Blogging: A Current Phenomenon

The amount of blogs that are being tracked as of 2008, is 112.8 million blogs (Technorati.com, 2008). The current trends in the blogging world are significantly prone towards personal use, politics and other worldly issues. Socio-Political blogs dominate the blogosphere in Malaysia followed by personal blogs and food recipe blogs (Mycen.com, 2009).

Top three political blogs in Malaysia:

1. A-Kadir Jasin - The Scribe
2. Anwar Ibrahim 2.0
3. Aisehman

In Europe particularly in Germany, the blogging trends include a variety of social media blogs, green blogs,self-improvement and personal development blogs (Onreact.com, 2008).

However, in Asia in particular to China, the blogosphere boosts about 162 million bloggers (Nanjing Marketing Group, 2008). The blogging trends include topics on politics, society, economy and entertainment. According to Yoshikazu (2009), "they closely examine societal trends and reader demands, and they drive forward relevant debate as they seek out ways to grow".

Benefits of Blogging to the Community:

In Malaysia, mainstream media is known to disseminate information and is highly controlling of the information that is put out to the public. Hence, blogging is a great facet for uncensored information especially in a political stance. The case of Raja Petra, a famous political blogger was jailed under ISA Law because of his controversial blog post titled, 'Let's Send The Altantuya Murderers to Hell' (NewsStraitsTimes, 2009). This clearly shows that blogging is an important outlet for free speech. Blogging is not only used personally but also professionally, regarding current issues in business and technology.

Reference List:

1. Danwei.org, 2009, Behind the Chinese Blogging Boom, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://www.danwei.org/blogs/blog_popularity_in_china.php>.
   
2. Mycen.com, 2009, Mycen Blog Directory, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://www.mycen.com.my/malaysia/blog.html>.
   
3. Nanjing Marketing Group, 2009, Report Summary, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/knowledge/23rd-report-internet-development-in-China/summary>.
   
4. Newsstraitstimes, 2009, IGB Rebuts Critisicm from Bloggers, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/24slma/Article/>.
   
5. Seo2.0, 2008, Top 10 Blogging Trends, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://seo2.0.onreact.com/top-10-blogging-trends>.
   
6. Technorati, 2008, State of the Blogosphere 2008, viewed 15th of November 2009, <http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2008/