Why Do People Blog?

• By Victoria Carrington, M.D.

There are as many reasons for blogging as there are types of blogs. However, the basic reason why anyone blogs is because he or she has something to say and wants to be heard. From a stay-at-home mom who wants to record her family life to a corporate executive who desires to build closer relationships with customers, all who maintain blogs want to communicate with the world in a meaningful way via the Internet. Blogging represents the embodiment of the uniquely human desire to make a difference, to leave a stamp on the world, and to contribute to the larger society. Blogging allows even the most average dreamer to be "heard" in ways that were not possible before the advent of blogging. How did blogging get started and what were its precedents?

One of the earliest examples of electronic community building was the use of amateur or "ham" radio. Ham radio aficionados set up broadcasting equipment to allow them to communicate with other radio users. Tight-knit and specialized communities were the result of amateur radio communication. There are even examples of amateur radio operators creating their own diaries, called "glogs" in the early 1980"s. Glogs allow a wearer of a personal computing device (such as a wearable personal computer in the Eighties or a wireless handheld organizer today) to record events as they are happening. One well-known glog at http://christinamann.com/eyetap/ captures the very first minutes of a baby girl's life after an unexpected C-section! Even before the rise of the Internet as the premiere form of digital community-building, ham radio operators found a niche that allowed them to transcend space and time in communicating with one another.

The rise of the Internet brought with it an exciting explosion in the ability of persons, separated by time and space, to build communities online. Pre-dating blogging, users of the Internet had other ways to communicate with one another and express their thoughts with the rise of electronic bulletin boards, Usenet groups, and e-mail lists. Usenet groups are large anonymous meeting places, also known as online discussion groups, in which users interested in particular topics exchange information, advice images and more. Usenet groups were started by two graduate students at Duke University as a simple way for universities to share information in 1979. Today, there are tens of thousands of topics and millions of users of Usenet groups. Usenet groups continue to thrive because they support the use of multiple file types for communication.

Bulletin board systems provided yet another way for computer users to communicate with one another. In 1978, the first virtual bulletin board system was launched out of Chicago by two computer hobbyists. Bulletin board systems (BBS) allowed participants to "post" messages, just as one would on a cork bulletin board, and receive replies to the post. Initially dominated by other computer hobbyists, the bulletin boards could be comprised of multiple topics or devoted to a single topic. Supported by networks of computers, eventually the bulletin boards were launched on the Internet. BBS have become less popular due to their inability to support rich graphics.

E-mail lists were created as a way for a central email address to communicate with others on a list by forwarding messages to them. In this way, all members of a list can communicate with one another through the central e-mail. E-mail lists can become cumbersome if the user chooses to receive e-mails each time someone posts to the list.

"Escribitionists" is a term coined in 1999 to denote online journalists. A combination of the word "exhibitionist" and the Spanish word "escribir" which means "to write," escribitionists pride themselves on baring all online. Online journalists are differentiated from bloggers in that, while both may discuss the inner workings of an individual’s life, blogs may include much more. Online journals reflect only on the personal life of the diarist. These early writings of individuals seeking to connect with others over space and time set the stage for the phenomenon of blogging to begin.

The earliest known blogging probably began in 1994 as the personal journal of a college student named Justin Hall. The term "weblog" was coined in 1997 and the shorter version of the word, blog, was coined in 1999. 1999 also marked the year of the launch of the first corporate solutions for hosting blogs. Blogger was one of the two leaders in offering blog hosting. Weblog, weblogging and weblogger all became official terms and were listed in the Oxford English Dictionary by 2003. Blogging had been born. What drew online authors to blogs versus other intimate or interactive forms of communication on the web? The difference was in several specialized features of blogs that represented improvements on the current modes of online communication.

How did blogging specifically differ from other forms of personal expression on the Web? The creation of blogging tools that gave blogs unique characteristics was responsible for the earliest differentiation of blogs from other forms of online community-building. More than just a personal webpage, blogging made updating a site and linking to other sites much easier. One of the problems with static websites is that they can be difficult to update and, therefore, there is the temptation to not update often. Frequent updating, however, is very important in maintaining a fresh, often-visited site. Blogging utilities make daily posting simple and fun. For an active news cycle, bloggers may even find themselves blogging several times each day! Various types of links also distinguish blogs from static websites. Blogrolls list all other blogs that the blog’s author reads and are often as important to blog readers as the blog post itself. Blogrolls provide readers with more sources of similar or complementary reading on the Web. Trackbacks are a form of linking that allows a blog author to know when his post is being quoted on another blog. Servers were created to allow blogs to send a ping whenever they are updated, allowing readers to keep up with the most current news from their favorite blogs.

The ability to comment on blogs is one of the most exciting differentiating features of blogs. Tools were created to allow others to leave comments on the blog and to also allow the author to manage those comments easily. This ability for readers to comment directly and immediately on what was read allows a conversation to take place not only between the blogger and the commenter but even between commenters. Little moderation of comments typically takes place and readers are free to agree, disagree or even add their own links and other information to enrich the post.

Once tools became available to streamline blogging, blogging still needed more exposure to become mainstream. Knowledge of blogs and how they could be used needed to reach the masses to makes blogs an indelible part of the Internet landscape. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 provided that acceptance. With a public hungry for knowledge and reassurance after 9/11, blogs supporting the American War on Terrorism quickly rose to prominence. Right-wing political blogs such as Instapundit, led the way for blogs to become a major force in politics, in general, and in the Iraq war, specifically. Blogs showed their ability to change the course of American politics when blogging activity was at least partially responsible for the resignation of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott over his remarks supporting Strom Thurmond. The war in Iraq and the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election provided blogs the firm footing that they needed in the world of journalism. Widespread knowledge of and respect for blogs began to grow and has not stopped.

Why Do People Blog?

There are many reasons why one may blog and one blogger could have more than one reason for blogging. Examining the larger categories of blogs provides some insight into why people blog.

• Personal, journal style blogs
  Some bloggers want to blog about the details of their everyday lives usually to inspire, educate or lend humor to the reader.
   
• Topical
  A blogger may have a specialized area of knowledge, such as website design, and may desire to share that knowledge with others.
   
• News
  The most popular blogs cover news stories and allow readers to comment on the news.
   
• Educational
  Students can blog to record educational activities, practice writing skills and share knowledge with others.
   
• Religious
  Christian blogs in particular have come into prominence in the last year. Blogs allow discussion of religious topics and can offer readers prayers, devotionals and Bible studies all in a comfortable, interactive atmosphere.
   
• Marketing
  Business owners, small and large, can benefit from blogging to allow their customers or clients to keep current with company happenings and latest products.

There are many reasons for blogging and those reasons may evolve over time for the individual blogger. The existence of categories on a blog provides the blogger with the opportunity to blog for several different reasons on one blog. Overlap in reasons for blogging and subsequently types of blogs seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Blogging has become an important medium of communication and future developments should prove exciting.

Happy blogging!
 

• About the author:

Victoria Carrington, M.D. is a former psychiatrist and now a homeschooling mom and freelance writer. She leads a prayer group, The Homeschool Prayer League and enjoys writing prayers and devotionals for moms. Mrs. Carrington lives in Ohio with her husband and two little blessings. Visit her blog at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/VictoriaCarrington.