For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

In addition to the CEO swap, Technorati also announced a new CTO position that Abderrezak Kamel is filling. Higgins told WebProNews that the changes were natural and that they would help the company reach its future goals.

The report from 2008 revealed that professional blogging was on the rise. This year’s report further confirmed that trend with 28 percent of bloggers calling themselves professionals and 72 percent classified as hobbyists.

One of the most surprising statistics from this year was that 40 percent of professional bloggers have worked within traditional media. Jalichandra says this stat debunks the theory that bloggers are not trained and educated.

Although bloggers blogged more this year than last, they plan on blogging even more in 2010. In addition, bloggers want to expand their business and extend their brand.

To help bloggers meet their goals, Jalichandra also announced the “new Technorati.” The new features allow bloggers to publish content directly onto Technorati, which will provide more opportunities for smaller bloggers. The company has also “built a blog directory on steroids” that includes categorical authority and allows people discover new blogs.

To learn more about the new Technorati and the 2009 State of the Blogosphere, visit Technorati.

Oddly enough, many of us view even more websites than that on a daily basis. What type of websites do you view? Is it commerce, community, news, or blogs? For most, it is probably a combination of all mentioned.

In order to get your business noticed in this digital age, Richard Jalichandra of Technorati says companies have to make their brand accessible. Utilizing 2 or 3 portals aren’t good enough. Richard says brands must realize that they have to extend their efforts beyond their comfort zones in order to succeed in the digital age.

Look at the above statistics and then think about your consumption of traditional media sources. How much TV do you watch? Do you get your news from television or a newspaper, or do you turn to the Web to get it? When was the last time you visited a library, or do you simply go to the Internet to find the information you need?

The Web has changed the way we do business and live our everyday life. We should expect this trend to only increase over time. Going back to the point Richard made, this information means that marketers and advertisers have to embrace several digital areas.

Take the Technorati online property BlogCritics.org for example. This freshly redesigned website tries bridge the gap between journalists and bloggers by setting a high quality content precedent. The site provides valuable content, but delivers it in a “community” atmosphere. There are countless properties like this on the Web and businesses simply need to find which ones can be integrated into their business model.

In an interview with Web Pro News, Rebecca Kelly of seomoz.org spoke how businesses are even using blogs to as an outreach for their businesses.
“It does kinda give a human voice and human representation to their company.”

The catch is that most blogs do not get very many hits. There are some that receive great feedback such as Engadget -which has more readers than most print newspapers and magazines. But aside from a significant few, the numbers aren’t as impressive. According to web-traffic measurement from ComScore, the top 25 blogs only account for a mere 10 percent of blog readership. CEO Eric Schmidt told United Kingdom politicians that the average blog has only 1 reader. If numbers aren’t the key to bloggingwhat is?

As Rebecca Kelly recountsthe point of blogging is the fact that there is a connection between the writer and the reader.
“A good business blog kind of gets your readers to think that you’re getting kind of a honest peek into the business, you know it’s good reputation management for the company.”