As a blogger, I learnt to always write with the reader’s perspective in mind. Firstly, I must connect with the readers using the audience’s situational and cultural context. However, I must write carefully, engaging in moral ethics to avoid offending or misinforming my readers. According to Lannon (2006), credibility and accuracy of information is essential in a useful website, hence I ensure all information, quotes and images are obtained from credible sources and properly cited to avoid copyright infringement and defamation.

Design theories are also practiced as I use information value, saliency and framing to create easy reading and navigation throughout my blog besides directing different meaning making. For easy navigation and extra information, hyperlinks are provided (Nielsen 2002). Complementing images are also used to better inform to enhance the reader’s engagement and understanding (Shriver 1997).

On a very last note, IPD has taught me much and taught me well!

References

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 1998. ‘Front pages: The critical analysis of newspaper layout’, in Approaches to Media Discourse, Blackwell, Oxford, p. 186-219.

Lannon, JM 2006, ‘Technical Communication‘, ed.10, Pearson Education, USA

Nielsen, J. 2000, ‘Chapter 3: Content Design’ in Designing web usability, New Riders, Indianapolis.

Schriver, KA 1997, ‘Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text For Readers‘, Wiley Computer Publisher, New York

Does these Danish Cartoon offend you? Because they insulted the Muslim world.

In 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused controversy and wars with the Muslim world when they printed 12 cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, including the above 4, in some suggestive situations (The Cartoons that Shook the World 2010). Although it was published as a righteous fight to promote the dwindling freedom of speech, the Muslim community viewed it as an insult to their religion according to their cultural and situational context. The backlash was horrifying the cartoonists received death threats, protestors burned the Danish Consulate in Beirut, demonstrations spread from the Middle East to other Muslim countries including Indonesia, Afghanistan, Somalia, India and Pakistan, killing around 400 and injuring another 800 (The Cartoons that Shook the World 2010). This prompted journalists to consider what free and responsible press means in pluralistic democracies (Ward n.d.).

How Free and Responsible Should the Press be?

This sparked a debate on whether the Danish daily was ethical in publishing those offending cartoons. I award the Jyllands-Posten and the 12 cartoonists kudos for standing up for free expression, especially now when the democratic right is stifled. Some would argue that there are responsibilities to speak out, as well as to remain silent (Writings on the Wall 2008). It is unethical and irresponsible for the publisher to knowingly increase divisions and hatred within a community (Writings on the Wall 2008). In my opinion, the publisher has 2 responsibilities to choose from- responsibility to defend the democratic values of free speech, or responsibility to maintain harmony. As I would have, the Jyllands-Post chose the greater good- freedom of speech.

The cartoons are perceived to purposely cause harm and subsequently is an abuse of freedom (Writings on the Wall 2008), but as long as the cartoon isn’t a deliberate hate message, I disagree that it is abuse to use controversial pieces to practice the freedom of speech. According to Ward (n.d.), “a liberal democratic society needs a relatively wide area reserved for controversial… Toleration of offensive speech is a difficult but fundamental feature of an open society.” Some may be offended, but in publishing, one must be ready to accept the repercussions. According to Jyllans-Post,

“we must quietly point out here that the drawings illustrated an article on the self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world.  Our right to say, write, photograph and draw what we want to within the framework of the law exists and must endure — unconditionally!” “If we apologize, we go against the freedom of speech that generations before us have struggled to win” (Spencer 2005).

For me, Jyllands-Posten’s refusal to admit defeat is an admirable show of their strength and commitment to their cause.

Religion wars, racism and such are social issues but another crucial issue at hand is self-censorship, the restriction of democratic rights. It isn’t wrong for Jyllands-Post to uphold these values using a controversial method. If the Christians can “witness the ridicule of the Nativity in a new advert for Mr Kipling cakes, the ridicule of the Lord’s Prayer on Harry Hill’s TV Burp, the ridicule of a proud Christian family on ITV’s Holiday Nightmare and the opening of a blasphemous play at London’s Old Vic Theatre” with good humour, why can’t the Muslims (Spencer 2005)? After all, free speech is an essential part of any democracy (Writings on the Wall 2008) and in a democracy one must occasionally accept criticism or become a laughingstock (Spencer 2005).

