Web's young 'storytellers'

Not mid-career pithy political pundits, but young digital natives dominate the blogosphere, the latest Pew Internet & American Life study has found. "They're young. They're addicted to instant messaging and social networks. And they're more apt to dish about the drama at last night's party than the president's latest faux pas," says the Washington Post in its coverage of the study, "Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers." More than half of bloggers (54%) are under 30, and they're a diverse group – "less likely to be white than the general Internet population," Pew says. Other findings: 55% blog under a pseudonym, 46% under their own name; 84% "describe their blog as either a 'hobby' or just 'something I do'; 52% blog "mostly for themselves," 32% "mostly for their audience; the main reasons for blogging are "creative expression" and "sharing personal experiences." Here's further coverage in the
New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the Miami Herald, and CNET.