A comparison of the blogging practices of UK and US bloggersDr Sarah Pedersen

US and UK bloggers: are there differences?

• Vast majority of research into blogging has so far focused on the North American experience

• British bloggers are relatively late arrivals to the blogosphere

Methodology

• Survey administered to 60 UK and 60 US bloggers• Selected randomly from two blogging directories which allowed

selection by state or county• Equal numbers of male and female bloggers blogging in English

and over the age of 18• Data also collected directly from their blogs• Established a blog about the research

Demographic differences

• Previous US studies have characterised bloggers as educated to graduate level

• UK respondents, on average, were younger and less educated than US respondents

• Is the second wave of blogging, outside the US, attracting a different type of person to the blogosphere?

• Or did earlier studies focus on graduates?

US bloggers

UK bloggers

Educated to bachelor degree

47% 32%

Postgraduate degree

35% 18%

Left school at 16

10% 28%

Where and where do bloggers blog?

• 14% at a workplace outside the home• 43% at home• 30% at home, which is also their place of employment• ’I sometimes wonder how a person who doesn’t work from

home would find significant time to blog.’ • US bloggers more likely to blog in the morning• UK bloggers more likely to blog in the evening

Content of blogs

• 51 blogs characterised as Personal– 15 men and 36 women

– Only 4 US men wrote Personal blogs

• Religion – 5 male blogs• Politics and opinion – 12 male and 3 female• Work, business and IT – 16 male and 5 female• Food – 3 female

The blog as online diary?

• 28 respondents agreed that their blog had replaced a diary (19 women)

• 17 agreed that the blog had replaced a project journal• 15 agreed that the blog had replaced a travel diary• US males least likely to see blogs as a form of diary keeping• 50% of UK women stated that they blogged for their own

records– Compared to only 4 US males (13%)

Promotion of blogs

• Most popular method – submit blog to blog directory (97)• Blogrings – 26 UK bloggers and 15 US bloggers (only 4 US

males)• Most popular blogrings – linked bloggers of the same sex or

same geographical location, ie Scottish bloggers• UK bloggers need to mark themselves out against numerically

stronger US bloggers?

Concerns about privacy

• 56 respondents had concerns about privacy• Particularly regarding family and work• Potential future employers might search for them on the Internet• Are bloggers identifiable through the information they give?• 70% of the blogs did not show an identifiable photo• But, 54% of US male blogs did show such a photo• Anecdotal evidence suggests that bloggers can be identified

Blog as income generator

• Teams led by Nardi and Schiano suggested five main motivations for blogging– Documenting the author’s life

– Commentary and opinion

– Expressing deeply felt emotions

– Working out ideas

– Forming communities

• Pedersen also suggests a need for validation• This survey suggested a desire for financial reward

Financial reward

• Particularly strong motivation for women respondents– Looking for alternative to full-time employment out of house

• ’I hope to eventually make enough money from my blog to support my family’

• Marketing tool• Blogging as a profession• Carrying advertising or requesting subscriptions• Publication of the blog itself

Blogrolls

• Recommended reading• 82 blogs surveyed had a blogroll• Survey asked what respondents had in common with the blogs

on their blogroll– Interests (92)

– A sense of humour (59)

– Part of the world (19)

How willing are bloggers to link to blogs outside their own country?

0

5

10

15

20

25

0-10 11─20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100

Percentage of blogroll

Nu

mb

er o

f b

log

ger

s

UK bloggers

US bloggers

US blogrolls

• 47 US blogs carried a blogroll• 31 had less than 20% of all links to blogs outside the US• 15 of these had no links outside the US at all• Male blogger with most foreign links was a German ex-pat• Female blogger with most foreign links wrote a blog about Jane

Austen

UK blogrolls

• 43 UK blogs had blogrolls• 14 had less than 20% of all links to blogs outside the UK• 7 had no links outside the UK at all• 14 bloggers had more than 50% of their links to foreign blogs• Not surprising: there ARE more blogs outside the UK• However, the limited amount of linking that the average US

blogger does to sites outside the US should be noted

The popular blogs

• 120 respondents’ blogs were ranked in terms of popularity

• The survey’s US male respondents were more popular in the blogosphere than other respondents

• Agrees with other research investigating popularity in the US blogosphere

UK males

UK females

US males

US females

Least popular 20 blogs

6 6 1 7

Most popular 20 blogs

4 4 10 2

Surfwax data

UK males UK females US males US females

Top ten blogs with most links

2 1 6 1

Top ten blogs with most images

0 2 7 1

Top ten blogs with most words

2 1 6 1

Conclusions

• The project set out to compare and contrast the blogging techniques of UK and US bloggers.

• However, what it has discovered is noticeable differences between US males and the rest of the blogosphere.

• The dominance of male bloggers in the US, identified by many commentators in the last few years, also translates into a dominance of the international, anglophone blogosphere.

• UK bloggers were more ready to make links to overseas blogs in their blogrolls, while US bloggers as a group were less ready.

• Blogging is now being seen as a viable income generator for those who need a flexible approach to employment.