A New Genre

Throughout history we have come to know many famous writers, philosophers, authors and journalists. They have all expressed their views and stories through a variety of different techniques. Novels, essays, articles and short stories are of the most common forms. Recently however, blogging has taken over the social media world as we know it.


But what is blog?  "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules." In my opinion, a blog is any form of writing through the use of the internet. It may sound like a diary and can consist of writing, pictures, videos  or a combination of all three. Personally, I enjoy blogs that have both pictures and videos as well as relevant links.


                                  Youtube has a great video that simplies a blog.

 

 Blogging has become a popular phenomenon around the world. One way to think of a blog is  defining what makes a blog. Blogs can be what you choose to make them. They are not in any way like an essay. Essays don't have pictures. Essays try to prove a point. A blog can just be someone rambling on about whichever topic they choose. With essays, a person has to create a thesis, have structure, make an argument for one side, and nicely conclude everything together at the end. It is usually 5 paragraphs long and must be in times new roman, size 12 font. With essays there are too many rules. That is what makes a blog different, there are no rules. Blogs are “intended for public viewing.” They’re meant to be controversial, happy, sad, informative, random or anything in between. They are a way for people to communicate. Blogging has become a new form of community. Millions of people interact with blogs in one way or another everyday.


Within each community there are different types of blogs. There are business blogs, job search blogs, personal blogs, and many other types of blogs. Business blogs are usually used for a company to advertise their products and services. These blogs are also a great way to allow customers to give their feedback. One of the great things about blogs are that they allow those reading them to make comments about what they have just read. Customers who are looking to buy the product or who have already bought and used it are then able to post a review for other buyers to see. The business can also see these reviews which helps them to improve their products and customer service. If I owned a business, utilizing a blog would more than likely prove to be very resourceful.
 
Job search blogs are another way for businesses to find new employees and for people looking to find employment. These blogs allow people to network with others and post all of their education and work experience. Job search blogs are usually owned by the person searching for the job and are along the same lines as a personal blog but instead they serve the purpose of finding work.

A personal blog is an example of what I am writing now. They are used to write about everything. The sky is the limit with these blogs. Today there are over 150 million blogs on the internet. People such as PerezHilton have made a name for themselves just by blogging and have hundreds of thousands of followers. The internet has created a new genre of reading and writing unlike anything we've seen before.



When I first learned about blogging I had no idea how popular they had become or how innovative they could be. Who would have known that by simply stating your own thoughts or telling a story online could attract so many followers. Huge communities are formed around blogging. Fellow bloggers have become more like family members than just online acquaintances. There are also many different types of blog communities.

One thing that I have found very interesting about blogging since I have started is that my thoughts seem to flow out a lot easier while blogging, as opposed to writing an essay. With essays there is always so much thought and effort put into writing the thesis statement that the rest of the essay seems boring.