The State of the Blogosphere 2011
Presented To: BLOGWORLD AND NEW MEDIA EXPO Presented By: Shani Higgins 11.4.2011

Techno- from Gk. tekhno-, art, skill, craft, method, system, shape, make
-rati suffix. Indicates the intelligentsia or the elite of a particular group.
(bloggers & independent publishers AND their audiences)
WHERE IDEAS BEGIN,
AND OPINIONS ARE FORMED
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Who is Technorati Media
+ Social media company reaching over 64 million US consumers every month
+ 26th largest ad network on Comscore, 5th largest Social Media Network and 4th
largest blog property with over 12 billion ad impressions under management each
month
+ Create, execute and optimize social rich media solutions for advertisers to be
incorporated on and off our network of premium social media sites
+ Conduct blogger outreach programs on behalf of brands and bloggers by utlilizing
our authority, categorical insights and blogger community to provide the best mutual
fits
+ Offer insight, rank and relevance both topically and holistically for the blogosphere
+ We monitor and report on trends and changes happening within new media from
the blogger, consumer and brand perspective
+ Evangelists about the importance of blogs as an incredible source of influence for 3
readers, marketers and other bloggers

2011: Our Report and what we’re looking at now
+ The relationship between brands & bloggers
+ The convergence of blogging and other social media
+ Consumers’ trust & attitudes toward blogs & other media
+ Brands’ opinions of & strategies for social media
+ Blogger survey
• 4,114 bloggers, conducted by Penn Schoen Berland
+ Consumer survey
• 1,231 consumers, conducted by Crowd Science
+ Brand survey
• For the first time, we surveyed 111 senior level agency and brand
marketers and interviewed top social media strategists at Ebay,
Intel, HP, Sony, and top agencies, with more interviews to come
+ Technorati index data
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WHO
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Who are the bloggers?
+ Hobbyists (61%)
• Blog for fun
• Success metric: personal satisfaction
+ Professional Part-Timers (13%)
• Independent
• Blog to supplement their income
+ Professional Full-Timers (5%)
• Independent
• 37% say their primary income is from blogging
• For the rest, blogging is not their primary source of income… yet
+ Corporate (8%)
• Blog for their company or organization
• Primary topics are business and technology
• Success metric: visibility and professional recognition
+ Entrepreneurs (13%)
• Blog for their own company or organization
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• Success metric: recognition and clients

Who are the bloggers?
+ 59% male down from 64%
+ 65% 18-44 3% US
1% 2% 8% North America
1%
Europe
+ Educated and affluent 4%
Latin America
Middle East
• 79% have college degrees 51% Africa
25% East Asia
• 44% have graduate degrees
South Asia
5% Oceania
• 1/3 have a household income of 75K+
Global Breakout
• 1/4 have a household income of 100K+
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Who are the bloggers?
Posted In Blogger Activity
The Last…
+ 80% have been blogging 2+ years
+ 50% have been blogging 4+ years
+ Have 3 blogs on average
+ 44% blog 2-3 times per week or more,
with pro segments blogging daily
+ 1/3 work in mainstream media as a
writer, reporter, producer or on-air
personality and blog separately
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WHY
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Why blog?
+ Why?
• To share my expertise and experiences with others 70%
• To become more involved with my passion areas 58%
• To meet and connect with like-minded people 50%
• To gain professional recognition 42%
+ Success metrics
• Personal satisfaction 61%
• Number of unique visitors 55%
• Number of comments 46%
• Backlinks from other bloggers 36%
• Social media shares 36%
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HOW
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Social media use
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Social media use
+ Twitter
• Average # of followers
• 847 for all bloggers
• 1,674 for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 71% of all bloggers
• 90% of pros
• 40% automatically syndicate, but also tweet
other content
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Social media use
+ Facebook
• Have a separate account for their blog
• 50% of all bloggers
• 75% for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 50% of all bloggers
• 82% for pros
• Link their Twitter & Facebook accounts
• 37% of all bloggers
• 52% for pros
• 34% automatically syndicate, but also
post other content
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Social media use
+ Google+
• Have a separate account for their blog
• 10% of all bloggers
• 27% for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 27% of all bloggers
• 45% for pros
• Only 13% syndicate
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Other social media use
90
2010
80 Respondents
All
70
60 Hobbyist
50
Professional
Part Time
40
Professional
30 Full Time
20 Corporate
10
Entrepreneur
0
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Driving traffic
Social media traffic drivers Overall traffic drivers
Twitter
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Tag your blog posts
LinkedIn
Comment for reciprocity
YouTube
Listing blog on Google
Stumble Upon
Claiming blog on Technorati
Google+
Corporate SEO Entrepreneur
Tumblr
Linking to other blogs
Flickr Professional Full Corporate
Listings on blog directories
Yelp Time
LinkedIn Professional Full
Vimeo Professional Part
Time Google+ Time
Plaxo Professional Part
Hobbyist Produce or syndicate content
Picasa Time
StumbleUpon Hobbyist
Orkut All
YouTube
Myspace All
Blogging platform services
Friendster
Attending conferences
Foursquare
Digg
Del.icio.us
Paying for advertising
Digg
Other (Please specify)
Other
0 10 20 30 40 0 50 100

Blogging tools
Media Formats Top Tools
Social sharing widgets (i.e. for Twitter,
100 Facebook, Reddit, etc)
90 Built-in syndication (e.g. RSS feeds)
80
70
60 Site search
50
40 Video hosting site (e.g. YouTube, Flickr,
30 Metacafe, Jumpcut)
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Widgets from other sites
10
0
Photos Video Audio Audio Other None of TrackBack implementation
(music) (spoken) the Photo hosting site (e.g. Flickr,
above – Smugmug)
just text Commenting system beyond what is
offered by my blogging platform (e.g.,…
All Facebook commenting system
Hobbyist Ability for multiple authors to
Professional Part Time contribute
Professional Full Time None of the above
Corporate
Other
Entrepreneur
0 20 40 60 80 100
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WHAT DO CONSUMERS SAY?
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What do consumers say about blogs?
+ Outpace other media for inspiration, product information, and opinion
+ Generate more trust, recommendations and purchases.
Why do you visit the following media?
For ideas and inspiration
For news or information
For entertainment News websites like CNN.com or
NYTimes.com
For product reviews Mainstream media websites or
portals like Yahoo or AOL
For product recommendations
Blogs
To hear an opinion
Other (Please specify)
0 20 40 60 80 100 20

What do consumers say about blogs?
Trust Recommend Purchase
Conversations w/ friends & family
Friend on Facebook
Magazines
Newspapers
Blogs
News websites like CNN.com or…
News shows on TV or the radio
Web portals like Yahoo or AOL
Brand's website
News aggregators like Drudge…
Someone I follow on Twitter
Friend on another social network
Brand on Facebook
Personal acquaintance on Twitter
Brand I follow on Twitter
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80

BRANDS AND THE BLOGOSPHERE
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Bloggers’ #1 influence is other bloggers
Influences
Blogs
Conversations with friends
Social media accounts I follow
Print media
Conversations with family
News websites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com
Television shows I watch
Brand social media or web sites
Radio programs I listen to
News aggregators like Drudge Report or Huffington Post
Podcasts I listen to
Brand representatives
Web portals like Yahoo! or AOL
Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
+ 68% of bloggers are influenced by other bloggers - a huge jump from 30% in 2010
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Bloggers’ #1 influence is other bloggers
Primary influence
Blogs
Conversations with friends
Social media accounts I follow
Print media
News websites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com
Brand social media or web sites
Conversations with family
Television shows I watch
News aggregators like Drudge Report or Huffington Post
Brand representatives
Radio programs I listen to
Podcasts I listen to
Web portals like Yahoo! or AOL
Other
0 5 10 15 20 25
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Bloggers and brands
+ 2/3 blog about brands
+ 1/3 post product or brand reviews
+ 1/3 blog about everyday experiences in stores or with customer care
+ 1/10 blog about company information or gossip
+ 1/3 of pros publish product reviews once a week or more
• 9% of hobbyists
• 20% of part time professionals
• 33% of full time professionals
+ 65% follow brands on social media
• 2/3 of hobbyists and 1/2 of pros blog about the brands they follow
+ Frequently approached by brands
• 1/3 of hobbyists are approached an average of twice a week
• 2/3 of pros are approached an average of 8 times a week
• Some are contacted 250 and even 1,000 times a week 25

