A blog is basically a website, just
a simple type of website that’s often updated (Raleigh, 2006). In reality, a
blog is just a website but it takes on an important role in the digital and
media world as its influence and number is immeasurable in the form of the
blogosphere phenomenon.
According to Technorati, there were
over 35.3million blogs in April 2006 and doubling in size every six months
since then. It is estimated to be 60 times bigger than it was years ago.
In year 2011, blogs involving
information on the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami were the most viewed among
all other blog topics. One such example is ‘The Lede’, a news blog with
relation to the New York Times reported updates on the earthquake and tsunami
to the English-speaking public. These news trends prevailed in obtaining
attention for many bloggers all across the globe.
There are many theories of how blogs
are beneficial to communities across the globe, one such theory is the
deliberative democracy model, which highlights the role of open discussion.
This also highlights the importance of citizen participation, freedom of speech
and a well-functioning public sphere. Another theory is that blogging can build
good relationships in terms of business between an industry and its clients
(Holtz, 2006).
Reference:
·
David Goodman, J 2011, ‘Updates on
the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan’, The New York Times, viewed 17 March 2012,
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/video-of-the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan/,
·
Demopoulos, T 2006, ‘the Power of
the Blogosphere’, Dearborn Trade, A Kaplan
Professional Company, Chicago, IL, USA,
·
Gimmler, A 2001, ‘Deliberative
democracy, the public sphere and the internet’. [online] Sage Publications.
Available at: http://psc.sagepub.com/content/27/4/21,
·
Holtz, T 2006, ‘Blogging for Business : Everything You Need to Know and
Why You Should Care’, Dearborn Trade, A Kaplan Professional Company, Chicago,
IL, USA,
·
Hughes Jr, R 2006, ‘Current size of
Blogosphere’, viewed 20 March 2012, http://open2learn.blogspot.com/2006/04/current-size-of-blogosphere-april-2006.html,
·
Technorati, n.d. Technorati Top
100. [online] Available at: <http://technorati.com/blogs/top100>
[Accessed 17 March 2012].
