66% of internet users NEVER read blogs

Princeton, NJ; Feb. 10, 2006: Gallup's annual Lifestyle survey, conducted Dec. 5-8, 2005, finds only 9% of Internet users saying they frequently read blogs, another 11% read them occasionally, 13% say they rarely read them, while 66% never read them.

It seems that current internet users are pretty much locked in a rut, doing this year the same kind of things they were doing last year. If there's no increase in blog readership, are blogging activities a good marketing tool for lawyers?

Overall, the online Blog Herald estimates there are about 200 million blogs or Internet diaries.

Steve Rubel wrote: Earlier Gallup figures found that 21 percent of 18-29 year olds read blogs, while Pew pegged the blog consumption audience at 58 percent last year.

Here in lies the problem. It's impossible to say if blog readership is trending up or down because everyone measures it differently. The research community needs to set some standards for measuring in aggregate how many people read blogs, listen to podcasts and subscribe to RSS feeds.

More importantly, it would be helpful if an organization or group of organizations got together to set standards for how a blog will be measured against others in its category, much as the ABC does for magazines and newspapers. Perhaps Nielsen BuzzMetrics will play a role in leading such an initiative.