Blogs - a community?

As blogging becomes wide-spread, a blogging community is built. A community, in general, refers to a group of people within a social circle that usually share similar values and interests (Dictionary.com, 2011). Therefore, the blogging community is an online one whose priority is blogging (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

According to Nancy White, there are three blogging communities (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The first is the single blogger community. This form combines of either one of multiple bloggers of one blog (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). As there is a central blogger, they have the power to set their own norms and rules when it comes to blogging (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). Their blogs include their personal information and their posts usually serve as a starting point for comments and arguments (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). 

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The second community is the central connecting topic community (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). Here, bloggers with similar passions are connected together through links from one blog to another (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).  Examples include food blogs and travel blogs. Thus, a community is formed. Its existence does not depend solely on just one blog (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).

Source: The Knowledge Tree

The last community is the boundaried community. This means a collection of blogs are provided on one site and they require registration from users to access the blogs (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). They are more likely seen to be a forum-based community, where people can communicate through the uses of discussion boards (The Knowledge Tree, 2006). The power of this form of community belongs to the ‘founder’ of the site, who is able to impose regulations on the platform (The Knowledge Tree, 2006).  

            NetSquared contains characteristics of a boundaried community. It is an online organization containing a collection of blogs that is for social changes in the world (NetSquared, 2011).  As I look at the site with more detail, I realize that people are required to register if they are interested in contributing a blog post themselves or to comment on one. The comment sections in the site also acts as a discussion board for members. Also, there is first and foremost a founder of the site which in this case is a guy named Daniel Ben-Horin (NetSquared, 2011).

References:

Blogs and Community-launching a new paradigm for online community?, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.


Dictionary.com, 2011, Dicionary.com, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community>.


NetSquared 2011, NetSquared, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://www.netsquared.org/>.

Classifying blogs.

There are a variety of manners to classify blogs. Here, I will compare two distinct systems of classifying blogs by Margaret Simons and ThinkQuest.  According to author and journalist Margaret Simmons, there are nine ways to differentiate one blog to another (Funnell, 2008). This includes the Pamphleteering, Digest, Advocacy, Popular Mechanics, Exhibition, Gatewatcher, Diary, Advertisement, and News blog. ThinkQuest is a website mainly focused on the blogging phenomenon (ThinkQuest, n.d.). To them, blogs are separated into seven forms which are the personal, collaborative, corporate, topical, spam, podcasts and videocasts, and the photologs blogs (ThinkQuest, n.d.).

            These two classification systems look at different things. Personally, I would have to say that the classification system by ThinkQuest is a better classification method. This is because I feel that their classification system applies better on many blogs that exist today. Parts of their classification system include podcasts, videocasts, and photologs which were not included and explained in Simons’ classification system. Photologs refer to a system of blogging where instead of words; pictures are the main content (ThinkQuest, n.d.). 

This is an example of a videocast, or vlogging:

 Source: Mr M's Videblogs

This is an example of a photolog: 

    Source: Premium Theme Info

I came to this decision by looking at the style and format in their classification system. Even so, it does not mean that one classification system is more superior than the other. At the end of the day, we decide for ourselves which classification method works best for us.   

References:

Funnell, Anthony 2008, A taxamony of blogs, The Media Report, viewed 20 August 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>.

Blogging: The Phenomenon n.d., ThinkQuest, n.d., viewed 20 August 2011, <http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01130/typesofblogs.html>.

What'chu know bout BLOGGING !

            ‘Frequently updated observations, news, headlines, commentary, recommended links and/ or diary entries, generally organized chronologically’ describes what blogs are. (Branum, 2001). An article written by Simon Garfield shows that the Internet was indeed built for blogging, after pornography that is (Garfield, 2004). Blogging has currently become quite a growing phenomenon, with some people even believing it to be another form of journalism (Branum, 2001). Lee Hopkins reported that as of early 2009, Technorati – a search engine for blogs – approximately 200 million weblogs exist (Hopkins, 2009). Blogging trends vary in different countries. Researchers found that blogs in the Middle East tend to be aimed towards the American people (Krape, 2009). Many of these bloggers have are also activists who may blog about wanting social changes in their country (Krape, 2009).

 In many places today, live blogging has become prevalent. This is the type of blog that updates its content on a story as the day goes (Belam, 2010). Often, live blogs blog about specific topics such as sports (Belam, 2010). In a place such as Iran, a political blog may be more prevalent that compared to a place such as the United States, where social blogs prevail. However, blogs are not as famous as it may be in other countries. For example, of the 30.32 million Internet users in India, only 7 per cent of them are actual bloggers (Agarwal, 2007). In the Middle East, a blog on their politics is beneficial for the community as it acts as a platform for all voices and thoughts to be heard (Krape, 2009). Social blogs, such as personal ones, are seen to be beneficial as they are free and act as a marketing tools for those who may be looking for jobs (Cornwal,, 2010).

References:
Agarwal, Amit 2007, Blogging and Internet Usage Trends in India, Digital Inspiration, viewed 19 August 2011, <http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/blogging-and-internet-usage-trends-in-india/765/>.


Belam, Martin 2010, ‘Journalism in the digital age: trends, tools, and technologies’, The Guardian, 14 April, viewed 20 August 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/2010/apr/14/journalism-trends-tools-technologies>.


Cornwall, Jeff 2010, Why Blog?, The Entrepreneurial Mind, viewed 20 August 2011, <http://www.drjeffcornwall.com/2010/09/why-blog.html>.


Hopkins, L 2009, Technorati and the size of the blogosphere: it can’t be THAT hard to figure out, surely?, Better Communication Result, viewed 18 August 2011, <http://www.leehopkins.net/2009/12/26/technorati-and-the-size-of-the-blogosphere-it-cant-be-that-hard-to-figure-out-surely/>.


Krape, Darren 2009, Blogging the Middle East, Darren Krape, viewed 18 August 2011, <http://www.darrenkrape.com/blogging-the-middle-east/>.