For all the people who have asked me recently the irritating: “do you think blogging is the next big thing?” and “where do you think this blog phenomenon will go/end?”, here’s an article in The Guardian:

Ordinary people are blissfully unaware of the publishing revolution – knowing more about “dogging” than blogging, according to a survey by the advertising agency DDB.

7 out of 10 people don’t know what a blog is and more people are aware of “happy slapping” than podcasting. But nearly 40% say they understood the expression “dogging”.

A further 56% said they were aware of “happy slapping”, where teenagers mug people and video it on mobile phones.

“Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean.”

Even among computer users, the term “blogging” received a blank response, with around two thirds professing ignorance of the term, as did 66% of men and 65% of 16- to 24-year-olds.