Blogging or Creating Personal Internet Journals - Essay Example

I shall discuss in this essay to what extent is blogging useful and how it works.  

            Blogging or creating personal internet journals has taken the internet by storm. Authors post short comments about news items, interesting websites, their thoughts, and more on pages called blogs. As weblogger and author Rebecca Blood says originally weblogs were ‘link-driven sites’. Authors or editors with an interest in a particular subject highlight the salient features and add opinions. There are many advantages to the readers. For those who have no time to surf the net can read through blogs and collect the observations of an intelligent reader on various subjects or websites. For those who indulge in blogging regularly also there are many advantages. As Blood points out she discovered where her interests were within a week of blogging. If one writes regularly, after some time, one gets an opportunity to evaluate one’s own opinions and ideas. This invariably boosts the confidence of the blogger because it is generally those who love to write and express that would take to blogging. A blogger can write, reflect, analyze, and share his world with others. He learns to articulate his opinions to himself and to others.

            Blogs share a common format. The features of a blog include a date header, the title of the post, the time when the post is uploaded on the blog, the category, and the comment. The authors usually use a nickname for blogging and one blogger can leave a comment on another person’s weblog. However, posting links or assignments is not blogging; writing how you feel today is not blogging. Blogging is more specific. It links with analysis and has the potential audience response in mind. One can be very personal with one’s blog, use any style and reflect on any subject that one wishes. Blogging is addictive. Blogit.com even invites writers on a monthly subscription which enables one to earn money by reading others’ blogs and posting yours.

            Blogging is here to stay. The word “blog” was Merriam-Webster’s word of the year in 2004. It has even become a category on the hit television game show, Jeopardy. Families now use blogs to keep in touch and teachers assign blogs as writing assignments as we have been assigned. “Newsweek” magazine even recommends a few notable blogs each week to its readers. There is a deluge of data but what we need is the time and space to reflect upon them. Blogging can truly transform both readers and writers alike.