Blogging phenomenon and it's benefits to the community

Blogging is how we roll, yo!

Merriam-Webster dubbed blog as the word of the year for 2004 and ABC declared blogger as the People of the year.

BLOG (short for ‘web log’) is a way to describe and online diary or journal which can be made up from different forms of media; writing, video, images from the web or from the mobile phone (Pruitt 2005). The aforementioned forms are some of the formats applied when writing blogs. Specifications of forms; video and images are used to increase readers’ interest in the document because eye-catching graphic aid and attention-getting format devices keep readers focus on the information they need (Reep 2006).

Blogs are hitting the mainstream. It has been years since blogging was dominated by early adopters who believed its potential and decided to try it out. What was once a quirky hobby based on sharing intimate details with the world, is now morphed into something used by major corporations and various media outlets. Even the newspapers and television stations are starting up blogs to stem the tide of dwindling readers and viewers (McGee 2008).

As a result, figuring out who exactly blogs becomes more difficult. The mainstream adoption of this activity introduced their attentions to spammers, whose spam blogs (splogs) artificially increased the numbers. According to an article from eMarketer (2008), Technorati had tracked a number of blogs, recently lowered its amount after filtering out the splogs.

Why blog?

Cause you want to be popular!
By nature, blogging is an attention-seeking platform. It is positive and negative; seek attention for positive causes (raising money for charity) and seek attention for negative causes (as an extreme, attacking a religion).

Money Money Money
The fact that blogs are publishing platforms, information publishing and networks are a good source of income if one has mindshare and a profitable business plan. Websites like Nuffnang gives you some of the manuals and guidelines onto customizing and making their blog better, as a source of income.

Screen shot of Nuffnang Malaysia

Hear me Hear me
The urge to let your voice be heard and wanting to influence the public’s opinion, be it you are trying to change the views of an industry or of a society (Bilal 2007). Simply put, very few bloggers have the means to influence mass audience, and it starts with the most basic things; getting hold of people’s attention and interest.

Its’ benefits to the community

Blogging has become one of the easy alternatives to extend one’s reach. One of the various benefits blogs had promised us with is; blogs make it easy for people to search for your content once they’ve visited your blog. A blog automatically organizes your information and publishes it via XML (RSS) feeds which make it easier to be discovered through search engines (Movable Type 2007).

Doesn’t cost much at all!

A blog can be easily started as it does not require an expensive content management system. Blogging is as easy as email because writers get started without being forced to endure such lengthy training process. For example, blogs are used by authors to promote and sell their products. Young writers can simply set up a blog and be a businesswoman, without
having to do or pay for anything!!!
http://www.ap2cboutique.blogspot.com is an online blog which sells off young and fashionable female clothes. This blog was a success that it was listed under the 100 most fashionable shopping sites in Malaysia.

Screenshot of http://www.ap2cboutique.blogspot.com

Anywhere, anytime
Authors of the blogs are able to post from their laptop and mobile devices because blogging software offers this capability automatically. Blogs can be updated from anywhere you have access to a standard web browser. This then allows the society to communicate and interact with each other through the use of comments. By creating an active community, opportunity for links and positive publicity would be opened up whereby it can improve one’s blog search engine rankings (Scribd 2008).

Kenny Sia blogging from his brand new iPhone.

Loophole for Malaysian politicians
Malaysia is one country where information and facts are strictly controlled by its implemented laws; Sedition Act, Internal Security Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act. Thus, blogs have become a form of escapism for politicians and journalists to channel their information. Lim Kit Siang, Malaysia’s renowned democratic socialist blogs his way through all the censorship laws regulated in Malaysia. Information which is filtered or over-looked by the mainstream media would be posted through blogs. Hence, Malaysians have the advantage of obtaining opinions from both angles; opposition and government. Blogging provided a route for Malaysian citizens to express themselves.



References:

1. Bilal A 2007, 3 reasons why people blog, viewed 12 June 2009, <http://performancing.com/3-reasons-why-people-blog>.

2. eMarketer 2008, Who blogs now: Looking at blogger demographics, viewed 11 June 2009, <http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006357>.

3. Movable Type Organization (2007), The Benefits of Blogging for Media Organization, viewed 12 June 2009, <http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/business-blogging/benefits-for-media.html>.

4. McGee M 2008, An Emergint Trend in Blogging, viewed 11 June 2009, <http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/hyperlocal-blogs/1195/>.

5. Pruitt, C 2005, The Blogging Phenomenon: Who? How? Why?, Digital Divide Network, viewed 10 June 2009, <http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=86> .

6. Reep, DC 2006, 'Chapter 4:Principles of document design', in Technical Writing, 6th edn, Pearson Edu Inc, New York, p.173-190.

7. Scribd 2008, Benefits of blogging, viewed 12 June 2009, <http://www.scribd.com/doc/7630530/Top-SEO-Benefits-of-Blogging>.