NEW FORMS OF MEDIA PUBLISHING

• From conventional journalism.

Broadcast TV is a truly 'push' medium as all the creative energy was assumed to be located at the hands of the producers, they have all rights to decide what content should to be published, create it and then push it down analogue or digital channels; and audiences which are assumed to consist of essentially passive recipients. (Naughton, 2006)

• To new forms of media.

In the digital age, internet has become familiar with all of us when it is covering increasingly from homes to offices. That is the reason why nowdays most of our sources of information are stored in the cyberspace which make them very easy to be accessed. According to Naughton (ibid.), unless you choose to use the information, nothing is able to force you to see what you do not want. In this case, the audiences are in charge of controlling the content, and it is a very important feature of the web – a pull medium. Opposite to the old media which is impacted too much by censorship, people involving in new media is freely to introduce and discuss whatever they are interested in. Furthermore, thanks to some sharing tools such as Photobucket and Youtube, users of these websites can uploaded photos and videos easily.

For example, when the facts which are considered as riskes to the goverment's reputation, they will obviously not be broadcasted or printed out; however, in the forum, in the dicussion board of a website, the problem could be "dissected" as deep as their members want untill they feel satisfied. That leads to the difficulty of keeping secrets for companies in the online world. If their service is sub-standard, then the propotion of being disseminated for the news will be very high on a blog or a posting to a newsgroup or email list. Therefore, in this situation, conventional PR news management techniques are ineffective. (Naughton, ibid.).

In conclusion, the internet and its application in new media publishing could be recognized as a cornerstone of democracy because of their significant influences towards our society.

References list:

1. Gideon Burton, 2009, Old media is a monologue, viewed 25 April 2011, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157621862/in/gallery-44291075@N02-72157622724867492/.
2. iQoncept, 2010, New Media vs. Old Media - The Battle is Won, viewed 25 April 2011, http://www.fotolia.com/id/17833675.
3. Naughton, John 2006, 'Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem', http://reuteursinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html

BLOGGING COMMUNITIES - METHODS TO BUILD AND STRUCTURE

• Definition of a blogging community

"Blogging community" is a concept used to refer to a group of people connecting together with the purpose of sharing interests within the cyberspace. Anthony (2009) indicates a very basic defination of blogging Community is that it is exactly a Community where people have a sense of identity and belonging, and are welcoming to anyone who's interested in finding out more. The communities could be public or private and visible only to those who joined (White, 2006).

 

• How do you create a blogging community?

"Content is King", did you hear this term? This would apply strongly to websites and blogs. The main reason is because your blog focuses on a topic or on several topics that are of interest to them. There are several ways to do this. First choice, you can create your own content. Another way is to borrow quality content from another source such as EzineArticles.com and Youtube.

Blog readers don't just like to read. They enjoy interacting with blog writers, authors and experts. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider building blogs that encourage reader participation to express their own thoughts and opinions about their favorite topic.

People naturally are very interested to see what others have said in reply to their thoughts and opinions. You need to offer as many ways as possible for them to interact with your articles and your blog to make your blog more 'sticky'.

Encourage reader participation by allowing others to comment on articles you have written, and acknowledging their input by responding to their comments and opinions. Naturally, because of this bond, they would enjoy visiting your blog more compared to other blogs they don't have a connection with.

• Boing Boing – An example.

Boing Boing could be considered as a very successful Boundaried Communities – the term used by White. It offers a chance for members to create their own blogs after registering. Moreover, it has other tools such as discussion boards, social networking features (Facebook and Twitter), wikis and instant messaging built in. This leads to denser and faster possible internal connections, possibly community building.

References list:

1. Administrators, 25 January 2011, How To Create Blogging Community, viewed 25 April 2011, http://www.money-blogging.biz/580/how-to-create-blogging-community/
2. Anthony, 2009, What is a blogging community, The Travel Tart, viewed 25 April 2011, http://www.thetraveltart.com/what-is-a-blogging-community/.
3. Happy Mutants LLC, 2011, Boing Boing, viewed 25 April 2011, http://www.boingboing.net
4. White, N 2006, Blogs and community - launching a new paradigm for online community?, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 25 April 2011, http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community.

