Blogging Phenomenon - Benefits to Community

Blogging came into the scene of 'free internet services' in August 1999 by Pyra Labs, which is now owned by Google. After that we can see that almost everyone who uses the world wide web either having a blog or simply just reading other peoples blogs for information as well as entertainment.

http://eagereyes.org/media/2010/blogosphere1.jpg

'Blogosphere' can be simply defined as the world of blogging and bloggers. As we can see in the charts above, seen clearly is the mass state of blog usage around the world as well as the criteria of the different individuals who blogs. 

The blogosphere has seen rapid growth over the years as more people and organizations have started to utilise the blogs as their informative compound. For example, according to technorati.com, 2009's state of blogosphere see's diverse types of blogs being produced by professionals as well as amateur bloggers for various reasons.

From the west side of the world to the east, blogging has caused quite a stir and been used widely. As shown in the chart above, every continent sees a big chunk percentage of weblog usage. Trends of blogging has seen various changes in the direction of the blogs from entertainment, to source of information, personal blogs, as well as a place to look for freedom of speech and write down just about anything. 


In Malaysia we have seen blogs being used as a hub for political issues and also in the same time to promote or pull voters. However, the blogosphere is very wide and you can blog just about anything that you're interested in.

In certain countries we can surely find prevalent issues being blogged about and this is surely seen in Malaysia as political issues have surrounded the public with talks of corruption and extortion. Therefore, blogs are now used to discuss this matter and also show personal persona or perception. 


Benefits of these  blogs for the community as well as foreign observers are that we can see the issue from a different angle and contemplate ourselves on what is right and what is wrong. This is why blogging has now seen a rise of users as it gives us space and in a way our lost right's of 'freedom of speech'.

Reference

Olsen, D. et al 2010, 2009's State of Blogosphere, Technorati.com, viewed 24 September 2010,

(http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/)

Podcast FAQ 2009, What is Blogosphere?, viewed 24 September 2010, (http://www.podcastfaq.com/glossary/blogging-and-podcasting-terms/)

Korte, A. 2005, A Short History of Blogging, viewed 24 September 2010, (http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-short-history-of-blogging/)