Today Technorati posted the State of the Blogosphere for April 2006. It blows me away to think about these statistics. In summary:
- Technorati now tracks over 35.3 million blogs.
- The number of blogs doubles every six months.
- The blogoshphere is over sixty times bigger than it was three years ago.
- A new blog is created every second of every day.
- 19.4 million (55%) bloggers are still active three months after their blog was created.
- Every day Technorati tracks 1.2 million posts.
Reference: Technorati Weblog; State of the Blogosphere, Part 1
These statistics are truly amazing to say the least. I think that it will be interesting to see if the growth is sustainable as I think that there is an element of novelty in blogging. The other glaring thing to me is with these types of numbers what makes my blog something that anyone else would want to read? How do I set myself apart from all the other blogs on the planet? Is setting myself apart something that I want to do? Clearly some bloggers just want to blog for themselves or to let their family know what they are up to. Then there is the commercial aspect with big companies jumping on the blog idea.
So I am going to keep asking myself what it is that might make this post something someone else would want to read and keep blogging anyway, even if nobody reads it.
I am also pleased that I am part of the 55% that are still blogging after three months, so thats one feather in my cap. When all is said and done I am blogging for the fun of it and while I am having fun I will keep at it.
On another note there are some interesting things happening with in my community. Sebastian and myself have started another blog. It is called Podcast Periodical. This online magazine is not so much one that we want to write as we want others to contribute to it. We hope that the blog fosters community in blogging and podcasting by sharing resources and networking with other like minded people. Personally I am hoping that it will assist people with questions and queries about podcasting and blogging or just understanding what the whole thing is all about.
This is something that I am quite passionate about, just ask the average person on the street what a blog is and you will get various dumb looks. Now ask them what a podcast is and you will get a “what planet are you on look”. So I am hoping that through this blog we can “get the word out” on what and how of podcasting and blogging. Make sure you check out the site and subscribe I am sure it will be something to watch.
Rooster's Rail 
April 18, 2006 at 11:57 am
I think it's really hard to blog about something that no one else has blogged about, but that shouldn't stop anyone. At the end of the day who knows what a particular reader's cup of tea is going to be. I think a large factor of what people watch is what the are exposed to first. I just recently got into watching some vlogs and even though I was finding some fun stuff I kept going back to the one that I saw first. Is that one any better than the rest? I don't think so. But it seems more familiar, like I've got more invested in it. It's weird and irrational, but it's the way I feel.
Blogging is such a weird beast. Some times I find myself wanting to stop reading or writing because I start to feel like a voyeur or and exebitionist (at least the non-news blogs.) It's just weird.