text 100 blogger survey results germany
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June 2009
Blogger Survey 2009
GERMANY
Survey Methodology
2
• Text 100 conducted the survey based predominantly on relationships with technology, news and lifestyle bloggers across 21 countries. This is the report for Germany;
• Text 100 was responsible for respondent identification and recruiting, while Aha! Research programmed and collected responses via an online survey, analyzed, and reported the results;
• A total of 30 surveys were analyzed.
• Note that for some questions the sample size is small and should be interpreted with care;
• All surveys were offered in English;
• Survey period: April 6 to May 11, 2009.
Bloggers’ interest in contact with PR people
3
Bloggers generally welcome contact from PR firms or a corporation
to provide information, comments, and suggestions. Bloggers in
APAC are slightly more welcoming than their counterparts in the
USA and Europe
(2008: 66%)
Q.1: Do you welcome any contact from Public Relations (PR) firms or any corporation to provide information, offer comment or suggest people
you might be interested in talking to? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
93%87% 89%
APAC EURO USA
Bloggers’ past contact with PR people
4
Bloggers report that contact initiated by a PR firm or corporation
varies from 70% in APAC to 100% in the USA
(2008: 66%)
Q.2a: Have you been contacted by any Public Relations (PR) firms or corporations in the past 6 months about areas you have been focused on
or are interested in? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
70%
86%
100%
APAC EURO USA
Bloggers’ interest and past contact with PR people - Germany
5
73% of the bloggers welcome contact from PR firms or
corporations to provide information, comments, and suggestions.
Most (97%) of the
respondents have
been contacted in the
past 6 months
Welcome any contactfrom PR firm?
Past 6 months contact?
Q.1: Do you welcome any contact from Public Relations (PR) firms or any corporation to provide information, offer comment or suggest people
you might be interested in talking to? (n=30)
Q.2a: Have you been contacted by any Public Relations (PR) firms or corporations in the past 6 months about areas you have been focused on
or are interested in? (n=30)
Yes73%
No27%
Yes97%
No3%
6
Q.2b: How frequently have you been contacted any Public Relations (PR) firms or corporations in the
past 6 months? (n= APAC:163, EURO:163, USA:27)
Frequency of contact
Almost all surveyed
bloggers (96%) in the USA
get contacted by PR firms
or corporations once a
week or more often. In
Europe (65%) and Asia
(36%) bloggers get
contacted once a week or
more often
Once a
week or
more often6%
19%
63%
4%
10%
11%
14%
23%
15%
12%
13%
7%
31%
18%
4%
13%
8%21%
7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
APAC EURO USA
Less than once every two months
Once every two months
Once a month
Once a week
More than once a week
Daily
More than once a day
7
Past 6 months contact?
Almost half
(47%) got
contacted once
a month or
more often
Q.2b: How frequently have you been contacted by any Public Relations (PR) firms or corporations in
the past 6 months? (n=29)
Frequency of contact - Germany
Yes97%
No3%
3%
17%
31%
17%
10%
3%
17%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
More than once a day
Daily
More than once a week
Once a week
Once a month
Once every two months
Less than once every two months
8
Q.3a: Please indicate to what extent you prefer each of the following means of contact from PR firms or corporations on a
scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is “Very low preference” and 7 is “Very high preference” (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Q4: Do you indicate your most preferred form of contact on your blog? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
7-point scale where 1=“Very Low preference” and 7=“Very high preference”
Preferred means of contact
52%57%
30%
APAC EURO USA
About half of bloggers in APAC
and Europe indicate their
preferred means of contact on
their blog
Email is the most
preferred means of
contact with bloggers,
while SMS and IM are
least preferred. APAC
bloggers seem to be
more flexible in their
preferred means of
contact
3,4
3,8
3,9
4,1
4,1
4,3
4,5
5,7
1,7
2,4
2,8
3,3
3,8
4,1
4,1
6,0
1,6
1,9
3,0
3,0
3,0
3,0
3,6
6,3
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0
SMS
Instant Messaging (IM)
Telephone
Social networking invitation
Micro-blogging
Comment on blog
Face-to-face
USA
EURO
APAC
Mean score
on 7-point
scale
9
Q.3a: Please indicate to what extent you prefer each of the following means of contact from PR firms or corporations on a
scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is “Very low preference” and 7 is “Very high preference” (n=30)
Q4: Do you indicate your most preferred form of contact on your blog? (n=30)
Email is the most preferred
means of contact among bloggers
7-point scale where 1=“Very Low preference” and 7=“Very high preference”
Preferred means of contact - Germany
Any indication of
preferred means of
contact shown on
their blogs?
