Thursday, September 20, 2012

Screen vs Print Document Design

As said in the previous post that blog has helped organizations to market their products and bring them closer to the consumers. But organizations do not ignore the print media to promote their products. They utilize both online and print media at the same time. The promotion through the online media exists in the screen document form which is very different from the print document form.

Differences between screen document and print document design

Before the emergence of internet, the print documents design principles were heavily emphasized. With the advent of internet which creates importance in on-screen documents, the print document design principles were challenged as it may not be all applicable to the on-screen document design.

The following discussion will use PowerPoint slides to represent on-screen documents while magazines will represent print document design. The application of theories to PowerPoint slides and magazines below may not be applicable to other types of on-screen or print documents. 

The PowerPoint slides shown below are extracted from my own group's presentation slide for Issues in Publication and design (IPD) summary review presentation. 

The traditional print document design theories:

1. "reading path are from left to right, top to bottom" (Kress & Leeuwen 2006, p.177). 

As the reading path of readers are being said to follow such rules, documents are being designed to place old information on the left while new information on the right and promises of a product or information on the top while the actual information or product is placed at the bottom of the page (Kress & van Leeuwen , p.186).


For instance, the snapshot of the Cleo Malaysia September 2012 edition below shows the reading path of top and bottom where the picture of the couple on the page shows the feeling which users can feel when using the promoted product, Enchanter perfume. The wordings and the bottle of perfume at the bottom of the page shows the actual product being promoted. Therefore, readers will look at the top to the bottom and the concentration is at its peak at the bottom of the page as they are being loaded with new information.


Enchanter advertisement on Cleo Malaysia September 2012 edition


However, on the PowerPoint slides, the reading path may be different depending on the design and layout of the slides.

The PowerPoint slides below shows a reading path from the top to the bottom which is the same for a print document. However, the layout of the information is not the same as on a printed magazine as all information on the PowerPoint slide are new information which is to be presented to the audience. Therefore, there are no layout of new versus old information on a PowerPoint slide. Also, the concentration is peak throughout the reading from top to bottom due to the new information.


A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation


2. "Text in the the document is created through strategies of essay composition" (Bernhardt 1986, p.65).

Information on magazines are typed and printed in the form of an essay with its attractive introduction, comprehensive and detailed points with supporting materials and a good conclusion.

The snapshot of the Timeout KL magazine September 2012 edition below shows that the information provided to the readers are in the form of an essay with full sentences. From far, the paragraphs looks very lengthy but readers of this magazine will be interested to read them as they are bought for reading.

A snapshot of Timeout KL September 2012 edition


The situation will be different with regards to information on a PowerPoint slide.

Referring to the PowerPoint slide below, the information is summarized to one or two sentences with a mixture of full sentences and bullet point form. However, the main points are being put in a point form with one to two points in one PowerPoint slide. Also, the examples given for a point are also summarized where full sentences may not be used.

A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation


3. "The inverted pyramid, Diamond, The Wall Street Journal form and a modified Diamond form of writing structures" (Fensch 2001, p.164).

The writing structure in magazines as shown on the snapshot of Timeout KL September 2012 edition below shows a Diamond form of writing structures. The information in the red box is the opening, the blue box represent 'The Middle' and the green box represent the end segment. The information between those coloured boxes are 'The Breaks'.

 The opening box means the opening story of the article where the sparks of the story start there. Comparing with other forms of printed document, The Diamond form "gets more and more detailed, valuable and more complex [unlike]...the usual inverted pyramid form of writing" (Fensch 2001, p.127).


Application of 'Diamond' form on an article from Timeout KL September 2012 edition.

The writing structure is different for an on-screen document. The writing structure of a Powerpoint slide emphasize on featuring only the main points in bullet or numbering format. The main points of the PowerPoint presentation are shown below which is the bold words in purple while the small font text in black are the description and examples.



A slide extracted from my group's IPD presentation



4. Display Units

According to Farkas (2005, p.11), "the display unit for most print documents is in page [while on-screen document] the display unit for web is HTML and for PowerPoint is slides".


