I applied for ESSAYS.PH with this, and I got conditionally accepted months ago, only I was too lazy to go to the interview. Total fail. Maybe I can try again, if they accept writers like me who only want to write in the comfort of her limp computer chair, a mix of Kpop, Brandon Flowers and Eraserheads playing in the background.
“The writer’s new best friend: Blogging”
It all began with Dear Diary, and ended with Love. Fast forward and Carlo is left behind in advertising history, and the scented gel pen is replaced by Netbooks and color-coded QWERTY. The blogs now reign, as world culture as we know it migrates into cyberspace.
The movement makes sense. As multinational companies shift to online resources, and iTunes legalize download-whoring of music, the typical pedestrian with two thoughts to string together want cyber-exposure too. Networking sites used to be able to address this need. But then Friendster became passé, and Facebook and Twitter do not care very much for litanies. Thus, the blog.
Simply an online journal, the blog is the new medium for the written word. Corporations use it to foster relationships between employees, enrich corporate culture, even as to act as a sales and customer service platform for clients. The new, proven effective leg of advertising and marketing is the blog.
Personal blogs on the other hand have a wider, more varied scope. The owner can talk up commentary or news, freeing a stream of intelligent opinion into cyberspace. More popularly, though, the blog is the new favorite medium for expression. Talk about your horrid day, that job you hate, the thumbtack stuck under your shoe. Talk as if anybody cares.
For the humble writer, the blog makes for a sound outlet, and an efficient one at that. The appointed topic is unhindered, unlimited by an editor’s pressure. This freedom allows free pickings on the subject matter, sans the worry of the target market. In cyberspace, every topic has an audience, even conversations about pickles. Also it deletes the middle man, allowing the blogger to furnish his views straight to the public.
And there goes the stress of finding a publisher. Blog sites actually have a ‘publish’ button, and clicking it feels so satisfying. A few seconds later, your short masterpiece is available and ready to be Googled. Since blogs are editor-free though, proofreading becomes a required skill. But this is more of a prerequisite rather than a con, unless of course the writer doesn’t mind a grammatically-embarrassing post.
The most unique thing about blogs as a writer’s outlet though, is its interactivity and availability. The comment box at the bottom is the pull. Anyone with an email address can react, violently or otherwise, and it is these opinions that feed the writer’s libido. It gives the feeling of relevance, even likeability. At the very least, an entry at the comments section means the blog is being read, and not treated as SPAM.
And for the lucky few blog owners, after relevance comes popularity. Many blogs—and transitively, their writers—gain mainstream recognition, even a cult following. Their names become reliable seals for fashion news, techie expertise, political opinion, and academic pursuits. Their blogs are followed and each post anticipated, getting real-time opinions. They get cyber-groupies, and for the writer of today, that is the most exciting kind of by-line.
The online writer can type ‘Dear Diary’, fingers flying over the keyboard as the reflections of today’s eight-to-five school day flood his head. Someone from three continents away may mistakenly type a keyword and click the URL. He will read and comment, making a published writer out of the blogger.
