HOW INFLUENTIAL ARE BLOGS?

Forrester Research has released a study of blog readership that has some mainstream press pundits gloating.

Cambridge-based Forrester Research reported yesterday that fewer than 2 percent of Americans who go online read blogs once a week or more.
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Of course, the numbers don't tell the whole story.

[Boston]Herald reporter Jay Fitzgerald, author of Hub Blog and the Herald's Econoblog, notes: ``The New Republic, the National Review, the Nation and other political magazines have enormous influence, but their combined circulation doesn't come close to the readership of the top blogs.''

I daresay the pundits should think again. "Wireless home networks are the new broadband, driving the next wave of Internet use. Those with WiFi connections can access the Web from anywhere in their homes using a laptop. The result? They spend 24 percent less time reading newspapers and 23 percent less time watching TV than people in homes without the Web."

In other words, "early adapters" of blogs may be relatively few now, but look how rapidly use of the Internet has grown in less than a decade. Give blogs another few years and I expect they'll pose a significant challenge to the influence of print and broadcast media.