Blog Culture The topic today is about the newly appearing phenomenon of (1)______. The most significant revolutions of the l

Blog Culture
    Good morning, today I’d like to discuss with you the phenomenon of blog. Isn’t it interesting that some of the most significant "revolutions" of the last twenty years have all had to do with writing? First we had email, then webpages, then mobile phone texting, and now blogs. All this reflects a trend that the world is becoming more formal in how it communicates. Instead of body language and endless conversations, communication has shifted towards endless words on a screen.
    Firstly, what is a blog, anyway? Generally speaking, it’s an online journal comprised of links and postings in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent posting appears at the top of the page. Blogs run the gamut of topics. One may be a running commentary on current events in a specific arena, a series of personal musings, a purely political tract, pointers to other people’s work or products, or it may be a constantly updated "what’s new" by a domain expert. While some blogging software permits readers to post their own comments, this feature has to be turned on by the blogger, and a significant number of prominent bloggers have not enabled the comment feature. What the best individual blogs tend to have in common is voice—they are clearly written by human beings with genuine human passion. That’s a good, in-depth definition.
    Next, let us look at the characteristics of the blog culture. I will introduce 8 prominent features of bloggers, which, I hope will help you deepen your understanding of blogging.
    Feature 1. Blogging shows the willingness and pleasure of the bloggers to share their thoughts and experiences with others.
    Feature 2. Bloggers help each other a lot. They are also capable of launching collaborative projects that would be very difficult or impossible to launch alone.
    Feature 3. Bloggers tend to be global, read international sources and want to meet other people.
    Feature 4. There is a "common code": a vocabulary, a way to write posts, and behavior codes (quoting other sources when you use them, linking into them, etc).
    Feature 5. Bloggers get so much used to providing feedback themselves that they are very frustrated when they read, listen or view MSM as they are not able to comment them.
    Feature 6. Bloggers want to express themselves and get credit for it, resulting in many outside observers talking about bloggers as "humans with thoughts".
    Feature 7. Bloggers invest so much time in their blogs, usually taken away from MSM, leisure time and sleep time. This irresistible will to share with others is a strong common point.
    Feature 8. Blogging represents the culture of speed: the need to post or react instantaneously.
    Finally, let’s take a look at the impact of personal blogs. As we all know, bloggers are people with attitude. They say there’s a book inside everybody. Well, the Web and blogs have let the book out! There has literally been an explosion of opinions. Now, we can hear all sorts of voices on the subject, which, of course, will bring about advantages as well as disadvantages to the society.
    The advantages of blogs include the following:
    1. Blogs can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge and information with others.
    2.Blogs can be a positive way of getting feedback, and keeping your finger on the pulse, as readers react to certain pieces, suggest story ideas, etc.
    3.Blogs can build the profile of the writer, showcasing himself as having talent and expertise.
    4.The society and authorities concerned are potentially better informed and this can only be good for the long-term health of our societies and economies.
    The disadvantages of blogs are:
    l.Most people don’t have very much to say what’s interesting, or are unable to write down their ideas in a compelling and clear manner.
    2.I have often found that the people who have most time to write have least to say, and the people who have most to say don’t have enough time to write it. Thus, the real expertise lays hidden, and you could not get what you want.
    3.Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time.
    4.Blogs, sometimes, are used as powerful weapons to attack others, which arouse multiple tones and opinions towards the conflicting issue instead of a legal judgment. This may disorder our legal system to some degree.
    So far we’ve discussed the definition and characteristics of blogs, and the advantages and disadvantages of personal blogs. What I want to highlight is that blogs are becoming a significant form of writing for the purpose of communication. There’s money in words; real value, real worth. I’m not a blogger but I do have this newsletter and I can tell you that these 500 or so words that I publish every week have seen a major return on investment for me. As an individual, I would highly recommend that you have some sort of publishing strategy, whether it be a blog, newsletter, writing articles for magazines, website or whatever. This is an age where you will build your professional reputation word by word. Start off by finding something people care about and that you care about.