The Blogging Revolution

Google Image: To blog or not to blog?

The blogging scene has seen to be growing rapidly with the number of bloggers rising day by day. According to Technorati.com, it shows a research done by Universal McCan in March 2008 that there are 184 million bloggers worldwide in which 26.4 million bloggers are from the United States. Additionally, a large number of 346 million accounts for blog readers found worldwide (Technorati.com 2008).

Technorati.com shows that the blogging trend in Europe and in Asia is seen to be slanting towards the younger generation. Statistics found in Technorati.com, reports that in Asia, 73% of bloggers are aged between 18-34 years old, meanwhile in Europe 48% of bloggers belong to the younger generation.

The term “bloggers” does not refer to a common group. Bloggers are of different types of race, belief, and gender. There is a way to fragmentise bloggers which is through their type of blogs. Technorati.com states that “music is more popular and politics is less popular in Asia, while personal, lifestyle, and religious topics are less popular in Europe”. This regards Asia to blog on a more personal level whereas in Europe the style of blogging is professional and corporate-like.

In a local context, blogging has played a big role in Malaysia’s political scene especially during the 2008 general election. Opposition parties have benefited the existence of web based media by using blogs to reach out to its voters. “More than 70% of voters in March 8 elections were influenced by blogs” (Kaufman 2008, America.gov). In addition, bloggers do benefit from the blogging because it is profitable. Technorati.com conducted a survey and it shows that majority of bloggers have advertisements on their blog in which they earn income from.

Reference

Kaufman, S 2008, ‘Malaysia’s Alternative Media Become Decisive Political Factor’, America.gov, viewed on November 7, 2008, http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/April/20080403175441esnamfuak0.1705591.html

'State of the Blogosphere' 2008, Technorati.com, viewed on November 7, 2008, http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere