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.