State of the Blogosphere 2008

state of blogosphere

Every year I mention it and this year I actually saw and heard it with my own ears at Blog World Expo. Here is the State of the Blogsphere 2008 by the Technorati folk. What people were talking about when it was done, at least in my circle, was the amount of people blogging for money and how much they were making. Monitizing your blog was quite a dominant theme at Blogworld. Of interest is the following quote from the presentation regarding blogger’s income.

“The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.”

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Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

7 Comments

  • Kester says:

    “What people were talking about when it was done, at least in my circle, was the amount of people blogging for money and how much they were making. Monitizing your blog was quite a dominant theme at Blogworld.”
    How depressing /-)

  • Kester says:

    “What people were talking about when it was done, at least in my circle, was the amount of people blogging for money and how much they were making. Monitizing your blog was quite a dominant theme at Blogworld.”
    How depressing /-)

  • andrew says:

    yes and no. there was the good and the bad.
    i didnt like the mindless pragmatism of monitization and obviously there were bloggers like me that have never blogged for money who were a little put off.
    At the same time, there might be hope for some of us, esp. in poorer countries, to move towards a more sustainable lifestyle or an equitable wage through the web. Knowing how to generate income is therefore a skill worth knowing.

  • Kester says:

    Yeah, I can see that. I think the danger inherent in monetizing is that you are relying on advertisers. This has multiple implications:
    1. You end up subtly changing what you post, and what you are prepared to post, in order to be a ‘safe’ place for people to advertise.
    2. More importantly, you are creating income purely through ‘impulsive consumption.’ We all need to consume, yes, and the net is a great place to search for things we need. But the model of blog advertising is all about the impulse: buy this, even though you don’t need it. In this way, ‘advertising makes us all poor.’ It’s something Alistair Macintosh reflects powerfully on in ‘Hell or High Water’. He sees that the only way we’re going to battle climate change is to deal with our constant desire to need more. And the whole web-ads thing seems propped up by the premise that we do.

  • andrew says:

    Yes – agree. And another problem with things like Google ads is that some serious conflicts happen between advertisers values and our own.
    However, the bloggers who are blogging for money are generally part of large affiliate blogs set up for this and they get paid by the post – like $3 or $4 a post so they can add a little income to what they already earn.
    Affiliate marketing, they say, is set to overtake other blog revenue streams in the near future.
    The way a blog would change in the monitization process would have more do to with writing for the reader rather than about yourself, ie
    “why ——– can help you”
    rather than
    “I really like ——-”

  • Marc says:

    Thanks for reminding me why I stopped blogging. 😉

  • I , myself , have never thought of creating my own personal blog’ spot…I’d prefer engaging on a well sought out/filled with True Spirit and Theology at its best in a rather safe setting. No concerns for back biting persue’, or unscruplous connontations/undertones that are not dignified before God either; rather those have become hindersom, and heart wrenching…..some. The Jesus Creed blog sets a tone of a direct “love for the other-first”, but-with sincerity involved. A big difference in our worlds presentation today with a large amount of individuals dying from the indside out. Whom prefer a blog. too keep the undertones of critisisum at an abrupt–hault. Unfortuantley , this seems to be defined as the “World in Which We Live In”…until Jesus second coming is rectified….”Choices are few”….”Prayers are made of many”…… so….

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