Study: Gay And Lesbian Adults Are More Avid Blog Readers, Social Network Users

A new national survey carried out by market research firm Harris Interactive suggests gay and lesbian adults online today are among the most loyal and most frequent blog readers and social network users in the United States.

Harris Interactive conducted the study online between June 14 and 21, 2010, among 2,412 adults, of whom 341 self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender. The company over-sampled gay men and lesbians in order to allow for more detailed analysis of these groups, and the data was weighted to reflect the composition of the adult U.S. population.

According to Harris Interactive, more than half (54%) of gay men and lesbian respondents report reading some type of blog, compared to only 40% of heterosexuals.

This represents an increase from March 2008, when 51% of gay and lesbian respondents reported reading some type of blog.

When it comes to the types of blogs popular with Americans, the survey found 36% of gay and lesbian adults read news blogs, compared to 25% of heterosexual adults. A quarter (25%) of gay and lesbian adults also read entertainment and pop culture blogs, compared to merely 16% of heterosexuals.

Apart from avidly reading blogs, gay and lesbian adults also are choosing to connect online through social networking sites more often than heterosexual adults. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) of gay and lesbian adults can be found on Facebook, compared to 65% of heterosexual adults. Also, 32% of gay and lesbian respondents report being members of MySpace, compared to 22% of heterosexuals.

Nearly 3 out of 10 (or 29%) gay men and lesbians report they are members of Twitter, while the same can be said of just 15% of heterosexual adults.

When it comes to LinkedIn, which is obviously more business-oriented, 22% of gay and lesbian respondents report being members, compared to 16% of heterosexual adults.

You can find detailed tables here.

(Image courtesy of Flickr user istolethetv)