47% of bloggers indicate
their most preferred form
of contact on their blogs
Mean score
on 7-point
scale
1,2
1,9
2,1
3,0
3,4
3,6
3,9
5,3
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0
By SMS
By telephone
By instant messaging
By social networking invitation
By micro-blogging platform
By face-to-face meeting
Comment on your blog
By email
Contact required before information distribution?
10
Q.5: If a PR firm or corporation with whom you had no prior contact wants to send you their press releases or other information, do you prefer them to contact you
first to introduce themselves, or just send you their information without an introduction? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Q.6: How important you feel it is to have a face-to-face meeting before receiving information from a PR agency or corporation with whom you have not worked with
before? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
In APAC, 88% prefer an introduction before
receiving information from a PR firm or
corporation with whom they have not had prior
contact, compared with only 41% in the USA
88%
77%
41%
APAC EURO USA
4,1
3,02,8
APAC EURO USA
Introductory face-to-face meetings with new
contacts are more important in APAC than in
Europe or the USA
Contact required before information distribution? - Germany
11
Q.5: If a PR firm or corporation with whom you had no prior contact wants to send you their press releases or other information, do you prefer them to contact you
first to introduce themselves, or just send you their information without an introduction? (n=30)
Q.6: How important you feel it is to have a face-to-face meeting before receiving information from a PR agency or corporation with whom you have not worked with
before? (n=30)
70% of bloggers prefer to be introduced before
receiving information from a PR firm or corporation
with whom they have not had prior contact How important is a face-to-face
introduction meeting?
Many of these bloggers
don‟t think a face-to-face meeting is
important
On a 7-point „importance scale‟, the mean
is 2.93 which is leaning towards the “Not
Important” side of the scale
Prefers introductio
n70%
Prefers no introductio
n30%
Interest in selected types of content
12
Q.8a: Now let‟s talk about your preferred content for your blog. For each of the following types of content, please use this scale
where 1 means you are not interested at all and 7 means you are very interested in this content.
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
7-point scale where 1=“Not interested at all” and 7=“Very interested”
3,5
4,4
4,6
4,7
4,4
4,8
5,2
5,0
5,5
5,3
3,1
3,9
4,3
4,2
4,8
4,7
5,0
5,4
5,2
5,6
3,5
3,8
4,3
4,3
5,2
4,7
5,6
5,0
5,0
6,0
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0
Corporate news announcements
Long-term and strategic related content about corporations
Event announcements
Competitive product analysis
Product announcements
Market trend and forecast/analysis
Interviews with key people
Products to review
Opinionated responses to your blog posts
Research, insights, new product development news
USA
EURO
APAC
Mean score
on 7-point
scaleThe most preferred content by
bloggers is news of new product
development and products for
review, as well as feedback from
readers and interviews with key
people.
Bloggers show the least interest
in corporate news
announcements
Interest in selected types of content -Germany
13
Q.8a: Now let‟s talk about your preferred content for your blog. For each of the following types of content, please use this scale
where 1 means you are not interested at all and 7 means you are very interested in this content. (n=30)
7-point scale where 1=“Not interested at all” and 7=“Very interested”
Research insights / new product development news is the most sought after
content type while corporate news announcements is of least interest
Mean score
on 7-point
scale
2,9
3,3
3,5
3,9
3,9
4,2
4,6
4,9
5,1
5,5
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0
Corporate news announcements
Event announcements
Product announcements
Products to review
Competitive product analysis
Long-term and strategic related content about corporations
Interviews with key people
Opinionated responses to your blog posts
Market trend and forecast/analysis
Research, insights, new product development news
14
Q.9: How frequently have you used each of the following content formats on your blog over the past 6 months?
