UsageWatch.org

Jennifer, who lives and studies abroad, narrates her experience of Cyworld in a beautiful Ohmynews article.

At the beginning, Cyworld looked like an inexpensive way to stay in touch with friends and don't miss out on what's happening home, in South Korea. Jennifer used Cyworld to visit her friends' mini-hompies. Then traffic started to build up on her mini-hompy, and "to keep them coming" she added a personal profile and the diary, mini room, photo album, bulletin board and message board options. Like many, she was convinced that the flow of visitors depended on how rich her site was and on how decorated her mini room .

The mini room came with an empty room and a character figure called "mini me" representing the user. I could change its facial expression, body position, hair and its clothing. I used to spend hours playing with Barbie dolls during my childhood, and one would have thought I grew out of it. Wrong! Mini-me was my best friend.

From the mini-hompy, Jennifer met new people and with some of them established a form of kinship through diadic mutual consent.

I met many members of the cyholic gang. The list of my kin kept expanding and the hidden pressure started to reveal itself. I felt obligated to visit my kin often to maintain "kinship". Many of my so-called kin were people I barely knew....I felt compelled to prolong the phoney relationship because each user can find out whom out of your kin list did not visit you in the past month. Though this is intended to help people get along, it quickly becomes an unwelcome duty.

And gift was the engine of kinship

I was convinced that I was doing some good when giving someone a gift...This seems like an ideal way of maintaining kinship, but don't forget that acorns are needed to make this possible. Cyword displays the number of gifts received on each users' front page to motivate them to exchange gifts.

Jennifer developed an addiction to Cyworld: a single click on the name of any Cyworld user will hook her into Cyworld for hours.

I kept on committing the sin of saying "just one more" which turned out to be all night. It only takes a second to load someone else's page, but the time consumed in posting and reading the message board and checking out the album is substantial. When you see someone familiar or attractive in that home page, you simply click and skip over to that other person's home page and repeat the process.

And becoming a regular reader of one's friends and friends of friends mini-hompies made her into some kind of voyeur, but she wasn't alone

I found how serious the Cyworld phenomenon was when I discovered it was taking over reality. A person my friend introduced to me was the owner of a page I recalled from my friend's message board. Scary as it may sound. I knew exactly where the person was going to school and who he was friend with. I felt like a stalker but couldn't help but to ask, "You are friends with xxx, right?" What shocked me even more was his response. "You just graduated from xyz school in abc, right? I saw you in my friend yyy's Cyworld." 

Yesterday, while I was updating a previous post on blog usages as new results had been published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, I recalled an International Herald Tribune article I came across at the end of last year: Souped-up blog takes South Korea by storm; which takes blog usage into a completely new dimension. By the way, this article has been picked up by a number of blogs, but I don't think the significance of the phenomenon it decribes has been valued correctly.

According to the latest Pew survey on the topic, end of 2004 there were 8 M US blog publishers, corresponding to about 7% of Internet users in the U.S. At the same time, in South Korea, 11 M people, corresponding to about 30% of the Internet population or 25% of the total population, were publishing a blog on Cyworld, SK Communication's highly structured blogging environment.  The Cyworld form of blogging has reached 79% adoption among young people in their 20s and 30s (source SK Communication); and 90% adoption among young people in their 20s (source researcher KoreanClick).

When we think that unique identification is required to subscribe to Cyworld and that Cyworld is the largest, but not the unique, blog platform in South Korea, we get a sense of how widespread blogging is among South Koreans.

Cyworld adoption
Cyworld introduced its mini hompies service in 2001 and had 1 M members. Membership exploded when in late 2003 Freechal, the leader home page host, decide to charge for the service. Then Cyworld offered  a guarantee of free service for life, causing a massive switch. Cyworld was acquired by SK Communications and incorporated with Nate.com.

Cyworld in everyday language
Instead of exchanging phone number or e-mail addressed, people ask "do you Cy?". Mini hompies can also be accessed through mobile phones.

Cyworld special features

• basic service is free

• modular mini-hompies with templates, like a room, an open agenda, a note book where to stick pictures

• personalization with digital decorations such as music, wallpapers, animated characters, banners, pieces of furniture, on sale

• acorns, each worth 100 won equivalent to about 9 cents, to purchase the digital decorations. Acorns can be paid via credit card or cell phone account

• popularity displays on the front page with fixe indicators for sexiness, fame, friendliness, karma, kindness, which increase as the number of visitors, gifts received and gifts made increase

• wish boxes and gift shop pages where users indicate the decorations they would like to have for their friends and visitors to see and eventually offer them

• social networking via visibility of who one's friends are and link to their mini-hompies, as well as private areas with limited access

• people search function, to find any Cyworld user by entering the name, year of birth, gender, or the e-mail. 
  