A power point slide.
A print document in Cleo Magazine August 2012


The example given for on-screen document is a PowerPoint slide while the print document is a page from the Cleo Magazine Malaysia August 2012 edition. The sample of print document show below is the content page of a magazine which denotes the content in each page of the magazine. Thus, we identify the different content in the magazine through pages. On the other hand, the content in a PowerPoint is identify through the slides.

The power point slides in print document form
  
Moreover, when the on-screen document which is the PowerPoint slides is transferred into a print document form, the display units turns from 'slides' to 'pages'. As shown above, there are six slides in a page and sometimes the display units of 'slides' can be used together with 'pages' when the transfer of publication form occurs as the slides numbers are still visible when printed out on a paper. However, it is up to the user to decide the numbering of slides whether from left to right or top to bottom when the slide number is not visible in the print document.









References:

Bernhardt, SA 1986, 'Seeing the Text', National Council of Teachers of English, vol.37, no.1, pp.66-78, viewed 19 September 2012, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/357383>

Farkas, D 2005, 'Explicit Structure in Print and On-Screen Documents', Technical Communication Quarterly, vol.14, no.1, pp.9-30,

Fensch, T 2001, Writing Solutions: Beginnings, middles and endings, New Century Books, United States of America. 

Kress, G & Leeuwen, TV 2006, Reading Images: The grammer of visual design, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.



# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Food reviews on blogs as an advertising medium

As said in the previous post that blogs have served as a news platform for readers who create a need to identify credible blogs to rely on. This change in habit of obtaining news occurs everywhere around the world especially among young people. According to a study conducted by Pew (cited in Biagi 2012, p.263), "there is a large numbers of Americans under age 30 turned to the Internet for news and [surprisingly] in fact people of all ages read the news online".

Print documents given to the public is a waste

This phenomenon has lead to organizations trying to reach its consumers and potential consumers online instead of the traditional advertisements through television, newspapers and printed brochures, pamphlets and flyers. The traditional way of advertising is not effective in reaching its audiences as they find a way to avoid advertisements.

Very often, flyers and brochures given to the public whenever they pass by the shop or promotion booth are wasted as they are purposely being left at the venue or thrown into the dustbin without looking at them. This is due to either the receiver of the printed promotional materials being a wrong person targeted or they are bored with the documents itself as they have seen it many times. Sometimes, it is because the public does not like to hold a stack of brochures or pamphlets when walking around especially in a shopping mall where most of the shops will have flyers to be given away.

This bad habits do not only revolves around Malaysians but also people in other countries as well. In Singapore, pamphlets and brochures are also being left or thrown on the event floor before the visitors leave the event venue. STOMP has reported about the mess left by the visitors after the Singapore IT Fair 2011 at Suntec city.

Mess after Singapore IT Fair 2011 at Suntec city by STOMP


Advertising through blogs is effective

Organizations have come out with the way of reaching its audiences which is through blogs and it is more effective. The advertisement on blogs comes in the form of 'review post' or 'advertorial'. Sometimes, bloggers do not differentiate the review post with their own personal post but putting it together in one blog post. A research conducted shows that "81% of shoppers who spends more than $500 online each month use products reviews when they make buying decisions" (Solomon, Cornell & Nizan 2010, p.215).


Advertising on blogs is vital for organizations in F&B industry

This new form of advertising and promotions is applied fully by all organizations dealing with food products which includes restaurants and cafes. In the past, we are stuffed with flyers of new menu offered or opening of new restaurants when we are out in town or even in our mail box at home. Also, we often see a food review section on the weekend edition of the newspaper. However, they are seen as not effective where as said, flyers are being thrown away. Additionally, Bridgeland & Zahavi (2009, p.201) mentioned that "newspapers reviews have gradually lost much of their former influence". Therefore, the advertising trend had changed from print documents to on-screen documents which is through blogs.

 Getting the food reviews on blogs

Usually, high traffic and well known bloggers are contacted by the Marketing team of organizations when there is a new introduction of products or new promotions offered. Then, bloggers will be invited to a special bloggers gathering or private event where they will be briefed about the products or promotion with samples of the products given to them followed by a photography session of the products. The details of the functions held vary depending on the types of organizations.