Brand behavior is important
How important is it that advertising on your site align with your values?
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Very important Somewhat important Somewhat unimportant Not important
All Professional Part Time Professional Full Time Corporate Entrepreneur
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Brand behavior is important
Are you influenced by a brand or company’s behavior?
I am not influenced by a brand or
company’s overall behavior
I only write about companies or
products from companies whose…
I boycott products
I write about the fact that I boycott
products or companies and why
Entrepreneur
I write about the fact that I boycott
Corporate
products or companies, and…
Professional Full Time
Professional Part Time
Other Hobbyist
All
0 10 20 30 40 50
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Mixed reviews on brand interactions
+ Professionalism
• 60% of bloggers say they are treated less professionally by brand representatives than
traditional media is treated
• Down from 64% in 2010
+ Interactions
• 15% of bloggers characterize their interactions with brands as very favorable
• 34% of bloggers characterize their interactions with brands as favorable
• 51% as not very, not at all, or don’t know how they’d categorize their interactions
+ Access
• 51% want to work with brands directly, 49% through an intermediary or not at all
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Mixed reviews on brand interactions
Less than 25% say brands provide value, or are knowledgeable about their blogs
QUESTION: How would you describe the communications you receive from brands?
They are knowledgeable about my blog,
my content, and my blogging style
They are genuinely interested in
building a relationship
What they are asking would
compromise my credibility or content
Entrepreneur
standards
Corporate
Professional Full Time
They provide information that has
Professional Part Time
valuable news content for my readers
Hobbyist
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 All
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Brand programs
What types of brand programs have What brand programs did your
you participated in? audience like best?
None of the above Sponsored content
Spokesblogger or brand Entrepreneur
ambassador programs Industry news
Corporate
Focus groups Product or company news
Professional
Products or other items I can Full Time
Sponsored posts
give away to my audience Professional
Traditional public relations Part Time
Advice or consultative content Hobbyist
announcement coverage
Product reviews Product reviews
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60
+ 86% of bloggers disclosed that a post was sponsored or paid
+ 58% disclosed they had received a product they reviewed
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WHAT DO THE BRANDS SAY?
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What do the brands say?
Tools used on behalf of company How results are measured
or client
Number of followers, friends, or likes
• Facebook 33%
Sharing: linking, retweeting,…
• Twitter 30% Articles and mentions
Conversions
• Blogging 19% Number of blog commenters
Number of blog readers or RSS…
• Blogger outreach 12%
Free monitoring tool
• Majority using social media Paid monitoring tool
for only 1-2 years Other
0 10 20 30
• 34% have their own
personal blogs
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What do the brands say?
+ Main themes of advice for other brands:
• Encourage and enable sharing across platforms
• Bloggers are trusted peers. Work with them to create or curate unfiltered, credible
content and reviews, in order to create a conversation around your brand. Focus on
building long term relationships with them
• Use blogger outreach organically and encourage these social influencers to be honest and
open about their opinions
• Use social media not only to distribute content but to build active communities and
interact and respond to your audiences
• Leverage paid media on social channels
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What do the brands say?
+ The way brands and agencies use social today
• “We see blogger outreach as the opportunity to leverage influencers and connect with a
new audience. We recognize that there are conversations happening in the blogosphere that
are applicable to the brands we represent and we believe its valuable for our brands to join
the discussion.”
• “Social media is the glue to the mass messages. We attempt to integrate all of our
campaigns so the paid, owned and earned are all working together. We do this for all of our
clients.”
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What do the brands say?
+ Biggest changes in 2011
• “I would have to say blogging and how it is being used has been the biggest development
in social media. Individuals trust bloggers, especially those that are seen as influential.
Blogging can either have a positive or negative effect on a campaign, brand or product.
Individuals will make decisions based on comments made by their peers or by someone
they feel confident in.”
• “A trend towards more integrated advertising content, including sponsored posts. The
subject material needs to suit the blog and be something the author would write about
anyway. When the subject matter sounds forced or impersonal, it can actually turn an
audience away from that blog and/or product.”
• It’s about focusing “less on building these big brand temples and more about building
small pieces of content that are customizable, portable and entertaining that can move
through the social ecosystem really quickly.”
•
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What do the brands say?
+ Biggest changes for the future:
• Social media will act as a campaign leader, rather than a supporter. We will turn to social
media first and support through other means.
• There will not be a single corporation left on the planet that can deny the fact that social
media is here to stay. We will stop having to do missionary work to educate corporate
leaders. They will realize that there really is no such thing as message control. But then
again, control was always an illusion.
• As some audiences begin wandering from Facebook I anticipate that there will be greater
fragmentation across which site specific audiences prefer to spend their time-Yet another
hurdle for advertisers!
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OK, NOW SHOW ME THE MONEY
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Blog revenues
+ 4% of all bloggers and 37% of full time pros say blogging is their primary income
+ 14% receive a salary for blogging
• Average $24K
• Highest reported $140K
+ Revenue management
• Self serve (Adsense, Y!) 60%
• Direct (sell themselves) 30%
• Blog network 14%
• Dedicated sales team 5%
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Blog revenues
+ Revenue streams
• Display ads 34%
• Affiliate ads 31%
• Search ads 27%
• Paid posts 14%
+ Paid Posts Stats
• Only 6% are paid to be spokesbloggers
• Majority receive less than $50 per post
• 6% of pros make $250+ per post
• 13% of full time pros receive between $8,000 and $10,000 for sponsored posts per year
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Blog revenues
+ What is the fee you’ve been paid for a single instance of the following: (median)
• Being a brand or product spokesman: $1,365
• Paid to give speeches on topics I blog about: $1,560
• Paid to attend events $1,018
• Paid for a broadcast media appearance $796
• Received an item of high value to review or endorse $409
• Print or other media contributor $935
Annual Revenue Sources
$4,000
$3,500
$3,000
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
All advertising Being a brand Affiliate Subscription Paid to give Paid to attend Paid for a Received an Print or other
on your blog or product marketing links gated content speeches on events broadcast item of high media
(search, spokesman on your site topics I blog media value to review contributor
display, paid (e.g., Amazon, about appearance or endorse
postings) Borders)
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Key Takeaways
+ Bloggers
• Educated and affluent, with a large overlap with mainstream media
• Only 1/4 are blogging weekly or more
• Most can’t quit their day job…..yet
• They are influenced the most by other bloggers
+ Bloggers and brands
• The majority of bloggers are blogging about brands
• But bloggers' reviews on brand interactions are decidedly mixed
+ Consumers and blogs
• Sweet spot is inspiration and product information
• Trust levels are higher than for other social media
+ Brands and Bloggers
• Are interacting at unprecedented levels
• Disclosure is still not complaint with FCC rules
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Let us show you what we can do
Thank you.
Shani Higgins, CEO
press@technoratimedia.com
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