References:

The Cartoons that Shook the World, 2010,  audio recording, ABC Radio National, 15th June.

Spencer, R 2005, Thou Shalt not draw, Frontpage Magazine, viewed 15^th June 2010, <http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=6184>.

Writings on the Wall 2008, The ethics of publishing the Danish cartoons, viewed 15^th June 2010, .

Ward, SJA n.d., Freedom to offend?, University of Wisconsin-Madison, viewed 15^th June 2010, <http://www.journalismethics.ca/ethics_in_news/ward_freedom_to_offend.htm>.

]]> http://literallyme.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/danish-cartoons-freedom-of-speech-vs-abuse-of-freedom/feed/ 0 synichi Indblik. muhammed tegning : Rasmus S Høyer Muhammed_Arne_Soerensen_Jyllands-Posten_Cartoons[1] 96501880_46bfd6e59a mohammedturbanbomb http://literallyme.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/photographs-that-misinform/ http://literallyme.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/photographs-that-misinform/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:10:55 +0000 synichi http://literallyme.wordpress.com/?p=90 ]]> Photojournalism is being tarnished by editors, publishers and media owners with a political and ideological view of reporting (The power of the photography 2007). Hence, The War Photo Limited Gallery was created. A collaboration by former photojournalist Wade Goddard and Frederic Hanrez, it is dedicated to objectively tell true war stories by showcasing visual views from both ends of the conflict using global perspectives from four international photographers (The power of the photography 2007). Photojournalists aim to objectively capture the news however their photos are often manipulated to suggest a specific ideology.

I have always seen photojournalism as the epitome of journalistic truth because ‘the camera doesn’t lie’ but I was wrong. The pictures do tell a thousand words, but whose words are they telling? According to Shah (2009), many mainstream media are owned by government or conglomerates besides surviving on advertising fees, hence stories and photographs are often omitted to protect the owner’s and advertiser’s interest. I don’t think it is so much of manipulating the photographs but manipulating our trusts because we are too naïve to be aware that what our eyes see are carefully positioned, cropped and edited to fool our brain to a different, often biased perspective.

Did you know that besides digital alterations and biased photo composition, other manipulation methods to create false impressions include:

1. Picture selection

Photos are chosen or deliberately left out to inaccurately represent the news. On January 2004, Reuters and Associated Press reported the story of three Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers was reported with a suggestion that that the Israeli soldiers severely overreacted to children throwing small rocks (Honest Reporting UK).

“Israeli soldiers have shot dead three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, who were throwing stones in protests around the West Bank city of Nablus early on Saturday local time, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.” – Reuters

“On Saturday, troops opened fire at a large number of Palestinians throwing stones, an army spokesman said.”- Associated Press

They left out this crucial photograph which would give readers a true understanding of the story:

The missing photograph

2. Misleading captions

The facts in a photograph are often distorted through misleading photo captions. In September 2000, the New York Times, Associated Press and other major media outlets published the photo below with an accompanying caption that directed readers to think that the Israeli soldier battered the Palestinian victim (Honest Reporting 2000).

The media’s manipulation was revealed when Dr. Aaron Grossman sent the following letter to the Times:

“Regarding your picture …that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs, and were severely beaten and stabbed.

That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob” (Honest Reporting 2000).

Publications should realize that readers are aware their deceitful acts and stop the manipulation because the repercussions are grave. Many like me have lost trust in the credibility of journalists and their publication simply because of an edited photograph. Following the Dick Cheney debate in The New York Times website, I encountered many readers commenting on their lost of trust in Newsweek, a once credible publication. According to Lester (1999), “the threat to credibility is irreversible if the public starts to mistrust the integrity of the news photograph”, it will “diminish the journalistic impact and self-respect, and the importance of photograph as communication”.

It is crucial that the manipulation stop before readers lose total trust in the institution of journalism. Photographs are the last and only element in journalism that we can believe. First, we relied on the reporter’s words for truth, when their words became lies, we relied on photographs. But as the ethics in photojournalism degrades, who are we to trust? Lester (2009) suggests trusting people’s ethics, but I digress because it is the (lack of) ethics that caused these issus in the first place.