 

 

Yesterday, while I was updating a previous post on blog usages as new results had been published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, I recalled an International Herald Tribune article I came across at the end of last year: Souped-up blog takes South Korea by storm; which takes blog usage into a completely new dimension. By the way, this article has been picked up by a number of blogs, but I don't think the significance of the phenomenon it decribes has been valued correctly.

According to the latest Pew survey on the topic, end of 2004 there were 8 M US blog publishers, corresponding to about 7% of Internet users in the U.S. At the same time, in South Korea, 11 M people, corresponding to about 30% of the Internet population or 25% of the total population, were publishing a blog on Cyworld, SK Communication's highly structured blogging environment.  The Cyworld form of blogging has reached 79% adoption among young people in their 20s and 30s (source SK Communication); and 90% adoption among young people in their 20s (source researcher KoreanClick).

When we think that unique identification is required to subscribe to Cyworld and that Cyworld is the largest, but not the unique, blog platform in South Korea, we get a sense of how widespread blogging is among South Koreans.

Among Cyworld's special features:

• basic service is free

• modular mini-hompies with templates, like a room, an open agenda, a note book where to stick pictures

• personalization with digital decorations such as music, wallpapers, animated characters, banners, pieces of furniture, on sale

• acorns, each worth 100 won equivalent to 10 cents, to purchase the digital decorations

• wish boxes and gift shop pages where users indicate the decorations they would like to have for their friends and visitors to see and eventually offer them

• social networking via visibility of who one's friends are and of their mini-hompies

• private areas with limited access
  

Last November, at the end of a review of research on blog usage in the US (creation, publication, readership, contribution) I proposed some estimates for blog adoption and usage in 2003 and early 2004:

• between 2.5 M and 3.5 M active blog publishers, whose blogs are updated at least once a month
• 300.000 and 400.000 very active publishers, those who write on their blog daily are between 300.000 and 400.000
• between 6.4 and 17 M blog readers
• 6 M contributors to blogs

Early in January, the Pew Internet & American Life Project published the results of a November 2004 survey - the state of blogging - which found a very steap increase in the number of blog publishers, readers and contributors:

• 8 M blog publishers

• 32 M blog readers

• 14 M contributors (many blogs publishers, many young (18-29)

The demographic profile of blog publishers is confirmed: a majority of males (57%), nearly half under age 30; a large majority with a broadband Internet connection at home (70%); a large majority with 6 or more years of Internet experience; 42% live in households with an over $ 50K income; 39% have college or graduate degrees.

Looking at a more recent development in the blogosphere, the Pew survey also found that 6 M Internet users use RSS feeds, another indication of great autonomy in managing media access and participation.

In It's almost as good as being there, Kathy Boccella tells a nice story of family telepresence. Grandmother lives in Philadelphia. Daughter and grandchildren live in New Mexico. And grandmother shares their everyday life events through her daughter's blog's stories and images.

If you want to know what Lazarus, 2, got on his birthday or how Maggie, 7 months, reacted to her first haircut, it's all documented, along with lots of heartfelt outpourings from Mom

Telling about her experience, Grandmother says

it has made a huge difference for me. I don't want to just call up all the time, so I'll look in on the blog and see what's happening. I feel like I'm participating in their lives

And from Mother's viewpoint, the blog is also a vehicle of self-expression and community participation

I was late to the game, 36, when I had my first child. It really changes your perspective a lot. I knew it would, but I didn't know how much it would. This is sort of a personal outlet

Keeping a personal diary and creating family presence aren't the only motivations for publishing a baby blog. Daddyzine is more of a writing exploration babyblog: a father who cares for a 2-and-a-half daughter writes about his emotions and feelings. Trixieupdate is a extreme form of a baby book where a father logs bottle counts, diaper changes and hours slept by his 15 months daughter.

I wonder, if blogs had been available in the 1930s, would child psychologists Jean Piaget have blogged on his children development?

Ethnographic investigations of « ordinary blogs and bloggers» by B. Nardi, D.J. Schiano, M. Gumbrecht and L. Swartz provide insight into the practices, experiences and motivations of individuals and groups who publish a blog for a small audience.

The investigation combines interviews with 23 bloggers (age ranging between 19 and 60, 16 male and 7 female, higher education, a majority of students) and content analysis of a 9-day sample of their blog activities. It was carried out between April and June 2003, in California and New York.

