I came across an old The Australian Magazine from last year while cleaning out the house. An article by Stephanie Wood discussed the concept of blogs and the social life that came with it, allowing her to express her feelings and daily life to her best mates that she's never met. She used her cooking blog to share her grief and experience as her father was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and through this blog, she found the power of the personal narrative and provided her with the emotional therapy she needed.
Blogging is a big thing. For some people it's a method to express their opinions, share their experiences and expertise and allow them to be involved in someone else's discussions by adding comments to their entries. For others, it's almost replaced the hand written diaries where they write about their lives and openly talk about their emotions, their grief and at times, their suicidal thoughts.
Since the beginning of blogging, it has developed into a larger, social concept. Web sites like MySpace allows users to write a blog, share photos, and even post invitations online for parties and events. One can have friends from all over the world, proudly sitting in the friend's list waiting to be clicked.
Then video blogs like YouTube came along, where anyone can share anything on video, some resulting in fame and some even assisted with crime investigations. YouTube also provides a venue for amateur artists to share their talents in the hope of landing a professional contract.
Why are we so hooked? And why some blogs attract so much attention, and from time to time, even appear on the evening news?
I see a resemblance between reading a blog, and reading a tabloid magazine. We are hooked on tabloid gossip because we are a curious bunch. Celebrities' world seems so distant and far away that these magazines provide a channel for us to be part of it. What has Paris done this time? Who is Brad Pitt dating now? What does Britney Spears look like without make up. We like the idea that celebrities are in fact, just human, and by reading these magazines (or gossip columns) we can feel better about ourselves and perhaps, even learn a lesson.
Same thing can be said about why the world cannot get enough of reality television such as Big Brother.
Similarly with a blog, we are reading about someone else's life, about what they are going through and a space where we might learn something new. It feels like we are being involved in that person's life and at times, even to be able to help them. Blogs, are better than magazines, because they are usually updated everyday, and you can actually make an input to the discussion. After a long time of loyal reading, you might even become friends and really be able to open up and discuss about anything offline. It's that curiosity of what your blog might bring, and the curiosity of what other people's lives are like, or simply reassuring that we all have similar problems in life, is what makes blogs so attractive.
