If everyone's writing, who's reading?

I just came across a fascinating statistic that at the end of 2007, it was estimated that there were over 112 million blogs on the net. The population of the earth as of today is around 6.6 billion which means that only 1.69% of that vast body of humans are writing blogs. That kind of answers my question outright. But that leads me to ask another question. How many people in the world have access to the internet and what percentage of those netizens are active bloggers - by active bloggers I mean those that write. ( A passive blogger by definition would then be someone who reads or browses through blogs without necessarily writing one). I haven't so far managed to find an answer to my question but I am looking...

Ever since I took a decision to become a serious blogger of the active kind, I have been blog surfing wildly to find what I call the "Great Masters" of blogging, individuals who may very well be ordinary everyday people like me in real life, but who have unusual interests that have inspired them to create blogs of extraordinary dimensions to literally go where no man (or woman) has ever gone before. In other words, blogs that can qualify as 'inspiring' to a novice like me.

To take away this week's honors ( I am not sure though that this is going to be weekly exercise), is a posting on BLDGBLOG where the author (or authors, I don't know) interview a young student called Michael Cook who punches a big U-factor into his existence by being an intrepid "urban explorer" and photographer. If you are thinking Mr. Cook is just another urban explorer like you and me that likes to walk the streets of cities, big and small, think again. I bet very few would ever dream of going where his expeditions take him - into the underground storm-water drainage system of Toronto. The blog that I came across discusses his fascinating work and has some really cool pictures of the innards of a city's drainage system. Needless to say, the blog completely blew my mind. The photographs called to mind images of the human body's conduits and drainage networks and a thousand sci-fi movies as well as more recent memories of the slot canyons of Arizona.

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/drains-of-canada-interview-with-michael.html

(I am going to list this blog under my favorite links when I figure out the best way to do it)

Going back to where I started from, I think this week's biggest learning for me has been the revelation that a blog doesn't necessarily have to be a personal diary. ( yes I know, whatever gave me such an idea!) The net is alive and throbbing with infinite possibilities of what a blog can end up being which has left me greatly excited and eager to embark upon some serious explorations. As to who's 'reading' blogs, I don't know if all 112 million blog-writers are, but I certainly am and enjoying every minute of it.