In this age of technological dependence, you’re nobody unless somebody follows your blog. Over the past twenty years, the popularity of blogging has reached epic proportions, pervading the mainstream mass media, employment searches, pop culture, and even politics. Job search engines encourage job seekers to beef up their resumes with links to their blog and/or personal website. Major media outlets encourage their correspondents to blog (yes, it’s a verb!) to maintain a personal connection with their viewers and fans. Your mother probably has her own blog, detailing her latest attempt at Paula Dean’s Chicken Chili recipe to her Book Club friends. While the blog has become a tool for both major corporations and Justin Bieber fan clubs to reach as many individuals as possible, the communication method is without order. No harm will come to you if you do not use proper grammar or spelling. The MLA and APA police will not show up at your door, if you do not cite your reference material. Aside from the occasional questions of liability or defamation, bloggers can say whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever will click on their blog link.
For those unfamiliar with the term “blog,” it is a blend of the term “web log,” which Wikipedia defines as being “... maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.” I am quite new to the world of blogging. In my first few forays into the blogosphere, I found myself to be extremely perplexed and stressed by the thought of writing material that served no purpose. Unlike all of the term papers that I had written in high school and college, no one had asked me to write material; no question was being asked of me. Would I need to start my blog with an outline? What would be my thesis statement? Despite these initial concerns, I gave my first blog a chance. While I will admit that what resulted was certainly not a literary masterpiece, it served its purpose: to entertain. The next few attempts enabled me to find my “blogger voice,” and I began to enjoy the freedom of writing without boundaries. I certainly strived to write paragraphs that began with topic sentences. I made clear reference to any other works that I mentioned or cited. But, I still couldn’t help feelings as though I were engaging in a lesser form of writing, one that threatened the English language and communication as a whole.
My blog today is noticeably shorter than my previous musings. As is the purpose of most modern blogs, I wanted to take advantage of the interactive aspects of blogging to gain your insights on the purpose of blogging, its benefit and/or detriment to written language, and its benefit and/or detriment to society as a whole. Please feel free to voice your opinions on the emergence of blogging into the world.
