Blogging Tips : Why Reasons People Go Online

Which is Your Blog Connecting With?

This afternoon I came across the results of an interesting study called the Ruder Finn Intent Index which I think makes useful reading for bloggers.

In essence it surveys those going online on the reasons that they go online. Here’s a screen grab of the results (although it’s well worth visiting the site because this chart is dynamic and you can drill down further by clicking on different areas of it).

Overall they classify people’s reasons for going online into 7 broad categories:

• Learn
• Have Fun
• Socialize
• Express Yourself
• Advocate
• Do Business
• Shop

Interestingly the order they’re listed above is the order from highest to lowest that they found people go online for.

Within the categories ‘pass time’ was the most responded to result with 100% of people saying that they go online for this reason.

You can also look at the results based upon gender and age. For example

• Men go online to do business, be informed of news and be entertained more than women
• Women are more likely to go online to socialize and express themselves than men)
• Youth go online more for socializing, advocating and self expression than seniors
• Both Youth and Seniors are going online to have fun

Other highly rated areas (80% of responses or more) included:

• Educate Self (96%)
• Connect with Others (92%)
• Research (89%)
• Share (86%)
• Be Entertained (82%)

As I read through the categories and sub categories I realized that this list of reasons for people to go online is gold for bloggers looking to improve their blog (or particularly for those starting out and wanting to choose a topic that has every chance of being successful).

I’m constantly talking about how a blog needs to be useful or needs to be fulfilling a need that a potential reader has. Here’s 20+ such needs that people have that a blog can help fulfill. Which one is your blog positioned to connect with.