Blogging Communities

Blogging community as a general knowledge means that community consists of bloggers whose blogs are interconnected where a group of people with similar interest comes together and they interact with one another, forming a social network.

Blogging community can be created by several ways:

• Comments: 

Leaving comments in others’ blog is a good way to start interacting by means of asking questions and giving ideas. Also, Replying comments are a great way to get the ball rolling as it creates a sense of connection between the reader and the blogger (Mueller, 2009).

• Link: 

Creating search friendly permalinks are a great way to getting started as they act as a direct key to one's blog, saving time for the reader (Doolin, 2009). In addition, Linking out to other blogs is the essence of the spirit of generosity that is needed to have a vibrant online blog community (Bauer, 2006). This can be done by adding other blogs to your own blog roll and they will most likely return the favour which in turn increases traffic/readership of both at the same time.

• Reader centred/entertaining posts: 

The quality of one’s blog counts too as readers wants information, not crap (Rowse, 2008). Publishing posts about the readers can be done via answering their burning questions and inviting or posting up questions for discussion. This allows for more feedback. Also, entertaining posts will keep them coming back for more.

• Interactive tools: 

Posting quizzes, surveys, and weekly polls will allow readers to feel more connected as they are able to participate in the interactive projects.

• Promote:

One’s blog can be promoted via other media forms such as Twitter, Facebook and etc. This is useful to increase a follower which eventually increases the traffic/readership of the blog.

According to White (2006), there are three types of blogging communities:


One blog centric community:

Owned by one person or an organisation but may have multiple authors. Blogger have the ultimate power of control as the person can remove comment or censor certain readers.

Topic centric community:

Formed through a network of common passion driven blogs linked together and create membership and combination of domain within the community.

Boundaried community:

Compilation of blog readers on one site or platform. Registration is required in order to join the community or to be offered the chance to create a blog.

                Boundaried Community    One Blog Centric Community      Topic Centric Community             

(Source: White, 2006)

The community that we are familiar with is the boundaried community. Social networking site such as Facebook, Mysplace and Friendster are some of the examples for boundaried community. The structure of these is that a profile and login provide a clear identity, an entry point, and emphasizes the boundary of the community. In addition, to blogging and commenting on other blogs, the community uses other tools to connect to each other, and so dialog and interactions also take place outside of the blogs, with comments and posts often used as feedback and affirmation of these other interactions. The focus is on ongoing interactions between members, and norms and agreements across the community are emphasized over individual control. Individual identity is formed through participation in the community (Koterwas, 2007).

References:

Mueller, E 2009, 'How to create community on your blog (For WordPress Users)', viewed 3 May 2011, <http://blissfullydomestic.com/2009/how-to-create-community-on-your-blog-for-wordpress-users>.

Doolin, D 2009, 'How to easily create permalinks with post slugs that help your blog SEO', viewed 3 May 2011, <http://website-in-a-weekend.net/building-traffic/easily-create-permalinks-help-your-seo/>.

Rowse, D 2008, 'Secrets to good community and conversation on your blog', viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.scribefire.com/2008/06/22/secrets-to-good-community-conversation-on-your-blog/>.

White, N 2006, 'Blogs and community - Launching a new paradigm for online community?', viewed 5 May 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

Bauer, E 2006, How to build blog traffic – community, BlogHer, viewed 3 May 2011, <http://www.blogher.com/node/8128>.

Koterwas, T 2007, Blogs and Community –Parts 1-5, WDIL, viewed in 3 May 2011, < http://www.wdil.org/resources/blogs-and-community-parts-1-5>.