The readings this week brought up an interesting question. Just how important are blogs? How many people actually read blogs on a regular basis? I have observed the impact of blogs and social networking on mainstream media. CNN has plenty of professional bloggers and twitters, you see them not only on their website but on the television channel as well. However it still begs the question, how much do non professional blog matter?
My answer is that blogs matter to certain communities, for example this blog will probably be more meaningful to librarians rather than quantum physicists. In a small way they make an impact on communities and promote free discussion of literally anything.
I would love to hear what you folks think! Feel free to comment or shoot me an e mail.
I think blogs are great. I didn't used to, but I got into them in my Foundations class when I had to follow some librarian written ones. I think they are very helpful and a great way to get involved in a certain aspect of the community and get informed on a topic from another viewpoint. I've been doing my best to maintain my blog from that class with mixed success and I have a lot of fun with it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that these niche blogs matter to certain communities. It helps immensely to see other professionals and students in MY field. I can see what these individuals think and feel, as well as get ideas from them. It's really hard to find anything positive about librarianship outside of the field, actually. It's always gloom and doom, OH LIBRARIES ARE ON THEIR WAY OUT, GET ANOTHER JOB! ahem... I should keep those comments to myself. But it is nice to see ideas and enthusiasm from other librarians and information professionals.
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