State of Food Blogging 2013 Survey

The State of Food Blogging 2013 survey results are out (click on the link to download the full results). Because the respondents were self-selected, the results are not generalizable, but they are nonetheless interesting.

Results are based on the 679 food bloggers who chose to answer the online survey. Here are a few observations on the results and how my blog fits into them:

• Respondents were overwhelmingly American (about 3/4) and female (about 7/8), with a little more than half falling between ages 25 and 44. That's two-thirds me (except for the female part).
• Most respondents have some professional experience related to food blogging. Mostly in writing (27 percent) or marketing (26 percent). Only 4 percent claimed a professional drinks background. Although I do write as part of my job, I wouldn't claim a professional background related to food blogging.
• Respondents' most common ways they measure the success of their blogs were personal satisfaction (about 80 percent), unique visitors (about 70 percent) and shares on social media (a little over half)--all of which I would agree with for me personally, as well as comments and Twitter followers.
• Recipes are the top topic covered on respondents' blogs (91 percent), followed by restaurants (44 percent) and healthy living (44 percent). Drinks are a bit lower down, at 34 percent.
• The social media coverage is interesting. Although more respondents say they use Twitter (91 percent) than Facebook (77 percent) and have more followers on Twitter (a median of 412) than Facebook (median of 300), they reported getting more traffic from Facebook. I've found connecting with followers easier on Twitter, although people I know well tend to follow me more through Facebook.
• Monthly unique views are greatly skewed by very popular blogs: the reported average visitors per month was 42,000 but the median was much lower, at 2,000. 

The survey was conducted by Foodista and Zephyr Adventures, organizers of the International Food Bloggers Conference. It will be released officially tomorrow.