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With the massive number of over 70 million blogs and growing by 120, 000 everyday, blogs are one of the biggest web phenomenon ever to hit the globe, affecting people of every race, gender, age and citizenship. However there are stark differences in the bloggers and the way they blog, according to Technorati (2007).
European blogging is not as active as in Asia, which reportedly had 30% of the British who had ‘never heard of blogs’ (Brook 2006). Mackenzie (2006) says European bloggers prefer writing journal-like blogs with topics on technology, business and politics, lesser on personal, lifestyle and religious issues. Whereas one in five Asian bloggers are students, and they blog mostly about music and less about politics (Technorati 2008).
In a recent Microsoft survey done, it showed that Malaysia has younger bloggers - up to 74% who are below 25 years old and another 21% for the next age group which is 25 to 34 years old. Malaysian bloggers mostly write personal stuff such as about their perception of the ‘world around them’ (Microsoft 2008).
The Microsoft article also shared the blogging benefits for Malaysian bloggers; that they are an increasingly attractive platform for advertisers as bloggers create higher quality content and attract growing and loyal audiences. Blogs are also used for people to stay in touch with family and friends.
References
Brook, S. 2006, ‘Blogs struggle to impress in UK’, Guardian, viewed November 9 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/20/pressandpublishing.newmedia
Mackenzie, K. 2006, ‘European bloggers find their voice’, Financial Times, viewed November 9 2009, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/877064e-57be-11db-be9f-0000779e2340.html
Microsoft 2008, Women Rule in Malaysian Blogosphere, viewed November 9 2009, http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/archive2006/linkpage4337.mspx
Technorati 2007, The State of the Live Web, viewed November 9 2009, http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere
Technorati 2008, Technorati: State of blogosphere 2008, viewed November 9 2009, http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2008
