Being free and easily established, blogs are fast opening up as a new media and medium, from advertisers and business-minded bloggers to individuals seeking an avenue to be heard.
From a Technorati 2007 findings, there are over 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day and with over 70 million weblogs being tracked, the growth of blogs are indeed phenomenal!
Although blogs initially started as a form of online diary for personal use, evolution has engulfed this new media as 'bloggers are involved with their audiences in a way the mainstream sites are not'(Day, 2005, p.20)
Apart from being an online journal, blogs are now segregated into:
1) Political Blogs
Contents generally consist of politically-link posts and opinions. Topics swing from pro/anti-goverment measures to voicing of issues related to the masses. These blogs are generally written in a formal register with occasional light humour and often about engaging topics easily-related by its local readers.
eg. http://www.mrbrownshow.com/, http://singaporegovt.blogspot.com/
2) Business Blogs
A virtual space for budding entrepreneurs for launching their business. The zero-capital needed for this virtual shop-space is ideal for low-risk ventures and act as a "testing-ground" for their products or services.
eg. http://cupcakedivinity.blogspot.com/
3) Informative Blogs
Started as a non-profit venture, these blogs are often created by individuals who are passionate about their activities and seek an avenue to publicise their knowledge and meet like-minded individuals.
eg. http://wendyfoodrecipes.blogspot.com/
4) Social Blogs
Instead of the traditional website, fans of celebrities are turning to the free hosting options of a blog to gather and exchange infomation regarding their idols.
eg. http://tedlillyfanclub.blogspot.com/
5) Public Relation(PR)Blogs
With the global explosion of blogs, governments can no longer afford to ignore the emergence of this this media, in an effort to reach out to its young and IT-savy population who are born into the 'blogging-generation', ministers are starting to blog on a vast variety of topics, both political and non-political.
eg.http://www.p65.sg/,
http://ephraim.blogspot.com (George Yeo, Minister of State for Finance, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs),
http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com (Siew Kum Hong, Nominated Member of Parliament)
Resulting from the exponential growth of blogs, advertisers are quick to utilise this new media as an advertising medium. Different genres of blogs (some are listed above) allows advertisers to target specific audiences and promote their products and services to the audience that needs them.
The number of visits increases with the regularity and quality of posts which in turn attracts more advertisers who are willing to pay more for to advertise on the site.
With such statistics, there seems to be no slowing down of its stellar growth, and more products, services, and infomation seems destined to be heading into the 'Blogosphere'.
If you don't have a blog, what are you waiting for?
Image Reference:
www.technorati.com
Reference:
www.sifry.com viewed: 19 September 2008
Day, M 2005, 'Online users come of age', The Australian, October 21, p.20