Blogs: A cure for unemployment?

There are nearly as many 'professional' bloggers as lawyers, although the money isn't the same

“The Information Age has spawned many new professions,” said pollster Mark Penn in The Wall Street Journal, but the biggest may be the newest: the blogger. Almost as many Americans make a living from blogging as from being a lawyer, with 1.7 million bloggers earning some pay, and 452,000 “using blogging as their primary source of income.” And why not, when you can earn $75,000 for 100,000 unique visitors a month?

I wish, said Mickey Kaus in Slate. Penn's numbers are “fantastically bogus and clueless,” combining those bloggers who earn money with those who’d merely like to, and turning “a” primary source of income into “the” primary source. A site with “only 100,000 uniques” would be lucky to earn $22,000—and that’s if ad rates don’t drop.

I don't buy Penn’s numbers, either, said Jeff Jarvis in Buzz Machine, “at least not yet.” If he could name even one 100,000-hit blogger who earned anywhere near $75,000, it would help his case. But even with his questionable numbers, “the trend is heading this way, and I’m certainly happy to hear talk of blogging as a business model.”