Pew has a new study out on blogging in America. Despite the small sample size (233), it is a very large report (PDF, 33 pages). I am still going through the report, but one thing that struck me was how the demographics of the blogosphere as a whole were very different than the demographics of the political blogosphere.

• 54% of bloggers are under the age of 30.
  
• Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women representing 46% of bloggers and men 54%. (...)
  
• When asked to choose one main subject, 37% of bloggers say that the primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."
  
• Other topics ran distantly behind: 11% of bloggers focus on politics and government; 7% on entertainment; 6% on sports; 5% on general news and current events; 5% on business; 4% on technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith. Additional smaller groups focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.

By way of contrast, the median age for members of the progressive political blogosphere is much higher--in the mid-40's. There are more men than women in the progressive blogosphere, with men currently making up over 60% of the progressive blogosphere, but that ratio is slowly approaching equity. Also: Another distinguishing characteristic is that bloggers are less likely to be white than the general internet population. Sixty percent of bloggers are white, 11% are African American, 19% are English-speaking Hispanic and 10% identify as some other race. By contrast, 74% of internet users are white, 9% are African American, 11% are English-speaking Hispanic and 6% identify as some other race. While there is no really good data on race / ethnicity within the progressive political blogosphere, it is a safe bet that we are no where that diverse. The demographic differences between the blogosphere as a whole and the political blogosphere as a subset seem to be caused by the following:

• Political activists, in general are older than non-political activists. Attend pretty much any political meeting that does not have the word "young" in front of it, and you will get the picture.
  
  
• Older populations in America are very different demographically from younger populations. For example, while about 75% of the population of America over the age of 40 is both white and Christian, only about 35% of the population under the age of 40 is both white and Christian. The dramatic demographic difference between different generations in this country is almost certainly the main reason for the dramatic demographic difference between the political blogosphere and the blogosphere as a whole, since the latter s much older than the former.
  
  
• The definition of blogs in this survey extends to MySpace and Live Journal, websites that are absolutely enormous. I have no problem with those websites being defined as blogs, but since they are defined as blogs (which is somewhat debatable), the peculiarities of those sites will have an enormous impact upon the demographics of the blogosphere as a whole.
  
  
• In addition to these generational and definitional reasons, the main reason is probably one of voice. People simply have a tendency to read voices than can identify with. Thus, if the early adopters to the political blogosphere tended to be of a certain age, ethnicity, or other demographic bent, it was almost inevitable that their audience would end up over-sampling people of the same or similar demographic bents. This is, for example, why I believe the progressive political blogosphere is slowly diversifying in terms of both gender and ethnicity. As more and more women and people of color begin to become prominent within the political blogosphere, they will attract an audience that reflects their demography. It is a slow snowball effect that will eventually lead to the full diversification of the blogosphere.

But there is a lot more to the report than just demographics. I just happen to be a little demographic focused right now. It looks like a fascinating study, and you can expect to read more about it both on MyDD and on Mystery Pollster