CLASSIFICATION OF BLOGS

Blogosphere is a huge space which appeals attandances of millions people every day. There are several criteria for us to base on such as blogger's goals, function of blog... in order to classify blogs into some certain catogories.

From blogger's purpose corner, according to Technorati, we can identify four type of bloggers as following:

Hobbyists –the backbone of the blogosphere, they blog just for fun, and do not report any income from their blog

Part-Timers – "blog to supplement their income" or "blog as part of their full time job,"

Corporates – "blog full-time for a company or organization"

Self-Employeds – "blog full time or occasionally for their own company or organization."

The percentages of contributing to blogoshpere of them is demonstrated by the diagram (Technorati 2010).

 

At the view of blogs' functions, there are nine type of blogs which could be recognized ((Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2008).

Pamphleteering blog is where an individual or a group of individuals put out a brief essay arguing a point, or expressing a strong point of view.

Digest Blog is just aggregating stuff. Basically they tend to point or to summarise material from mainstream media and other blogs.

Advocacy Blog tends to be pushing a particular point of view on a particular issue by a vested interest group.

Popular Mechanics blog is a fascinating collection of information on how to do stuff, with mechanics and how things worked.

Exhibition blog are usually maintained by craftspeople, artists, writers to bring their work to a wider audience.

Gatewatcher Blog keeps an eye on the media to evaluate how the media describes the facts and conveys them publicly.

Diary blog is a place for people to put snapshots with their family, bits of news and views about their personal lives up online.

Advertisement blog is a place for commercial companies flogging a product.

News blog breaks news and plays a role as a place where bloggers are beginning to attend media conferences and have representation in society and so on.

However, identifying unique types of blog is difficult because many blogs are combinations of style.

References list:

1. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 25 September 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, viewed 25th April 2011, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm
2. Jon Sobel, Technorati, 3 November 2010, State of the Blogosphere 2010, viewed 25 April 2011, http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/

BLOGS AS CURRENT PHENOMENON & BENEFITS OF BLOGGING TO THE COMMUNITY

Together with the development of technology, blogs are becoming more familiar with all parts of society from young pupils to senior citizens and from amateurs to professionals. It seems to be a hard mission to calculate exactly how many people having joined the population of blogging because the number of users is increasing significantly day-by-day.

The blogosphere has been heralded as a democratization of the public sphere because it can give a public voice to non-mainstream interest groups (Schirato, 2010, p.129). Additionally, the statement of Mark Penn (2009) which is "If journalists were the Fourth Estate, bloggers are becoming the Fifth Estate" has given a bigger emphasis on the role of blogging.

Starting as a discussion forum for progressive politics and new technologies, blog has now been applied to all aspects of life from family's commitment, friendships to fashion, medical treatment and so on. What started as a mere way of self-expression and a hobby is becoming an income resource and areas for businesses maximize their benefit. All of these things are able to show the usefulness of blogosphere within the new concept of our living space – global village.

Not only in Asia and Malaysia, but all over the world, mobile blogging has become an indispensable trend. When smart-phone and tablet are used widely, they have changed the way bloggers blog by encouraging short and spontaneous posts (agreed by 40% of bloggers) (Technorati 2010). Moreover, the statistic was issued on 3o November 2006 by Microsoft Organization shows that 64% of Malaysian bloggers are female and 74% of them are 25 years old and under. And in 2010, the trend still continues and the influence of women and mom bloggers is becoming increasingly evident, especially in brands' field as female bloggers usually blog to search and review for products.

References list:

1. Technorati, 3 November 2010, State of the Blogosphere 2010, viewed 25 April 2011, http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/
2. Mark Penn, The Wall Street Journal, 21 April 2009, America's Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire, viewed 25 April 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html.
3. Microsoft Organization, 2006, Women Rule in Malaysian Blogosphere, viewed 30 April 2011, http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/archive2006/linkpage4337.mspx
4. Schirato Tony, 2010, Understanding media studies, chapter 6, Media and the public sphere, South Melbourne : Oxford University Press.