MDIA5003 - Online Mobile Media Week 6 presentation - Blogging and Social Media By Katie El Abbas, Hengli Dong and Sohaib Umar

1. MDIA5003 – Online & Mobile Media Week 6 Presentation: Blogging and Social Media

2. Blogs ‘A frequently updated web-based chronological publication, a log of personal thoughts and web links, a mixture of diary forms of a person’s life’ Blogs operate through the consolidation of links, RSS Feeds, blogchalking

3. Blogs Influence minority languages Glenn Reynolds: personal voice and a rapid response time Robert Scoble ‘s five elements of a hot blog

4. How many Blogs are There? Technocrati states it is tracking 112.8 million blogs Sifry said “The state of the Blogosphere is strong, and is maturing as an influential and important part of the web.”

5. Public V Private Foucault’s ‘technology of self’ theory, characterizes blogging as diary keeping.

6. Are Bloggers Journalists? PR Weekand PRNewswire study found that 52% of bloggers consider themselves journalists

7. Nihilistic Impulse of Blogging Blog as a sign of the regained power of the spirit Interpret blogs as decadent artefacts that remotely dismantle the seductive power of the broadcast media Emotional scope much wider than other media due to informal nature

8. Nihilism, not Revolution Bloggers are ‘creative nihilists’ because they are ‘good for nothing’ Nihilism is not a danger, but a postmodern condition – blogs are post-virtue EzreKlien: blogs are problematic, they encourage polarization and extremism rather than debate and understanding

9. Pancake People Rough Type blogger Nicholas Carr: “we are pancake people, spread wide and thin as we connect with the vast network of information via a single click; bloggers are the ones cooking the pancakes” Blogging has become so prominent that its not marginal

10. Representation Despite nihilism, blogging is not in vain, David Klien: “Bloggers are raw, uncensored and energized by the sound of their newly-awakened voices” When everyone can be heard, no one has the time to listen

11. Criticism Lovinkmakes claims unsupported by data. Blogs are banal is false as blogs can help establish meaning and relevance in everyday life and in one’s textual universe Belief in the ‘Message Analysis’

12. Case Study: American news website Over 9,000 bloggers—from politicians, celebrities, academics and policy experts Receives about 18 million visitors per month

13. Case Study: Innovated — launching local versions of their newspaper for areas such as New York and Chicago Delivered more content in sports, entertainment and business http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

14. Case Study: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/index/ Most Viewed http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/ Different Categories

15. Discussion Questions:

16. References Dean, J 2007, ‘GeertLovink and Blog Nihilism’, I Cite. Retrieved from http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/2006/04/geert_lovink_an.html <accessed 19th August 2011> Helmond A 2008, ‘How Many Bloggers are There? Is Someone Still Counting?’ The Blog Herald. Retrieved from http://www.blogherald.com/2008/02/11/how-many-blogs-are-there-is-someone-still-counting/ Lovink, G 2008, ‘Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse’, Zero Comments, New York: Routledge Martin, A 2007, ‘Cultural Pessimism and Pragmatic Optimism’, MRTN. Retrieved from http://pen-to-paper.blogspot.com/2007/06/cultural-pessimism-and-pragmatic.html Porter J 2010, ‘Are Bloggers Journalists?’ Journalastics. Retrieved from http://blog.journalistics.com/2010/are-bloggers-journalists/ Rettberg, J Walker 2007, ‘Lovink’s nihilistic blogging’, Jill/Txt. Retrieve d from http://jilltxt.net/?p=2107 <accessed 19th August 2011> The E-business Knowledge Base, EBizMBA Inc. 2011, http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/blogs The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com