Blogs as Current Phenomenon and Benefits to the Community

As the phenomenon of the blog has become a major issue, the size of the blogosphere continues to increase. The chart by Technorati below shows the size of blogosphere per day for the past 90 days.

(sources: Technorati,2008)
Furthermore, Technorati's (2008)State of the Blogosphere Report assert that 'bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years'.

Blogging trend in Europe, Asia and Malaysia.

(sources: Technorati, 2008)
Graph above showed that the North America region dominated the largest blogging phenomenon globally with 48%, followed by Europe with 27%, Asia 13%, South America 7% and America 3%.

(source: Technorati,2008)
The first Blogger Highlight showed most Asian Bloggers are Male with 73%. Asian bloggers are more to younger generation, aged between 18-34. Asian bloggers are also more concerned about their identity and they most prefer to blog to earn profits.

The second Blogger Highlight, which is European bloggers concludes that there are more male bloggers with 73%. European bloggers blogged a lot about music and computer while less focused lon monetization.

As we know there are several various types of blogs such as personal blogs, collaborative blogs, corporate blogs, and etc. Personal blogs and corporate blogs seem prevalent in Europe, Asia and Malaysia.

Benefits to the Community

Allen (2005) states that most blogs earn in tens of dollar per month range, some of the more popular blogs reportedly earn thousands of dollars a month. For example, influential blogger in Malaysia such as Kenny Sia earned thousands of dollars through blog.

Ramadass (2006) reporting the study Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report, ‘20% of Malaysians voted for blogs focusing on politics’. Political blog itself is beneficial to Malaysians when voicing criticism against the Malaysian Government as a pattern of free speech, so is business blog, which is to instigate discussion, ideas and better business.

In these respect, blogging has contributed by creating a powerful online community. (Perera, 2008)

References:

Allen, R 2005, The Impact of Blogging, viewed 8 November 2009,
<http://rallenhome.com/essays/essay5.html>

Perera, G 2008, The Personal Benefits of Blogging, Article Alley, viewed 8 November 2009, <http://articlealley.com/article_669123_15.html>

Ramadass, V 2006, ‘Blogging phenomenon sweeps Asia’, 28 November, Lowyat.NET: Malaysia’s Tech Enthusiast Resource Community, viewed 8 November 2009, <http://www.lowyat.net/v2/latest/blogging-phenomenon-sweeps-asia.html>.

Technorati, 2008, The size of blogosphere per day for the past 90 days, viewed 8 November 2009,
<http://www.technorati.com/chart/the+size+of+blogosphere?language=en&authority=a4>.

Technorati 2007 & 2008, State of blogosphere, viewed 8 November 2009,
<www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere>