The advent of blogging is bringing new voices into the online world, says a Pew Internet and American Life Project study, and most bloggers are writing about things personal, not political.

In a phone survey of a nationally representative sample of bloggers in America, 54 per cent of respondents said they have never published their work anywhere else, and 44 per cent had published elsewhere. The study also found that 39 per cent of internet users, or about 57 million American adults, read blogs.

Web logs, or blogs, have created a forum for new writers and creators to express their views, opinions and interests. They have also given rise to what is often termed citizen journalism. The study, however, found that the majority of bloggers used their blogs as a personal journal and did not consider what they were doing as journalism.

When asked to select a primary topic, 37 per cent of the survey participants cited “my life experience” as their main topic. Politics and government came in second with only 11 per cent. More than 75 per cent said they keep a blog to express themselves creatively or to document their personal experiences and share them with others. Half said they were trying to influence the way people think.