References

Honest Reporting UK n.d., Bias and Photojournalism, viewed 14^th June 2010, <http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/photoBias.asp>.

Honest Reporting UK 2000, The photo that started it all, viewed 14^th June 2010, <http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/reports/The_Photo_that_Started_it_All.asp>.

The Power of the Photograph 2007, audio recording, ABC Radio National, 4^th October.

Lester, PL 1999, Chapter six: Photo manipulation, Photojournalism an Ethical Approach, viewed 15^th June 2010, <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html>.

Shah, A 2009, Media Conglomerates, Mergers, Concentration of Ownership, Global Issues, viewed 15^th June 2010, <http://www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownership>.

(Source: TechCrunch)

The Internet is taking over the newspaper as a source for political information

The internet, a rising platform for user-generated content, has been gaining immense popularity as a source for political information, a growing trend that I think would overtake television and newspapers as a source for current news affairs. According to Steven Davy (2009) in How the Shift to an Online, On-Demand World of Content Could Impact Political Discourses, society is turning away from television and getting more political information from the internet. The ability to interact with others, share opinions and the simplicity of obtaining information is a huge pull factor as users want to use it to engage and participate in politics (Davy 2009). Davy (2009) stated that this shift towards Internet-based, narrowcasted news consumption might increase the polarization of political discourses. This is because the ability to choose specific information has led to a trend where users are seeking specific information that confirms their pre-existing views rather than engaging different viewpoints to better educate themselves (Davy 2009).

(Source: Pew Research Center)

The number of online news audience is increasing

By accessing political information on the internet, are readers becoming well-informed democratic citizens or are their views being polarized? I agree that online news has a democratizing force on readers however, this force is neutralized by a polarizing effect as users seek and discuss with others that agree with their own biases. In fact, this will only continue to strengthen those biases. Although the internet has the potential to provide a global forum for cross-cultural communication, audiences are accessing the internet not for new world news, but for information that confirms their ideas (Best 2010). Communications Professor Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick found that if these users stumble upon articles that challenged their views, they will often counteract it with other news that confirmed their beliefs (Grabmeier 2009). Given that this is a growing trend, I doubt that the online news can produce a well-informed public sphere as citizens are receiving and exchanging partisan information.

This is why I support television and newspaper as the best place to learn about current news affairs. With the internet, I tend to only click on links that direct me to news that are ideologically compatible but with the other sources, I am exposed to all news, old or new; ideologically compatible or not due to the lack of choice. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey on average Americans, while the internet is used as a news supplement, compared to television, internet and the radio, 83% of respondents say they get most of their information about the Iraq war from the television, 69% got most of their information about the gay marriage issues from the television, and 59% got most of their information about free trade issues from the television as well (Horringan, Garret & Resnick 2004).

Hence, the internet may be perfect for supplementary news but users are advised to continue with the daily 8.00pm news on the telly.

Reference

Best, E. 2009, The age of affirmation, Miller McCune, viewed 4^th June 2010, .

Davy, S 2009, How the Shift to an Online, On-Demand World of Content Could Impact Political Discourses, Media Shift, viewed 14^th June 2010, <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/09/how-the-shift-to-an-online-on-demand-world-of-content-could-impact-political-discourse246.html>.

Grabmeier, J. 2009, Study: Americans choose media messages that agree with their views, The Ohio State University, viewed 4^th June 2010, <http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/poliview.htm>.

Horringan, J., Garret, K., & Resnick, P 2004, The Internet and Democratic Debate, Pew Internet and American Life Project, viewed 15^th June 2010, <http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2004/The-Internet-and-Democratic-Debate.aspx>.

In Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers, Cecilia Kang (2010) wrote that after gaining awareness about the public display of their intimate information, online users are worried and enraged at the violation of their privacy. Following customer complaints in December 2009, Facebook underwent a high-profile privacy setting change that allowed users to control the availability of their information (Kang 2010). Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission is hovering over online privacy concerns, and is aggressively pressurized by privacy advocates to address consumer complaints about the alleged violation of user privacy by Google Buzz and Facebook (Kang 2010).

