Blog Readership Surged 58 Percent in 2004

Blog Readership Surged 58 Percent in 2004: "If 2004 was, among other things, the Year of the Blog, that development occurred in terra incognita for most online Americans, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew found blog readership increased sharply, up 58 percent, between February and November 2004. This, despite the fact 62 percent of adult American Internet users still have no clear idea what a blog actually is.

'The story is, blogs are catching on,' said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & Amercian Life Project, 'Not just on the creator side, but also on the demand side. Blog readership took off in 2004.'


The Pew report was based on two nationwide phone surveys conducted in November. The first polled 1,324 Internet users; the second involved interviews with 537 users.

The report found as of November, 27 percent of the 120 million adult Internet users in the U.S. read blogs, up from 17 percent recorded only 9 months earlier. This means that by the end of 2004, approximately 32 million Americans were blog readers. "

By Rob McGann