A few posts ago, I discussed blogging, how it started, the reasons behind it and more or less...what it is, at base level. I then went on to discuss briefly the blogosphere, the community of all blogs. Well upon further research, I have come across some interesting facts on the blogosphere, which sparked a thought for this post.
Firstly, the ‘blogosphere’ was coined on the 10th of September, 1999, Brad Graham , however the first blogger and blog was created in 1994, by Justin's Links ), as a place to air his thoughts and leave them open to debate.
Which lead me to the website Pew Internet , which conducts surveys, and writes reports regarding a plethora of topics. Pew Internet conducted a comprehensive study on the blogosphere in 2006. The results showed that eight percent of internet users over the age of 18 have created a blog and that 39 percent read blogs. Of the eight percent, bloggers are more likely to be young, well educated broadband users with the Pew survey showing that 54 percent of blog creators are under the age of 30, 39 percent have education degrees and 79 percent are connected by broadband. Furthermore, men were proven to be more active bloggers than women, with 11 percent of men creating their own blogs as opposed to nine percent of women. However, percentages showed that women read blogs just as much as men. One interesting statistic is the rate at which blogs are maintained. 66 percent of blogs (2.7 million) had not been maintained within two months, and more shocking, that 1.1 million were merely ‘one day wonders,’ blogs created one day for personal amusement, forgotten the next.
Another interesting point however is that only a minority of bloggers use their blogs for citizen journalism, debate or stories with ‘news value.’ In fact, 37 percent of bloggers said that ‘they use their blog for keeping track of personal experiences of their life, and have no interest in journalism (Pew Internet).’ This is referred to as the ‘Long Tail’ which Sifry defines as the concept of millions of blogs within the blogosphere with the majority of them receiving little or no traffic therefore having minimal impact on the blogosphere (2004). Basically this means that these bloggers use their blog domain to express themselves creatively, using it like an online journal, and as this has little to no public interest, there is little to no traffic to that blog, hence it resides in the long tail of the blogosphere, only in existence for the individuals use really.
Just as we have discussed countless times throughout KCB201 the concept of v
irtual communities, I believe, that the blogosphere should be counted as one, because currently it is not. It fills the criteria of a virtual community…and the blogosphere actually provides a rather quite large platform for debate, much wider than some other virtual communities, with subject topics ranging from personal issues to political debates. Carroll explains: "blogging represents one of the most democratic media or media formats in history," which I agree with. It allows for open debate, with no boundaries, no restrictions and freedom of speech, unlike many traditional forms of media. The blogosphere has influence; to what extent, is un-determinable, but if politicians communicate with their publics through blogs, then there is arguable reason to suggest that the bloggers who use their website for non-personal reasons, are making their voices heard.
In saying all that I realise I have to a degree ‘dissed’ blogs. However, in actual fact, the blogosphere is expanding at a phenomenal rate, with a blog being created every second. In our case, there were 100+ blogs created in the space of 2 or 3 tuts…but like I said before, there were many cases where blogs were ‘one day wonders,’ and I believe that a fair proportion of KCB201’s blogs will fail to be maintained, after the completion of this assignment. Hence adding to the long tail of the blogosphere, of non-used, uninteresting blogs. So who will continue to use their blog to voice their opinion?
Firstly, the ‘blogosphere’ was coined on the 10th of September, 1999, Brad Graham , however the first blogger and blog was created in 1994, by Justin's Links ), as a place to air his thoughts and leave them open to debate.
Which lead me to the website Pew Internet , which conducts surveys, and writes reports regarding a plethora of topics. Pew Internet conducted a comprehensive study on the blogosphere in 2006. The results showed that eight percent of internet users over the age of 18 have created a blog and that 39 percent read blogs. Of the eight percent, bloggers are more likely to be young, well educated broadband users with the Pew survey showing that 54 percent of blog creators are under the age of 30, 39 percent have education degrees and 79 percent are connected by broadband. Furthermore, men were proven to be more active bloggers than women, with 11 percent of men creating their own blogs as opposed to nine percent of women. However, percentages showed that women read blogs just as much as men. One interesting statistic is the rate at which blogs are maintained. 66 percent of blogs (2.7 million) had not been maintained within two months, and more shocking, that 1.1 million were merely ‘one day wonders,’ blogs created one day for personal amusement, forgotten the next.
Another interesting point however is that only a minority of bloggers use their blogs for citizen journalism, debate or stories with ‘news value.’ In fact, 37 percent of bloggers said that ‘they use their blog for keeping track of personal experiences of their life, and have no interest in journalism (Pew Internet).’ This is referred to as the ‘Long Tail’ which Sifry defines as the concept of millions of blogs within the blogosphere with the majority of them receiving little or no traffic therefore having minimal impact on the blogosphere (2004). Basically this means that these bloggers use their blog domain to express themselves creatively, using it like an online journal, and as this has little to no public interest, there is little to no traffic to that blog, hence it resides in the long tail of the blogosphere, only in existence for the individuals use really.