Advertisements of Mooncakes through brochures

 

Benefits of advertising through blogs 

This changed in trends had proven to be a success. Bridgeland & Zahavi (2009, p.201) supported that "now customers typically find good restaurants via the Internet reviews of other customers, by local dining blogs or by professional review books like Zagat and Michelin guides".

Due to the emergence of young people following blogs for news or simply being a fan of the blog, advertisement through blogs is able to reach the audiences as they do not reject or avoid blog post being posted on the blogs they follow even though it is a form of advertisement. This new trend had helped organizations targeting their products to young people even though the products may not appeal to young people in the olden days. 

Blog advertisements changed reader's behavior

This new form of following food reviews on blogs has typically changed young people's behavior. They are willing to drive more than 30 minutes and sometimes an hour to the restaurants reviewed on blogs. People also travel to other states of the country especially in Malaysia just to try the local food there which they saw on food blogs. This has made them travel and purchase goods which people around their age would not go or buy in the past.

For instance, young people today knows a lot about traditional or festival food such as Mooncakes. In the past, they do not care to take a look at the Mooncakes booth but today, they just go straight to the particular shop and placed their order. This is because Mooncakes reviews are everywhere on the internet by food bloggers. Organizations offering the product had get the bloggers to review their products way before they are launched in public. 


Dragon-i Mooncakes review on XiangCool.com

Dragon-i Mooncake review on Chasing Food Dreams


Dragon-i Restaurant has host a blogger gathering on its Mooncakes offering. As shown above, two different blogs which are XiangCool.com and Chasing Food Dreams reviewing Dragon-i's mooncakes promotion.


ParkRoyal Kuala Lumpur's Mooncakes review on Big Boys Oven

Other organizations such as ParkRoyal Kuala Lumpur uses this advertising strategy too where its review on its Mooncakes are reviewed by bloggers on their blogs as shown on Big Boy Oven's blog above. 


This new trend of food review had cause many food blogs to appear on the Internet as well as online network specialized in food reviews where the general public can post review of any restaurants which they visited on the network by becoming a member which is free of charge. The emergence of these food review networks has helped organizations in this field in a form of free advertisements besides gaining popularity. Examples of Food Network in Malaysia are shown below.


Malaysia Most Wanted FOOD network


Dine Malaysia.com network



Open Rice Malaysia network


The emergence of food networks are also happening in other countries such as in Hong Kong and Singapore as shown below.


Open Rice Hong Kong network


Hungry go Where Singapore network








References:

Biagi, S 2012, Media Impact: An introduction to mass media, 10th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, United States of America.

Bridgeland, D & Zahavi, R 2009, Business Modeling: A practical guide to realizing business value, The MK/OMG Press, United States of America. 

Solomon, M, Cornell, L & Nizan, A 2010, Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time, Flat World Knowledge Inc, New York.




# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Building a Credible Blog

The current trend of marketing through social media and blogs makes readers rely heavily on blogs for the latest information and happenings. This applies especially to blogs which served as tutorial to the readers, as a news platform and corporate blogs. Therefore, blogs need to be credible to its users.

A credible blog in the minds of readers

Readers of blogs are clever users and they have their own definition of a reliable and credible blog. Readers thinks that the blogs are credible when :

1. they felt that the bloggers have expertise in the area in which they are writing about (Taylor 2006, p.32).

2. "interactive elements are put on a site" (Sundar cited in Finn & Zuniga 2011, p.3)

3. "online information are authored by males than by females" (Armstrong & McAdam cited in Finn & Zuniga 2011, p.3).


How to identify a credible blog

Moreover, Waldeck, Kearney & Plax (2012, p.153) has come out with a table teaching readers to identify a credible blog. According to them, readers should trust the site when:

1. "the website is maintained by government agencies, professional organizations and established news organizations".


A blog by Airasia.

The blog by Airasia above is a credible blog as it is maintained by a well-known organization. Recognizing an organization maintained blog is easy as there is a huge organization logo or brand name at the top part of the webpage such as the 'AIRASIA' logo and pictures on top of the blog. 


