Did you know that close to 113 million people own a blog, according to http://www.technorati.com/ (2008). There is an update posted every eight seconds. That's a lot of blogs.
Europe
Blogging remains relatively low on the to-do list, with a paltry four million active bloggers (Bouquet & Favier, 2006). However, these bloggers are "young, early adopters of new technologies" and therefore very attractive to marketers, being "more open-minded than the average online consumer" (Bouquet & Favier, 2006). European bloggers, according to Mackenzie (2006) gravitate towards everyday, journalistic blogs.
Asia
According to IT News Online (2006), nearly half of 'Net users in Asia own a blog. When broken down by gender, "fifty-five per cent of bloggers in Asia were found to be female and forty-five per cent male" (Jacques, 2006). As IT News states, blogs of interest are the most popular (with the exception of India, where business-themed blogs are most read).
Locally
Fifty-six per cent of Malaysian bloggers do so to express their opinions (Ooi, 2006). According to Gaman (2007), thirty-two per cent of the Malaysian blogosphere write about politics or technology. Another type of blog that is on the rise would be "boutique blogs", where people sell clothing, for examples, An Untitled Affair.
The Healing Power of Words
Blogging holds many benefits for the community. According to Wapner (2008), blogging holds "therapeutic effects". Research shows that writing about your experiences "improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery". Blogging helps educate the public, being an invaluable tool of citizen journalism (Dvorak, 2002), which is when the public collect, report, analyze and disseminate news and information - highly fundamental in Malaysia, where freedom of the press is tenuous, at best.
References
- Bouquet, M. & Favier, J. (2006). Profiling European Bloggers. Viewed 8 November from http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,40515,00.html
- Dvorak, J. (2002). The Blog Phenomenon. PC Magazine. Viewed 11 November 2008 from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,12899,00.asp
- Gaman. (2007). 50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia. Viewed 7 November from http://www.sabahan.com/2007/02/06/50-most-influential-blogs-in-malaysia/
- IT News Online. (2006). Blogging India: A Windows Live Report. Viewed 8 November 2008 from http://www.itnewsonline.com/showstory.php?storyid=6905&scatid=6&contid=1
- Jacques, R. (2006). Asian blogosphere surges forward. iTnews. Viewed 4 November from http://www.itnews.com.au/News/42837,asian-blogosphere-surges-forward.aspx
- Mackenzie, K. (2006). European bloggers find their voice. Financial Times. Viewed 1 November 2008 from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/87706c4e-57be-11db-be9f-0000779e2340.html
- Ooi, J. (2006). A walk down the Yellow Brick Road of Malaysia's Corridor of the Future. CNET Asia. Viewed 9 November from http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/lemaklemang/post.htm?id=61971059
- Technorati Media. (2008). About Us. Viewed 8 November 2008 from http://technoratimedia.com/about/
- Wapner, J. (2008). Blogging - It's good for you. Scientific American. Viewed 5 November 2008 from http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
