My name is Ashlee and I am
currently taking a class on information technology (IT). I am taking the IT class because I am
basically clueless when it comes to things such as: Internet security, blogs, podcasts, plug-ins,
and the list goes on. I have three other
degrees and none of them have really demanded much of me relating to these IT
topics, but I know this is the way ahead and I am trying to get at least on the
train (I definitely missed any chance to get ahead of it).
Today, I would like to share some
information with you that I have recently learned about blogging. So what’s the latest trend in this
movement? In the beginning, there were a
few blogging platforms, but the one that really helped kick off blogging was
Blogger (WebDesignerDepot Staff, 2011).
A well-known blogging platform today is WordPress, which was started in
2003. By the late 2000s, a lot of media
sites started blogs to keep up with all the new bloggers. Politics and news stories were a big hit for
bloggers; some mainstream media sources even teamed up with bloggers (Chow,
n.d.). People aren’t only blogging about
the news and politics. There are a wide
variety of blogs out there:
informational, debates, gossip, how-to’s, educational, gaming, music,
art, sports, and the list goes on. Some
blogs seem very strange, but they have huge followings (i.e. ASMR and
Pokemon).
Next came mircoblogs (a.k.a.
tumblogs): Tumblr, Posterous, and
Twitter. These allow bloggers a variety
of different post types and some are connected with social media, allowing
bloggers the best of both worlds. While
blogging took off over the last few years and allowed all different types of
people to work together and help each other out, there is some criticism from many
writing industry professionals. Blogging
is a non-regulated publishing profession and some people feel it will be “the
down fall of the English language” (History Cooperative, 2014).
Vlogging (video blogging)! The huge, obvious difference is a person
makes a video instead of writing and posting pictures (Vlogging, n.d.). A lot of people seem to prefer this over
traditional blogging. Watching a video
is faster than reading and for visual learners it is a huge plus. Instead of reading how to build a green house
or how to properly lay tile, one can simply view a video on YouTube or another
Vlog site. An issue I noticed on quite a
few Vlogs on Youtube, people are not citing where they got their information or
if they are even qualified to give advice on certain topics. If they want to post it that is their right,
but a huge fear is the young kids or even naive adults who follow this
information blindly. Vlogs allow people
with weak writing skills or even just a hatred of writing articles to still
complete their goals and share their information. It also allows people who are shy to record
in the privacy of their home and build confidence to a degree.
Blogging, Where
Web Logs Came From | History Cooperative. (2014, August 14). Retrieved
September 04, 2016, from http://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-blogs/
How to Become a Vlogger and
Start Vlogging on YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved August 08, 2016, from
http://www.vlognation.com/how-to-start-a-vlog/
