the blogging community

7/25/2019 The Blogging Community

1/7

The Blogging community:

More commonly known as the blogosphere, it is the collective name given to all the blogs on the

internet and the Social Medias. Topics and discussions in the blogosphere are mostly used to

benchmark the publics opinion on the various ongoing issues. Marketers on the internet pay

close attention to these trends and the general Meta of the periods to plan their activities

accordingly.

Since blogs are thought to be interconnected by various forms, specific terms can be derived

from the operation and the interlocking of blogs.

Some of these are:

Trackbacks:

Developed by Siapart, in general terms it is the method to provide notifications between

websites for eample it is a way for a person to say to another person ! that this might be

something youre interested in" for this eact purpose the first person sends a trackback to the

other person

Pingbacks:

#n altered and upgraded version of the trackback it was developed in lieu of all the faults found

in trackback. $enerally when a person reads a blog of another person and comments about it at

another place or in their own blog, the original blog is automatically linked to the other blog.

%ith the addition of blog search engines the community of bloggers and readers has grown even

more. There are several blog search engines that are used to search for desired blogs by desired


2/7

authors from all around the world. Some of the more popular search engines are &loglines and

&logscope.

Many online communities eist for the specific purpose of connecting people with blogs and

bloggers to other bloggers these include &logcatalog and Myblog. Some interest specific

platforms are also available for people looking for something to their taste, for eample blogster

is a more political orientated blog for people with interests in politics.

&logs are free for their readers even though it takes time to write a blog so advertising is the

main source of income for the authors of a blog.

Popularity:

The popularity of blogs continues to grow, both in the number of the blogs and the number of the

readers of the said blogs.

'ew blogs are being written and old ones are being updated every second. The concept of

blogging hit the world like a tidal wave and everyone with access to the internet has heard the

name blog at least once even if they are not regular users of the internet which is hardly the case

in this age and era.

(ooking at statistics )*+ of the online population will update a blog at least weekly. &y *)-

that proportion increased to ).+ and more so by the time *)/ will be over.

#lso to be factored in is the fact that blogging for business by 0.S. companies is on the rise

while the growth in personal blogs is slowing. &usiness blogs, including blogs by lawyers and

their business clients, are going to make up a larger percentage of the total number of blogs.


3/7

1n a more personal level, writing a blog is no easy work. 2n order for ones blog to be popular it

must stand out from the rest of the millions of blogs. Still, no matter how good a blog may be the

climb to popularity is very steep. 'o blog is popular from the get go, it takes time for it to attract

readers but this time can be shortened, to some etent, by the use of blogrolls 3a list of hyperlinks

to other blogs4 and permalinks 3a permanent hyperlink to a particular web page in a blog4.

5ermalinks are more viable than blogrolls as they indicate that people are actually reading the

blog and not 6ust skimming through it.

&logs are also given rankings7 the better the blog, the higher the ranking. These rankings play a

crucial part in the popularity of a blog. #ccording to the Technorati blog search engine, the

highest viewed blog is that of 8hinese actress 9u inglei.

#ll of this said, some people believe that the original blogging is actually fading into the

background. The newest form of blogging is the pseudo;promotional blogging by corporations

and startups that have somehow linked organic marketing to inane blogging. 'early everyone in

business is starting or adding a blog to their otherwise banal websites.

2n accordance to this, despite the growth in other social media such as


4/7

8ommon Social media platforms force individuals to adapt the uni=ue look and feel of their

brand into the format that best serves them, not the owner, &ut theres no digital strait;6acket on a

blog or domain. There, one has more freedom to tell their brand story in a way that such a story

demands.

Social platforms come and go, whereas domains and blogs continue for a long time.1ne glance

at the history of social media platforms will show that these platforms rise and fall =uite rapidly.

Social media presence for bloggers offers a great way to ac=uire customers, participate in

relevant business conversations, gain followers>likers and etend the reach of their online

publishing efforts.

Social role:

&logs play a huge part in todays society. ?verybody wants to be kept up;to date on the latest

happenings in the world.


5/7

&loggers from all walks of life help make news instant, often to an international audience of

!followers." &logs are not only a way of providing up;to;date information, they also bring like;

minded people together 3at least virtually4, persuade and activate people, provide both

mainstream and offbeat perspectives on persons and events all which can facilitate mobili@ation

around an issue.

2t has been supported, however, that blogs are the absolute interpretation of freedom of speech

and democracy but without any control as to the =uality. 2n many cases, anonymity and lack of

firm evidence may transform a blog from an information tool into an instrument of spreading

false news and rumors

Political Role:

1ver the past decade blogs have had a very deep impact on politics. Many bloggers writing

about politics are very aggressive in nature and very few are supportive towards its topic.

The year *A was considered to be the year of the political blogger. &logging on a political

issue can have a very deep impact on its readers even if the authenticity of the blog is not

confirmed. 1ne such eample is of the 8anadian president as well as pro;oil lobby group, ?thical

1il, who had used a blog to back claims that #merican environmental groups are financing

8anadian environmentalists that had protested the 'orthern $ateway oil pipeline. The main

purpose of the blog was to support the notion that #merica wants to !undermine 8anadas

national economic interests".


6/7

2n this matter the blogging went beyond 6ust connecting and influencing readers. 2t was turned

into a source of hate and battle where blogs were used to promote a political partys own

interests and a way to further their cause.

&logs have an impact on domestic and international politics. 8overage of events such as the

demonstrations in &urma or the violence around the Benyan ?lections has been deeply enhanced

by the use of blogs and the 2nternet in general thanks to their greater communicative power.

&logging also helps bridge the gap between the governors, communicators and the governed.

?specially for countries without free media, blogging is the perfect platform for the voices of its

citi@ens to be heard. 2f a blog can set a tidal wave going against some issue7 the bigger the impact

it has, the greater the pressure it applies for the issue to be resolved.

#lthough blogging can have a tremendous effect on certain political issues, if the blog itself is

not read and spread, the whole idea is wasted. Theres also the reliability issue to the matters

stated in the blog because blogs rarely ever have credibility, one such eample is the hoa blog

spread by a popular website about a huge woman massacre event that takes place in a village

every year in 2ndia. The government of 2ndia was sought after for the resolution of this horrifying

issue but fortunately the blog turned out to be false.

Ethical, credibility and liability issue:

There is in fact no way to know about the credibly and legibility of a blog without prior

information on the topic of the blog. This can result in misconceptions and the spreading of false

news and rumors which can have severe conse=uences when dealing with sensitive issues. &logs

which are not updated and contain incorrect information also add in the spread of falsity.


7/7

&logs are meant to allow freedom of speech but this eact freedom of speech can result in

unforeseen dangers.

the blogging community

Documents