AdAge Takes a Reality Check on Blogs, Pods, RSS

Advertising Age takes a hard look at blogs, podcasting, RSS and other forms of social media and finds that most folks still get their content the old-fashioned way. This extends across all demographics.

They cite the following data points:

* 7% of American adults write blogs and 22% read them (Jupiter)
* About 8% listen to podcasts and 5% use RSS feeds (Jupiter)
* 88% of the at-work audience doesn't know what RSS is (WorkPlace Print Media)
* 92% of brand conversations were taking place offline (Keller Fay)

That's all well and good and there certainly is a lot of hype. But the stats don't concern me a bit. The reason is that the small number of people who are using these technologies to build the Long Tail of content are the ones who are influencing what's written in the head of the curve (e.g. the mainstream press). This is why I advocate becoming an active participant in social media either through PR or advertising. You're going to vastly enhance your chances in getting covered in the mainstream media. And this starts the cycle all over again. (Footnote: I write for Advertising Age)