Most blogs personal, not political
The highest-profile blogs may be about news, politics or technology, but the vast majority of Web journals are more personal in nature, a survey found.
“My life and experiences” was cited as the primary focus by 37 percent of U.S. bloggers, with politics and government a distant second at 11 percent, according to the study issued last week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
“They are about people’s personal experiences,” said Amanda Lenhart, Pew’s senior research specialist. “They don’t tend to be about one topic. It’s not just about politics. It’s about politics, your kids and going for a walk. It’s about what crosses people’s minds and what inspires them.”
The study also found that most bloggers – 84 percent – consider their blog mostly a hobby. Nearly 60 percent spend only one or two hours a week on it, and half the bloggers say they do it mostly for themselves, not for an audience.
Despite a greater awareness of blogs – 39 percent of U.S. Internet users surveyed in January say they have them, compared with 27 percent in September – only 8 percent of online adults keep a blog, a figure that has remained steady.
Elves and Orcs, meet the Kids Next Door
The Cartoon Network is developing a “massively” multiplayer online game in the vein of “World of Warcraft” and “EverQuest” for kids 6 to 14.
The yet-to-be-named game, expected to launch in 2008, will let players interact with Cartoon Network characters.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, have reached mainstream popularity over the past few years, driven primarily by “World of Warcraft,” which now has more than 6.5 million players.
The game, announced Wednesday, is being developed with a South Korean company, Grigon Entertainment. Seoul-based Grigon already has developed several online games for the Asian market.
Cartoon Network, a unit of Time Warner Inc., already provides simpler games on its Web site, which draws 4.6 million visitors a week.
The cable network would not say how much it is investing in the new game, but Paul Condolora, who heads Cartoon Network’s “new media” division, said it was equivalent to the cost of a new TV series.
Condolora said age verification for players and age-appropriate chat functions are in the works, but details have yet to be determined.