Throughout cyberspace, weblogs, now known as “blogs,” have been dominating the Internet since 1998. According to Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley, over 133 million blogs have been counted since 2002 by Technorati, a blog locator program (11). Many students use their blogs to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Yet many bloggers do not understand the power that they wield. The “blogosphere,” as many people refer to the realm of blogging, is very influential in many ways. If high school students could understand the power of the blogosphere, then they could impact people for whatever means by using one of the world’s fastest growing social networks. Therefore, high school students should maintain a blog so that they will be better rounded individuals.
First, blogging helps students have a sense of community and collaboration. This reason is that blogging has an unique and efficient way of connecting a community. Teresa Byington, an assistant professor and area specialist at the University of Nevada, states that “technology can support the work of a community . . . by providing members with tools for collaboration” (281). If a person starts blogging about ways his community can improve, then the blog has the potential of getting the community to pull together to solve whatever issues are brought up. That is, in essence, what collaboration is: “The act of working together to achieve a specific objective” (Byington 280). Collaboration can be achieved through various methods such as, for one example, community submitted news. Camerson Chapman, author of “Building Community Sites with WordPress: 15 Plugins to Get Started” comments that “community submitted news lets any visitor . . . submit content. All content is sent to a moderation panel . . . . [This input] also gives [their] blog’s readers a more active role in content creation” ([1]). The more people that American students can get involved from local communities, the more pro-active and friendly the community will become. According to an article called "To Blog or Not to Blog?" high school students should distribute information by utilizing the web with the goal to improve communities (Rochelle 17). The reason why students would be effective with their community is that students are very opinionated: their perspective is very creative. When students of an individual community complete a successful blog, it gives the students and the community a sense of accomplishment which also builds community pride.
Blogging can also help students learn co-operatively. With the speed of technology increasing, blogging has started to be used in the classroom to help students academically. Many teachers instruct their students to write school papers on a personal blog. The teacher then grades the papers that have been posted on the blogs. This concept of grading helps the students write in a more comfortable setting. This idea is still relatively new to Americans, but Ewa McGrail inputs that “there is less research on the efficacy of blogs in writing development at the elementary school level . . . even though studies have been published recognizing their effectiveness for writing in other disciplines” (415). Thus teachers are trying to teach their students how to write, how to blog, and how to use the Internet. The informality of blogging helps the students because they write better when they feel less pressure on them which will help the students learn more efficiently.
Secondly, blogging can be used to create an income. Blog advertising has a possibility of creating some money on the side. According to Gardner and Birley, using “Google AdSense” is a popular way of raising various amount of money by linking different websites to personal blogs that are related to their topic (14). This way of advertising is not only practical but also helpful to the blogger and his readers. If bloggers can supply people with information about their blog posts but also provide extra, external information, they should. A major benefit is that every time a viewer clicks on their link, the blogger will get paid a certain amount of money each time a different computer clicks on the advertisement. This process helps other students find information faster and more efficiently. Another way that advertising can earn students some money is selling merchandise. Since blogs are being searched for information, it makes sense that blogs should be used to advertise and to sell merchandise. By expanding ways of brining in an income, students have the ability to earn money for future expenses.
Another creative way that blogging can provide an income for students is by blogging professionally for a corporation. Gardner and Birley say that “being paid to post can mean . . . receiving money or products to post a review or mention a company on a personal blog” (303). While blogging professionally can bring in a lot of money, there is a moral caution that needs to be addressed. Gardner and Birley continue to say that bloggers should be careful if they blog for a corporation because sometimes the corporation will not be totally accurate in what they ask them to post (303). This concern is well warranted. Bloggers need to be honest with all their dealings, but this one aspect should not keep students from blogging for corporations. In fact, there are several honest corporations in the market that would hire students to blog for them. Businesses of all sizes would jump for local student bloggers to write creative advertisements so that the business can connect better to consumers. Bloggers could also blog for small businesses who would love for local blogs to promote their merchandise.