(Source: Saad Kamal)

User information on Google Buzz that is publicly visible

(Source: Zawodny)

User information on Facebook that is publicly visible.

In my opinion, users are making a big fuss about losing control of their privacy. Yes, it is undeniable that the public default have caused insensitive employees to be fired or cheating boyfriends to get caught, but users should have enough common sense to not post information that puts them in a compromising situation. Like Google CEO Eric Schmidt said “if you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place (Kirkpatrick 2010b)”.

It isn’t as if Google Buzz and Facebook forced their users to publicly display their information, users can opt to maintain private or public. So maybe they changed the default to public for advertising motives, but which corporation hasn’t taken advantage of their consumers before? At least Facebook and Google Buzz were considerate to include comprehensive privacy settings for their users. Facebook users can easily control the viewing permissions to friends-only, friends-of-friends, or everyone — it applies to all past and future publications (Ostrow 2010). Unnecessary panics arise when users are unaware of these default privacy settings, as the Google Buzz issue shown by Kang (2010).

Let’s face it: with the advent of blogging, users enjoy sharing their personal information with the world. For teenagers like me, not only is sharing information the best channel for us to meet new people, being heard also makes us feel worthwhile. It has in a way, become a norm. Although Kang (2010) relayed that users are struggling to maintain their privacy, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg opined in this video by TechCrunch that people are becoming more willing and “comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time” (Kirkpatrick 2010a). In fact, Facebook adopted the default public setting to reflect these social norms (Kirkpatrick 2010a).

References

Kang, C 2009, Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers, The Washington Post, viewed 13^th June 2010, <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/is_internet_privacy_dead_no_ju.html>.

Kirkpatrick, M 2010a, Facebook’s Zuckerberg says the age of privacy is over, ReadWriteWeb, viewed 13^th June 2010, <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php>.

Kirkpatrick, M 2010b, Why Facebook is wrong: Privacy is still important, ReadWriteWeb, viewed 13^th June 2010, <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_facebook_is_wrong_about_privacy.php>.

Ostrow, A 2010, Facebook announces new privacy features, Mashable, viewed 15th June 2010, .

Slide 1

Slide 2

Slide 3

Firstly, the slides are balanced. There is an equal and comparable visual weight on both sides of the slides. The type sizes, typeface and colour are all consistent within each slide and in all 3 slides. The uniform margins, indentations and headers allows easy reading. Besides that, the headers, texts and images are arranged in a sequential order to aid reading. The size and placement of the text are also in proportion (Reep 2006). In slide 3, the  reader is intended to absorb the picture before reading the small caption for a better  understanding. The slide is easy to read and pleasing to the eye because the simple white background does not distract from the words. The style of the slides with its simple fonts and dull colours is formal and conservative to project a stable, simplistic image. However, the lack of contrasting colours, margins and more varying proportions makes it a boring read .

In slide 1. the headings are relatively bigger compared to the text. This effectively gives an equal emphasizes on all four subject headers. The headers, followed by bulleted explanations clearly outlines specific different areas and helps the readers to see the hierarchical relationship of a section. The contrasting deep red against black and white clearly distinguishes the headings from the text and spells different levels of information (Reep 2006).

Slide 2 is effective as well because the header gives an understanding of the main message. The bulleted points outlines 3 different supporting points of equal value. Although the slide is easy to read, the power of the center is rather skewed as the white space at the bottom is too large. The balance of the slide is rather off, and this might jar the readers.

Lastly, slide 3 has no sufficient white spaces around the heading area to separate the headers from the remaining texts. The images, while serves as a visual aid and break from the monotonous texts, is too large. The white spaces between the bottom text and the image is insufficient. Hence, there is a very cramped and claustrophobic notion which may create discomfort in the reader’s eye.

References

Reep, Diana C. 2006, ‘Chp 4: Principles of Document Design,’ in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, p.173-190.

