Number of Active Blogs on the Decline?

I have noticed a drop off over the last few months of some VCs keeping up their blog. You may notice that my list on the left hand side shrunk this week as I removed some of them that haven't been updated since last year. There are still some others that haven't been updated since January, but I have faith they will be updated soon and the content is good so I'll keep them up. :)

But it raises an interesting point - has anyone seen a recent stat out there which points to number of blogs vs. number of active users?

I looked at Blogcount.com, but even that is outdated! I read an old stat that said that the number of active blogs is around 55%, but I am not sure how "active" was defined. Looking at LiveJournal's stats, 13% of users are considered active within the last 30 days.

I wonder if the gap is widening? My guess is yes.

Comments

[Ken King]

Jason,

I think there are two related issues going on here. First, I've noticed a spate of "blog burnout" posts over the last year, in which people announced that they were taking a vacation from their blog or even stopping altogether. Something that had started out as a fun activity had turned into a chore. thenonist.com has an interesting public service pamphlet dealing with blog depression - http://thenonist.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/a_nonist_public_service_pamphlet/.

The second consideration is that there may be an increase in the number of people for whom a blog does not have to generate a lot of traffic. In my case, I post infrequently but consider the blog to be "active" because the intent is to provide others some insight into me and my way of thinking, with the belief that this will improve the way we work together. Posting more frequently would not necessarily add value given my goals.

The issues are related - if someone starts a blog without a clear handle on their goals, they're more likely to find themselves overcommitted and resenting it, leading to burnout.

The definitions of "active" in the technorati post and livejournal stats you cite above are too narrow, and only apply to those who pay attention to things like the Technorati top 100.