2. "when the website is updated frequently"

The side bar of Airasia's blog
Looking at the Airasia's blog under 'Archives' above, the blog has been updated a few times every month and this shows that the blog is well maintained. By looking at the numerous updates from the blog, it confirms that the blog is reliable besides being governed by a well known organization.


3. "authors or sponsors who [does not] have a financial interest in a topic [may]... provide unbiased information about that topic" 


The links to Write a Blog Post on Airasia's blog

Referring to the blog post on Airasia's blog, although it does post information which is of Airasia's interest such as promotion and reviews of places to visit by Airasia; it does not provide a bias information as the blog post is also posted up by Airasia's customers on their travel feedback. For instance, the latest blog post review on travel experience is posted by 'Gerald' with the post entitled 'A Repeat Journey to Malaysia, Laos, Thailand and Indonesia'.

To post a blog post on Airasia's blog, customers have to register an account on Airasia's blog and click the 'Write a Blog Post' icon at the top part of the page near the 'Home' button as shown above. 


4.  "information on the website is validated by multiple sources"

When the link to that particular website is found through other sources, then that particular website is likely to be credible. 



Guide to create a credible blog:

From the reader's perspective above, bloggers need to meet reader's expectation of a credible blog by fulfilling all the criteria that readers will perceive a blog as credible. Therefore, blogs need to:

1. be updated as frequently as possible with good information. 

This is also supported by Meyerson (2010, p.172) where bloggers need to "consistently write fresh content two to three times a week that educate, entertains, engages and enriches their readers".


2.  "disclose any information if the blogs are paid to endorse the products by the manufacturer" (Felder 2012, p.148).


Disclaimer at the bottom of Le3nuts.shopper's blog



An example of 'disclaimer' on Sinfully Delicious's blog


Any reviews on products or places should disclose any benefits received by bloggers to avoid any bias information obtained by readers. Bloggers could put a 'Disclaimer' mentioning that the information posted is based on own judgement at the end of every reviews posted or highlight it in the blog layout as shown in Le3nuts.shopper's blog above or even put a link on the blog to link to a new page showing the 'Disclaimer' with details as shown on Sinfully Delicious's blog above.



3.  "have trackback, blogrolls, and links allow for visible demonstration of networked credibility" (Marlow cited in Finn & Zuniga 2011, p.4).

An example of a blogroll on Table For 2's blog


Bloggers should put credible links and widgets on the sidebar as well as top bar of the blog to show that bloggers are passionately involving themselves in the blogging world and therefore unlikely to give untrue information.

Bloggers could put a 'blogroll' on their blog to show the online events and activities which they had participated in. For instance, the Foodie BlogRoll on Table For 2's blog shows that the blogger had participated in The Green Leaf's and Bananas promotion together with other communities in the Foodie BlogRoll which is also joined by other 14760 blogs. Therefore, it also shows that the blog is linked by others blog to ensure the credibility of the blog.


Besides that, bloggers could also join some blog advertising community such as Nuffnang and Advertlets which is famous in Malaysia.

An example of a blog advertising community link on Four Feet Nine's blog.




A Carlsberg advertisement by Nuffnang on Emily's blog.

By joining these blogging community, bloggers would be able to place well known organization's advertisement on their blog to further assure that it is a credible blog besides being linked to many bloggers in the blogging community.

Furthermore, bloggers could also gain access to product launches and movie preview through these blog advertising communities which helped them to be able to serve as a news provider in terms of new product reviews to the others. This further improves blog credibility besides increasing a blog's followers.


A snapshot of comments replied (the comments in light blue box with pictures icon)by the owner of the blog KampungBoyCityGirl

Bloggers need to engage with the readers by replying to their comments so that readers feel the presence of the bloggers besides answering any reader's doubt. For instance, the owner of the blog KampungBoyCityGirl which is a Malaysia food and travel blog replies to its readers very often as shown in the snapshot above in terms of any queries regarding the places they travel to and how to travel there.


Snapshot of A Whiff of Lemongraff's blog on the 'About this blog' section and the 'recent comments' section.

