Research Paper in Communication Studies

Research Paper in Communication Studies Proposal The Role of Blogs in the Media Environment Nowadays, blogs take a more and more important role in the media environment. When they were ? rst considered trends that won’t live long, now even experts ascribe them a major part of todays mass media. But how and in what way do these online platforms actually take in? uence in mass media? What are blogs? „Blogâ€Å" is the short word for Weblog, which is composed of the words â€Å"world wide web† and â€Å"logbook†, so a blog can be understood as an Internet diary.The writer of a blog, named â€Å"blogger† is characterized by writing the â€Å"blogposts†, which are the entries on the blog. He tells stories or gives opinion on something, mostly on a speci? c topic the blog is about. In comparison to a website, a blog as (more or less) regular entries, which are sorted chronically. The newest entry is on the top while the older ones are at the bottom or sorted in an archive. 1 History of blogs The ? rst blogs developed in the late 1990‘s. The word â€Å"Blog† was ? rst used by Jorn Bager, in 1997. He was one of the ? rst people, who regularly wrote something on a web page in the Internet and called this thing a blog.When he was looking for similar sites to his one, he created a list of 23 blogs existing on the web. Within a few years, the number of blogs increased rapidly. According to estimates, there were approximately 173 million of blogs on the Internet in October 2011, with a tendency going upwards. 2 1 2 http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/blog http://www. nielsen. com/us/en/newswire/2012/buzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-more-bloggersand-blog-readers. html Research Paper in Communication Studies The role of blogs Blogs developed from internet-diarys to platforms talking about speci? themes and topics of any kind. Though they basically consist on personal opinion, they take a more and more important role in today’s media. Especially in the fashion world, blogs are taking over. Even the big designers sent out invitations to international bloggers to sit in their front row at the next fashion show. By displaying their own style, fashion bloggers aim to taking the „over-the-top-world of fashionâ€Å" down to earth. This way, they show normal people that fashion isn‘t just hold back for the rich ones but something everybody can achieve and express themselves with.This may be one of the reasons why fashion bloggers became so important. Blog begun as platforms to tell the world what happens in your everyday live but now seem to evolve to some reliable sources to get inspiration or information from the Internet. Maybe this is why running a blog also seems like becoming to etiquette: Almost every company has a separated company blog. Even broadcasting platforms like CNN3 or BBC4. Once you google the word â€Å"blog†, 100 of platforms to start an own blog will pop up. Also at the ? rst page: The company blogs from twitter and google itself.Research questions So what is the big thing about blogging? Does blogs really have an remarkable impact on todays media world? And if so, why? In my research paper, I will try to answer these questions and look behind the facade. Is blogging really more then something hip and cool and a trend you want to follow? Is it possible for them to remain in the quick changing world of the Internet? How is it possible that even big companies started own blogs and update them regularly? Apart from the fact that blogs DO exist and get more and more important, there is the question in what kind of way they do.Is it just extra information or are they as reliable as 3 4 http://edition. cnn. com/exchange/blogs/ http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/ Research Paper in Communication Studies radio and TV are seen nowadays? Does information shown on blogs is comparable to information shown elsewhere? What actual role do they play in t odays media? I will also try to give a forecast about the role of blogs within the media in the near and later future. Will they remain in the media or soon be replaced by some new trend? Research Paper in Communication Studies SourcesPrint: – Nielsen, Jakob (2007): Blogosphere. In: Information World Review, Issue 236, p. 30-30, 3/4p. – Hogg, Nanette; Lomicky, Carol S. ; Hossain, Syed A. (2008): Blogs in the Media Environment: A Content Analysis of the Knowledge Stage in the Diffusion of an Innovation. Web Journal of Mass Communication Research. Internet: – http://www. wired. com/entertainment/theweb/news/2007/12/blog_anniversary – http://www. rebeccablood. net/essays/weblog_history. html – http://www. nielsen. com/us/en/newswire/2012/buzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-morebloggers-and-blog-readers. html