the blogosphere
DESCRIPTION
MDIA5003 Presentation (Week 4)TRANSCRIPT
THE BLOGOSPHEREMahum Ali
z3405431
OUTLINE
What are blogs? What are they used for? Who blogs? Why do people blog? What is the impact of blogging on traditional
journalism? Class Discussion
WHAT ARE BLOGS?
WHAT ARE BLOGS? Hierarchy of text, images, media objects
and data arranged in reverse chronological order that can be viewed in an HTML browser
Includes “posts” or “entries”
Updated frequently by individuals, called “bloggers,” using inexpensive or free software
Updating and maintaining a blog is called “blogging” and little to no technical expertise is required
Highly interactive – a form of social networking
Not static like other web sites
WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR?
Personal: Sharing thoughts, ideas, and
commentary on online journals Facilitating group discussions Networking or communicating Announcing events Collecting pictures, music, videos,
etc.
Professional: E-commerce Promoting one’s business Delivering news Engaging with customers Sharing knowledge
EXAMPLES OF BLOGS: Personal and Professional:
Wordpress Tumblr Twitter (micro-blogging)
Professional: The Huffington Post TechCrunch
WHO BLOGS?
Anyone: Students Businesspeople Journalists
Digital Consumer Report for October 2011 (NMIncite.com): 173 million bloggers around the world Most of these bloggers are young, tech-savvy,
and well-educated
WHY DO PEOPLE BLOG?
Share ideas and expertise Keep others up-to-date with news and events Socialize with others Gain insight in what the audience is looking
for Self-expression
WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON TRADITIONAL JOURNALISM?
Journalists that blog are able to express their experiences and be creative in the articles they write
The blogosphere has a democratic environment where:
Opinions can be voiced and discussions between readers can take place
Information can be delivered at a faster pace and can be connected or linked to other relevant news articles on several online news journal sites
Bloggers and journalists can listen to and respond to audiences at a personal level
Example: The Guardian
Print Newspaper
THE GUARDIAN
Founded in 1821 by John Edward Taylor as The Manchester Guardian
Paper Form: Average daily circulation of 230,541 in October
2011 Currently suffering from losses: £100,000 a day
Online Offering: 2nd most popular British newspaper website Archive of 3 million stories Daily average of 2,937,070 browsers 5th most popular newspaper site in the world Top stories can be downloaded in PDF format
DISCUSSION QUESTION
Analyse The Guardian web site:
1. Note down two types/categories of blogs available on the site and who writes them
2. Mention one of the impacts that these blogs have on mainstream newspapers
3. Tweet your answers with #mdia5003!
REFERENCE LIST Bricklin, D 2002, ‘Observations from a weblogger’, Bricklin.com,
viewed 3 August 2012, http://www.bricklin.com/webloggerobservations.htm
Fleishman, G 2002, ‘Been “blogging”? Web discourse hits higher level’, We’ve got blog: how weblogs are changing our culture, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge
Guadagno, RE, Okdie, BM & Eno, CA 2007, ‘Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 24, viewed 1 August 2012, http://osil.psy.ua.edu/pubs/GuadagnoOkdieEno_CHB07.pdf
Matheson, D 2004, ‘Weblogs and the epistemology of the news: some trends in online journalism’, New Media Society, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 443-468, viewed 1 August 2012, http://nmd.dsgepub.com/content/6/4/443
Mutum D & Wang, Q 2010, ‘Consumer generated advertising blogs’, Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption, viewed 3 August 2012, (electronic IGI Global)
Winer, D 2003, ‘What makes a weblog a weblog?’, Weblogs at Harvard Law, 23 May, viewed 3 August 2012, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/whatmakesaweblogaweblog.html