Every now and then revolutionary new concepts emerge, seemingly out of nowhere to really shake up the establishment (Yeoh, 2003). Napster made MP3s a household word while Amazon.com made buying books online an alternative to going to the bookstore. Weblogs, or blogs which are categorised as web-based concepts have recently been the trending evolution.
According to a study done by Universal McCann (Technorati 2008), there are about 184 million bloggers and 346 million people who read blogs in the world. To date, the most popular individual bloggers can draw tens of thousands of visitors daily. Blogs, as Gillmor (2004) puts it are a democratic form of journalism. Why is blogging so popular? Pruit (2005) suggests that blogging allows information to reach a global audience within a few clicks. In India, blogging is relatively new. with whereby people distribute information globally with just a few clicks of the mouse.
According to Mital (2008), most Indian blogs fall into the category of online diaries where people mostly write about their personal lives, emphasizing on dating their sex lives. This is because the blogging phenomenon is still new to them. However, sooner or later when the blogging phenomenon matures in India, blogs will break into the mainstream and become a credible, alternate medium for political and social commentary, just like in the West. Mital (2008) also added that it is the first time where the Indian society experience a more open-minded environment where Internet became a tool to discuss “taboo” issues.
Hence, in a repressive and rigid country, Gillmor, (2004) argues that Internet have certainly opened a new pathway where people are able to express issues which are prohibited in the old media. For example, culture, relationships, politics and sex, (Gillmor, 2004). Blogging is thus the new revolutionary concept which will shake up and change how the commercial world works. What started off as a hobby by technology geeks has now become a mainstream pursuit practiced by amateur writers around the world.
REFERENCES
Ceder Pruitt, 2005, The Blogging Phenomenon: Who? How? Why?, viewed 11th November 2009, <http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=86>
Gillmor, D 2004, We the media: Grassroots Journalism by the People for the People, O’Reilly Media, United States of America.
Mital, VK 2008, The Brave New World of Blogs, viewed 11th November 2009, http://www.merinews.com/article/the-brave-new-world-of-blogs/135550.shtml
Technorati 2008, State of blogosphere 2008, viewed 11th November 2009,http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere
Yeoh, O 2003, Transition: Making Sense of the Digital Age, Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd, Malaysia.
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