Kuala Lumpur, 29 November 2006 - It’s an accepted fact, proven by social sciences and social behavior, that women are better communicators than men. Now, with the Web 2.0 phenomenon, social media has reinforced this age-old reality.
In an online survey on the blogosphere in Malaysia, Blogging Malaysia: A Windows Live Report, women bloggers made up 64% of respondents, while men lagged at 36%. The survey also found that a large majority of bloggers (74%) are below 25 years old, with another 21% between 25 and 34 years old.
Powered by youthful enthusiasm and people’s need to express themselves and share their lives with family and friends, blogging in Malaysia is surging forward with nearly half (41%) of those online actively blogging.
The results were revealed in Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report, which consolidated results from an online survey of more than 25,000 MSN portal visitors across seven markets conducted in September. The report, by the world’s largest blogging site*, Windows Live Spaces, provides comprehensive insight into the blogging craze sweeping Asia.
Entertainment and social connections top reasons to blog
The report found that the Malaysia’s bloggers are primarily blogging for entertainment and to share their lives with family and friends. The highest number of respondents (63%) indicated that they read blogs for entertainment, while 49% said they blog as a means to keep up with friends and family.
Interestingly, 56% of respondents said that the primary motivation for starting a blog was that they have views that they are passionate about and wanted to express themselves, reflecting the liberating feeling that the online world presents to them. But in spite of strong passions, 74% of respondents declared they have no particular agenda for their own blogs.
“Over the last several years, with the introduction of easy-to-use and integrated services such as Windows Live Spaces, blogging has moved into the mainstream in Asia and Malaysia, and become a popular way for people to stay in touch with family and friends,” said Grant Watts, General Manager, Southeast Asia of Online Services Group, Microsoft.
“Today, instead of sending out mass emails or holiday letters, people are using their blogs to express themselves and reach out to the people they that matter to them. Blogs are real-time, personal, and can even be intimate on what is essentially a public place. With today’s generation growing up in a connected world, blogs and social media have become key channels of communication for them,” Watts added.
What’s a blogger’s lot?
The report uncovered a wide range of habits and behavior among Malaysian bloggers. Almost 50% of Malaysian respondents like writing about their thoughts and commenting on the world around them, while over a third like having their own personal corner of cyberspace. Only 3% of respondents said they were acting as citizen journalists. Technology, travel and music are the three most widely-read blog topics in Malaysia, which are also the same three across Asia.
An overwhelming majority (81%) are most interested in blogs written by those nearest and dearest to them - friends or family. A distant second interest are blogs by famous actors or actresses (34%), followed by famous musicians (33%) and work colleagues (31%). Blogs by business leaders (24%) and politicians (20%) were of least interest.
The survey also provided some tips to anyone who wants to start or improve his other blog. Good writing with a lot of photos was the top characteristic of a good blog (40%), followed by regular updates (21%). On the other hand, boring blogs are the biggest turn offs (50%), followed by badly written blogs (48%), and blogs that are not regularly updated (43%).
Implications for advertisers
Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report highlights how fast media consumption patterns are changing in Malaysia and Asia. With Malaysia’s online population now blogging, this popular activity is beginning to take up a significant chunk of time online and drive user behavior on the web. The Blogging Malaysia report showed that over half of Malaysian respondents who blog spend two hours per week reading blogs or updating their own blog.
“User created content and community based online services are really propelling the internet right now. Blogging is a big part of this. Innovative advertisers in the region are already tapping into the blogging phenomenon and targeting campaigns via Windows Live Spaces. We expect as blogging becomes an even bigger part of the social fabric of the communities that more and more big brand advertisers will follow the eyeballs and begin to ultise this dynamic advertising medium,” said Watts.
About the Study
Blogging Asia: An MSN and Windows Live Report was conducted online on the MSN portal and across seven markets in Asia - Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Over 25,000 people took part in the survey which took place in August and September. The results were analysed by Harris Interactive, the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. Harris Interactive is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novatris in France. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.
About Windows Live Spaces
Launched in August 2006, Windows Live Spaces is the next generation of MSN Spaces. It is the most widely used blogging service in the world with more than 120 million unique visitors per month. Windows Live Spaces is easy to use, offers great integration with Windows Live Messenger making it easy to connect with friends and family and offers customization features that allow people to make their Space a true reflection of themselves and their personalities.
About MSN and Windows Live
MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx. |