Shalom's NMT Blog

Trends in Blogging November 5, 2009

I just read an article titled “Blogging for Cash” from Freelancer Magazine, linked from the Master New Media website. This article caught my eye as blogging is a popular trend among people today, and I am interested to find out more about blogging. As the title of the article says it, this article tells about different ways in which bloggers are able to make money with their blogs. Along with this article, I have read other articles from websites such as The Blog Herald, which states the history of blogging, and from ProBlogger, discussing the emerging trends in blogging.

Fig1.1

In the past, blogs were just used as online journals, where people frequently wrote dated enteries sharing about themselves. Blogs were, and still is a tool to help people connect with each other. By reading a another person’s blog, you will be able to know what are the latest happenings in the author’s life, an effective way of getting updates about someone whom you are not able to meet everyday. Blogs are also a good way of keeping in touch, as one is able to link a blog to another. An example of blog links is shown in brown in Fig 1.1. Tag boxes are also able to be put in blogs to allow blog visitors to comment on the author’s post, or just to drop a message to the author. The tag box is shown surrounded by blue in Fig 1.1.

Fig 1.2

As the popularity of blogs increases over the years, so has the uses of blogs evolve. Now, blogs are used not just for personal online journals, but also for entertainment and information updates. For example, a blog that hosts reviews on computing products “jkkmobile”, having regular updates on new mobile devices and techonology. These blogs also feature pictures and videos in their articles, making it really interactive and comprehensive. Examples of these links are shown in purple in Fig 1.2. To some extent, blogs can be more effective compared to monthly periodicals, since viewers are able to access it the moment it is posted, and it is avaliable globally, free of charge.

Many companies are now making use of blogs for advertisements due to the large market. Since blogs are usually visited by people regularly, these  companies are able ensure that their advertisements are regularly visited, and most probably clicked on. These companies also give a commision to the blog’s owner who hosts their advertisements. Examples of advertisements in blogs can be seen highlighted in red in Fig 1.2.

According to the article “Blogging for cash”, most of the ways of earning money through blogging is by advertising or sponsorship. Thus, one must be good at writing as well as knowledgable about a topic, which is of high interest among people. With these, the blog will be visited by a large amount of people around the world, and will be able to succeed in getting a sponsorship for the blog. Some of these experts have taken up blogging as their main source of income, getting paid by the advertisements they host in their sites. This is an innovative way of ‘working’, since it is their interest, and it is fun for them.

I feel that blogging is a good example of new media, where posts can be made instantly, viewed from anywhere which has an internet access, is interactive, and able to communicate with the author. Since I do not blog often, reading these articles about blogging helped me to broaden my knowledge about blogs, and help me appreciate more about the website that this post is posted in today.

Articles:

http://www.freelancermagazine.com/blogging-for-cash/

http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-short-history-of-blogging/

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/05/16/5-emerging-trends-in-blogging/

Pictures:

Fig 1.1, http://designer-iit.blogspot.com

Fig 1.2, http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com