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Content format: Frequency of usage
15%
16%
34%
41%
88%
13%
26%
43%
44%
88%
15%
15%
37%
37%
74%
Audio podcast
Video podcast
Video streaming
Charts and graphs
Photographs
USA
EURO
APAC
Photographs are the most
frequently used content forms
while podcasts are least
frequently used
% who used
“a few times a
month” or more
frequently
15
Q.9: How frequently have you used each of the following content formats on your blog over the past 6 months? (n=30)
Photographs are the most frequently used content type with 86% of the surveyed
bloggers using them a few times a month or more. Video or audio podcasts are
used less than a few times in the past 6 months by more than 73% of the bloggers
Content format: Frequency of usage -Germany
10%
30%
3%
10%
13%
20%
37%
17%
17%
33%
27%
20%
10%
20%
17%
17%
7%
10%
20%
7%
10%
7%
60%
33%
30%
17%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Audio podcast
Video podcast
Video streaming
Charts and graphs
Photographs
Daily Few times a week Few times a month Few times in past 6 months Less often Not at all
16
Social Media Releases
48%
38%
26%
APAC EURO USA
Social Media Releases (SMRs) have
highest awareness amongst APAC
bloggers (48%)
4,8 5,05,3
APAC EURO USA
Among those aware of SMRs,
effectiveness evaluation is on the
positive side (7-point
“effectiveness scale where
7=Very effective)(note: small USA sample size)
Q.10a: Have you ever heard of a Social Media Release (definition provided in the questionnaire? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Q.10b: How effective do you think Social Media Releases are as a means to keep you updated on corporations? (7-point scale)
(n= APAC:112, EURO:72, USA:7)
17
Social Media Releases
Q.10c: Compared with a year ago, to what extent are companies using Social Media Releases to communicate with you and other bloggers?
(n= APAC:112, EURO:72, USA:7)
68%
63%
57%
APAC EURO USA
Bloggers generally experienced an increase over the past year
in the usage of SMRs by companies to communicate with them
(note: small USA sample size)
18
Social Media Releases - Germany
About half of the surveyed
bloggers are aware of
Social Media Releases
SMR Effectiveness
Among those who have heard of
SMRs, 50% feel they are a very
effective means of keeping them
updated on corporations(note: small sample size)
Compared with a year ago, 50%
of bloggers experienced an
increase SMR usage by
companies wanting to
communicate with them(note: small sample size)
Q.10a: Have you ever heard of a Social Media Release (definition provided in the questionnaire? (n=30)
Q.10b: How effective do you think Social Media Releases are as a means to keep you updated on corporations? (7-point scale) (n=16)
Q.10c: Compared with a year ago, to what extent are companies using Social Media Releases to communicate with you and other bloggers? (n=16)
0%
50% 50%
0% 0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Increased significantly
Increased somewhat
Remained unchanged
Decreased somewhat
Decreased significantly
Yes53%
No47%
19
Q.10d: In the past year, how often have you taken elements (video, quotes, pictures, links) from a Social Media Releases to use in your own blog postings?
Q.10e: In the next year, how often are you likely to use elements from a Social Media Release for use in your own blog postings?
(n= APAC:112, EURO:72, USA:7)
Use of SMR elements
Past year usage
(often / very often)
Next year intent to use
(somewhat / significantly more often)
26%
15%
0%
APAC EURO USA
64%61%
43%
APAC EURO USA
Usage of elements from SMRs in the
past year is highest in APAC
(note: small USA sample size)
Intention to use elements from
SMRs in the next year is high in
both APAC and Europe
(note: small USA sample size)
20
Only 12% of bloggers frequently took elements
such as videos, quotes, pictures and links from
SMRs to use in their own blogs.(note: small sample size)
76% said they will use SMR elements
more often in the coming year(note: small sample size)
Q.10d: In the past year, how often have you taken elements (video, quotes, pictures, links) from a Social Media Releases to use in your own blog postings? (n=16)
Q.10e: In the next year, how often are you likely to use elements from a Social Media Release for use in your own blog postings? (n=16)
Use of SMR elements - Germany
Past year
usage
Next year intent
to use
6% 6%
25%
19%
44%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Always Very often Sometimes Rarely Never
13%
63%
25%
0% 0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Significantly more often
Somewhat more often
Same as in the past year
Somewhat less often
Significantly less often
12%
76%
Popular blogging subjects
21
Q.11: Which of the following subjects do you normally blog about? (Select all that apply)
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
“Computers”, “technology” and “Internet” are the most
blogged about subjects
APAC
15%
16%
20%
27%
27%
31%
41%
42%
45%
52%
