Community and Culture in the Blogosphere

Blogging is an incredibly popular tool as a way of self-expression nowadays. Many people blog as a way of expressing their individualism, interests and hobbies, and according to Lim (2012), “blogs have become a vehicle to produce a new communication sphere, allowing individuals to broadcast their own social and political commentaries and to build networks of individuals of similar interests.” Personally, I can understand and relate to how blogging is appealing to people. I myself used to run a blog in high school as a way of expressing my artwork without being judged on what I drew. I loved sharing my work online; It was a great way to express my little hidden talent. Ultimately, the blogosphere is an incredible network that hasn’t been given enough credit.

(a quick sketch I drew in year 12)

The blogosphere is not only a network, but also a community within itself. And yet Cyber communities can be therefore seen as cultural (Bell, D, 2000) as well. Now when I first thing of cyber communities, I don’t automatically think of how I used to blog my artwork throughout high school. Somehow, when I think about cyber communities, I think about online games such a The Sims and World of Warcraft. Now I’m happy to admit to my unhealthy obsession with The Sims when I was in primary school, because for me it was a place I could escape, as unusual as it sounds.

It’s not surprising that like me, many people choose to express themselves through cyber communities as a way to escape real life and create something that the perceive as a ‘better’ verve. For example, in my own version of The Sims, my parents were happily married and my dog was still alive. But as sad as it seems, expressing problems through a virtual community, really benefitted for me, as most likely for many others. Blogs and cyber communities give people a chance to escape and express themselves completely free of stress and peer judgment, and what could be better than that?

References:

Bell, D, 2000, ‘An Introduction to Cyber Cultures’, Routledge, London

Lim, M, 2012, ‘Life is Local in the Imagined Global Community: Islam and Politics in the Indonesian Blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, vol. 11, pp 127-140

Photo 1 courtesy of me

Photo 2 courtesy of capsule computers.com.au