Examining the Medical Blogosphere: An Online Survey of Medical Bloggers September 23, 2008

Some months ago, I was asked to take a survey focusing on the habits of medical bloggers. The research was conducted by Ivor Kovic et al. and they published the results in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR).

We approached 197 medical bloggers of English-language medical blogs which provided direct contact information, with posts published within the past month. The survey included 37 items designed to evaluate data about Internet and blogging habits, blog characteristics, blogging motivations, and, finally, the demographic data of bloggers.

Medical bloggers are highly educated and devoted blog writers, faithful to their sources and readers. Sharing practical knowledge and skills, as well as influencing the way other people think, were major motivations for blogging among our medical bloggers. Medical blogs are frequently picked up by mainstream media; thus, blogs are an important vehicle to influence medical and health policy.