• Videlogs (Youtube)
• Microblogging (Twitter)
• Photoblogs (Photobucket)
• Online newspaper, magazines and books etc. (Malaysiakini)

These new forms of media publishing coupled with the popularity of political blogs have resulted in citizen journalism as an alternative news source. Citizen journalism, such as OhmyNews.com has been gaining acceptance and favour over traditional print and television news. It provides an alternative viewpoint to the hegemony of mainstream media. According to Willis and Bowman (2009), with the advent of citizen journalism, traditional one-way communication in mainstream journalism have been overtaken by two-way communication. Comments, links, and chat boxes created participatory journalism which allows validation by the online community. Due to the fact that several mainstream journalism are biased, citizen journalism serves as a gatekeeper of traditional journalism. Print and television news are not perceived as the truth anymore, readers seek validation of these news items through blogs, vlogs, photoblogs etc. Hence, citizen journalism allows users to practice their democracy and “promotes a democratic system that informs and empowers all members of society” (Geonexus: Canadian and World Issues n.d.)

Communicative journalism may have been revolutionized, however there are issues pertaining this new trend because citizen journalists are anyone who has an opinion and the internet:

1. Reporting especially in blogs are mostly by an individual and are highly fueled by personal opinions. Hence, it may present an extreme and/or skewed representation of an issue.
2. In photoblogs especially Photobucket, copyrighted photos are unethically shared and distributed. Digitally altered photos leads to photo fraud and scandals such as the Reuters photo fraud.
3. Youtube has high copyright infringement cases regarding music, images and videos used in vlogs. Fake video are hosted to create rumours while user-generated propaganda wars are spread.
4. In certain communist countries such as China, citizen journalism is not allowed to be practiced or accessed. Strict internet censorship rules bans Google, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger.

References

Willis, C. & Bowman, s. 2009, Citizen Journalism: The Key Trend Shaping Online News Media – Introductory Guide With Videos, Robin Good, viewed 15th April 2010, <http://www.masternewmedia.org/citizen-journalism-the-key-trend-shaping-online-news-media/>

Geonexus: Canadian and World Issues n.d., Nexus, Canada.

To create a blog community, White (2006) stresses tools such as RSS and feedreaders are required to discover each other’s blog posts. Comment or chat boxes allows shared discussions. To expand the community, White (2006) states that “bloggers are connected to one another through hyperlinks in the form of blogrolls, links to other blogs within blog posts, tagging, aggregated feeds, trackbacks and comments”.

White (2006) proposes 3 forms of blogging community:

1. Single Blog Centric Community, eg: Kennysia.

This community revolves around the author or authors of a single blog. The community emerge as readers comment and familiarize with the blogger and the commentors.

(Source: White 2006)

2. Central Topic Centric Community, eg: A Whiff of Lemongrass.

This is a network formation that arises between blogs linked by a common passion or topic.

(Source: White 2006)

3. Boundaried Communities, eg: Share Your Story.

This are collections of blogs and blog readers hosted on a single site.

(Source: White 2006)

Blogged.my, a Malaysian blogging community is a boundaried community. This site hosts a collection of blogs by Malaysians and blog readers interested in different topics. There are comment boxes and tags to help visualise relationship. Members can access other blogs within the site. The bloggers have higher control of the site by pacing the frequency of posting. With pictures and reflections, the blogs are personal while the discussions are the centre of information exchange.

Blogging communities continues to grow immensely and may become the largest form of online community. These communities are able to expand and maintain because it’s interactivity attracts users to return. Most blogging communities fizzle out when the blogger does not update with new materials or the blog is uninteresting. Hence, the community thrives on the blogger’s activity.

Reference

Malaysia’s Blogging Community, Blogged.my, viewed 12th April 2010, <http://www.blogged.my>.

White, N. 2006, Blogs and community launching a new paradigm for online community?,  The Knowledge Tree, viewed 11th April 2010, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

(Source: Von Totanes 2006)

Classification of blogs based on Philipine’s top bloggers

Another popular classification is according to device type such as vlogs, twittering, photoblogs, sketchblogs etc .  Besides that, an interesting system is by Tom Haskins who categorizes an author’s different motivations to blogging and the value of the blog to the author:

(Source: Haskins 2007)

A better system is Margaret Simons‘ taxonomy which is based on function and content. She divides blogs into:                                       

These taxonomies differs from one another but it is similar in which the distinction between each category is blurred. Blogs can overlap, evolve, and change between between categories because many are a combination of styles (Madhavan 2008).

