Here are some interesting statistics that I came across on Six Apart’s website. They state that blog readers are:
- 11% more likely than the average Internet user to have incomes of $75,000 or more
- 30% more likely to live in a household where the head of household is 18-34 years old
- 30% more likely to buy products or services online
The numbers are not surprising, although there is nothing to indicate when this poll was taken. MediaPost last year summarized the findings of a survey conducted by Blogads and a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll which indicated that 56 percent of the US adults polled had no knowledge of blogs at all. Those findings are somewhat consistent with my own. In an informal survey while out in Southern California last week, of the planners and suppliers with whom I spoke, only 40% had an idea, although somewhat vague, of what a blog is.
Although the people with whom I spoke were all over 35 years old, I was surprised and disappointed that so few in our industry know enough even to take advantage of this medium. Incidentally, Sue Pelletier at face2face speaks of the use of blogs and wikis when it comes to speaker selection, and concludes:
I see social media being adopted in the meetings industry more quickly than in many others. The meetings industry is all about conversations, education, and community, and social media facilitates all of that. Once people start to see the value, it will be pretty hard to ignore.
Heading out to the SITE Young Leaders Academy today, I am optimistic that if I get a chance to do yet another informal survey, this time of the 35 and under crowd, that my findings will be the inverse.
