When I started blogging back in 2004 I was by no means the first, although blogging was still more of a novelty here in New Zealand, and seen as something that only “geeky” people did. But 2004 was also the year that Merriam-Webster.com’s most searched-for definition was blog, and in noting this, Time Magazine commented on the phenomenon of blogging by saying “Radio had its golden age in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it was television’s turn. Historians may well date the golden age of the blog from 2004” then asking, “How long can it last? Who knows?” Two years later Time announced their person of the year is “you”! 2004 was also the yer that Technorati started!

Here at the end of 2008, the latest figures from the annual Technorati “State of the Blogosphere” provide ample evidence that blogging is now a well established part of our daily lives. As in their past reports the team at Technorati have  analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, they resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. For the first time, they surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially.

The report is well worth a read, and delivers on what it sets out to provide – with ample evidence of the extent to which blogs now pervade our daily lives, illustrating that blogs have now moved well beyond simply the domain of the hobby-ist, and now provide the opportunity for income generation, product placement and political and public policy campaigning. How things change in just four years!