Usage
In the 9 days, was published an average of 80 posts. Some bloggers published several times per day - in one case about 27 posts per day – others published every few days. The publishing process is a source of pressure: both creative pressure: bloggers feel that at times they have plenty of things to say, at times nothing much; and audience pressure: bloggers feel they have an audience expecting regular, good postings, and an obligation towards them. Participants speak about feeling burnout, and having stopped blogging for a while.

Posts had an average length of about 10 lines of text (209 words), with some posts comprising 494 words and others 80. There is real work around language to find the right “tactful” tone for direct and rich communication within a format that is quite limited. Compared to other digital communication formats, such as discussion lists, some participants appreciate the particular form that interaction takes with blogs. It is described as “interaction-at-one removed”; as “gentler, more reflective” and “constructive”: bloggers encourage comments on their posts and reciprocate by commenting others’ posts.

On the main page, blogs linked to surprisingly few blogs. The mean was 1, and range between 0 and 6 links. Individual posts instead on average included a link, with a range between 0 and 5 links. Links seem to be a differentiator between “ordinary blogs” and “topic-oriented” blogs as analysed by J. Bar-Ilan, who found that these blogs have many links both on the main page and within each post.

The bloggers interviewed say their preference for blogging over a web page because it is more dynamic “the rhythm of frequent, usually brief posts, the immediacy of reverse chronological order”, more focused “ the little distraction it provides”. As one of the participants put it: "You don't hear their voice in the same way".

Motivations
Nardi and co-researchers identify four main non-exclusive motivations for publishing a blog.

For some participants, their blogs are personal diaries that describe to their family and friends the events, the projects and the experiences that happen in their life. Almost “real-time”, archiving and access from any web point are mentioned as very important features. A blog is perceived as a “superior alternative to sending mass emails” because it is freer and less intrusive: bloggers can publish when they feel it, readers can read when they feel like it, with no obligation to respond.

Other participants publish their blogs to raise and take position with respect to what they consider important public issues. They analyse and argue on issues that they feel "obsessive" or "passionate" and offer "a point of view, not just chatter". Politics, ethics and medical research are among the topics discussed. The blog works as an "outlet" for thoughts and feelings, and provides a framework for “working through issues, to let off steam”.

The act of writing, as art and craft or as a support for thinking, is also one of the motors of blogging. Blogging is a means for exploring and developing writing skills. As one participant says the discipline of blogging "forced him to keep writing”. Blogging is also a means to probe, articulate and convey one’s thinking on the public arena. It is partly a reality check, partly an interaction with the audience. And some participants describe the relationship they have with their "regulars" readers. Archiving of posts is again a central feature as some of the posts may be part of larger publishing endeavours.

A last reason for blogging is being part of a community. The publishing process becomes intrinsically collective, as people interact through blogs. "Blogs are natural community tools for people whose practice is to write and comment on the writing of others: researchers, poets, journalists, and to a lesser extent software programmers...and who typically obtain recognition from their written words".

Blogging as social activity, or, would you let 900 Million people read your diary?
B. A. Nardi, D. J. Schiano, M. Gumbrecht 2004 (CSCW, 2004)

"I'm blogging this". A closer look at why people blog
B. A. Nardi, D. J. Schiano, M. Gumbrecht, L. Swartz (to appear Communications, December 2004)

An ousider's view on "topic-oriented" blogging
J. Bar-Ilan, WWW 2004, 2004

Where: US
When: April - June 2003

To try to answer this question, I found quite a lot of data from 2003, some from 2004, most from the US. The sources and the methods used are disparate, but at the end some convergence emerges.

Active blogs
In June 2003, Blogcount estimated the number of active blogs (update during the previous 30 days) to be roughly 2.4 to 2.9 M. Most of these bloggers (1.6 M) use one of three Blog hosting services: LiveJournal, Blogger, DiaryLand. The same year, Jupiter makes an estimation of blog publishers to 2% of the total online community and of blog readers to 4%. Several Internet observatories put the total online US population at approximately 160 M. Blog publishers would thus be around 3.2 M, and blog readers 6.4 M. Both the publisher and reader communities are formed by people who have been online for more than 5 years. However, they differ in income (higher among readers than editors) and gender composition, readers are mainly male.

An estimation of the active blogs at 3 M +/- .5 finds support in the October 29th 2004 statistics from LiveJournal.com. On a total of almost 5 M, 1.350 M have been updated in the last 30 days; 870.000 in last 7 days; 340.000 in the past 24 hours. There are thus about 2.6 M active blogs. We also learn about some specificities of LiveJournal.com blogs. They are published using free accounts (98,1%), by a large majority of young female, between age 14 and 22, with a peak between age 16 and 19.

