Blogs as Current Phenomenons & Benefits of Blogs to Community

According to McDougall (2007), a blog comes from the word weblog that means a consistent updated web with posts that are dated. Currently around the world, blogging is also a current phenomenon besides Facebook and Twitter. Chapman (2011) states that WordPress itself has 15.1 million blogs and 12.4 million self-hosted WordPress installations, 10 million tumblogs on Tumblr and Technorati is tracking 1.2 million blogs. Additionally, Chapman (2011) also state the 4 types of blogs are personal blogs, topic blogs, corporate blogs and also hybrid blogs. As commonly seen in the internet would be the personal blogs and topic blogs in which in personal blogs individuals talks about their personal life, own activities and own interest whereas in topic blogs, individuals will talk about a specific topic only.

According to Sobel (2010), the main reason people blog in order to voice out on areas of interest.

(Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/what-topics-and-trends-day-2/)

Malaysia is predominant with its political blog. Gaman (2007) give a list of top political bloggers in Malaysia which is Jeff Ooi, The Scribe A Kadir Jasin and Lim Kit Siang. In addition to Sobel (2010), North America is accountable for 38% of bloggers, US accountable for 33% of bloggers whereas South America is accountable for the least amount of bloggers at 2%.

 Jeff Ooi

(Source: http://www.jeffooi.com/)

 The Scribe A Kadir Jasin

(Source: http://kadirjasin.blogspot.com/)

Lim Kit Siang

                                            (Source: http://blog.limkitsiang.com/)

(Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/who-bloggers-brands-and-consumers-day/)

The benefits for having political blogs in Malaysia is that the authors can acts as a representatives, voice out their opinion and views about the politics. Malaysians are gathering information through feedbacks and comments made by other bloggers. During election periods, politician might come across political blogs, citizens opinions and their views might be heard.

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Reference

Chapman, C 2011, How Big Is the Blogosphere, Anyway?, viewed 24 August 2011,

<http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/01/too-many-blogs/>

Gaman 2007, 50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia, viewed 24 August 2011,

<http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/>

McDougall, JS 2007, Blogging Business, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=cMB3cYChxFUC&pg=PA3&dq=what+is+a+blog&hl=en&ei=1lVUTpOsFs7HrQfKsJzMDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20a%20blog&f=false>

Sobel, J 2010, WHAT: Topics and Trends-Day 2 State of the Blogosphere 2010, Technorati.com, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/what-topics-and-trends-day-2/>