Bloggers are younger and better educated but earn less than the general U.S. adult (18+) population – and they are more likely to be single, male, and actively engaged in new media, according to a study by BIGresearch.
Of those who blog occasionally or regularly (26% of the [online] population):
- 53.7% are male.
- Nearly half (44.7%) are married.
- One in 10 (10.4%) are students.
- 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position.
Bloggers have a lower average income than most adults ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).
They also tend to be younger, with an average age of 37.6, compared with 44.8 for the US adult population:
Media Use
Use of new media and technology is more prominent among bloggers:
Yet bloggers also rely on traditional media, with magazines ranking as the highest trigger for an online search, cited by 51.6%, followed by reading articles and watching broadcast TV:
Ethnicity
Ethnic minorities are highly represented among bloggers:
- 12.2% of bloggers are African American/Black (compared with 11.4% of the general population)
- 20% are Hispanic (vs. 14.8%).
- 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%).
White/Caucasians are 76.1% of all adults, but among those who blog regularly or occasionally, just 69.7% are white.
Political Affiliation
Of all registered voters, 24.6% say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of these:
- 37.6% are Libertarians.
- 26.9% are Democrats.
- 25.7% are Independents.
- 22.9% are Republicans.
“Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect,” said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. “This diversity provides political bloggers with a forum to discuss issues or maybe be influenced by others, while candidates have an opportunity to reach interested voters.”
About the survey: The Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11), from which this data is culled, polled 15,727 participants. It is conducted bi-annually. A summary of the blogger-related findings are available via BIGresearch.
