiences” as the primary topic of their blog

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Blogging Topics

There is a misconception about blogs in mainstream mediaOnly 11% of bloggers say they focus mainly

on government or politics.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Other Hot Topics

7% Entertainment 6% Sports 5% General news and current events 5% Business 4% Technology 2% Religion, spirituality or faith

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Why Blog?

84% of bloggers describe their blog as a “hobby”59% of bloggers spend just one or two hours

per week tending their blog. One in ten bloggers spend ten or more hours

per week on their blog.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

Why Blog?

The majority of bloggers cite an interest in sharing stories and expressing creativity.

Just half say they are trying to influence the way other people think.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

The Political Factor

Bloggers are more political than non-bloggers

72% of bloggers look online for news or information about politicsOnly 58% of all Internet users seek news and

info on politics in the U.S.

SOURCE: PEW INSTITUTE 2006 SURVEY

In-Class Demonstration

Homework

Create a LinkedIn professional profile Read chapter 1 of “Blog Rules”