Blogs

curb online

One in a Million, is Blogging Worth it?
A critique on the world of blogging.

by david glisczinski

Adam Jacobi, a 28-year-old teacher, does not expect all of his students to respect him. He knows some students will criticize him in the halls of Milwaukee’s Rufus King High School. He was surprised, however, when one brash student went so far as to publish defamatory comments about him. The student had freely posted his thoughts on a weblog, probably not even considering the fact that Jacobi, or any other Internet user, could simply Google “Adam Jacobi” and read the student’s critique.

As of January 2005, more than eight million people had created blogs, according to research conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. But they also found that 62 percent of online Americans have no idea what a blog is.

A blog, short for weblog, is a web-based diary that practically anyone with a computer background can create. Being as blogs are web-based, those with an Internet connection can read any blog they wish. This creates an infinitely large audience for an infinitely large group of content providers. Content covers a wide spectrum, everything from politics to corporate communications to casual social commentary.

The vast array of blogs, their creators and readers are collectively referred to as the blogosphere, a giant digital coffee shop of sorts.

But why has the Internet become such a haven for opinionated people? Is there a reason for them and their daily ramblings about politics, entertainment and other commentary, or do these conversations render themselves useless in digital format?

A quick search for blogs reveals several types with varying levels of usefulness. An article on Cheesegod.com’s blog about businessmen who pay thousands of dollars for life-size, nude sculptures of themselves with larger-than-life extremities provides a chuckle, not to mention a feeling of self-adequacy, but the blog overall serves little purpose. On the contrary, some blogs do have a larger purpose, but these blogs usually exist as extensions of professional news services, such as CNN’s Hurricane Katrina blogs with posts from professional journalists on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A few independents, such as dailykos.com, have managed to attain credibility on the Web. Started by Markos Moulitsas, who had no prominent professional journalism experience, dailykos.com was one of a few blogs to receive press credentials to the 2004 Democratic Convention. But with so few blogs boasting large readerships or excellence in news coverage, do the millions of other blogs serve a purpose? Or does their online presence only warrant potential disasters for those like Jacobi’s student? Look no further than Jacobi’s own blog for an answer.

Like most professionals his age, Jacobi's daily schedule includes much more than the nine-to-five day, or in his case, the 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. day, can hold. He also manages seven websites and coaches a high school forensics team. For Jacobi, his blog serves as a soapbox to boast about his many accomplishments, but it’s also a means to express his thoughts on local education policies. “I have shared the content of my blog with people I knew could take my views and do something with it,” he says. His sharing of ideas with people he knew could put them into action is the key to his blog’s success. To bolster the efficacy of his blog, some of the issues he has posted about, such as reforming Rufus King’s academic calendar, have materialized in the “real world.”

Jacobi censors his commentary, however. He does not let his emotions spew forth via his blog; the incident with his student is all the evidence he needs to justify this self-restraint. “I refrain from commenting on particularly politically-charged issues, such as abortion, religion, or the war in Iraq [because] posting for anyone to see is the ‘public domain,’ and that’s what so many people don’t realize,” he says.

Political commentary can be offensive to some and cast an undesirable stigma on a blogger, which can, in turn, damage a person’s reputation or worse, his or her career. Or, political “ranting and raving” can simply annoy the few readers a blogger somehow manages to attract.

This sort of criticism caused Nick Bubb to alter his blog’s content. Bubb, a senior at UW-Madison has learned a thing or two about appealing to an audience as a mass communication major. He dropped his blog’s heavy political rhetoric to appease a vast portion of his readers—his brother. His newly revised blog serves not only his interests, but also those of his close friends and family. When asked why he started blogging, Bubb replies, “I thought…well, since I don’t often get to talk to all of my friends, and I don’t always have the time to call my parents, I could just share my experiences online and they’d be able to see them all.”

Adam Jacobi just so happens to be one of those friends. Bubb, also a forensics coach, uses his blog to convey forensic news to Jacobi, among others. For example, Bubb announced the start of his new blog, Wisconsin Forensics Daily, via his second blog, njbubb.net. Along with Jacobi, Bubb also hopes his blog is a reflection of himself and his accomplishments, something he can show potential employers, so they can get a sense of who he is.

Blogs, like any other mode of communication, can be harmful to a career or reputation if used inappropriately. Used in their proper context, the plethora of personal blogs can serve the purpose of promoting an individual’s beliefs, careers and relationships, so long as authors remain cognizant of their audience.