In what is becoming a controversial argument, the New York Times recently claimed that young consumers are spending more time with social media sites making “small talk,” while full-length blogs are going by the wayside. Notably, the article refers to the act of creating a blog – not overall engagement with blogs, which data suggests is holding strong.
The Times points to Pew data from 2006 to 2009 suggesting that “blogging among children ages 12 to 17 fell by half” during that time period. These figures are arguably outdated by now, and they also seem to use very young consumers as a measure of youth engagement with blogs. While the source points to a more credible report from December 2010 indicating blogging dropped 2 percentage points among 18- to 33-year-olds last year, marketers should ask themselves whether consumers' blog creation should impact their marketing strategies.
Brafton also covered the Pew Generations Online 2010 report referred to in the Times' piece, emphasizing that consumers have a penchant for news on the web. Whether or not consumers are penning their own blogs, the report reveals that they are active blog readers – especially young audiences.
Nearly half (49 percent) of 12- to 17-year-olds read blogs, making this a top online activity. In fact, reading blogs was marked by Pew as one of the “most popular” activities for 18- to 33-year-olds (43 percent) and 34- to 45-year-olds (34 percent) as well.
This data is supported by L2's Gen Y Affluents Survey, covered by Brafton last December. The study found that blogs are becoming a leading way for affluent young adults to keep up with the latest news, with nearly 50 percent of this demographic reading informational blogs daily – from mainstream to niche industry blogs.
With this in mind, marketers might want to continue efforts to engage online audiences of all ages with blog marketing. Marketing with blogs may also soon be a competitive necessity – eMarketer predicts that 43 percent of U.S. companies will have marketing blogs in 2012.
