Community and Culture in the Blogosphere
Community and culture contribute immensely to the blogosphere,
as more and more people connect. Blogs are fast becoming an incredibly popular
social media platform with more people signing up each day to be the owner of
their own blog. The size of the blogosphere means that people are broadcasting
their views to more people than ever before. Having said that, with the
enormous amount of blog traffic, people have become prosumers, they
choose what media they observe and also what they ignore.
The blogging community is referred to as the blogosphere and
is made up of millions of different discussions and conversations, also known
as public spheres. The public spheres enable people to connect through
similar interests such as community and culture.
Bloggers from all over the world are able to connect with
other people who share their beliefs, their cultures and their traditions.
Culture, as a part of blogging is very important in that more people can become
aware and can appreciate different cultures to their own. Cultural blogs also
offer support and education to fellow bloggers who may or may not be a part of
that culture. Globalisation has allowed the flow of cultural information
to be effective in educating others as well as connecting people all over the
world.
Giddens (cited in Rantanen, 2005, pg. 6), defined
globalization as the intensification of world-wide social relations, which link
distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away and vice versa (1990; 64).
The flows of globalization have enabled people to
share their culture with people all over the world.
“Blogs have been increasingly
prominent in the Indonesian cyberspace in recent years and have been successful
in promoting a range of subcultures. The medium appears flexible enough to
capture the attention of people from various walks of life, from rock music
fans to religious groups. Blogs have become a vehicle to produce a new
communication sphere: to broadcast personal social and political commentaries,
to build networks of individuals of similar interests (e.g., sharing recipes
among housewives), to serve as an outlet for personal catharsis (curhat), and even
to do the dakwah, as propagated by ustad Ahmad Sarwat”
(Lim, 2012, pg. 128)
(Lim, 2012, pg. 128)
Reference List:
Lim, M 2012, ‘Life Is Local in the Imagined Global
Community: Islam and Politics in the Indonesian Blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, 11:3,
127-140
Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing media and globalization’, Media and globalization 2005, Sage
Publications, London, pp. 1-18
Images:
1) http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/situationism-in-the-blogosphere/
2) http://mylifescoop.com/2011/08/03/top-10-most-influential-culture-blogs/2/
Images:
1) http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/situationism-in-the-blogosphere/
2) http://mylifescoop.com/2011/08/03/top-10-most-influential-culture-blogs/2/
I really enjoyed reading this creative and concise post! I liked the way you provided brief definitions of the public sphere and provided hyperlinks to further strengthen and inform this. I agree with your point about how the blogosphere has introduced us to and allowed us to appreciate other cultures as I also believe the blogosphere has enabled mass communication from all over the globe and contributes to the growth of our society and culture. The blogosphere has obviously contributed to globalisation on a much larger scale than we were once used too! Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello Emily,
ReplyDeleteThis post was an interesting and insightful approach on the topic about ‘Community and Culture in the Blogosphere’. You were able to describe key words such as blogosphere, community and culture quite well and I liked how each major term had a hyperlink on it. It was interesting to see you including the term ‘ prosumer’ from week 5 Unit glossary and linking it with the blogging community. Your post was knowledgeable, clear and I enjoyed the order of your discussion. I agree to your point that blogs hold incredible power in today’s digital world and it has been insightful to see its effects on the community and culture. Good work!
Thanks Emily for a really informative and enjoyable read. As this wasn’t the topic I chose for this week’s blog, your article made it really easy to understand the scale of the blogosphere and who it has become a powerful tool in globalisation and sharing of ideas and beliefs. The hyperlinks were also helpful with the definitions of certain terms, something which I haven’t seen in many other blogs! A really well structured and written that was a joy to read, great work!
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