Who would have guessed that the old fashion of writing in diaries has now been taken to a whole new level- in the World Wide Web (WWW)? According to Technorati (n.d.), blogs’ contents include various topics and opinions, some influential while some personal with small readership circles.
By 2007, there are almost 60 million blogs created, half of that amount comprises of active bloggers. The blogosphere continues growing with the number of blogs doubling consistently every half a year (Walsh 2007). In Britain, there are almost 7 million bloggers as recorded in 2006 (Fickling 2006) while in Asia, almost 50 per cent of online users own blogs with blogging making its most prominent mark in Korea (Stern 2006). The blogging trend in Britain and Asia (including Malaysia) is generally similar- a high percentage of online users blog about or prefer reading personal blogs by friends and family and for entertainment and social interests (Stern 2006; Microsoft 2008; Fickling 2006).
Due to Malaysia’s mainstream media that is primarily pro-government (Anuar 2008), political blogs by the opposition and also alternative news websites provide information that is not published on television, newspaper and radio. Malaysians could express and exchange opinions with other bloggers or just sharing ideas with online readers while business blogs make international businesses possible or enable ordinary people to set up shopping blogs easily.
References
1. Anuar, MK, Netto, A, Venkiteswaran, G & Wong, CH 2008, Candidates should be committed to freedom of expression and information, Centre for Independent Journalism, viewed 23 October 2008, http://www.cijmalaysia.org/content/view/296/6/.
2. Blogging Basics n.d., Technorati, viewed 11 November 2008, http://technorati.com/help/blogging101.html.
3. Fickling, D 2006, Britain is Home to Nearly 7 Million Bloggers, Guardian, viewed 11 November 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jul/20/news.uknews.
4. Stern, A 2006, Blogging Phenomenon Sweeps Asia, CenterNetworks, viewed 11 November 2008, http://www.centernetworks.com/blogging-phenomenon-sweeps-asia.
5. Walsh, B 2007, Clear Blogging, viewed 11 November 2008, http://books.google.com.my/books?id=tHXhp2dyJHcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPP20,M1.
6. Women Rule in Malaysian Blogosphere 2006, Microsoft Malaysia, viewed 11 November 2008, http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/archive2006/linkpage4337.mspx.
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