Survey Shows More Women Blogging Than Men

thefickler writes "The blogosphere has hit the mainstream, according to a new survey, which reveals that 80% of Americans know what a blog is, 50% regularly visit blogs, and 8% publish their own blog. The survey also reveals that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14% of men."

Comments

What?

[ZorbaTHut]

The survey also revealed that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14% of men.

That does not prove what they're trying to indicate at all. That indicates "women who read blogs are more likely to have one of their own". It doesn't say squat about how many women actually have blogs - if there's five women out there who read blogs, and 100 men, then that's one female-run blog and 14 male-run blogs.

Come on, guys. Get your facts straight.

Now for some more stats please.

[Uno Due Tre]

What percentage of blogs are actually READ with a break-down of male/female? I think blogs by women who post a hot picture of themselves would possibly be a bit overrepresented. I know a few nerds who read a chick's blog just because she also happens to be a swimsuit model. Personally, I would prefer to read a blog that was actually interesting.

Wrong conclusion

[panaceaa]

The body of the article states:

"The survey also revealed that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men."

This does not equate to more blogger being women. If there are twice the number of males reading blogs than females, then given the above ratio, 40% more men would be blogging than women. Unfortunately this article doesn't tell us the number of males reading blogs versus females, so we can't draw any conclusion either way. And I'd guess that there's more men reading blogs based on my use of Slashdot and Digg, but I really have no broad data to back me up.

The only thing this survey shows is that of blog readers who fill out surveys, females tend to blog more than males. And even then, the margin of error on a population size of 10,000,000 bloggers with their 1,000 user sample size is 3.1%. So the statistic is nearly meaningless ...

I don't believe the stats, at all

[JonTurner]

I call total bullshit on these statistics.
8% write their own blogs? Twenty million people?!? Impossible. No way, no how. Now maybe, just maybe 8% of some select subclass of internet users (e.g. 8% of people who spend more than 4 hours/day on the internet, have a college education, a median income greater than $####, own at least one foreign-made car, read WIred magazine, etc.) write blogs, but to think that many ordinary Americans are writing their own blogs... nope. I don't buy it.

And if you doubt this for one moment, just try to remember the last time you stood in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. See how silly it seems thinking 4/5 of them could explain what a blog is? And to think nearly 1/10 writes their own? Nyet.

Re:I don't believe the stats, at all

[The One and Only]

Depends on what you count as a blog. I could easily believe nearly 1/10 people have used the "blog" feature on MySpace.

Re:I don't believe the stats, at all

[porcupine8]

Why wouldn't that count as a blog? Since when does "blog" mean anything other than "web log," or "online log of your daily thoughts and activities?" Who decided that an online journal must meet some minimum requirement of eliteness to qualify as a "blog"??

80% know what a blog is?

[pclminion]

I highly doubt it. Let me guess -- they conducted this survey ON THE INTERNET. So their sample is limited to exactly the same group of people who would probably know what a blog is. Somebody needs to re-take basic statistics...

I could be wrong -- I can't RTFA because it's Slashdotted.

Re:Sexism on Slashdot

[kripkenstein]

If the low intellectual tone of some of the comments in this thread are anything to go by, I would say that there are virtually no women using Slashdot, and to be honest, I can see why...

I haven't seen any such comments, simply because I browse at +5. I recommend other try it as well :)

Re:I'd belive the stats

[Anonymous Coward]

Frankly, you post looked at from a slightly more abstract viewpoint indicates that you are "the usual " (i.e. stereotypical) woman. You have an explicitly feminine name "GuitarKat", you claim to be "socialist/liberal", you complain about stereotypes, and you have a belief that men want to see you "in a bikini". This suggests that you identify with your gender, you consider yourself kind-hearted (aka motherly), you have security issues regarding being placed in the very groups with which you identify yourself, and you attract attention to your sexual appeal without prompting.

Note that I'm not objecting to any of these qualities, merely illustrating that stereotypical male/female characters are less about particular choice of activities and more about motivation, approach, outlook, etc. I'm not even saying that the stereotypes are accurate - when it came to the voting booths, for example, we have Conservative-leaning ladies to hiss at for tipping elections in Thatcher's favour. What I am saying is:

• It's reasonable to assert "I'm not X just because I'm a woman", but to imply "I'm X despite being a woman" (where "X" is liking videogames, or whatever) is tacitly giving succour to a stereotype - like saying "I got into University despite being black".
   
• Nature did predispose you to certain traits for being a woman; of course, any intelligent human can override the instinct with reason, which is why it's not necessary for a human to act according to a gender stereotype. But there's no reason not to be proud of the positive qualities nature might supply to you as a result of your gender - for example, testosterone in males is often associated with uncontrolled anger, when it can be applied to intense focus and willpower in "getting a job done".
   
• The incidentals surrounding any expression usually say as much about an idea someone is trying to convey as the conscious choices they make in conveying it.
  

Just some thoughts and a little Devil's advocacy to start the morning ;-).

Re:I'd belive the stats

[bkr1_2k]

I think you'll find that more women keep "diaries" than men, which would be a better correlation. Most of the women I know that "blog" are actually treating it as an online diary that happens to get feedback from other people occasionally. Society has taught women to write down their secrets and feelings for a long time. Now that sites like myspace, facebook, livejournal, etc. have become popular it's no surprise that women are transitioning from private hard-copy diaries to semi-private online diaries.