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.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for December 13Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include saving healthcare, the affordability crisis, and more
-
Farage’s £9m windfall: will it smooth his path to power?In Depth The record donation has come amidst rumours of collaboration with the Conservatives and allegations of racism in Farage's school days
-
The issue dividing Israel: ultra-Orthodox draft dodgersIn the Spotlight A new bill has solidified the community’s ‘draft evasion’ stance, with this issue becoming the country’s ‘greatest internal security threat’