English is not the most common language for blogging
At least according to Technorati, in its April State of the Live Web report, the language with the most frequent blog posts in Japanese, with 37%, followed by English with 36% and then Chinese at 8%.
If I had to guess I would have thought that English was indeed the language in which most blog posts were composed. I would have been wrong.
Home Internet access is still highest in the English speaking world, but native Japanese speakers edge out English speakers when it comes to the sheer number of posts. I think this is very encouraging since blogging is increasing in places like China and Iran.
Even though only 1% of blog posts are in Farsi, I am willing to bet that many Iranian bloggers who want to reach an audience outside of their country are blogging in English. People in countries with repressive regimes and state controlled news outlets can use blogging as a way to try to get information out past government censors.
If any readers know any blogs of the sort I described, please let me know via a comment. I’ll like to give them a place to live in a sidebar so more people can see them.