Moreover, a column of 'Recent Comments' on the sidebar of the blog could also encourage readers to comment as it shows that the comments are acknowledged by the blogger of the blog. As shown on the snapshot of A Whiff of Lemongrass blog above, the comments by readers and replies by the blog owner are clearly visible and it adds credibility to the blog. It also shows professionalism of the blog owner.



5. "include a short bio and add [precise] information in the 'About' section" (Felder 2012, p.149).

the 'About' section on CC Food Travel's blog.

Having a precision in the 'About' section of the blog will ensure readers know what is the topic of discussion of the blog and who are the contributors as well as the owner of the blog. This will ensure readers that they had found the right blog for information and knowing the contributors means that the information on the blog is credible as the owners reviewing themselves to give a feeling of responsibility over the content posted on the blog.

Furthermore, the snapshot of 'A Whiff of Lemongrass' above shows a good way of displaying the 'About the blog' section where a short and precise information about the blog is stated right at the homepage of the blog.


It is important for both readers and bloggers to know the elements of a credible blog to ensure mutual benefits of both parties.


Here are some blogs which are credible and reliable in the contents posted.

Enjoy...




Kenny Sia.
The Kenny Sia blog had won 'The Best Micro-Blog' and also a finalist in the 'Best Travel Blog' category in Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011. The blog had a mixture of product and places reviews as well as posting on sensational news.





Big Boys Oven.


The Big Boys Oven blog features restaurants review and creation of designer cakes by one of the blog owner, Sunny Yau. This blog had appeared numerous times in newspapers and magazines due to the unique designer cakes creation. As Sunny Yau's desserts often appear in the corporate functions, the blog is well known by most professional in the corporate organizations.





KampungBoyCityGirl


The blog KampungBoyCityGirl features useful travel guide for self-organized overseas travel trips. I personally had used their Hong Kong travel guide when I organized my own trip to Hong Kong where all information posted is reliable and can lead us to our destination. Also, they replied to any queries very frequent that we can ask them anything about the guide if we don't understand.  


Hope those recomended websites are useful!






References:

Felder, L 2012, Writing for the Web: creating compelling web content using words, pictures and sounds, New Rides, United States of America.

Finn, J & Zuniga, HG 2011, Online Credibility and Community among blog users, ASIST, United States of America, viewed 18 September 2012, < http://www.asis.org/asist2011/proceedings/submissions/110_FINAL_SUBMISSION.pdf>.

Meyerson, M 2010, Success Secrets of Social Media Marketing Superstars, Jere L.Calmes, Canada.  

Taylor, H 2006, The Executive Blog as a Communication Tool, ProQuest, United States of America.  

Waldeck, J, Kearney, P & Plax, T 2012, Business and Professional Communication in a Digital Age, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Canada. 




# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Every bloggers is unique

As said in the previous post that the number of bloggers is increasing, these bloggers have come out with very unique blogs and inspirations which is hard to be classified as they may fit into two or more categories at the same time. This lead to more types of classifications being created and sometimes they contradict with each other.

Classification of blogs

This post will analyse two very different ways of blog classification, one by Margaret Simons while another one by Barefoot and Szabo. 

Margaret Simons's taxonomy of blogs

Margaret Simons

Margaret Simons is “an award-winning freelance journalist and the author of numerous books and essays” (Margaret Simons 2012). An interview through ABC Radio National by Antony Funnell on 25 September 2008, Margaret came out with 9 types of blogs as follows:
  1. Pamphleteering blogs: blogs covering multiple topics which are written by more than one authors who express their own views towards the topic of discussion.
  2. Digest blogs: blogs which collect, compile and publish information from various sources regarding various topics. These types of blogs also serve as a connector between the search engine and the real data source.
  3. Advocacy blogs: blogs which discuses and emphasizes on a particular point of view towards an area of a topic by a group of people with the same interest.
  4. The Popular Mechanics blogs: blogs which serves as a learning site which shows a step-by-step process to make certain products or to solve problems.
  5. The Exhibition blogs: blogs which publishes artworks by people in the creative field such as photographers, artist, poetry and writers.
  6. Gatewatcher blogs: blogs which served to critique the media’s reporting by bloggers who are expert in their own field of commenting on the issue. 
  7.  The Diary: blogs which talks about the blogger’s own personal life such as happenings in their daily life. 
  8.  The Advertisement: blogs which talks about the functions and benefits of a product which is meant to attract readers of the blog to the product advertised.
  9.  News Blogs: blogs which served to provide news to the readers just like how newspaper served as a news provider.

