NEW DELHI: According to the findings of Blogging India: An MSN and Windows Live Report released today, India’s blogosphere is driven by youth and a passion for self improvement and entertainment with 42 per cent of online users reading blogs to stay informed about world events, 49 per cent citing entertainment as the main reason they read blogs, and blogs written by business leaders ranking as the most interesting.
Based on an online survey of more than 1,000 MSN portal visitors in India, the report was developed by Windows Live Spaces, as part of a pan-Asian research initiative.
The Indian research also highlighted that while growing in popularity in India the blogging community is still nascent with only 14 per cent of India’s netizens actively blogging while 39 per cent was aware of blogs.
Men’s sphere
Men heavily dominate India’s blogosphere; three quarters (76 per cent) of its bloggers are male while women only account for 24 per cent. This goes against the trend in the region where blogging was fairly evenly matched between the sexes although in some markets such as Singapore was slightly more female dominated.
Young adults, with 54 per cent of them between the ages of 25 – 34, 32 per cent under 25, and 15 per cent over 35 also fuel India’s blogosphere.
A fervor for self improvement and personal development was found to be a key driver of India’s blogosphere with a large majority of online users reading blogs to stay informed about world event.
Technology steals the cake
When asked which subjects they enjoyed reading the most, the majority of respondents cited technology at 32 per cent followed closely by news and education at 24 per cent illustrating the impact of India’s booming technology sector on society. This is in contrast with the region where technology was ranked by only 19 per cent as the most interesting and travel the second most popular at 17 per cent.
Blogs written by business leaders were found by half of all online users in India to be the most enjoyable to read. Blogs by politicians were found by 24 per cent of respondents to be of regular interest. This is in contrast to the region where the blogs by business leaders and politicians were far less popular at only 26 per cent and blogs by politicians accounting for only a 13 per cent share.
The new fourth estate?
These findings also suggested the blogging could be on its way to becoming the “new fourth estate” with close to half, 45 per cent, of respondents believe that blog content is as trustworthy as traditional media such as newspapers, radio and TV. The implications of the findings are not only significant for traditional media owners but also for community leaders reaching out to communicate directly with online users.
The report also revealed that the majority of India’s online users find reading blogs to be an excellent source of entertainment with those written by actors, popular music artists, and sports personalities rating as the most popular at a combined 77 per cent.
“India’s nascent blogosphere is characterized by what all of India is striving to achieve today, to grow and learn whilst taking time from our busy lives to be entertained by role models in our communities,” said Jaspreet Bindra, country manager, MSN and Windows Live, India. “The Internet is growing at a tremendous rate, driven by user created content and community based online services. These are both highly representative of the blogging phenomenon in India today.”
Passionate views
The report said that having a platform for self-expression factored heavily into the motivation to blog in India with 58 per cent of bloggers starting a blog because they wanted to express passionate views while 40 per cent of India’s bloggers did so to entertain others through their writing. A majority, 47 per cent, of blog owners indicated that writing about their views and commenting on the world around them was what they enjoyed the most about the activity.
Bloggers who are looking to improve their sites should take note as aesthetics play a huge role in attracting and retaining an audience in the blogosphere. Respondents indicated that a good blog should, firstly, be updated regularly and secondly be well written with eye-catching pictures.
Amongst the most annoying aspects of blogging, India’s netizens pointed to badly written entries, 42 per cent, self-centered blogs, 36 per cent and not knowing when a blog is updated, 34 per cent, as things that turned them away from blog sites.
Social connection
A need to share their lives with family and friends was a strong motivator for India’s netizens with 43 per cent of respondents indicating that they were interested in reading blogs written by those closest to them and half of bloggers surveyed started a blog to either share a diary and photos with loved ones or because a family or friend had one.
The findings were closely in line with those for the region as a whole with 53 per cent of bloggers indicating that they chose to start a blog to share a diary or photo album with loved ones. Close to three-quarters, 74 per cent, of the Asia’s netizens find that blogs written by friends and family are the most interesting.
Almost 90 per cent of Indian bloggers spend up to five hours per week reading blogs or updating their own blogs revealing the impact the social network activity is having on the internet usage patterns and divulging the extent to which consumption of traditional media is changing.
