Blogs as a Current Phenomenon & Benefits of Blogging to The Community

The current situation of the blogosphere in the year 2010 has taken the next step forward in expanding with the influence of various social media tools (Soble 2010). Maven (2006) stated that the number of bloggers multiply by two times in every six and a half months.

A vital component in the trend is the expansion of the use of mobile blogging. According to Soble (2010), 25% of the blogosphere this year engages in blogging through smartphones and tablets. The emergences of micro-blogging websites have grown to be significant in the blogging community.

The graph below by Jalichandra (2010) displays the why bloggers practice micro-blogging:

(Source: Technorati Media, 2010)

Micro-blogging, such as Twitter or Facebook has moved towards a more beneficial phase from just social networking websites. According to Jalichandra (2010), a survey of 7,200 bloggers conducted by Technorati provided results that Twitter is being used by 73% of people whom blog for hobby and 88% of career bloggers.

In Malaysia, a country with little freedom of expression, the trend of blogging widely serves as a democratic medium for writers to have political discussion (Sandra  n.d.). It can be a place for dissent and a substitute source for news. Whereas in India, most of the blogger community prefer reading blogs that provide information about technology (Dikshit 2006). Therefore, there are many uses for blogging.

Conclusively, in an emerging technological era, journalists and established media houses will continue in producing content. But the massive development in blogging will continue to grow and soon might bring an end to traditional writing.

References

• Soble, J 2010, State of the Blogosphere 2010 Introduction, Technorati, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/#ixzz1VwRZkgyg>.

• Jalichandra, R 2010, 2010 | STATE OF THE BLOGOSPHERE, Technorati Media, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/03/state-blogosphere-2010-slides/>.

• Sandra, S n.d., Blogging in Malaysia: Hope for a New Democratic Technology?, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://www.cprsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/drupal/Sandra_Smeltzer.pdf>.

• Dikshit, S 2006, Interesting blogging trends in India revealed in new survey, The Hindu, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://hindu.com/2006/11/28/stories/2006112800452200.htm>.

• Maven, R 2006, Blogosphere doubling in size every six months, Econsultancy, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/150-blogosphere-doubling-in-size-every-six-months>.