The Classification Of Blogs And Its Communities

Blogs have been increasingly classified into a variety of types and subject matter.

Fashion blogs are a dominant entry where the authors would blog on everything
that is fashion; beyond the runway & beyond the clothes.
Blogs such as I Am Fashion and La-Fashion-A-La-Mode are updated regularly to keep
tabs on the ever revolving fashion world.

Political blogs are also garnering more attention especially in the United States where the Democratic election campaign is on going. Blogs such as Obama Barack and
Hillary Clinton Army discusses the campaigns of the respective leaders and the
momentum leading up to The United States presidential election in November.

The ‘Traditional’ text blog with images is still dominant. However, as technology
progresses, blogging from mobile devices otherwise known as MoBlog will surely
pick up the pace. The definition of MoBlog according to BBC News is when a blog post
or entry is written and sent
from a laptop via a wi-fi hotspot in a cafe or from a capable mobile phone.

Some blogging in relation to media types is Vlog which is a video blog prevalent on
video sharing site YouTube. As Heather Graham puts it, "They’re a dedicated group of video blogging advocates who are working to help all kinds of video bloom, whether
commercial or personal".

Linkblog provides interesting and relevant links to other sites and blogs.
PhotoBlog on the other hand is where the authors would use it as a medium to posts
pictures and Tumblelogs consists of mixed-media posts being preferred over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging.

An example of a PhotoBlog.

Blogging communities are formed through a shared common interest. Bloggers are able
to create an online community simply by providing links to other blogs that shares the same passion as they do. These links are typically provided on the side panel in a blog.

Other than the exchanging of thoughts and ideas, these communities served as a social
support group to each other. Below are some examples of blogging communities on the web.

• http://guitarz.blogspot.com/
  
• http://tsunamihelpindia.blogspot.com/
  
• http://loving-fashion.blogspot.com/
  
• http://only1united.blogspot.com/
  
• 
  

Being an avid guitar player, I am part of an online commuity known as GuitarPraise.
What the blog does is that it provides guitar notes and chords to all the well-known
Christian and gospel songs for us learning musicians to based on. In the blog, we have links
to other blogs who share a similar love and passion for music such as the Drum themed blog.

The GuitarPraise blog. My blogging community.

In my case, a blogging community is created when bloggers who share the same interest in
playing the guitar creates the blog to serve the interest of guitarists worldwide. Others will
then be introduced to the blog either by links or by ‘stumbling’ upon it. Whichever way,
it is the passion and love for music that drives us on and makes us function as an online community.

Henry Jenkins, The Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program says in his blog that instead of school banning the use of YouTube, MySpace and the like, they 
should instead examine the ways such sites could be used to the benefit of the education community.
In any given case, it is even possible to create an online community where Teachers and Students are able to communicate in a stress free environment.

The future awaits.

Reference List:

1) Green, H 2005, Those Darn Video Blogging Pioneers, viewed 27 April 2008
     http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/08/t      hose_darn_vide.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_blogspotting

2) Hi-tech Ways To Stay In Touch 2007, new.bbc.co.uk, viewed 1 May 2008
     http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7082566.stm

3) Jenkins, H 2008, Librarians, YouTube, And The New Media Literacies, viewed 1 May 2008
     http://www.henryjenkins.org/2008/04/librarians_youtube_and_the_new.html

Blogging As A Current Phenomenon

The size and vastness of the blogging world is ever expanding and revolving. I provide now some mind boggling stats to drive the 
point home.

ClickZ, an online news site reports that David Sifry, Technorati's chief executive, the current number of blogs is now over eight times bigger than the 500,000 blogs it measured in June, 2003. The company tracked 3 million blogs as of the first week of July, and has added over 1 million blogs to its stable since then. Meanwhile, Pew Internet & American Life reports that a survey shows that blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users.

In the Malaysian context, the Malaysian communities have it all to gain from the blogging
trend. TheStar Newspaper has reported that Malaysia has about 500,000 active bloggers, ranking the country among the highest in the world after Indonesia and the European Union. Internet Marketing Blog Asia reports an interesting snippet that 64% of local bloggers are
female and out of this, 74 per cent of them are in the age group of 25 years old and below.

In the political arena, we have seen political motivated blogs springing up like mushrooms after the rain particularly after the recent Malaysian elections where even our Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Badawi admitted that his party has overlooked the influence of the bloggers. Famous political bloggers such as Jeff Ooi and Raja Petra the founder of Malaysia Today, are now seen as the main focal point for news gatherer desiring something other than
the conventional news offered by mainstream newspaper.

Malaysia Today, a popular source of news.

According to NevilleHobson.com, Reuters reported that 37 percent of US bloggers cited their
life and experiences as their primary topic, while politics and government came in second at 11 percent. Comparing this to the Malaysian context, an online article by Sabahan.com shows that
the top 10 most visited blogs consisted of a fine mix between politics, entertainment and technology. This shows that different continents offers different

Reference List:

1) 50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia 2007, Sabahan.com, viewed on 1st May 2008
     http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/

2) Hobson, N 2006, Latest blog trends from Pew Internet, Viewed on 27 April 2008
     http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/07/19/latest-blog-trends-from-pew-internet/

3) Lina, Mag 2006, Malaysia Internet Marketing - How Malaysia is catching up to the      Blogging Trends? viewed on 24 April 2008
     http://www.eonenet.com/internet_marketing_blog/2006/12/14/how-malaysia-is-     catching-up-to-the-blogging-trends/

4) McGann, R 2004, The Blogosphere By the Numbers, viewed on 27 April 2008
     http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3438891

5) Rainie, L 2005, The State of Blogging, viewed on 2 May 2008
     http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/144/report_display.asp

6) TheStar Online, Blogging in Malaysia ranks among highest in the world, viewed on 2 May      2008
     http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/3/nation/20827588&sec=nation

An Introduction

A very warm welcome I extend to my faithful readers. Why this blog? Such a question is subjective. This here blog’s purpose is to introduce my self to the blogging community and hopefully to learn more on the mystical world of blogging. I will be commenting on current publishing issues that is plaguing the professional arena. It is my greatest wish to be able to get in touch with my fellow bloggers, professional journalist, professionals in the publishing world and not forgetting my beloved and respected lecturer Miss Jenny Heng who will be assessing this oh so quaint blog.

Besides, I will be discussing a few issues namely the impact blogs are making on the community, the various blogging communities that exist, the difference that exist between designing for an online webpage and designing for a printed sheet and finally the new forms of media that exists in today’s technologically driven world.

Here’s to a great read to all.

Cheers.