Myspace and Facebook opened the gateway for a new generation of social networking over the internet. Now, online blogging sites like Wordpress, Livejournal and Blogger bring a whole new level of intimacy to the online world.
"At first I was against blogging," said sophomore Bree Gant, a film production major. "I thought it was just another way for people to whine and get attention. But I realized as a writer, blogging is a good opportunity to not only journal, but get your opinion and writing out there and get some feedback from both experienced writers and interested readers."
"Blogging" is a term coined to express media in which the author speaks candidly about a subject. A "weblog," often shortened to the term "blog," is the Web site that hosts blogging content. Blogs range in subject from personal diaries to political or celebrity gossip forums.
"[Wordpress] puts hassle-free online publishing within reach for whom it would have been too difficult or expensive before," said Matt Mullenwag, the founder of Wordpress, one of the largest blogging software providers on the Internet.
If there is any indication that blogging has recently experienced a jolt in popularity in recent years, it's the growth in downloads of WordPress software. According to Wordpress.org, in 2006, WordPress' blogging software was downloaded 1,545,703 times. However, by 2007, that number had jumped to 3,816, 965 downloads per year.
Similar to social networks, blog networks allow people to connect over common interests. According to Mullenwag, the most popular blog postings center on music, politics, movies, celebrities and personal experiences. Yet there are several other less common subjects that bring together smaller networks.
"There might be only three people in the U.S. interested in knitting Elvis earmuffs, but through blogging they can find each other," Mullenwag said.
Sophomore print journalism major Eunique Hansel blogs specifically on the topic of natural hair care.
"My blog, 'Reach Back & Gro' is used as a means of tracking my natural hair care journey. Sharing that with others and giving tips to help others grow healthy natural hair and to have fun with it too," Hansel said. "The fact that other people can easily access my thoughts and opinions is sometimes daunting. But at the same time, what I write about can also be helpful to someone else."
For other students, blogging is a way to stay in touch with friends and family back home.
"I chose to blog because I feel like I live such a hilarious, crazy and super fun life and if I don't write it down I will forget it all," said Annisha Lewis, a sophomore advertising major. "Also, since I go to school so far away from home, it's a nice way for my friends from back home to see what I'm into."
Blogging has impacted the global community as well, allowing for the transmission of ideas and the fusion of cultures. Perhaps most importantly, it is an exercise in the right to freedom of speech.
"I think the right to publish and express your thoughts is even more important in political climates where they've not historically had those rights," Mullenwag said. Yet he also admits, "We have seen some drop-offs [in membership] from certain countries when we've been blocked for standing up for free speech issues. At various times we've been blocked in China, Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia."
For Mullenwag, blogging has leveled the playing field of the media industry and expanded the principle of freedom of the press.
"Our founding fathers made and distributed pamphlets under the cloak of night to express their thoughts," Mullenwag said. "Now anybody with internet access can set up a WordPress blog and use the exact same software and platform as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal and reach a million times the number of people than Franklin or Jefferson could have imagined."
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