Classification of Blogs

In the previous post of the blogosphere, the top 5 blogging topics according to Technorati are:

1. Personal/Lifestyle

2. Technology

3. Others (2008 election, alternative energy, art, beauty, blogging, comics, communication, cooking/food, crafts, design, environment, internet/Web 2.0, Jamaica, and media/journalism)

4. News

5. Politics

People are creating different blogs for different purposes, and while form follows function (Bear), a blog is a form itself; therefore blogs differ not only in content, but also how the content is delivered. There are many types of blogs, such as (Wikipedia.org):

1. Personal blogs - an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual

2. Corporate blogs – a blog used for business purposes

3. Question blog – a type of blog that answers questions

4. Vlog - blog comprising videos

5. Linklog - blog with many links to other websites

6. Photoblog - blog with mainly photos

7. Sketchblog - blog containing a portfolio of sketches

8. Moblog – a blog written by a mobile device (e.g. mobile phone, PDA, etc.)

According to Margaret Simons’ A taxomony of blogs she looks at the various content of blogs and also the way it is presented to come up with new forms of words for different kinds of blogs.

Community

In the real world, people who like reading come together and create a book club, and those who are interested in archery looks for and join the archery club. Communities form around a shared interest, and it can also be found in the virtual and blogging world.

People started blogging in niches, such as gaming, politics and music; people are blogging about things they care about (White 2006).

Websites such as Xanga.com is a blogging service which acts as a link to connect bloggers to each other. It makes it easier for bloggers to find each other and share, thus creating a small community. Then these bloggers have links to each other and other blogs with a similar interest to expand its community.

An example of a blogging community in Malaysia is Paul Tan’s blog (Paultan.org) which discusses on automotive issues. People with interest of the latest news in the auto industry visits this blog and are given the chance to comment on posts and link this blog to theirs. It has 863 links from 369 blogs.

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Reference

Bear JH, Form and Function in Design and Publishing, About.com, viewed 7 November 2008, <http://desktoppub.about.com/od/graphicdesign/a/formfunction.htm>.

Simons M 2008, Towards a Taxonomy of blog, Creative Economy, viewed 8 November 2008, <http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=229836>.

Technorati™, State of the Blogosphere 2008, viewed 4 November 2008, <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/the-what-and-why-of-blogging>.

White N 2006, Blogs and community: launching a new paradigm for online community?, viewed 8 November 2008, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Wikipedia.org (2008), Blog, viewed 8 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog#Types>.

Blogging Phenomena

What is a “blog?”

First of all, before starting off on the journey to discover the various issues in publication and design -

What is a blog?

A blog (derived from the words “web-log”), is a website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. A blogosphere is a collective term of all blogs and their interconnections (Wikipedia.org).

Some free weblog service providers are like Blogger.com, Xanga.com and Blogpulse.com

Blogosphere

The size of the current blogosphere in 2008 according to a research done by Technorati.com is 133 million blogs worldwide. Many people are constantly updating their blogs every now and then with at least 900,000 blog posts in a day.

(Source: Technorati.com)

Blogging Trend

In a research by Microsoft find that nearly half of those online in Asia have a blog, most of them young people and women (except India where it is mainly a male domain and Korea where blogging is a part of everyday life for everyone). 74% of blog readers in Asia find blogs by friends and family to be most interesting.

Despite the number of blogs, more than 40% of blogs have less than 10 visitors per week.

In Malaysia’s Top 50 bloggers, 28% of them are personal while 16% write about politics and another 16% write about technology. In data collected by Microsoft in 2006, 74% of bloggers in Malaysia are 25 years old or younger and 64% of bloggers are women.

In Europe, music and computers are popular blog topics. However blogging is not as big yet in Europe as in Asia and US. In a research done by Ipsos-Mori, 61% European internet users have heard of blogging, 90% in France and only 50% in Great Britain.

(Source:Technorati.com)

Blogs may have many uses and benefits. Blogs can be focused on a specific topic written by one author, or a blog can be written by many authors on a common set of topics. A blog can also be used to express viewpoints.

Blogs are now having effect on the mainstream media; many people are looking at blogs for news and updates instead of traditional media.

Advertising services such as Advertlets are using blogs as a tool for advertising.

In Malaysia, blogs on politics are hitting the highlights, with many political bloggers such as Raja Petra (Malaysia Today), Jeff Ooi and Kickdefella giving their personal viewpoints on the Malaysia’s politics, which are often not in the viewpoint of the government of Malaysia.

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Reference

Blog, Wikipedia.org, viewed 4 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog>

Microsoft.com, viewed 4 November 2008, <http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2006/0004480819&EDATE>

Blogging Phenomenon Sweeps Asia, report from Microsoft, viewed 6 November 2008, <http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2006/0004480819&EDATE>

Technorati™, State of the Blogosphere 2008, viewed 4 November 2008, <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers>

Top 50 blogs in Malaysia, viewed 6 November 2008, <http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia>

Deere G 2006, The Power of Blogs in Europe, Ipsos-Mori, viewed 6 November 2008, <http://loiclemeur.com/IPSOSeuroblogs2006english.pdf>

Pruitt C 2005, The Blogging Phenomenon: Who? How? Why?, Digital Divide Network, viewed 6 November 2008, <http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia>