RSS News links to the often covered and probably too optimistic study (pdf) by Pew Internet and American Life. But still the findings are amazing:

" -7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That represents more than 8 million people.

- 27% of internet users say they read blogs, a 58% jump from the 17% who told us they were blog readers in February. This means that by the end of 2004 32 million Americans were blog readers. Much of the attention to blogs focused on those that covered the recent political campaign and the media. And at least some of the overall growth in blog readership is attributable to political blogs. Some 9% of internet users said they read political blogs "frequently" or "sometimes" during the campaign.

- 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. This is a first-time measurement from our surveys and is an indicator that this application is gaining an impressive foothold.

- The interactive features of many blogs are also catching on: 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs."

As that wouldn't be enough Fortune declares blogging TOP trend in 2005 and devotes this laudatio...