Very active blogs
It doesn't come as a surprise that the number of very active blogs, that is blogs that are updated daily, is much smaller. Drawing on the same statistics, we learn that they correspond to 340.000, around 14% of all active LiveJournal.com blogs. Recent statistics from Technorati (October 6th 2004) register an average of 300.000 posts a day in September and October, with picks of 400.000 posts a day for the 4 M blogs that Technorati tracks. It seems to me relatively safe to estimate the number of very active blogs in the 350.000 +/-50.000 range.

A much more conservative estimation of the number of active blogs however exists. It comes from Perseus' 2003 analysis of 3634 blogs (hosted by BlogCity, BlogSpot, Diaryland, LiveJournal, Pitas, TypePad, Weblogger, Xanga). Perseus puts the total number of blogs on these services to 4.12 M. The analysis reveals that 66% of them have not been updated in the preceding two months. This corresponds to 2.72 M blogs either permanently or temporarily abandoned. Of these, 1.09 M blogs had been created and never updated. The remaining 1.63 M blogs had been active for 4 months on average: 132.000 blogs for one year or more, with 13.600 blogs later reactivated. Looking at the 1.4 M blogs updated in the previous two month. The large majority are active blogs updated every 14 days. Among them, 105.000 are updated more frequently, at least once a week. Very active blogs updated daily are instead fewer than 50.000.

Who's right then?
Evidence from the Pew Internet & American Life Project national survey of 2515 American adults on the theme “Online content creation and publishing” supports the larger 350.000 +/-50.000 estimation of the number of very active blogs. The survey, which took place between March and May 2003, surveyed blogging as one of the forms of online content creation and publishing. Five questions dealt with three different levels of participation in blogging: creating and maintaining a blog; reading other people's blogs; reading and contributing to other people's blogs.

The report indicates that 2% of Internet users say they write a web diary or web log. This corresponds to approximately 3.2 M Internet users. The updating frequency varies from every few weeks (39%); weekly (31%); less often (20%); every day (10%). Very active bloggers are again estimated at about 320.000 people.

Blogs readers
Many more Internet users visit other people’s blogs. They are 11% of the Internet users, approx. 17 M people. This result is also reported by BizBlog, in a 2003 survey for an email services agency: 10% of the respondents (1691) described themselves as regular blogs readers. Going back to Pew, the blogs visited belong to friends (52%) and people never met (46%). Family blogs are visited less frequently (25%).

A more recent portrait of who blog readers are comes from blogads online survey taken by 17.159 blog readers. The majority of respondents were male (79%), over 30 (61%) and earned more than 45.000$ a year. Their digital life is quite extended: they read news online (54%), buy books (50%) and plane tickets (47%) online, make online contributions to causes or candidates (50%). One in five is also a blog publisher.

The blog readers who answered the questionnaire share a very critical view of traditional news sources: television (worthless 37%, somewhat useful 45%), newspapers (worthless 14%, somewhat useful 41%), magazines (worthless 12%, somewhat useful 42%), radio (worthless 13%, somewhat useful 39%). And, not surprisingly, a very positive view of blogs: 55% consider them extremely useful and 31% useful. More generally Internet is the main news source (54%).

They read blogs because they provide news they cannot find anywhere else (80%); because they appreciate the viewpoint (78%); because news come in faster (66%) and because they perceive blogs as more honest (61%).

Blogs readers and contributors
The Pew reports finds that, among blogs readers, 34% also post contributions to the blogs they read, what is equivalent to approx. 6 M people.

Conclusions
Converging results coming from a quite diverse range of studies of blogging suggest an answer to the "How many" question. We can estimate that there are between 2.5 M and 3.5 M active blog publishers, whose blogs are updated at least once a month. The very active publishers, those who write on their blog daily are between 300.000 and 400.000. There is much less data, and also less convergence, about the number of blog readers. Jupiter puts blog readers at 6.4 M, whereas the Pew Internet Project's estimation is almost three times higher, at 17 M. I found only one piece of data about readers/editors. The Pew Internet Project finds 6 M blog readers who post comments to the blog. Finally, there some indications about demographics. We learn that bloggers - publishers, readers, editors - have a relatively long online experience, of over five years. Some economic, age and gender differences have emerged between publishers on the one hand and readers on the other. As well as evidence that blog hosting services have developed distinctive audiences.

Where: US
When: 2003 - 2004