ST on the blogosphere (May 24)

Some quick thoughts on the trinity of blogosphere related articles in the national press today. First, "Listen up, world!" by Hellen Tan:

It used to be that when you kept a diary of your life, you kept it a secret - away from the eyes of your mother, a snoopy sibling or even your spouse. But with blogs - the online version of a personal diary - the whole world gets to read your thoughts.

I shall not do more than point you in the general direction of this. Ok, let me be a little more nuanced. Some people may intend their blogs to be the online equivalent of their personal diary and may even have illusions about its privacy. Others do intend their blogs to be online diaries that are meant for the public. But anyone who thinks that Instapundit, The Adventures of Chester, EconLog--or, more locally, Singapore Ink, the now defunct Singapore Legal Mumbo Jumbo Demystified, The Aseanist, or for that matter, this blog you are now reading, are meant to be personal diaries should look up the definitions of "personal" and "diary" again.

I shall not belabor the point further. In any case, the article actually concedes as much, and then takes it all back:

Be sincere and honest, particularly if you are running a blog that acts like a watchdog on consumer issues or when you want to use it to deliver strong opinions on issues like social justice, equality and human rights. It can be a formidable PR machine or lobbying platform. For now, blogging is the fad. I call it a fad because personal websites were once popular, but that is now passé. While it lasts, enjoy peeking into the lives of those who invite you in.

We'll see, we'll see. (update: See also Jeff's comment on this).

Next, "An expanding blogosphere" by Grace Chng: "Blogging is still in its infancy, but it will evolve into something phenomenal". A nitpick:

Not only can you post text blogs, but you can also now do it with photos (foto flix.com).

I didn't know that the online DVD rental service www.flix.com, or the free stock ticker service foto.flix.com also host photos, just like the popular www.flickr.com. It is interesting that this article appears to put a different spin on the phenomenon of blogging compared to the previous one:

What's posted on blogs moves through cyberspace like a whirlwind. And what bloggers say can have an impact on society - they have destroyed reputations, forced famous personalities out of their jobs and made new products popular...

Blogs have become a major source of news and are beginning to offer an alternative to mainstream media. Their postings are immediate and they provide details that newspapers and TV stations cannot always match.

As a communications tool, blogging is superior. It's little wonder then that many organisations like public relations firms are looking at how they can use it.

It is not far fetched that one day everyone will have a blog so that families that are miles apart, will be kept up-to-date of the happenings on a daily basis. And companies might just have internal blogs as a form of discussion groups.

Small point: blogging is a superior communications tool given a certain range of purposes. They don't replace books, or magazines, or lectures, or sermons, or billboards. Secondly, people are already keeping blogs to update their friends and family members in far flung corners of the world (sorry, I'm not naming any), and companies are already keeping internal blogs--try Google, for instance.

Finally, "Worshipping the ground they blog on" by Jennani Durai: "Don't dismiss local blogs as some silly pastime. They are proving to have ground support and the popular bloggers are becoming minor celebrities". This one is mostly about the most popular Singaporean blogger of all--Xiaxue. Not being a XX reader myself, I can't really say much, though this bit did caught my eye:

Buoyed by a large fan base, Ms Cheng actually believes it's possible for her to change people's opinions or turn them against someone else. 'Bloggers in general have credibility because the people who read them have been doing so for a long time,' she said.

She wielded her mighty mouse when she wrote about a girl who had snatched a taxi from her and later insulted her on a forum. She revealed the girl's full name, blog address and put up pictures of her. An avalanche of comments followed almost immediately in support of Ms Cheng. The hapless girl subsequently deleted her blog.

Perhaps an addendum to the doctrine is needed, though I'll have to leave the details to other more capable minds.

[Technorati: singapore, blogosphere]