Blogs as current phenomenon & benefits to the community

According to Technorati.com (2009), the blogosphere size had increased rapidly since year 2004. It is proven that there is more blogger in 2009 compared to 2008.

There are different categories of blogger such as in the year 2009 report:

1. Professional blogger: 28%
2. Hobbyist blogger: 72%

Out of the above blogger, 9% are self employed blogger while 17% blog as a primary source of their income.
However, the blogging activities in 2009 had decreased due to the arisen of twitter, microblogging activities and other social media application.

Europe: According to Suarez (2010), there are approximately 15-20million blogs in Europe with the top European blog to be focusing on subject matter such as politics and technology. In the Europe, there is higher amount of man(70%) blogging compared to the women(30%). Therefore, there is a higher popularity in subject such as technology compared to gossip and celebrities (17%) and personal (12%).

Asia: According to Asia New Zealand Foundation (2010), there are approximately 40millions blogs in one of the country in Asia, which is China. The reason behind the high amount of blogger in China was that the government intervention on controlling the news and media content in the country. Media tools such as blog, twitter, you tube and etc are used to emphasize on the benefits of Internet rather than being control by the government.

Malaysia: According to Sabahan.com (2007), the highest percentage of blogger subject in Malaysia is on personal (28%) and are follow by politics and technology each holding 16%. Top blogs in Malaysia are usually kennysia.com, yasmin the story teller, liewCF.com, lim kit siang and etc. Blogs such as those could top the list either because the blog is written by high influence people in the country, new technology based, or simply just inspiring enough for others to get attracted on reading it.


Although blogging is a social media tools, there is prevalent in some issue in Malaysia. Freedom of speech is usually questioned and therefore it is difficult to voice out an opinion publicly. In Malaysia, sensitive issue that involved politics, sexuality, racism, discrimination or any content that could be found inappropriate will be restricted.


With those prevalent blogs, political blogs will not be found offensive and creating a split among the nation. It is very important that the community is aware of their responsibility to the country as one nation. This way, discrimination among the different races in Malaysia will not be present. After all, blogs are a social media tools that could spread thoughts and opinion, therefore it is very important that blogger will be watchful of their own words usage and their responsibility in creating a better social environment in the country and also to the public that are reading it.


References: 

Asia:nz online.com 2010, China's first blogger on his country's rapidly expanding blogsphere, viewed 29 September 2010, <http://www.asianz.org.nz/our-work/media/seminars-and-networking/isaac-mao-visit>.

Gaman 2007, '50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia', Sabahan.com, viewed 29 September 2010, <http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/>.

Suarez, R 2010, 'European Blogosphere Stats', Internet Entrepreneurship and Marketing's Posterous, viewed 29 September 2010, <http://ramonsuarez.com/the-european-blogosphere-stats-campus-party-e>.