BlogSweden 5 – a survey of Swedish bloggers and blog readers

Hans Kullin | Sermo Consulting | July 2010

If the Swedish blogosphere were 100 people

Summary

A total of 2,251 blog readers responded to an online survey in April 2010.

Out of these respondents, 94% had at least one blog.

The typical Swedish blogger in the survey is:

» female

» 16-20 years old

» reads 1-5 blogs daily

» likes to read blogs about fasion & design

» reads blogs to be entertained

» blogs because she likes to write

» updates her blog every day

» does not mind being contacted by businesses in her role as a blogger

» is not anonymous

» does not have ads on her blog of which she gets part of the revenue

Changes compared to the 2009 survey: 

» Reads fewer blogs

» Spends less time reading blogs

» Blogs about fashion & design now more popular than blogs about everyday life experiences

Women still dominate the blogosphere

» Just like last year, women make up the vast majority of respondents in the survey (82.2% in 2009). Only 14.7% of respondents are men.

Blogs are more popular among young people

» The majority of blog readers are 25 years on younger.

» 16-20-year olds make up more than one third of the respondents and they read blogs about fashion & design (73.1%) and every day life experiences (50.3%).

Time spent reading blogs has decreased

» Blog readers spend less time reading blogs in 2010, than in 2009. Last year, 36.0% spent 6 hours or more reading blogs. This year that share is only 21.5%.

Fashion and design now most popular topic

Women read blogs about:- fashion and design (62.9%)- everyday life experiences

(50.5%)- photo and art (40.0%)

Men read blogs about:- IT and blogging (47.7%)- journalism and media

(38.0%)- politics and society (34.2%)

» Overall, fashion and design is now the most popular topic. In 2009, ”everyday life experiences” was slightly more popular than ”fashion and design”.

People read blogs for entertainment

» The most common response to the question ”why do you read blogs?” is ”To be entertained” (73.4%) followed by ”To read ’ordinary’ people’s opinions” (53.2%) and ”To stay in touh with friends” (46.9%). Among 11 different alternative responses, this is the same order as in the 2009 survey.

» Blog readers say they read blogs to get a glance of the lives of friends and people they don’t know. On top of that, blogs also serve as a complement to traditional news media with their additional views on the public debate.

Users will spend more time on social media in the coming 12 months» Question: “How much time will you spend on social media such as Twitter, blogs

and social networks the next 12 months compared with today?”

» 5.7% will spend much more time.» 22.1% will spend slightly more time.» 55.4% will spend the same amount.» 14.7% will spend slightly less time.» 2.1% will spend much less time.

Blogs influence purchase decisions

» More than half of respondents say they have bought a product or a service after reading recommendations on a blog.

» This is a significantly higher percentage than in 2009, when 37.9% of respondents answered Yes (and 35.2% in 2008).

Views on blogs may also stop customers from buying a product

» As many as 44.4% (up from 38.5% in 2009 and 34.6% in 2008) of the bloggers say that they at least once have decided not to buy a product or service because of views posted on blogs.

People share more positive opinions online

Few companies contact negative bloggers

» Considering the influence blogs can have on consumer purchase decisions, it is remarkable that so few bloggers have gotten a response from the company they criticized.

We follow brands to show our support

» The most common reason to follow or ”like” brands or companies on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook is to show our love and support for the brand to others.

» Other common reasons are to get exclusive offers or information faster than non-fans.

Most employers don’t block access

Self-expression primary reason to start a blog

» 94% of the respondents in the survey have at least one blog of their own.

» Self-expression is still the dominant reason to start blogging. The answer ”becuase I like to write” had been the most common reason in all five surveys. (2009: 85.0%, 2008: 88.5%, 2006: 81.2%, 2005: 79.3%).

More than half of all bloggers update daily

» Although blog readers seem to spend less time reading blogs, writing blogs have only slightly decreased. More than half of all bloggers in the survey update their blogs at least once a day (57.6% compared to 64.2% in 2009).

One in three bloggers are anonymous

» More than 6 in 10 bloggers reveal their identity as bloggers (62.8% in 2009).

About the survey

» BlogSweden 5 is the fifth annual survey of Swedish bloggers and blog readers. The survey was performed via SurveyMonkey.com between April 12 and 14, 2010, with a total of 2,251 respondents, out of which 94% had at least one blog. Respondents (blog readers) were chosen by convenience sampling which means that the results of the survey is not statistically valid for all Swedish bloggers, but only for the respondents of the survey. That also means that comparisons between this survey and previous surveys cannot be made with statistical certainty. BlogSweden 1 was performed in May 2005, BlogSweden 2 in July 2006, BlogSweden 3 in January 2008 and BlogSweden 4 in February 2009.

» Published under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Share Alike License 3.0.

» About Hans Kullin

» PR consultant, speaker and advisor with focus on social media, at Sermo Consulting in Sweden. Has been blogging at Media Culpa (www.kullin.net) since February 2004 and is listed on Advertising Age’s list of the world’s most influential media and marketing blogs: www.adage.com/power150/

» Mobile: +46-722-33 10 66, E-mail: hans@kullin.net or hans@sermoconsulting.se.

» Twitter: www.twitter.com/kullin, SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/kullin

» Blogs: www.socialamedier.com and www.kullin.net

Sermo ConsultingSermo Consulting is a small niche agency with long and extensive experience in strategic and tactical guidance in online corporate communication. Sermo is working for listed and non listed companies. Sermo has 15 consultants based in Oslo and Stockholm.

Hans Kullin,Mobile: +46 722 33 10 66 | E-mail: hans@sermoconsulting.se Twitter www.twitter.com/kullin

to rethink is a must