Technorati have released their annual 'State of the Blogosphere' report, giving us all a glimpse into what the blogosphere is like in 2008.

I've picked out a few interesting facts.

• 133 million blogs have been indexed by Technorati since 2002
• 76,000 blogs have a Technorati rating of 50 or higher
  
• 41 per cent of bloggers use Twitter
  
• Technology is the 2nd most popular topic for bloggers
• Corporate blogs make up 12 per cent of all blogs
• Professional blogs make up 46 per cent of all blogs
• 50 per cent of bloggers are aged between 18 and 34
• 44 per cent of bloggers are parents
• 42 per cent of bloggers spend 3-10 hours blogging per week
• Only 15 per cent of bloggers spend less than an hour blogging per week
• 'Blog' is the 5th most popular tag
• 'Technology' is the 11th most popular tag
• 83 per cent of blogs are listed on Technorati
• Just 4 per cent of bloggers pay to advertise their blog
• 46 per cent of blogs don't feature any advertising
• Bloggers spend twice as much time online as U.S. adults 18-49,
• 82 per cent of bloggers post brand and product reviews
• 89 per cent of bloggers post about brands that they love or hate
• 37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post
• Half of bloggers believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years
• 1 in 5 five bloggers don't think that newspapers will survive the next ten years

Labels: blog, formby, matthew watson, pr, strate of the blogosphere, tech pr, technology, technorati, twitter

This week, Rainier PR conducted a mid-summer media consumption study. We surveyed 1,000 Londoners to find out which silly season stories they find least interesting. It turned out that nearly half (48%) are tired of hearing about Amy Winehouse.

Setting up a poll on Facebook was incredibly simple, whereas coming up with the right question and answers was a little trickier.

Here are three ways to get the best out of facebook polls:

Pose an interesting question.
Facebook users don't have to fill in your survey, so attracting their attention with an interesting question is a key factor in generating as many responses as possible.

Be concise.
Your question can be a maximum of 100 characters long, and your answers can only be half that length. So it's crucial that you keep the word count down. Also, a lengthy question and answers could be offputting to some users.

Keep it simple.
Terms like Web 2.0 and mobile applications may make perfect sense to you but they could appear like gobbledygook to some users who might not know their RSS from their elbow.

Do you have any more tips for improving Facebook polls? Or have you conducted any interesting surveys recently? Please let me know!

Labels: amy winehouse, beehive, facebook, formby, london, matthew watson, mid summer media consumption study, pr blogs, rainier pr, social media, technology