Is everybody blogging? If so, what are they blogging about? A recent report by Technorati describes the current state and ever-growing nature of the blogosphere, particularly in terms of the current number of blogs around the world, how many new ones appear every day, and the increasing prevalence of “spam” blogs:

In his periodic “State of the Blogosphere,” Sifry said that there are about 27.2 million blogs and 75,000 new ones created each day. At that rate, the blogosphere doubles about every 5.5 months. . . . There are about 1.2 million new posts daily, or 50,000 an hour, according to Sifry’s report on Technorati.

Along with the rise in popularity of blogs are blog-related annoyances. Almost 10 percent of new blogs are machine-generated, according to Sifry, who says “spings,” or spam-generated pings, can make up 60 percent of Technorati’s daily pings. . . . Technorati shows that 13.7 million bloggers continue to post 3 months after their launch.

As you can see, in absolute numbers, blogging appears to be a very hot and popular social phenomenon these days. But those of us who blog on a regular basis should remember that we operate very close to the cutting edge of using technology in society. In other words, it can be very easy to take blogging for granted since we live in that realm of the world everyday.

But as the article also points out, most Americans -- in fact, an overwhelming majority -- still have no idea what a blog is, let alone read one on an everyday basis. It’s almost like a 21st century, postmodern “digital divide” that’s based not on social class, but on technological savviness.

It makes me wonder, is this modern digital divide another example of the “culture wars” that seems to be increasingly prominent in American society? It will be interesting to see how blogging and its related online activities increasingly enter mainstream American society and as it does, how it may change to accommodate a more diverse population of new users.