Blogger vs WordPress Blog

TrendsPosted at: Aug 8 2015 1:33AM Over the years, blogging has given its patrons much more than just a virtual space of expression. It has helped to build relationships, ever-lasting friendships and associations that otherwise would have been impossible to form

Vibha Sharma

Manasi has been waiting for the last weekend of August with almost bated breath. Her excitement is clearly palpable in the whole house. But this is not the first time it is happening; it is the annual feature since the last three years now. This is the weekend when she gets to meet her special friends who are equally, if not more, passionate about food. They, a group of seven, proudly call themselves 'Food bloggers of New Age'.They all hail from different parts of the country. A few years back they did not even know each other and had never met each other.It so happened that Manasi had started chronicling her journey in the world of recipes and flavours, on a blog. As she blogged more, she started visiting many other blogs in the same space. She used to leave comments on some of these and invited some others to her blog. The six of her these friends came in her contact through the virtual space that she had created through her blog. Gradually, their association bloomed to become much more than just an acquaintance to reach a stage where they share how they feel about their common interest — foods — like they do with nobody else.These seven know that they have a family other than their own families and in this special family they are connected through their shared passion which makes them food aficionados. Through their blogs they share their adventures and misadventures in the kitchen, their recipes, their analysis about various cuisines and restaurants.

What is it?

In very simple terms, a blog (short form for weblog) can be understood as an online personal journal or a diary which is usually frequently updated. It is a space where one can express oneself to the world - a place to share one's thoughts and passions. Actually, it can be anything that one wants it to be.Over the years, blogging has given its patrons much more than just a virtual space of expression. It has formed relationships, ever-lasting friendships, connections and associations that otherwise would have been impossible to form. In a way, blogging caters to the innate social nature of humans. Through blogging, one gets to make one's voice heard to the people who are interested. Thanks to internet, the same voice can potentially get a global reach easily.Some bloggers choose to chronicle their daily routine while many dedicate their blogs to a specific area of interest/hobby or passion. The blogs can be on as diverse topics as there are people in the world, ranging from - travel, music, sports, food, fashion, books, technical, personal, political, home décor, photographs to art and craft and much more.Anybody can blog and no technical knowhow is required in order to become a blogger. Easy to follow instructions make the task of setting up the environment of blogging a smooth sail. Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, Medium, LiveJournal, Weebly, Postach.io, Pen.io and Ghost are some of the websites which give one an option to create one's own space and to update the same as one wishes to.

Dynamic virtual community

Blogging is a vibrant world and great content is being created on a daily basis. Location and time do not pose any hurdle when it comes to any interaction within the blogging communities. While the platform is helping the bloggers to stay connected with the people who understand the language of the same passion, their spaces are working as great inspiration and motivation for the followers as well. If one is looking for some interesting art and craft ideas, one just needs to search online and umpteen blogs will be get listed where one can find the most creative ways to try something new.Many avid readers are regular bloggers who catalogue their views on the books that they read, comment on the story and the writing style of the authors. So if one is contemplating buying the newly released Scion of Ikshvaku, head on to some book blog and sure enough one will be able to take an informed decision about the book.Travel bloggers form another very lively community. These regular globe trot ters write about their sojourns with detailed information about the places they visit, sightseeing places, eating joints, must-see events along with breathtaking pictures. So before planning a holiday one can hop onto some travel blog to decide on where to go and how to plan the vacation to that place.People, who capture beauty of the world through their lens, feel that 'staying in touch with other photographers keep their creative juices alive.' Whether it is wedding photography or clicking candid moments, there is so much that one can try and do in visual arts. And thanks to many people who continuously share their work on the sites like tumblr, one stays vibrant with fresh ideas always.In fact, some early (to-be) mommy bloggers get the credit of making blogging world a happening place when they started sharing their pregnancy experiences with each other followed by their delivery stories and eventually parenting tales. Though they spent sleepless nights taking care of their infan ts, they were happy that they could share their woes and jubilations of motherhood with other mommies who were sailing in the similar boats. This association continued and once virtual friends eventually became life-long friends. Having kids with similar age groups helped them to stay connected as they moved from one growth milestone to the next, of theirs as well as those of their kids.Computer geeks share their codes with the programming community and interact with each other so even if one gets stuck somewhere while programming, there is enough help that one can get through the co-coders and their blogs.Many people already possess the raw material in terms of talent, interest and ability to work hard. Earlier, these individuals with similar profile progressed in isolation and on their own. But now easy access to what others are doing in the same field can work as great catalysts in progressing at an accelerated pace. And this exchange is mutual as we all are global citizens now. Everyone thrives for constructive feedback, acknowledgement and appreciation and if the same comes from those who actually understand the language of one's interest then nothing like it.Corporates/NGOs riding the blog wagonNot to miss the effective reach of blogs, many companies have been maintaining their blogs as well, which help them in two ways — one, to stay connected with their clients and followers relatively informally and two, to stay current in the memories of their followers by updating the blogs frequently. To entice more traffic on their blogs, they often conduct surveys and give-away contests so that audience stay engaged with them. Pratham books is a wonderful example as they have been using their blog to create much required awareness towards reading for all.While blogging is offering a win-win situation for many, yet as a responsible virtual citizen one should be careful how much is one sharing and to what extent because digital footprints last till eternity.
Source: Bonding over blogs