Just as we have discussed countless times throughout KCB201 the concept of v
irtual communities, I believe, that the blogosphere should be counted as one, because currently it is not. It fills the criteria of a virtual community…and the blogosphere actually provides a rather quite large platform for debate, much wider than some other virtual communities, with subject topics ranging from personal issues to political debates. Carroll explains: "blogging represents one of the most democratic media or media formats in history," which I agree with. It allows for open debate, with no boundaries, no restrictions and freedom of speech, unlike many traditional forms of media. The blogosphere has influence; to what extent, is un-determinable, but if politicians communicate with their publics through blogs, then there is arguable reason to suggest that the bloggers who use their website for non-personal reasons, are making their voices heard.In saying all that I realise I have to a degree ‘dissed’ blogs. However, in actual fact, the blogosphere is expanding at a phenomenal rate, with a blog being created every second. In our case, there were 100+ blogs created in the space of 2 or 3 tuts…but like I said before, there were many cases where blogs were ‘one day wonders,’ and I believe that a fair proportion of KCB201’s blogs will fail to be maintained, after the completion of this assignment. Hence adding to the long tail of the blogosphere, of non-used, uninteresting blogs. So who will continue to use their blog to voice their opinion?
Reference:
Blanchard, A (nd) "Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere", accessed 12, May, 2008
Carroll, B (nd) "Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere", accessed 12, May, 2008
Pew / Internet (2006) "Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new story tellers", (pdf) accessed 12, May, 2008
4 comments:
Hi Elaine…
Upon reading your blog (about blogs!), it made me question the importance of them, the act of blogging itself and the entirety of what is known as the ‘blogosphere’. I assume for every haphazard, seemingly disinterested Gen-Y web user in existence who is only concerned with social networking sites and interactive games, there is a blogger freely and no doubt adamantly expressing his/her views about any given topic at their creative will and in their own time.
I guess the whole concept of blogging though; to any half-hearted, reluctant supporter of new media technologies can be likened to the traditional and regulatory practice of diary and journal entries – but replacing the need for pen and paper is the use and access to a computer, the internet, a ‘gmail’ account and an empty blog. But, theoretically, what is the difference – despite the obvious physical characteristics – between a blog and a diary?
The inherent scepticism may be glaringly obvious but it is just that a part of me fears a slight overestimation of the effects of blogging. Don’t get me wrong, the value and importance of such an act and the very nature of its production and release into the ‘global realm’ is well and truly marked by the progress of new media and the increasing freedoms of user-led content the internet can and does offer individuals. The popularity of blogging is indicative in its universal appeal and resulting ever-presence, and of course it should be: every ‘tom-dick-and-harry’ has the freedom to project their thoughts and opinions onto every suburban homepage willing; individual expression is both discernible and all-inclusive.
The interesting point made is that much of blog content assumes limited amounts of traffic and that few bloggers are concerned with the ‘publishing’ of their thoughts, ideas and opinions as forms of ‘citizen journalism’. Such belief that many lack interest in journalism and are disinclined to participate, rather making use of their blogs to record personal experiences beg the question: why do so many bloggers express and reveal in such a public, and subsequently, broadcasted medium?
In effect, blogging is justified by the increased mobility of media access; a well-supported shift from the often recalcitrant practices dictated by traditional media forums. In the age of multi-use technology and wireless internet, the answer to blogging should be: why not? When Wikipedia is considered a valuable source of information, and social networking sites enable interactivity and communication with friends on the other side of the world, blogs and blogging only help to cement the rise of virtual communities, and thus, the importance of information-exchange, user-led content collaboration, integration, convergence and a more unified global network.
Your blog introduces some interesting facts just not about who blogs, but what people blog about and how well they tend the blog garden. Basically, it appears that blog follow-through and tending blog gardens is not a favoured past-time in the virtual world. You've clearly demonstrated we are as superficial and easily distracted virtually as we are in reality. Here today, gone tomorrow.
So, what happens to this used and probably forgotten space in blogland, apparently and potentially, a suburb in the virtual world? Are we abusing a resource we do not understand, are we mining a space that is not endless? Are we going to have a cyberspace crisis similar to our coal and oil crisis? Should we be practising more responsibility in this unchartered and probably not understood world?
I agree that blogging deserves to be defined as a virtual community but its rapid expansion needs to be regulated if it is to add anything valuable to the world. Imagine if an alien hacked into earth’s hyperspace and read some of the mindless garbage expressed by the human mind? In some ways, unnecessary and unmitigated blogging just supports a narcissistic ‘me’ culture.
Elaine,
I enjoyed reading your blog entry about the blogosphere, it contains very relevant information and raises a valid point about the relevance of blogging. I definitely agree with your argument to classify the blogosphere as a virtual community, however, due to the size and scope of this virtual space as noted in your post, it may need to be refined into smaller segments to operate as a functioning virtual community. For example, the many individual blogging sites could form an interconnected series of smaller, more easily navigated and maintained virtual communities, as opposed to one mass virtual community comprised of the blogosphere in its entirity.
I found the issue of the ‘long tail’ of the blogosphere to be very interesting. The huge drop-off rates in the maintenance of blogs serves as a reminder that simply because the physical boundaries of time and geography are removed in the online environment, virtual communities require the same amount of effort and commitment that is required to maintain social communities in the real world.
In response to the issue of the lack of bloggers engaging in acts of citizen journalism or newsworthy content production, I direct you to this comment left in response to one of my blog posts, Online Agora.I think it correctly points out that the blogosphere’s potential for social influence is often overstated. The lack of concern with contributing to online citizen journalism is perhaps a simple reflection on a similar lack of interest operating in society.
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