In blog we trust
Wednesday August 30 2006
Blogging is the sound of one hundred million people thinking aloud at the same time. Stand back and the babble starts to seem closer to a hum. Blogs are the soul of the internet, the place where, more and more, humanity goes when it wants to reflect, vent steam, hang out with like-minded individuals or write about their cat.
Blogs, of course, have been hyped relentlessly of late. Over the past year you may have read or heard bloggers making all sorts of extravagant claims. Blogs, we've been told, may soon render traditional media redundant. Bloggers, runs the rhetoric, are reshaping the fundamentals of democracy, allowing citizens keep tabs on their leaders as never before. Why, even the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has his own weblog. He invites internet users to send in messages and questions and promises to keep things "short and simple".
Blogging is painted as a glimpse of a future where everyone gets to speak their minds and all may expect a fair hearing.
This despite the fact the many people have only a vague awareness (or, indeed, are completely ignorant) of what exactly a 'blog' is in the first place.
Briefly, the blog has been defined as an online diary, a list of interesting websites (usually grouped around a common theme) or a regularly updated page dedicated to a niche interest. The point is that none of these descriptions really captures the essence of blogging. Nor do they convey the vastness of the 'blogosphere' (a catch-all for the entire universe of blogs).
There is one aspect of blogging about which there may be no disagreement, however. Blogging in 2006 can get you sacked. So we learn from the case of a British secretary, fired by her French employer after she was found to be reporting anonymously about her professional life.
Ironically, work didn't figure terribly prominently in Catherine Sanderson's blog, La Petite Anglaise. For the most part, Sanderson's musings revolved around her love life - indeed, she had a six-month relationship with a man who got to know her through her blog. Yet, while Sanderson never identified her employer, she couldn't resist dropping in the occasional titbit about her workplace - such as the time she (accidentally) showed much too cleavage and swore inappropriately during a conference call with head office.
In retrospect, she may have wished she'd restricted her blogging to romantic encounters. Upon finding out about La Petite Anglaise, her superiors acted swiftly and ruthlessly: Sanderson was fired on the spot for gross misconduct (she has since sought legal advice and is suing for unfair dismissal).
In Ireland, blogging is, as yet, untainted by scandal. That's not to suggest, however, that Irish bloggers live in the slow lane. In fact, the domestic blogosphere has undergone remarkable growth, with leading bloggers attracting tens of thousands of readers and new blogs starting every week.
Nobody can be certain how many Irish blogs exist. The total, though, runs at the very least into four figures (no surprise, considering there are estimated to be over 100 million blogs in existence worldwide). Last year, blogging here appeared to reach critical mass with the holding in Dublin of the inaugural Irish blog awards.
"Blogging gives you your own little soap-box. Your blog can be whatever you want it to be," explains Damien Mulley, whose technology and music blog Mulley.net receives thousands of 'hits' monthly.
A driving force behind the Irish blog awards, Mulley believes blogging offers a unique way of interacting with other people. Blogs are, he says, a form of thinking aloud. What one writes in a blog may not be the last word on a given topic. Yet it can spark prompt debate, drawing in people from across a huge geographical and demographic distance. Blogging, he believes, is another way of spelling 'community'.
Irish language activists are one of the interest groups flocking to the blogosphere. Having started his Irish blog, Imeall (imeall.blogspot.com), a little over two years ago, Conn O Muineachain has, without quite planning it, found himself taking the first steps to a full-blown media career. Some 1,000 readers visit O Muineachain's blog each week, enough to persuade Irish language newspaper La to offer him a column.
Since then, his alternative career (he is an engineer by training) as an advocate for the Irish language has flourished. The launch several months ago of a podcast on his blog - podcasts are downloadable radio shows - has brought further exposure to O Muineachain. As a result, he is now contemplating a career in radio.
"From last April, the podcasts have been broadcast as a conventional radio show on college radio in Galway," he says.
"And recently the Broadcasting Commission asked me to put together a series on social networking for transmission on independent radio stations. Suddenly, I've got a very busy media life - I'll probably have to take someone on to help me with the new project."
