The Book Tower

According to Technorati, 75,000 new blogs are created daily, which is on average a new blog for every second of every day. Hundreds of blogs will be started before I finish writing this post. I’d suspected figures as crazy as this, but until now hadn’t bothered to check them out. Also according to Technorati, the Blogosphere is now 60 times larger than it was three years ago. It’s doubling every six months.
Other figures they supply are:

Over 19 million bloggers continue to post three months after creating their blogs.

So even though a fair number of blogs are started and quickly abandoned (like the diary I’d always stop writing in around January the 5th each year), the growth rate of active blogs is still phenomenal.

Nearly 4 million bloggers update their blogs at least weekly.

So I am one of nearly four million, writing away at least once a week.

50,000 posts are made every hour.

So, since I’ve started writing this post, erm … oh – you can do the maths.

So why bother? Obviously lots of reasons. And who does it? I have tried to sort the different types of blogger into categories:

The Pepys

The Pepys will keep a personal blog, not expecting anyone to read it or comment on it. It’s a purely personal blog, done for the joy of writing. You may never come across a Pepys.

The Joe Orton

An Orton is a very personal and frank blog whose writer doesn’t give a damn who reads, doesn’t read and who does/doesn’t post comments. An Orton will shock, but will be fascinating reading.

The Picasso

A Picasso will post their own sketch or art blog, trying to be a prolific artist and post quite often, usually daily. I’ve come across an increasing amount of these blogs, many more than I can keep tabs on.

The Specialist

A specialist will write about a particular field. They are usually passionate and it helps to be knowledgeable. It takes time to be a specialist and it takes time to gain respect. As an example, I would rate Zeldman as the top of his particular league.

The Geri Halliwell

This type of blogger will break their back trying to market themselves, and may have some success, despite any obvious talent. Hard work alone will get them there as they seek out different blogs to comment on and fill up their blogroll in an attempt to get noticed.

Bloggers Who Lunch

This type of blogger usually belongs to quite a cliquey crowd. If you find a lunchblog, you probably won’t fully understand the comments or even the posts, as they’re only intended to keep about half a dozen people chuckling. Don’t comment here. They may not like it.

That’s just a few. I suppose I see myself as a Pepys, aspiring to be either a Picasso or a Specialist. I enjoy writing for the hell of it, but freely admit that there is something of the Geri Haliwell in all of us.