The growing influence of blogs

The Wikipedia definintion of a blog: (a contraction of the term “web log“) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

I am sure you have noticed that not only are blogs achieving higher search rankings and traffic, but they are receiving greater press coverage.

The latest stats around blogging show this is just because Google have brought in ‘real-time’ search. There are more bloggers, more blogs and more people reading them.

- 77% of active Internet users read blogs
- 900,000 blog posts on average are posted every 24 hours
- 59% of bloggers have been blogging for more than 2 years
- Blogs are being written in 81 languages

These stats are all well and good but they do not demonstrate the growing influence they are having on nearly every aspect of society. For this you just need to look at the headlines:

- Education chief ridiculed by rivals over error strewn web blog
- Court Refuses to Release Tatarstan Blogger
- How the 2010 election will be won by blogs and tweets

Blogging has historically been an underground form of communication with individuals talking about their opinions on world events, products and brands. Now politicians, athletes, celebrities and journalists all publish blogs to boost their profile, reach a wider audience, talk for informally directly to the public, while gaging public opinion.

As blogging has become more mainstream, the corporate blog has been established.
- Study: Company Blogs Lead Social Media Options

The Wikipedia definintion of a corporate weblog: is a blog that is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads.

Corporate blogs are being used by brands within all industries for both internal and external communication. The corporate blog has many benefits. It can generate leads, enhance brand awareness and build the relationship with the consumer through improved understanding of the brand’s personality. This works on both a B2B and B2C level and can be a great place for brands to enter into the world of social media.