This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.

Ah, the things that academics who are too bored for any more disc golf or Minesweeper will come up with. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released its "Buzz, Blogs and Beyond" study, which claims to help us come closer to understanding ... um ... well, we're not exactly sure. The study looked at 40 "influential" blogs and their impact on mainstream culture.

The findings are inconclusive, which, after all, is the point of academic research. Apparently, blogs can influence what "mainstream" journalists are writing about, but have difficulty spreading some stories — like the infamous "Bush bulge," a term that always makes us giggle — farther than their neighbor's basement. The highlight of the study: A comparison between U.S. and British blogs.

While Belle de Jour got the mainstream media speculating on her (or his) identity, and the likes of Scary Duck greatly amuse, there is a sense that the Americans take their blogging more seriously than [Brits] do.

We're not as familiar with UK blogs as perhaps we should be, but that sentence makes us think they must all be about cute kittens, hot pants and poo.—WL

The Bloggers Have All The Best News [Guardian UK]
Buzz, Blogs And Beyond [Pew Internet] (PDF)