Traditionally blogging is seen as the activity of choice for online teens and young adults, informing the online world of their every thought and idea, be it social problems or their theories on who was really behind 9/11. However it seems that blogging is no longer the pastime of the young (who have instead been drawn to simple and quick social media networks) and has instead risen in popularity among older adults.

With the increase in micro-blogging applications like Twitter and Facebook, traditional blogging has declined amongst young adults and teens since 2006 with only 14 percent of teens now saying they blog, compared to 28 percent in 2006.

Commenting on blogs by teens has also dropped, with only 52 percent of teen social network users reporting commenting on friends’ blogs, down from the 76 percent who did so in 2006.

Growth of micro-blogging

Despite this, the report from Pew Internet indicates that blogging within the adult online population has remained steady in recent years, with approximately one in several ten adults maintaining an online journal or blog, be it personal or professional.

In the past two years for example, while the number of online 18-29 year old that regularly blog has fallen from 24 percent to 15 percent, the number of adults aged 30 and over that blog has risen from 7 percent to 11 percent. Not a huge increase, but an increase none the less and the only demographic that has actually grown in terms of bloggers.

Of course, it is no surprise to learn that the usage of social networking sites such as Facebook has exploded over the past two years with over two thirds of online teens using them, compared to 55 percent in 2006. The same was for adults, with now just under half of online adults using networking sites compared to 37 percent in 2006.

This move away from the more time consuming traditional blog to the the micro-blogging of Twitter and Facebook shows an increasing tendency among internet users to try and do what they can, as quickly as they can.

Smartphones now enable people to update profiles and blogs where ever they are, but the inability to type as fast or as accurately on a keypad then a keyboard has seen people opt for the ‘short and sweet’ method of communication and voicing their opinions then in Lenette articles.

Twitter is a prime example of this with the 140 character limitation preventing people from going into depth in their thoughts. While this may appeal to the younger generation, adults are apparently not completely on board with ‘tweets’ preferring instead to blog the old fashioned way… with complete sentences.