8 million American adults say they have created blogs; blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users; 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online; and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs. Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is.

There seems to be some growing indications that once again the technology maybe ahead of the knowledge. It isn't any secret that many online businesses are adapting blogs for their own use, but there is a question there on whether they are putting this technology to good use.

As Kevin Robb suggests:

"A lot of items relevant to having a successful website also apply to Blogs, don’t get caught up in the hype and think that a Blog is the answer to all your problems, they are not a magic solution."

Many of you may have already clicking a link to read a blog only to have Google Adsense embedded into one side (that is acceptable) and then on the other side you can see more Google ads except these are flashing and bouncing around the screen in a mis-matched colored coordination with the animated or FLASH banner at the top, and then when the page finally loads, you have a paragraph written by someone other then the blog owner and the rest of the page is consists of affiliate links and more advertising.

The good news is that at least it is easy to un-subscribe from an RSS feed (if that is how you keep track of the blogs you read) and you don't have to bother clicking an un-subscribe link that will remove you from a mailing list only if it pleases the publisher.

How much of your blog is advertising?