All data not sourced comes from Technorati's 2009 State of The Blogosphere

The Nielsen company recently reported that Americans spent 17% of their time on the internet on social media sites. Thatʼs nearly triple the time spent a year ago. And, while social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are driving forces for this trend, when was the last time you stopped to actually think about blogging trends?

Five years ago, plain-old everyday blogging probably seemed as foreign a concept to most internet users as Twitter did a few months ago. But, today, there are countless, free third-party platforms to give anyone (and everyone) a voice.

Technoratiʼs 2009 State Of The Blogosphere was released this week. The numbers, I think, are reflective of high-level – and evolving – social media concepts. Three points to make, for now:

Donʼt forget the conversation. I see a lot of brands just putting up deals or giveaways on Twitter and calling it a day.  Deals and contests are great. But real value comes from give and take. Bloggers know this. Itʼs why they invest the time in their craft. The number one reason given for blogging was in order to “speak my mind on areas of interest.” Of all the words they could use to describe their personal style, expert (54%), conversational (63%) and sincere (75%) were the clear leaders.

Pictures still tell 1,000 words. Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, a professor from Harvard Business School, recently completed a study on social network users. His biggest discovery? Pictures. He says, “Pictures are the killer app of all online social networks.” Bloggers embrace the power of the visual. 49% regularly use video for blog postings. 82% regularly use photos.

Theyʼre (still, really) talking about you. Iʼve talked a lot in this space about online reputation management and how if youʼre not managing your reputation online, someone else will manage it for you. 70% of bloggers report talking about products or brands on their blogs. 46% blog about brands that they love (or hate). 38% post product or brand reviews. 28% blog about some of their every day experiences in stores or with customer care. And among those who do talk about brands, almost one fifth are doing so weekly. (Note: These numbers rise significantly when you measure only corporate and self-employed bloggers.)

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