Blog reading explodes in America

Blog reading explodes in America

Americans are becoming avid blog readers, with 32 million getting hooked(吸引，沉迷，使上瘾） in 2004, according to new research.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, showed that blog readership has shot up by 58% in the last year.

Some of this growth is attributable to political blogs written and read during the US presidential campaign.

Despite the explosive growth, more than 60% of online Americans have still never heard of blogs, the survey found.

Blogs, or web logs, are online spaces in which people can publish their thoughts, opinions or spread news events in their own words.

Companies such as Google and Microsoft provide users with the tools to publish their own blogs.

Reading blogs remains far more popular than writing them, the survey found.

Only 7% of the 120 million US adults who use the internet had created a blog or web-based diary.

Getting involved is becoming more popular though, with 12% saying they had posted material or comments on other people's blogs. Just under one in 10 of the US's internet users read political blogs such as the Daily Kos or Instapundit during the US presidential campaign.

Kerry voters were slightly more likely to read them than Bush voters.

Blog creators were likely to be young, well-educated, net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations, the survey found.

This was also true of the average blog reader, although the survey found there was a greater than average growth in blog readership among women and those in minorities.

一项新的研究结果表明，美国人逐渐热衷于阅读网络日志，2004年共有3200万人沉迷于此。

佩尤研究中心“网络与美国生活项目”的调查结果显示，去年网络日志的阅读人数激增了58%。

这样（迅速）增长的原因部分应归功于美国总统大选期间，许多人在网上发表或阅读讨论政治的文章。

调查发现，尽管网络日志迅速走红，仍然有超过60%的美国网民从未听说过blogs（博客，网络日志）这个词。

Blogs又称web logs，是一个在线的虚拟空间，人们可以在这里发表自己的想法和主张，或者用自己的话传播新闻信息。

Google和微软等公司已经为用户提供了发表个人“网络日志"”方法。

调查发现，阅读网络日志远比创作它们更流行。

在使用互联网的1.2亿美国成年人中，仅有7%创建了网络日志或者网上日记。

然而，参与网络日志变得越来越流行，12%的人表示他们曾在别人的网络日志上跟帖，发布信息或发表评论。只有不到1/10的美国互联网用户曾在美国大选期间浏览过如Daily Kos或Instapundit等网站上的政治性博客文章。

支持克里的选民们比布什的支持者稍稍更愿意阅读这些内容。

调查发现。网络日志的创建人大多是受过良好教育并熟悉网络的年轻男性，他们受过大学教育、收入状况良好。

这一结论同样适用于普遍的网络日志读者群体，但调查还发现，网络日志的读者群体中女性和少数民族的增长比例高于平均值。