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Interesting data presented by the Blog Herald, especially relating to the statistics by country. First thing of note to me is that MSN Spaces is claiming 10 million blogs while Blogger is listed at only 8.5 million while being the incumbent and having a significant lead to saturate the market. IMHO the MSN claim to fame is more than likely attributed to the MSN Messenger 7.0 release, but either way it smells like a little bit of a marketing stretch to me. Most providers stretch the numbers, 'spin' is nothing unique so it's not necessarily a negative thing, especially since people like me are talking about it now…

7.2 Million for LiveJournal, and here is a big one, 1.5 million for the pay for MT and Typepad where previous data indicated the vast majority of Six Apart customers are based on Typepad, the hosted service. That's a million plus pay for blogers through them alone… Now look at the “other” column that comprises a number of pay for providers which I would assume include our retail partners. Our resellers  in aggregate have experienced exponetial growth the last few months, not nearly as as many blogs in as Blogger or MSN Spaces which are free, but this really goes to show the maturing of the market and the growth in numbers of users who demand a much more sophisticated service with support. Anyone remember the decline in the number of free hosting providers?

I think of the Blogger and MSN Spaces of the world as the proving grounds, the ability for someone to try this highly rewarding practise, to understand the true value proposition of this revolution of online communication…. then as they mature realize that what they have is not enough, and what they want can only be provided by a premium vendor for only a few dollars a month.

Thankfully Blogware has a Blogger import tool so all of their users who see the light can simply pick up where they left off by contacting their friendly neighborhood Blogware reseller. Little do they know that switching is as easy as replacing a lightbulb.