61%
67%
Science
Gaming
Government & Politics
Business and finance
General News
Current affairs
Media
Brands / marketing/ media
Entertainment / Arts/ Music
Culture and Community
Internet / Web 2.0
Computers and technology
17%
17%
18%
23%
27%
28%
31%
43%
45%
50%
74%
83%
Current affairs
General News
Government & Politics
Science
Entertainment / Arts/ Music
Gaming
Business and finance
Culture and Community
Brands / marketing/ media
Media
Computers and technology
Internet / Web 2.0
4%
4%
7%
11%
11%
15%
22%
26%
26%
52%
67%
78%
General News
Science
Government & Politics
Current affairs
Entertainment / Arts/ Music
Culture and Community
Brands / marketing/ media
Gaming
Media
Business and finance
Internet / Web 2.0
Computers and technology
EUROPE USA
Popular blogging subjects -Germany
22
Q.11: Which of the following subjects do you normally blog about? (Select all that apply) (n=30)
The Internet, media, and “Computers and Technology”
are the most blogged about subjects among these bloggers
% who normally blogs
about each subject
7%
7%
13%
20%
23%
30%
30%
47%
57%
63%
63%
83%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Current affairs
Gaming
General News
Entertainment / Arts/ Music
Science
Business and finance
Government & Politics
Brands / marketing/ media
Culture and Community
Computers and technology
Media
Internet / Web 2.0
Importance of various information sources about corporations
23
Q.12: Please indicate how important each of the following sources are for information about corporations? Please use this scale
where 1 is “not important at all” and 7 is “very Important”. You may use any number from 1 to 7
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
7-point scale where 1=“Not important at all” and 7=Very important”
“Other bloggers”, “Corporate websites”, and “RSS feeds” are the surveyed bloggers‟
most important sources of corporate information.
Traditional media is of less importance
APAC EUROPE USA
4,0
4,1
4,4
4,6
4,7
4,8
4,8
4,9
4,9
5,4
Television
Social bookmarking sites
Magazines
Newspapers
Micro-blogging sites
Corporate bloggers
Social networks
Corporation websites
RSS Feeds
Other bloggers
3,0
3,9
3,9
4,3
4,4
4,6
4,8
4,9
5,3
5,8
Television
Social bookmarking sites
Magazines
Newspapers
Social networks
Micro-blogging sites
Corporate bloggers
Corporation websites
RSS Feeds
Other bloggers
2,8
3,1
3,4
3,6
4,0
4,7
4,7
4,9
5,2
5,4
Social bookmarking sites
Television
Micro-blogging sites
Social networks
Corporate bloggers
Magazines
Newspapers
RSS Feeds
Other bloggers
Corporation websites
Importance of various information sources about corporations - Germany
24
Q.12: Please indicate how important each of the following sources are for information about corporations? Please use this scale
where 1 is “not important at all” and 7 is “very Important”. You may use any number from 1 to 7 (n=30)
7-point scale where 1=“Not important at all” and 7=Very important”
“Other bloggers” and RSS Feeds are the most important
sources of information about corporations
Mean scores
on 7-point
scale
2,0
3,5
3,8
4,1
4,2
4,2
4,5
4,5
5,5
5,7
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0
Television
Magazines
Social bookmarking sites
Corporation websites
Newspapers
Social networks
Corporate bloggers
Micro-blogging sites
RSS Feeds
Other bloggers
25
Time spent blogging
APAC bloggers spend the least amount of time
blogging while USA bloggers spend the most
Q.13: How much of your working week is spent blogging?
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
18%
18%
40%
24%
31%
13%35%
21%
More than 16 hours 9 to 16 hours 4 to 8 hours Less than 4 hours
41%
22%
30%
7%9+ hrs /
week:
36%
9+ hrs /
week:
44%
9+ hrs /
week:
63%
APAC EURO USA
26
Time spent blogging - Germany
40% of the bloggers spend more than 9 hours of
their working week blogging
Q.13: How much of your working week is spent blogging? (n=30)
Germany
More than 16 hours27%
9 to 16 hours13%
4 to 8 hours43%
Less than 4 hours17%
9+ hrs /
week:
40%
27
Micro-blogging
Q.14a: Micro-blogging sites such as twitter, Plurk and Fanfou are increasingly popular alternatives to blogging (and social
networking). Do you use a micro-blogging site? (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Q.14b: IF YES: Since starting to use a micro-blogging site, has your blogging… (n= APAC:177, EURO:153, USA:22)
76%81% 81%
APAC EURO USA
81% of bloggers in the USA and
Europe use micro-blogging, compared
with 76% in APAC
The impact of micro-blogging on
normal blogging is the highest in
APAC (29%) and Europe (27%) where
bloggers reported to be blogging more
as a result of their micro-blogging
29%
27%
18%
APAC EURO USA
n=26
28
Micro-blogging - Germany
87% of bloggers use a micro-
blogging service such as twitter12% 19%
Most of the bloggers (69%) think that micro-
blogging has neither increased nor decreased
their normal blogging
Q.14a: Micro-blogging sites such as twitter and are increasingly popular alternatives to blogging (and social networking).
