Less US adults reading Esoteric * Diatribe... heh

The AP is reporting that blog readership is up in the US...

Readership of online journals known as blogs grew significantly last year, driven by increased awareness of them during the presidential campaign and other major news events, according to a study released on Sunday.

Twenty-seven percent of online adults in the US said in November they read blogs, compared with 17 percent in a February survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Neat. Readership of E*D is down but that is likely because I have reduced blogging from a multi-daily task to a once a week if I get around to it sort of thing.

Also of interest from the article:

Though blog readership jumped, the percentage of online Americans who write blogs grew only slightly, to 7 percent in November, up from 5 percent early in the year. Blog creators tend to be male, affluent, well-educated and young; 70 percent of them have high-speed connections at home, and 82 percent have been online at least six years.

Male: Check
Affluent: Ahahahahahahahaha!
Well educated: Check
Young: Check
High Speed at Home: Check Not available where I now live.

In a related piece, Blogs Booming?, Alyce Lomax astutely points out:

The Pew data does show that the majority of Americans still don't know what a blog is, posing the idea that, despite no shortage of hype, the blog phenomenon could remain a niche or stagnate at these levels. However, it seems to me that's a slim chance. How this industry evolves will be of the utmost importance to traditional media -- and Internet-based -- companies, and the individuals who have invested in them.

Speaking of investing in blogs, who wants to write Ken a big fat check?

Read more about blogs.