To further underscore the importance of the "everyman" phenomenon of content creation that I talked about in a previous post, a new study by PEW says 35% of US internet users have created content online.
Almost 10% of us have our own blog or online journal, and 15% have our own webpage. That's 27 million people in the US alone that are actively populating the web with their own content on a regular basis, and 43 million in total that are doing it at all. 43 million people, just in the US, who are sharing their thoughts, interests and opinions for anyone to see, weaving the virtual fabric of our society.
And these numbers don't include those who post comments or feedback on other's blogs. As the previous post states, it's this extended virtual conversation, the interactive creation of content from multiple viewpoints, that makes the Internet unique.
As if you needed more fodder for a brain meltdown, consider that we're still in the early adopter stage. The tornado hasn't even hit yet. The MySpace generation is just beginning to contribute to this crushing onslaught of content.