Do you use a micro-blogging site? (n=30)
Q.14b: IF YES: Since starting to use a micro-blogging site, has your blogging… (n=26)
Yes87%
No13%
4%8%
69%
19%
0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Significantly increased
Somewhat increased
Neither increased nor
decreased
Somewhat decreased
Significantly decreased
29
Honoring an embargo
All bloggers (100%) in the USA would honor the
terms of an embargo placed on a story idea or
announcement, compared to only 90% in Europe
Q.15: If offered a story idea or announcement under embargo (that is, the material is sent to you in advance of when the organization
wants it in the public arena, and advise a time and date after which it can be used), would you honor the terms of the embargo?
(n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
97%
90%
100%
APAC EURO USA
30
Honoring an embargo - Germany
77% would honor the terms of an embargo
placed on a story idea or announcement
Q.15: If offered a story idea or announcement under embargo (that is, the material is sent to you in advance of when the organization
wants it in the public arena, and advise a time and date after which it can be used), would you honor the terms of the embargo?
(n=30)
Yes77%
No23%
31
Acknowledging sponsorships
Q.16: There has been some discussion in the blogosphere regarding bloggers making positive posts in return for some sort of
compensation. Some say that ethically, bloggers should acknowledge that their blog or post is „supported‟, while others disagree.
Do you agree, or disagree, that bloggers should acknowledge corporate sponsorship for: (n= APAC:233, EURO:189, USA:27)
Bloggers in the USA are more likely to agree that they should acknowledge that their blog or post
is „supported‟ when making positive posts in return for some sort of compensation
71%74%
85%
64%
81%
89%
68%
80%85%
58%
80%
89%
0,0%
10,0%
20,0%
30,0%
40,0%
50,0%
60,0%
70,0%
80,0%
90,0%
100,0%
APAC EURO USA
Product reviews Advertorials Posts that support a blogs advertisers Incentives or gifting to report
32
Acknowledging sponsorships -Germany
Q.16: There has been some discussion in the blogosphere regarding bloggers making positive posts in return for some sort of
compensation. Some say that ethically, bloggers should acknowledge that their blog or post is „supported‟, while others disagree.
Do you agree, or disagree, that bloggers should acknowledge corporate sponsorship for: (n=30)
Bloggers generally agree that they should acknowledge that their blog or post is „supported‟
when making positive posts in return for some sort of compensation
63%
67%
63%
63%
3%
7%
10%
10%
23%
13%
10%
7%
3%
23%
10%
10%
13%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Incentives or gifting to report
Advertorials
Product reviews
Posts that support a blogs advertisers
Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither disagree nor agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree
33
Indication of association with blogged about entity
Agreement is highest in the USA that bloggers should
always clearly state their employer or association if
blogging on issues or topics that relate to their businesses
Q.17: there has been some discussion in the blogosphere regarding corporate bloggers that don‟t clearly indicate their association
with an enterprise or organization. To what extent do you agree, or disagree, that “bloggers should always clearly state their employer
or association if blogging on issues or topics that relate to their businesses?” (n=449)
75%
87%
96%
APAC EURO USA
34
Indication of association with blogged about entity - Germany
Most (87%) agree that bloggers should always clearly state
their employer or association if blogging on issues or topics
that relate to their businesses
Q.17: there has been some discussion in the blogosphere regarding corporate bloggers that don‟t clearly indicate their association
with an enterprise or organization. To what extent do you agree, or disagree, that “bloggers should always clearly state their employer
or association if blogging on issues or topics that relate to their businesses?” (n=30)
87%
70%
17%13%
0% 0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Strongly agree Somewhat agree
Neither disagree nor
agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
June 2009
Blogger Survey 2009
GERMANY
Lars BascheE-Mail: [email protected]: +49 (0)89 99 83 70 33Twitter: larsbasDelicious: larsbasche