The big three on today’s web – Blogs, RSS, and Podcasts - took a punch in the stomach recently when data was released from Jupiter Research, WorkPlace Print Media, and Keller Fay.

Highlights include:

7% of American adults write blogs 

22% read blogs

8% listen to podcasts

5% use RSS feeds

88% of business users didn’t know about RSS

And to top it off, word-of-mouth research group Keller Fay said 92% of brand conversations take place offline.

The RSS numbers don’t surprise me. Until RSS is baked into Microsoft’s OS, your general consumer will never see it or care about it. In B2B scenarios, I think RSS adoption is increasing faster. That’s partly because content management vendors are incorporating RSS into their web architectures.

Blogs and podcasts are a bit different. Clients many times still see blogs as superfluous in a lot of ways. They have a hard time seeing how blogs start conversations with their customers. But at least most are realizing that blogs provide a way to fire back at unfounded claims or customer service woes. Heck, the way blogs propel you up the search engines should be reason enough to take the plunge.

On the podcast stats, I think low usage can be tied directly to lack of content. Granted, there do seem to be podcastiong sites popping up everyday, but I question the quality of what’s being produced. When big brands and media companies truly start podcasting everything, you’ll see end-user adoption skyrocket. I think the average user still has a hard time understanding all the mechanics of a podcast. 

Bottom line: Start experimenting with all three. You’ll soon find a way to incorporate some facet of one of these into your growth strategy.

tags: blogs, podcasts, rss, marketing, advertising, web2.0, internet+marketing, seo, search+engines