The Paine of Measurement

Influential Reasons
To Measure Blogs
I stand corrected.

by Katie Delahaye Paine

Having devoted this space last month to an explanation of why you shouldn't measure blogs, I now have to say that I "Misspoke," as a certain politic ant might put it.

Just days after hitting "send" on the last issue of The Measurement Standard, Roper was kind enough to send me their latest Public Pulse, entitled, "Reasons to Pay Attention to Bloggers." Faced with the solid data in this report, I can only reply: "Pay no attention to what I said last month. "

As it turns out, according to a 2005 Roper Reports Worldwide Study of Bloggers, blogs are far more influential than one would think. The interesting twist is that blogs themselves aren't necessarily influential, but the people who blog are indeed Influential, in other words they meet all the criteria that Roper has identified that characterize those people who have an greater than proportion influence over buying decisions. Like all Influentials, bloggers tend to attend meetings, make complaints, give speeches or talks, ask a question in a meeting, organize large events and attend business meals.

Unlike your average Internet user, people who blog are actively engaged in spreading influence. They advocate specific brands, speak their minds, and recommend brands on a regular basis. They are also relatively young -- 82% are under 40! More than half have attended college, and bloggers tend to also have higher income levels. Interestingly, bloggers are evenly split along gender lines, unlike Internet users as a whole.

They tend to have a strong interest in technology, and are always looking for the most technologically advanced products. However, they don't see technology as valuable just for its own sake, but rather see it as a useful tool.

More to the PR point, bloggers, like other Influentials, are voracious consumers of media, reading far more than the average and reading a wide variety of media and other sources of information. The report's conclusion: Bloggers can and should be targeted by marketers. They can be targeted because they read such a wide variety of media. They should be targeted because they are so active in recommending brands.

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