Classification of blogs

There are many ways of classifying blogs, and this enables readers to easily find a blog that are relevant to what they want to find, and they also know what to expect. Wikipedia (2009) divides classification of blogs into several types, differing in the type of content and also in the way that content is delivered or written. Such as:

a) Personal blogs - the most traditional and common type.

c) By genre, focusing on a particular subject.

d) By media type such as vlog, photoblog and sketchblog.

Author and media analyst Margaret Simons (ABC Radio National 2008) divides blogs into types such as Advocacy blogs (a group or organisation that actively pushes in a fairly informative fashion), Diary (personal blog) and Exhibition (by artists, writers).

As surmised from above, blogs are divided according to topic and style of blogging (which would provide genre type) as well as format (media type). Each particular blog would attract a certain demographic audience, such as young female readers who would flock to a fashion blog.

I find that dividing blogs by genre is the most useful as blogs are created on a particular theme and the blogger would blog relevant materials that are of similar interest to the blog’s demographic. According to Wikipedia (2009), there are travel, fashion, political, and education blogs among others.

However many blogs are not ‘stuck’ on just one classification type. Rather, they are a mixture of many. This does not create confusion; instead, it promotes ‘highly desirable’ interactivity by providing more reading choices to readers (Li 2006, p. 78).

References

ABC Radio National 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, viewed November 10 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript

Li, X. (eds) 2006, Internet Newspapers: The Making of a Mainstream Medium, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, USA.

Wikipedia 2009, Blog, viewed November 10 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog