The Manhattan Project

Something has been bugging me since I started this blog last year and I want to try to get to the root of it. The year 2004 was a major milestone for blogging. Consider the following: bloggers had a key role in the Presidential campaign, the word "blog" was added to Webster's dictionary, ABC named bloggers their "people of the year," Microsoft launched a blogging platform and on and on and on. More importantly, the press has fallen in love with bloggers. Every day Google News turns up hundreds of articles that mention them.

Nevertheless, despite the buzz, Pew reports that 28% of online users read blogs. Now 28% is hardly anything to sneeze at. In fact, Pew also reports that blog readership rocketed up 58% last year. In addition, my regular readers know that I believe the bigger story here is about the influencers who are reading/writing blogs, not their actual reach. Yet something is still bugging me. When I talk about blogs to people who aren't heavy online users, they look at me with a blank stare like I have nine heads. My theory: there's a gap between the media hype about blogs and the actual awareness of what they are.

To delve into this further I am going to conduct an experiment, similar to the one I did last year when I lived on a blog-only media diet for a week (more here). Next Wednesday, January 19, I am going to hit the streets of Manhattan for an hour or so to ask as many consumers as time allows three basic questions: 1) do you know what a blog is, 2) if yes, do you read blogs, and 3) which blogs, if any do you, read. I'd like you to join me. If you live in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, LA, San Jose, Montreal, Springfield, Main Street USA or anywhere in between, please consider launching a similar experiment so that we can benchmark our experiences. This goes for my international readers as well. While this experiment is no way scientific, nor is it meant to undermine the work of the respected Pew Center, I feel a need to gain some first-hand, rudimentary understanding for how many folks have heard of blogging and what they're reaction is when they hear the word blog.

Who wants to join me? Does anyone have ideas to add here?

Comments

[Chip Griffin]

It strikes me that many people have probably read blogs without realizing it. Perhaps the unfamiliarity is with the term?

It might be helpful for people who don't know what one is to offer a description to see if that generates greater recognition.

[David Parmet]

My usual barometer for these sort of things is my mother. If she knows what something is.. then it's passed from the early adoptors into the world at large. In this case she has a neighbor in the retirement community my folks live in who has a blog.

So I'm going to guess that penetration into the public at large is less than we'd like but greater than the Pew survey would have it.

I'd be interested to know how many people who don't already have blogs, know what blogs are. My instinct tells me there's a lot of preaching to the choir and most blog traffic is in fact generated by other blogs and bloggers.

[Jackie Huba]

My dad, a 62 year-old man living north of Pittsburgh and who does not even know how to turn on a computer, asked me what a blog was over the Thanksgiving break. He said he heard about them while reading the election coverage this fall.

I asked him if he knew that his own daughter had a blog, he sheepishly said no.

Of course, this is also the same guy who doesn't think I have a real job : )

[Ben McConnell]

Steve -- love the idea. Take a video camera along and film everyone, then turn it into a vlog posting.

[greg]

Great idea -- especially the vlog posting, Ben. I've got a wireless Starbucks and another little wireless cafe close to my house where I spend much of my time. I'll divide my day between the two places (it's a tough job, but someone has to do it) and let you know what I come up with.

[Shel Holtz]

I mentioned in a post last month that teens in a focus group gave us blank stares when we referred to blogs. When we described them, though, they lit up: "Oh, you mean Xanga (or LiveJournal or whatever)." That explains part of the problem.

You're right that 28% is nothing to sneeze at. It's similar to the percentage of the adult US online population that banks online, shops online, and does pretty much anything online other than use e-mail and conduct searches.

Still, I've been saying for a while that blogs must be employed as part of a mix of media, since most people out there still don't know what they are. I spoke at a meeting of about 300 senior executives of a large company a week or so ago, and only about two-thirds raised their hands when I asked if they knew what blogs were.

Shel

[Steve Rubel]

Ben, I don't have a video camera, but I do have an iPod and an iTalk device. Maybe I can convert this into a podcast. Hmmmm....

[kpaul]

if they've heard of a blog, you should also ask, 'do you write a blog?', imho...

[Elisa Camahort]

"I'd be interested to know how many people who don't already have blogs, know what blogs are. My instinct tells me there's a lot of preaching to the choir and most blog traffic is in fact generated by other blogs and bloggers"

I would have agreed with you, but the Pew study shows that only 1 in 5 of those who call themselves blog readers are bloggers themselves, which is essentially the same number from the study Pew did back in mid 2003.

The problem is more that the bloggers have that insular view of their own world. By only tracking Links and trackbacks they care only about other bloggers who are reading them, and thereby miss 80% of their potential influence.

What's fascinating to me, as a marketer, is the conversion rate. 38% of US online users say they know what a blog is. 28% of those same users say they read blogs.

That something like a 70% conversion rate of people who understand what a blog is becoming a blog reader. I think the stat is pretty impressive and a conversion rate that any marketer would be happy to get.

[Shawn Lea]

In order to differentiate between the "man on the street" and the everyday Web user - we could also create a SurveyMonkey online poll that everyone could send to PR and fairly tech-savvy people they know. And we could post the survey link on our blogs. (I could provide the SurveyMonkey access, if need be, but I would need to know what we wanted the questions to be.)

What has surprised me most about blog recognition (or lack of it) is not the "man on the street" not knowing about it - as there are many who don't do anything with computers besides read e-mail, even at work. What has shocked me is the number of communicators and other related professionals who still don't understand what a blog is or have never subscribed to an RSS feed. (And it's many more than we who do this everyday believe.)

[Ben McConnell]

Anyone in the New York area have a video camera they can loan Steve (or help him videotape) for the project?

Steve, I'd loan you mine but I'm in Chicago (and won't be in NYC until next Friday).

[Steve Rubel]

Ben, that's a little too messy for me since it requires release forms, etc. Even audio involves legal issues. A straight up survey is probably the way I will go. Great idea though!

[David Parmet]

"What has shocked me is the number of communicators and other related professionals who still don't understand what a blog is or have never subscribed to an RSS feed. (And it's many more than we who do this everyday believe.)"

Not really surprising at all. There's a lot of evangelizing to do in our profession.

[Hylton]

I'll be interested to see the response but would also suggest that New York with its plugged in, affluent, and relatively media savvy (obsessed?) denizens isn't likely to be a great sample.