State of the Blogosphere Keynote by Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra

As you know I won tickets to attend the Blogging for Success Summit which is taking place all this month. You have no idea how excited I am by the line-up of speakers they have gotten for the event. Since these are such important topics I feel that I need to share the information with all of you.

For all of those who were concerned that Blogs are fading away giving way to newer Social Media tools have no fear. The State of the Blogosphere is strong and beginning to mature. More companies producing professional caliber, Bloggers are taking themselves more seriously and the Consumer are looking at blogs as a relevant form of Media.

Now that we know Blogging is maturing and becoming an important channel for Brands and PR Firms as with this new found maturity Blogs are gaining influence over consumer spending.

Who are these new mature Bloggers?
65% are Hobbyists
13% are part time Professionals
1% are Corporate Professionals
21% are Self Employed Professionals

The average age of a Blogger is between 18 – 44 and 2/3 of them are male. Bloggers are more affluent and are well educate all having graduated from High School, most having gone to college, and a significant percentage having a graduate degree.

What do non-Bloggers think about Blogs?
34% say they Blogs are being taken more seriously as a legitimate source of information.
46% say they trust traditional media less then they did 5 years ago
They say Blogs are gaining trust across the board as a source of news and product information.

Blogs are slowly growing into Social Networks of their own as most Bloggers engage their readers through various forms of Social Media growing a faithful following of engaged readers.