Among American teenagers, at least, it may not be what you think.
At The New Republic’s Plank blog, Michelle Cottle quotes from a study by the Pew Internet and American Life project:
Teens living in households earning less than $50,000 per year are considerably more likely to blog than those living in higher-income households; fully 35% of online teens whose parents fall in the lower income brackets have created an online journal or blog, while just 24% of those in the higher income brackets have done so.
An even more pronounced contrast is evident when looking at teens who live with single parents vs. those who live with married parents. Online teens living in single-parent homes are far more likely to have shared their writing through a blog; 42% of these teens keep a blog compared with 25% of teens living with married parents.
Cottle and her commenters offer some ideas on why this is so. See what you think.
At any rate I like the idea of blogging as what marketing types might call a “downscale” activity, and it inclines me to appreciate it even more.