The classification by Margaret distinguishes on the content of the blogs in details. 


Barefoot & Szabo's views on different types of blog 

Friends with Benefits by Barefoot & Szabo

On the other hand, Barefoot & Szabo (2010, p.48) classified blogs into “personal, topical and corporate blogs”. This is a more general type of classification compared to Margaret’s.  


Personal Blogs

Personal blogs are written based on blogger's own personal stories and happenings in their life. These blogs cover a variety of topics or chapters which intertwined with blogger’s daily life.  For instance, the blog posts in a personal blog may be divided further into topics such as fashion, food, travel, and shopping. This type of blog is often being seen as an online diary and the content of the blog consist of an informal style of writing with blogger’s personal jargon and emotion icon.  

Interesting personal blog:


ShinyShampoo's blog

ShinyShampoo features interesting stories happening in her life. I have been following her blog since my secondary school days as her determination with a positive attitude towards every happenings in life is a good example to be learned. The stories in the blog also teaches a quote which is 'No Ugly people, only LAZY people' which was experienced by the blogger herself. Her strong determination and belief to this quote had changed herself to who she is today.



Other interesting personal blogs:



Topical Blogs

Topical blogs “covers a particular topic [such as cars and health] which is more journalistic in nature” (Barefoot & Szabo 2010, p.48). This content of these blogs falls on a particular subject of discussion and it can be expressed in a formal and informal way. The bloggers who falls in this category are usually very passionate on the subject of discussion. Readers who search for certain information online or views on certain subject matter is very likely to visit these types of blog to obtain information.


Food Recipes blog:


Elinluv's Tidbits Corner blog
Elinluv's Tidbits Corner contains reliable recipes where the result of the cooking will be achieved as shown on the blog when the steps given is followed precisely. This is because I had try most of the recipes from the blog for my cooking.

Other reliable food recipes blogs:


Tourism Blog:

Vkeong's blog

Vkeong's blog features a mixture reviews of food, hotels and interesting places to travel to. Readers will be able to find some good place to dine around them but unknown to many. 

Other tourism/travel blogs:

Corporate Blog

Corporate blog “are sponsored by a company or one of its brands and maintained by one or more of the company’s employees” (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel 2010, p.481). The content of a corporate blog use a formal language its writing and the design of the blog often followed the company’s publication in other forms. This is done by using the same logo, colour and layout in other publication forms such as from printed pamphlets in the blog design to enable readers identify the organization or brand which readers are searching for. This consistency in the organization’s publication will ensure readers remember an organization’s promotion and publication activities which will not confuse them.
Samples of corporate blogs:

Disney Park's Blog
Disney Park's blog features events and happenings on Disney's owned parks all around the world. Readers can get updates on things happen in the parks by accessing one website. 


Other Malaysian corporate blogs
 

Blogs in reality...

Both views on classification of blogs are right where they both have their own way of seeing things. However, both author’s view in classifying can be combined together to be more realistic and applicable. From my point of view, a majority of the blogs are a combination of personal and topical blogs. This can be seen where topical blogs which blogs deeply about a particular topic does include the blogger’s own personal lives in some postings. For instance, a blogs on travel does include their personal post sometimes. This is to make the blog more engaging to the readers and such blogs can gain high blog followers. Readers are curious about the personal lives of the blog owner and it attracts them to keep following their blog when there are personal posting on it. Therefore, I suggest to classify blogs based on the content and the overall outlook of the blog.

The definition of personal blog should not only deal with personal things but also include some content of topical blog where the blogger may be interested in beauty and fashion and half of the post goes into that field. That blog could also include field of 'the mechanics blog' where it could teach a step-by-step tutorial on makeup. Consistently, it also served as an advertisement blog and news blog where the posting on product reviews and launches is made. In reality, these bloggers managed to attract readers to follow them who made them a celebrity such as the famous 'Cheeserland' and 'XiaXue'.







