Blogging is a Social Activity in Asia
Posted on December 2, 2006
Digital Media Asia reports on a new study that finds blogging is a social phenomenon in Asia. 46% of online Asians blog and the blogs of family and friends are the blogs that people say they want to read most.
Asia's blogosphere is surging forward with nearly half, 46 per cent, of those online actively blogging, according to research released by Microsoft's MSN and Windows Live Online Services Business. The research showed that blogging is a social phenomenon with Asians primarily blogging as a means to maintain and build their social connections and to express themselves. The research findings are reportedly based on an online survey of more than 25,000 MSN portal visitors across seven markets.The study found that business blogs were not very appealing in most of Asia. However, they are appealing in India and South Korea. They study also found that blogs are trusted by many Asians: "half of respondents believing that blog content is as trustworthy as traditional media."Microsoft noted that blogging as a corporate or business tool still appears to be nascent in most markets, with little interest from consumers in blogs from business or political leaders. The exceptions are South Korea where blogging is reported to have permeated all aspects of life and India where a culture of self improvement is seeing business related blogs become popular.
The report suggested that netizens in Asia are most interested in those blogs written by friends and family (74 per cent) while blogs by work colleagues were the second most popular blog but were a distant second with only a quarter of respondents showing interest. In South Korea and India, however, respondents are most interested in blogs covering a specific topic of interest, the report said.