The Blogging Phenomenon

"Where the Internet is about availability of information, blogging is about making information creation available to anyone".

- George Siemens -

Blogging has become a popular trend in everywhere around the world. Why is this so? According to Pruit (2005), blogging is the idea of something that can be distributed globally in an instant and with a click of the mouse. Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) suggest that the Internet gives a multimodal functions with modes such as written text, images, sounds, and other graphic elements which enable bloggers to voice their opinions on specific topics or become a diary based on their daily experiences.

Source: Technorati 2008

According to Technorati (2008), there is an estimated number of 133 millions registered blogs in the cyberspace with an update every 8 seconds. Why is blogging so popular? About.com (2008) explains that blog is easier to use compared to website and is much convenient.

It is proven as there are about 500 thousand bloggers in Malaysia (Kaufman, 2008). Blogs are used by politicians, especially from the opposition, to share their views on current affairs. In the last general election, blogs played an integral part in dissemination information to sway voters to vote for the opposition (Wai, 2008).

Indeed, blogging has taken over the world by storm and there is no doubt of it with the increasing number of bloggers over time.

References:

Ceder Pruitt, 2005, The Blogging Phenomenon: Who? How? Why?, viewed 11th June 2009, <http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=86>.

Kaufman, S 2008, ‘Malaysia’s Alternative Media Become Decisive Political Factor’, America.gov, viewed 11th June 2009, <http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/April/20080403175441esnamfuak0.1705591.html>.

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, Reading Images: Grammar of Visual Design, Routledge, London.

Technorati 2008, State of the blogosphere – day 1: who are the bloggers?, viewed 11th June 2009, <http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/>.

Wai, C. (2008). Denial syndrome must end. The Star Online, [Online] 14th March, viewed 11th June 2009, < http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/election2008/20637966&sec=election2008>