A woman’s passion for sharing her life experiences is emerging as a powerful force in shaping beauty product opinions and consumer buying habits. More than 27% of women have posted a comment about a beauty brand on a message board, social networking site or blog, and 67% of women who participate in these sites are more likely to buy a beauty product if they read a good comment or review about it from their fellow consumers.

These are some of the compelling findings from the release of The Benchmarking Company’s first Pink Report of 2007, “Beauty and the Blog.” The Beauty and the Blog report is the first comprehensive study to track and analyze online female beauty behaviors and attitudes while identifying the actual sites and content direction of the dialogs.

There has been an explosion in the last few years not only in the usage of blogs and other online communities, but in beauty-specific usage. According to a May 2005 Pew Internet & American Life Project report, 27% of internet users read blogs, and 12% had posted comments or other material on blogs. At the time, beauty-related blogs accounted for less than 1% of the total blog topics.

In 2007, blog usage has skyrocketed, with the latest research showing that 39% of the American online population reads blogs. The Beauty and the Blog report shows that 22% of women visit beauty blogs and on average, women who used the internet for beauty purposes have visited six blogs, joined three and posted comments on two of them.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the beauty industry to reach and educate women consumers in a way they’re proving to be very open to,” said Alisa Marie Beyer, president and chief executive officer of The Benchmarking Company. “Women are talking about the beauty brands they are most frustrated with and those they adore with millions of women online. The internet has truly become the world’s largest and most influential water cooler. Providing consumers a place to create and share thoughts and opinions online has the potential to dramatically change how beauty brands do business.”

The study, showcasing more than 2000 statistics, is divided into key study findings and trends and then chapters detailing the consumer profile, general internet usage and motivations, online beauty behaviors and attitudes, the online beauty community experience, beauty blog rankings, top message boards and blogs, and the top 100 beauty brands by share of discussion. More info: www.benchmarkingco.com/blogstudy.