The UK Blogosphere

On the Outside Looking in

Looking at Technorati  and its report “State of the Blogosphere” was an interesting experience but also highlighted the fact that it is very much US biased. Not surprising really as Technorati is an American site and, to quote their own data, 49% of blogs are published by US bloggers.

I was interested however in information specifically about UK bloggers, for that reason and because I had a pre-occupation with effective communication channels, I created a short survey last week to look at why people blogged and what they felt they achieved by doing so. If you would like to participate in this short survey please follow the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7QRX3PZ

If you are looking for worthwhile educational blogs to follow several of my RSC colleagues keep a blog. The following recommendations are particularly relevant to our West Midlands education providers:

Staff Development blog written by Alison Wootton http://rscstaffdev.blogspot.com/

IT Infrastructure blog written by Colleen Romero http://www.rscwmsystems.org.uk/rsc-it-blog/

Wobble (work-based learning) blog by Theresa Welch http://wblwestmids.blogspot.com/

 

Learning Resources blog written by Matt Gallon  http://rscwmlr.blogspot.com/

The Great Big Blogosphere

Once I began to muse on the blog phenomena an internet search very quickly introduced me to Technorati.

In their own words Techorati is "The leading blog search engine and directory" and "was founded to help bloggers succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the global online conversation."

The service has grown since it began in 2004, it now boasts an index of  over a million blogs and uses those sites to produce a  stream of daily information covering news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. So quite a comprehensive service!

Since 2004 Technorati has also produced an annual report "State of the Blogosphere" focussed on the “growth and trends in the blogosphere”.  This report makes interesting reading below is my summary of Technorati's findings.


The blogosphere of today is:

• “in transition”

blogging is becoming an established means of communication; it forms loose communities around areas of interest and has an increasing influence on that community. As such blogging has potential to grow and evolve.

• Part of the big social media connectivism that influences most of us

“Bloggers’ use of and engagement with various social media tools is expanding, and the lines between blogs, micro-blogs, and social networks are disappearing.”

• Increasingly mobile

Not surprisingly the rapid development in the capabilities of mobile technology has started to have a huge influence on blogging. Why wait until your back at your PC if you can blog about something you have just experienced there and then? Such immediacy also impacts on the style of some blogs, “shorter and more spontaneous posts.”

• Increasingly giving women a platform and voice

The number of female bloggers is up, some of them with significant influence.  “Their impact is perhaps felt most strongly by brands, as the women and mom blogger segment is the most likely of all to blog about brands.”

The Blogosphere future is looking rosy

“These changes are occurring in the context of great optimism about the medium”

Based on Technorati’s research  established bloggers are planning to blog more frequently and on a wider range of topics. Their motivation and expectation is that the significance of blogs in society will increase and they will be increasingly valued as a reliable source of information.

“48% of all bloggers believe that more people will be getting their news and entertainment from blogs in the next five years than from the traditional media.”

What do you think; do blogs influence your life? Do you trust blog commentary more than traditional media?

 View the full report “State of the Blogosphere”  from  Technorati

A Clean Sheet!

A New Year’s Resolution



Happy New Year 2011



I have been thinking about starting a blog related to my work interests for quite a while so New Year seemed a good time to take the plunge and start blogging. I know I am in good company, joining as I am an ever expanding band of informal writers united by the web and known as the blogosphere. During the first decade of this century blogs have proliferated on all kinds of topics, for all kinds of purpose providing information and news freely for anyone who wants it and helping individuals organise their thoughts and ideas.

Blogging with Purpose

As we all know New Year’s resolutions tend to be just that i.e. good intentions lucky to survive more than the first month! I’m hoping my blog will last longer, for it to do so I reasoned that I needed to be clear about why I was writing it and what I hoped to achieve by keeping it up. For me the short answer is to record information of interest to me professionally (basically all things e-learning) and share it with local learning providers in particular and anyone else who is interested in general.

So on a clean sheet I write my first post...