References:

ABC Radio National 2008, 'A taxonomy of blogs', viewed 17 September 2012, < http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/mediareport-1999/a-taxonomy-of-blogs/3186686>.

Barefoot, D & Szabo, J 2010, Friends with benefits: A social media marketing handbook, No Starch Press Inc, San Francisco.

Lamb, CW, Hair, JF & McDaniel, C 2010, Marketing, 10th edn, South-Western Cengage Learning, United States of America.

Margaret Simons 2012, “About Margaret”, viewed17 September 2012, <http://margaretsimons.com.au/?page_id=2>.





# Warning: The description in this blog may contained information which may not applicable to all users. The owner of the blog is not responsible for any loss cause by any misinterpretation of the content posted.


Sunday, September 16, 2012

Blogging Phenomenon

As years goes on, many blogs had started to appear in the internet and now it served as an important advertising medium for organizations to reach its audiences.


According to the record of blogs on WordPress(2012), there are 55856067 WordPress blogs in the world as at 16 September 2012. This figure does not includes bloggers who use other platform to blog such as through Blogspot or Xanga. On the other hand, in an article by Johnson (2012), "there is an estimated 31 million bloggers in the U.S. as at July 2012". 


Malaysian blogs...

According to State of the Blogsphere (2011), the top 10 topics which is posted in the blogs are "news, business, politics, entertainment, video, sports, music, movies and technology". However, in Malaysia, the topics on politics and news may not be the top topics as the content of the blogs are somehow controlled by the rules and regulations on the freedom of speech.


categories of blog post on Innit

Innit is a platform for bloggers to tell other bloggers on their new added blog post. It is operated under the Nuffnang, a well known blog advertising community in Malaysia. The list of categories of blog post which bloggers can post on Innit is shown above. This also shows that  the common topics on Malaysian blogs are "happenings (events in town), lifestyle, personal, entertainment, technology, business and sports" (Innit 2012).

This listing of blog post categories also shows the types of blogs which are common in Malaysia. Malaysian bloggers are blogging more on the lifestyle blog type as the 'happenings', 'personal' and 'entertainment' categories are very often combined into one single blog which we termed them 'lifestyle blog'.


Why more people start to blog:

The reason blogging is becoming more popular is due to the freedom of speech although there are some restrictions on the content of blog. Bloggers are able to express their feelings through blogs and gaining friends at the same time which show the rise in blogging community. This is also suported by a survey conducted by Technorati towards 4114 bloggers around the world on how the blog had impacted their lives. The survey resulted that a high pecentage that the bloggers had made friends through their blog (State of the Blogsphere 2011). Consistently, blogging had become a source of income where organizations paid bloggers to review about their products on their blog.

Influencial Malaysia Bloggers:

In Malaysia alone, there is surprising a high number of bloggers. According to Utusan Malaysia (cited in Star Online 2008), "Malaysia has about 500,000 active bloggers, ranking the country among the highest in the world after Indonesia and the European Union". In addtition, there are some remarkable Malaysia bloggers who are very influential and well know among the bloggers inside and outside of Malaysia. For instance, Cheesie, the owner of Cheeserland had followers from all over the world where she did mentiond that she meet her fans of her blog when she travelled overseas.

In addition, Malaysia does have some very remarkable bloggers where 20 Malaysian bloggers had emerged as finalist in the Samsung Global Bloggers 2012 which will be held in London December 2012 (Samsung Global Blogger 2012).



Finalist of Malaysian Bloggers in Samsung Global Bloggers 2012








References:

Innit 2012, viewed 16 September 2012, <http://innit.nuffnang.com/my>.

Johnson, Z 2012, 'State of the Blogging World in 2012', Blogworld, viewed 16 September 2012, http://www.blogworld.com/2012/07/25/state-of-the-blogging-world-in-2012/.

Samsung Global Blogger 2012, viewed 16 September 2012, http://samsungglobalblogger.my.msn.com/videos/3947?wt.mc_id=twitter.

Star Online 2008, 'Blogging in Malaysia ranks among highest in the world', viewed 16 September 2012, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/3/nation/20827588&sec=nation.

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