For ordinary Joes, blogging clearly offers a shot at, if not quite fame, then at least a degree of name recognition. Curiously, the properly famous have taken to blogging with equal enthusiasm. Among those celebrities embracing the blog are techno musician Moby, actor Ian McKellen and Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan.
Celebrity blogs vary in content and quality. Moby, who posts most days, writes about the mundanities of fame and opines about politics and social issues. Others treat their blog as a glorified shop window. Actor Jeff Bridges uploads samples of his artwork and includes plugs for whatever movie he's currently appearing in. Reading such blogs can sometimes feel analogous to chewing cardboard - there's plenty to get through but not always much substance.
One might imagine blogging to be overwhelmingly the preserve of technophile males. In fact, women are no less active in the blogosphere than men, says Treasa Lynch, who posts about her life and other things at WindAndBreeze.org. If there is a difference, she says, it may be that women's blogs tend towards a more personal tone.
'By and large, a lot of women write about very different things. A lot of the more personal blogs are by women, and the fact that we tend to broaden the scope of what gets written about is positive."
Blogging can turn you a cent too. Several Irish bloggers earn up to €100 a week selling ads from their site. Damien Mulley tells the apocryphal story of a mountaineering expert reputed to be earning €10,000 a month from selling commercial space on his website (which contained blogging elements but, strictly speaking, was not a blog).
"Because blogs are frequently very niche, a blogger can attract a highly specialist audience. Obviously, this is of huge interest to companies trying to sell their products to that audience. Bloggers often start out writing for themselves, acquiring an audience without ever having planned to.
"My blog began as a place for me to write. I didn't intend for it to be anything bigger than that," says Suzy Byrne, who blogs from Dublin about gay and lesbian issues and politics (her blog is mamanpoulet.blogspot.com/).
To her surprise, she discovered that her musings were attracting large numbers of both gay and lesbian readers and those interested in politics.
"But my blog isn't just about those things. I cover all sorts of topics. One day, I might write something about new media or politics. The next day it might be cooking. Blogging is whatever you want it to be."
A blogger's guide
* Blogging can be immensely profitable. Two years ago, Belle dde Jour, an anonymous blog chronicling the adventures of a London call l, became a bebest-selling novel. * Blogging can be immensely profitable. Two years ago, Belle de Jour, an anonymous blog chronicling the adventures of a London call girl, became a best-selling novel.
* You can launch a blog with almost no technical know-how. Blogging sites such as blogger and typepad are designed for people with only a basic knowledge of computers and the internet.
*Several Irish politicians keep blogs, among them Labour health spokeswoman Liz McManus, pictured, (http://www.lizmcmanus.
blogspot.com/) and Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe (http://www.cuffestreet.
blogspot.com/).
* Blogging has become an unofficial arm of the Democrat Party in the United States. In 2004, blogger support gave presidential candidate Howard Dean an early head start (his meltdown on TV would see him losing out on the party nomination).
* Last year Ellen Simonetti, a US airline attendant, lost her job after posting photos of herself in uniform displaying more cleavage than was perhaps prudent on her blog The Queen of the Sky.
* In Britain, a college lecturer called a prominent British politician a "Nazi" on a blog. The politician found out the real name of the lecturer (she wrote under a pseudonym), suing her for €10,000 in damages.
Blog almighty... famous blogs around the world
Daily Kos (dailykos.com)
Arguably the most influential blog on the planet, Daily Kos is a meeting point for Left-leaning Americans, the majority of whom seem to dedicate every waking moment to wishing ill upon George Bush. For politics junkies only.
Slugger O Toole (sluggerotoole.com)
One of the better known Irish blogs, focusing largely on politics and economics. There's a heavy Northern Ireland bias, so those fed up with reading about Northern squabbles may wish to give it a skip.
Gavin's Blog (gavinsblog.com)
Well-regarded current affairs blog courtesy of Dublin-based Gavin Sheridan. Reams of intelligent debate and a focus on international events.
Gizmodo: The Gadget Guide (gizmodo.com)
The fifth most popular blog in the world (the bulk of the Top 10 are from the Far East), Gizmodo worships at the altar of technology. For those who need to know what the next iPod will look like six months in advance, this is a must.
