Blogs Matter!

I was browsing Edelman's blog, 6 A.M., when I ran across an interesting post regarding the importance of blogs to the media. What I found most interesting, however, was that Edelman has data proving that the blogosphere isn't only expanding as a means of mainstream media in the U.S., but in plenty of other countries as well, including Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, and the UK.

Edelman drew the following conclusions from their data:

• Blogs are the new on-ramp for mainstream media. They found that leading political blogs are increasingly quoted in stories in mainstream media. The same is true of technology blogs, where stories such as the Google acquisition of YouTube broke first on Techcrunch.
• Blog readership levels vary significantly by market, but influencers are more likely to read blogs. Influencers are those who actively attempt to impact the public discourse (this survey group is different from our Trust Barometer population of opinion leaders who make over $75,000 and are media attentive). Blog readers are willing to spread the word, both good and bad.
• Blogs do spur readers to take action. For example, 78% of German readers of blogs have attended a public meeting on a local issue covered in a blog.
• The composition of the “short head” of the blogosphere in most markets is technology blogs, followed by politics, personal journals or entertainment.
• Multinational companies such as McDonalds, Microsoft or Samsung (disclosure—last two are Edelman clients) draw more attention from local bloggers than major companies headquartered in a market (VW in Germany)
• The survey respondents in the Asian countries surveyed, China, Japan and South Korea, all read blogs with significantly more frequency than their counterparts in the US or Europe.

A number of readers shared comments below the post and seemed to have a similar reaction as me: Surprised.

One of the great things about people using blogs universally is that it allows PR professionals to conduct excellent research if looking to expand globally or market a product overseas. Without knowing the culture and trends of the people living there, it is difficult to generate appropriate PR that will appeal to them or appear tasteful. It is a best practice in PR to "think global, act local," and blogs assist in doing so.

I think it is truly exciting how quickly blogs have caught on around the world. Can you imagine what mainstream media will look like in 10 years? Communications is certainly evolving rapidly.