By 2011 blogs were part of the furniture of online news sites, and a Canadian Media Research Consortium study on news habits and social media set out to test whether journalists’ sense of what blogging was worth matched what readers actually wanted from it.
The headline figure was modest. Only 21 per cent of Canadians said they read or followed particular journalists online, through blogs or social networks. Among students the figure doubled to 43 per cent.
Asked why they turned to journalist blogs, readers gave reasons that were largely editorial rather than social: 61 per cent wanted additional information about a story, 59 per cent simply enjoyed reading the posts, 51 per cent said the posts helped them understand a story better, and 45 per cent were interested in behind-the-scenes detail. Only a third followed journalists online to learn more about the journalists themselves or to share their own views on a story. The pattern suggested most readers did not value the conversational side of the format that newsrooms were promoting hardest.
Young readers were the exception. Two-thirds of students said they followed journalists online to learn more about them, and a similar proportion valued being able to leave comments and feedback — the more personal, open and interactive journalism that blogging made possible.
The report was based on an online survey of a representative national sample of 1,682 adults conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, weighted to Statistics Canada data on age, gender, region and education.