Margaret Simons’ taxonomy may not be exhaustive but it is a more well-rounded definition compared to the others. While Haskins’ taxonomy neglects content, Von Totanes’ scheme lacks function and the device type is merely physical, Simons’ taxonomy takes into account both form, function, content and the author’s motives.

As bloggers continue to explore the different dimensions of blogging and the nature and function of blogs evolve, more categories will be added besides new systems are introduced in the future.

References

Cathy 2005, Blogging trends- profile of the top pinoy bloggers, Now what, Cathy? viewed 10th April 2010, <http://blog.cathcath.com/trend-of-blogging-profiles-of-the-top-pinoy-bloggers-1637.html>.

Haskins, T. 2007, Different motivations for blogging, Growing, Changing, Learning, Creating, viewed 10th April 2010, <http://growchangelearn.blogspot.com/2007/03/different-motivations-for-blogging.html>.

Madhavan, N. 2008, Taxonomy of blogs- a media perspective, Authorstream, viewed 10th April 2010, <http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/madhavan-73965-taxonomy-blogs-media-perspective-journalism-digital-publishing-nanopublishing-citizen-portals-june-7-news-reports-ppt-powerpoint/>.

Simons, M. 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, Australian Policy Online,  viewed 10th April 2010, <http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0>.

Von Totanes 2006, Pinoy top blogs: classification, Philipino Librarian, viewed 10th April 2010, <http://filipinolibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/07/pinoy-top-blogs-classification.html>.

Around the world, a trend in which blogs are monetized ia developing. “According to Lijit, comparing 2008 to 2009 there has been a 68% increase in the number blogs with ad tags installed” (Sussman 2009). Technorati explains how bloggers are generating revenues below:

Furthermore, microblogging introduced primarily by Twitter resulted in a sudden surge of microbloggers. Majority of bloggers (73%) are also found to use Twitter to promote their blogs as Twitter referrals has helped increase their blogviews (Sussman 2009).

These blogs have a wide variety of topic as shown by Modern Life below:

Twingly Blog reports in Sweden, political blogs are actively written by a majority of influential bloggers, similar to US (Brown 2006).  According to Ramadass, business blogs are popular in Korea and India while in Malaysia, the majority (81%) of bloggers primarily blog for their friends or family. However, he reported that Malaysians (20%) are starting to favour political blogs as well.

This increasing popularity have made blogs the new fourth estate as it is deemed as trustworthy as traditional media. In Iran (during the recent elections) and Malaysia (regarding issues in racism and political parties) where freedom of speech in media is limited, blogs became the only forum for citizen journalists to voice their dissent. As shown in the polls below, the global impact of blogs are undeniable as people are turning to blogs to seek truth and advice during such global events.

(Click on images for a clearer view)

( Source: Technorati 2009)

( Source: Technorati 2009)

( Source: Technorati 2009)

References

Brown, S. 2006, Common traits of the top few blogs, Modern Life, viewed 9th April 2010, <http://modernl.com/article/leading-average-top-blog-trends>.

Ramadass, V. 2006, Blogging phenomenon sweeps Asia, Lowyat.NET: Malaysia’s Tech Enthusiast Resource Community, viewed 9th April 2010, <http://www.lowyat.net/v2/latest/blogging-phenomenon-sweeps-asia.html>.

Sussman, M. 2009, Day 5: Twitter, Global Impact and the Future of Blogging- SOTB 2009, Technorati, viewed 9th April 2010, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-5-twitter-global-impact-and/page-2/>.

Sussman, M. 2009, Day 4: Blogging revenues, brands, and blogs :SOTB 2009, Technorati, viewed 9th April 2010, <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/article/day-4-blogging-revenues-brands-and/>.

Twingly Blog, First political party to use Twingly blogstream, viewed 9 April 2010, <http://blog.twingly.com/category/europe/>.