Ad Age says U.S. workers in 2005 will waste the equivalent of 551,000 years reading blogs. The piece goes on to say "one in four people in the labor force -- visit blogs and on average spend 3.5 hours, or 9%, of the work week engaged with them." Many continue to tout the power of blogs for business, politics and social commentary. It would seem this ever-increasing amount of engagement in the newest medium is a good thing as it enhances the power and reach of blogs. It's not like these at-work blog readers would be on the production floor, stalling the cogs of industrialism.
Of course, there is no telling what blogs get the most attention during work hours, the Ad Age gang says it can extrapolate that non-work-related blogs get the most attention. But it is possible that those prone to wasting time would do so regardless of how - water cooler, smoke breaks, aisle-chatting. Perhaps blogs are keeping them at the desk more. Of course, this trend may also save a lot of companies money, as the New York Times outlines, CPG companies are monitoring blogs for marketing efforts - sort of focus groups on the fly.
posted by Steve Ennen
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