Most importantly, blogging helps students improve their ability to communicate. Blogging helps students communicate better by helping them write better. The common phrase “practice makes perfect” applies to blogging. In 2008, Barry Bachenheimer did his best to prove that increasing the amount of time that students spent blogging could increase their ability to perform in writing (Ramaswami 21). Rama Ramaswami, publisher in T.H.E. Journal Magazine, reported that “Bachenheimer’s study . . . showed that students who blogged felt better about writing overall, and about writing research papers in particular” (21). Ramaswami later reported that “of the 25 students in the English class, 74 percent believed that blog posts helped them articulate their ideas better, and 68 percent said blogs helped them determine what to say. . . . 60 percent felt blogging helped them begin writing their papers” (21). As the statistics clearly show, students who write more become better at writing as well as more comfortable with writing. Blogging also helps students communicate better by helping their reading comprehension. According to Zawilinski, a very important part of helping people understand writing is to get them to communicate via the Internet (652). This concept is the same exact principle as with writing. The more people read the better they will become at it. Ewa McGrail and Anne Davis accurately reported that “blogs . . . can facilitate literacy development through storytelling and dialogue, because their format encourages self-expression and recounting of personal events to the blogger community in nonverbal formats. . . Viewed this way, blogging is about communication and interaction” (416). When bloggers come to the realization that they can impress people by making attractive blog posts, they will do their best to express themselves in a clear and concise way. Blogging will help blogger’s communication skills in their on-going battle to impress people and in their desire to write about their experiences which is why high school students should maintain a blog.
In addition, blogging helps students communicate better by helping them think logically. Numerous bloggers can testify to the fact that blogs help them with logical thinking. Blog posts are written over various topics and each student’s perspective is different. Thus, at the same time that each blog is different, the students work to make their content in their blog logical and coherent. This goes on to show that every blog has a similar logical goal. That goal is argument or persuasion. Ying Ke Xie and Fengfeng, from Lewis University state that “the complex nature of deep cognitive thinking has resulted in difficulties from practitioners and researchers to inculcate deep thinking in students. Current Web 2.0 technologies . . . have been used in education to foster constructivist learning environments” (460). When students express themselves, they will think of new and different ways of how they can accomplish this goal. When students think this way, they are pushing themselves to think logically as well as creatively which will help them become better rounded individuals.
Blogging, therefore, helps high school students become better rounded individuals. Blogs are user friendly as well as easy to set up and use. The number of new blogs is growing with each day as more people are expanding their interests. Social networking is moving into the direction of the blogosphere and blogs are being integrated into every part of life. Facebook Incorporated acknowledges the explosion of growth in blogging the past few years to the point that they have added a blogging application to their website. Blog’s ability to influence people is invaluable. High school students should learn the importance of blogging so they can utilize blogs to their fullest capacity. If that utilization were to happen, America’s high school students would have a better chance at excelling.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Kimberly, and Oscar Retterer. "Blogging as L2 Writing: A Case Study." AACE Journal 16.3 (2008): 233-51. ERIC. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.
Byington, Teresa A. "Communities Of Practice: Using Blogs To Increase Collaboration." Intervention in School and Clinic 46.5 (2011): 280-91. ERIC. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Chapman, Cameron. “Building Community Sites with WordPress: 15 Plugins to Get Started.” Website. N.p., 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.
Gardner, Susannah, and Shane Birley. Blogging for Dummies. Hoboken: For Dummies, 2010. Print.
Leiva de Izquierdo, Bertha, and Leticia Esteves Reyes. "Effectiveness of Blogging to Practice Reading at a Freshman EFL Program." Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal 9.2 (2009): 100-17. ERIC. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
McGrail, Ewa, and Anne Davis. "The Influence of Classroom Blogging on Elementary Student Writing." Journal Of Research In Childhood Education 25.4 (2011): 415-37. ERIC. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Ramaswami, Rama. "The Prose of Blogging (And a Few Cons, Too)." T.H.E. Journal 35.11 (2008): 21-25. ERIC. Web. 15 Feb 2012.
Ramos, Maria Altina Silva. "Blog and Complex Thinking: A Case Study." Online Submission (2010): n. pag. ERIC. Web. 17 Feb 2012.
Reupert, Andrea, and Barney Dalgarno. "Using Online Blogs to Develop Student Teachers' Behavior Management Approaches." Australian Journal Of Teacher Education 36.5 (2011): 48-64. ERIC. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.
Rochelle, Neil A. "To Blog or Not To Blog?” School Administrator 66.7 (2009): 17-19. ERIC. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.
Walsh, Bob. Clear Blogging: How People are Blogging are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them. New York: Apress, 2007. Print.
Xie, YingKe, and Fengfeng Sharma Priya. "The Effects of Peer-Interaction Styles in Team Blogs on Students' Cognitive Thinking and Blog Participation." Journal of Educational Computing Research 42.4 (2010): 459-79. Computer Source. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.
Zawilinski, Lisa. "HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking." Reading Teacher 62.8 (2009): 650-61. ERIC. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.
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