Blogging's stupendous rise.

By now, blogs and blogging have become bywords for large segments of the US public, at least those sufficiently overprivileged to read or create blogs, web commentary, and other such ephemera. Here's a summary of the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, on "The State of Blogging" (pdf):

By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November established new contours for the blogosphere: 8 million American adults say they have created blogs; blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users; 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online; and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs. Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is.