Blogging Genres and Communities

Blogs are difficult to classify due to their diversity and informality. In the early days of the web, directories maintain by human labor could not keep up the growth of the web; likewise, blog directories cannot keep up with the explosive growth of blogs (Hong, Pietra, Poon. n.d.).

There are numerous blog categories. Apart from being used as an online journal, people utilize blogs to publish other types of information as well. These include socio-political blogs, food review blogs, travel blogs, photoblogs, automobile blogs etc. Generally, blogs can roughly be classified according to its genre.

screenshot of KYspeaks.com, an extremely popular food review blog in Malaysia which has obtained a cult-like following.

to visit KYspeaks, click here

screenshot of Paultan.org - a highly sought after automobile blog in Malaysia.
to visit Paultan.org, click here

Another way to classify blogs is through its published media type. For example, vlogs, are video blogs, where bloggers publish videos on their blogs, instead of the conventional content. Other examples include linklogs, which contain a collection of links, sketchlogs, where bloggers blog using drawings, and moblogs, where users blog from their mobile devices.

an example of a vlog.
click here to visit Steve Sloan's vlog.

Bloggers may also come together to form blogging communities, which consists of bloggers whom are connected to one another, blogging about a common interest. Groups eventually grow stronger, and the shared common interest becomes a passion. Some blogging communities may even become support groups, where people blog about their problems as a form of therapy (Grossman 2008).

For example, it could be a circle of friends seperated by distance, where they use blogs to update one another about their lives, or a community that addresses the rights of the underprivileged, or a blog networking site, such as MyBlogLog.

A blogging community can be created simply by linking up friends, family, or other bloggers on your blog, and frequently commenting on their updates.

One good example of an established blogging community is Photoblog-Community.com. This blogging community allows a specific genre of bloggers - photobloggers to come together and connect with other photobloggers through Photoblog-Community.com. This community allows photobloggers to vote for their favourite photoblogs, post comments, add tags, etc (Photoblog Community 2008).

click here to visit Photoblog Community.

References

Grossman, A.J., 2008. Your blog can be therapy. Retrieved Nov 9 2008 from
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/07/blog.therapy/index.html

Hong Q., Andrea L. P., Sarah P., n.d. Classifying Blogs Using NLP: Challenges and Pitfalls. Retrieved Nov 10 2008 from
http://www.hongqu.com/publications/Blog_Classification_NLP.pdf

Photoblog Community, 2008. Welcome to Photoblog Community Website. Retrieved Nov 10 2008 from
http://www.photoblog-community.com/About.php