Blogs - The Way To Go

The Internet - Home to many sources for information, an invaluable learning tool and the latest way to read the news or get an opinion out there, the humble blog.

The blog, or 'Web Log' to the uninitiated, can be on any topic, from commentary on news, entertainment and sports, or even serving as a personal diary. In recent years, the popularity of the blog has exploded, with blog tracker technorati.com claiming that as of December 2007, there more than 112 million blogs in existence, an increase from 27.7 million in February 2006.

Journalism purists may decry the ever expanding use of the blog, claiming that any wannabe writer can log on and pour their words out to the masses, uncensored and unedited. While this could be true, these purists forget that the internet is the way of the future. After all, online editions of newspapers are nothing more that glorified blogs, with text, images and more often than not, a space that your readers can reply with their own opinion.

Some blogs, news or otherwise, have been responsible for breaking stories that print news has been unwilling or too slow to publish. In 1998, Matt Drudge became famous for reporting the White House sex scandal between then-president Bill Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky on his blog, the Drudge Report.

Last year, entertainment blog 'Oh No They Didn't' broke the news that the 16-year-old Jamie-Lynn Spears, sister of pop train wreck Britney, was pregnant by her 18-year old boyfriend, almost causing its host, Livejournal, to crash because of the amount of hits generated.

The fact that many web based news sources are the quickest to get reports out to the people just reinforces the importance of the blog. A walk to the closest newspaper stand is no longer needed if you want to know the latest, instead, just a click of a mouse can give you up to the minute information about the happenings in your neighborhood or across an ocean.

Even one of the most influential publications in the world, Time Magazine has recognized the importance of the blog, naming "You" their person of the year in 2006, noting their choice came from the control that 'you' have through the information age.

The word 'blog' has worked its was into everyday vernacular; nobody writes in a physical diary any more, and you don't profess your truthfulness to a higher deity, you're just being "honest to blog". Using internet blogs to write is the new guiding light of journalism, and if you don't start surfing the net for news, you are just going to be left in the dark.