Naturally, history has seen a tremendous shift in patterns of communication. Looking back at how word first spread from kings and nobles who dictated to scribes to the present day where everyone has free reign and access to voice their opinions, the growth is incredible. Even in the past few decades where the media was dominated solely by a small, select number of people, today, ordinary people can create and share media online. This change in control over the media from a select few to the general public can be credited to blogs. Jill Walker Rettberg’s “From Bards to Blogs” in her book Blogging discusses this evolution in the media, and why blogging is such a powerful and successful tool to communicate.
It’s Easy to Share
Looking back at the history of the media, sharing writings used to be a very tedious process. Because of the prehistoric copying methods and as a result, the few copies of writings, few people had access to print sources. However, with the Internet, especially blogs, everyone has access. Rettberg touches upon this availability by saying, “Blogs are published on the Internet and can be read by anybody—or nobody.”
It Provides a Platform for Conversation
What is unique of the Internet is that it provides an active platform for conversation between writers and readers. Writers may pose questions, readers may respond and ask more questions, thus sparking conversations, generating and sharing ideas and raising controversial topics. But through these, they force audiences to think critically and engage rather than submit to the author’s voice or merely be entertained. Blogs offer oral communication between people. Because of their accessibility, anyone regardless background may engage and connect.
Things Are Open to Ideas and Change
Unlike digital media, printed media is fixed and stagnant. Newspapers, for example, are labeled and sold for a price. As a result, readers do not have the much ability to respond back or voice their opinions. Blogs, however, allow more dialogue than the pre-digital written world. They allow more voices to engage in a conversation other than oral communication. Blogs are a cheaper, more accessible and widespread distribution of print or broadcasting. Because of this, they encourage and invite more people to become involved and voice their opinions. Additionally, since blogs may be modified unlike printed media, they are open to change.
Interactive Ways to Reach Audiences
While printed media is very two-dimensional and generally only consists of text and pictures, blogs provide an interactive way for writers to reach their audiences. A blogger could insert a video to better convey a thought or further explain an idea. They could link a blog entry to a song, or provide links to products they are discussing. Through this, writers make it easy for their readers to connect and be an active audience. With blogs, there are endless possibilities, and there are growing to be fewer and fewer limits.
Online Communities
Blogs provide online communities for readers. Blogs contain clusters of people from diverse areas and backgrounds with shared interests. Through blog interaction, audiences branch out and involve more and more people. Blogs stimulate ideas and provide environments for likeminded people or those who wish to be exposed to different views. Because blogs can spread in a variety of ways, audiences may be at random, which creates unique mixes of voices, experiences and views.
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