Friday, May 17, 2013

"Why We Blog" and "Footprints"

People blog because they think it's fun. People blog because they think it's organizational. People blog because it helps them keep in check with themselves or with topics they are interested in. People blog because they think it's interesting, and others read blogs because they are interesting. There's no question as to why there were very distinct topics in Nardi and his colleagues' investigation. There is no major rule as to how a blog should be maintained that limits the amount of topics possible to post about. A blog can be considered as an open and personal or open and professional; open because blogs let others read what's in the blog, and personal or profession depending on the topic or topics and the intent of the writer. Some people like to read about other people's lives in attempts to find something interesting. Other's like to focus on the mainstream subjects of news, media and politics. This statement can be made based on the first two examples mentioned in Nardi's experiment: Evan posting about science education and health topics and Lara posting sentimental moments and looking back at her friendships made in her school's dorm. These however can sometimes end up simultaneously in a post or in the blog as a whole.

Nardi's (and colleagues) categorization of motivations are more specific. Some are much more inclined as personal and emotional and others more inclined to a more societal and serious tone. The specific motivation listed as "blog as commentary" can be considered both with talking about mass media topics, and others like it, while giving a "personal" input of how they feel or what they think on the subject.

Blogging can be a positive thing personally or as a community, but there is also the dark side of blogging. In some cases, more now than some few years ago, kids and teens are using the web as a more derogatory entertainment. As Richardson mentions in "Footprints" that kids at the age of 7 or 8 are playing online games while the teens are playing around with social media sites, its easy for these people to promote negative content through these items. Blogs are just the same. Blogging gives the blogger complete control within the kind of content he or she can post, unless a terms of service restricts them from doing certain things. The question is, how far can the terms of service keep kids and even the older ones from making their own content and posting it on the web. especially when it's derogatory?

Personally, blogging is like a process to keep you in check with a working routine. If someone does Youtube videos and start getting thousands and thousands of subscribers, that person would not want to lose the attention they are probably getting via his or her videos. It's like making a T.V. show like Lost or Big Bang Theory; you grab peoples' attention with your content, having them wanting more. Through this, it makes the author or poster want to attract more people to watch their video or read their works, thus making it a kind of weekly, biweekly or even a monthly routine to post new content.

Blogging helps people cognitively and creatively with the various ways a blog can be set up and how it can look, but in reality, many people don't care about it will look, just what they can put on it.

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