Lose Your (Blog) Innocence
–by Rupa Dev | February 12, 2007
A few weeks ago, I told a former roommate that I was working on an article about blogs. She glanced back at me with a black stare and replied, “What’s a blog?”
Over the last year, I have spent countless hours sitting next to this girl while we simultaneously surfed the ‘net. From television critiques to political commentary websites, I have seen her visit websites of all kinds. And yet somehow, she never came across one of the 60 million blogs floating around the web these days.
As we quickly enter into an era of new media, blogs break the news stories before many mainstream outlets. They teach us the skills we want to learn in a more straight-forward, and easy-to-follow manner. They keep us interconnected as weve evolved into a global community…
Her comment initially baffled me. But I realized, in retrospect, just how normal it actually was. While the number and popularity of existing blogs continues to steadily increase, there are still an incredibly large number of internet users who don’t really understand all the hype and hoopla associated with the blogosphere.
These days, “blog style” writing has become so prevalent that many blog virgins have probably frequented blogs without realizing it. Of those who have seen blogs before, some individuals, like my mother, argue that blogs tend to be “stereotypically whiny online diaries.”
While this generalization would have been more relevant back when the initial popularization of blogs was fueled by teeny-boppers who wrote posts in FoNtz Lyke DiS, the blogosphere has evolved into the information source of today and tomorrow.
As we quickly enter into an era of new media, blogs break the news stories before many mainstream outlets. They teach us the skills we want to learn in a more straight-forward, and easy-to-follow manner. They keep us interconnected as we’ve evolved into a global community which has become increasingly more reliant on cyber technology. In short, blogs are a big deal, and they are only going to get bigger with time.
Here at The CulturalConnect (TCC), our staff members are completely spread out across the globe. While we recently launched our blog to keep both readers and staffers in tune with the latest happenings related to TCC, we’d like to share our favorite blogs and why we think they rock.
If you don’t have a blog already, we hope that these impressive blogs will inspire you to start one of your own. Check out this “How To Start A Blog” post by publishing mastermind Thomas Nelson and whenever you get yours up and running, share the link with us and the rest of the blogosphere.
News
Favorite: The Daily Kos
Noted as one of the most trafficked blogs by numerous rating sites, founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga is the go-to guy for the sharpest political commentary and analysis. Maintaining his blog since November 2002, Zúniga is a blog veteran and makes his only source of income of the advertising and membership signups on Dailykos.
Honorable Mention: The Foreign Policy Blog
While this blog might not be as popularly known, it is a “hidden treasure” that points out and provides commentary on international news stories which haven’t made it to the United States yet. Written by the Editors of Foreign Policy magazine, it also references fun, whimsical international stories.
Wonkette.com
Deemed as the source of “DC Gossip”, this blog gives political news a more humorous spin by poking fun at various politicians and reporting quirky tidbits on ‘this and that’ in the news.
Technology
Favorite: Engadget
With a sleek design and a loyal following, Engadget has established itself as the premier ‘gadget’ blog. Despite its name, the blog doesn’t just report the latest trendy gadgets and gizmos that hit the market, bloggers are quick to post any relevant ‘tech’ news or information.
Honorable Mention: Techcrunch
A group-edited blog about technology startups (particularly the Web 2.0 sector), Techcrunch profiles the companies, products and events that are defining and transforming the new web.
Lifehacker
The self-proclaimed ‘geeky’ blog recommends readers with software downloads and worthy websites to reference that both save time and make your life easier.
Entrepreneurship
Favorite: Go Big Network
Written by Wil Schroter, a serial entrepreneur who been recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by various publications, this blog reveals the most straight-forward and practical advice for how to make savvy business decisions. Posts such as “How to Pitch Your Company via Email” lend readers the opportunity to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions without all the frill and fanfare.
Honorable Mention: Venture Voice
Venture Voice provides audio or podcast interviews with various venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and anyone who knows their story. Readers get the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade straight from the mouths of today’s walking success (and sometimes failure) stories.
ProBlogger
Having started more than sixteen blogs throughout the last few years, Darren Rowse is no doubt the “ProBlogger” he claims to be. The blog provides useful resources and bits of advice to anyone attempting to channel their blog popularity into some serious bling-bling.
Entertainment
Favorite: Gawker.com
An obvious play on words, Gawker is the “it” pop culture website that reports the daily Manhattan media news and gossip.
Honorable mention: Obtusity
A more literary and innovative approach to analyzing and interpretation music and music videos.
Culturally-Connected (our favorite of course)
South Asian: Sepia Mutiny
Deemed as a “focused, cultural interest” blog, Sepia Mutiny is run by a group of Mutineers (bloggers) who post about anything and everything relevant to the South Asian Diaspora in the United States. The blog also has sections dedicated to news and events- making it an ultimate resource for South Asians looking to read about the current happenings in their community.
Asian: APIA Blog Network
The Asian Pacific Islander American Blog Network is an aggregated blog network that collects posts from insightful, politicized Asian American blogs. By providing an outlet for cohesion among the APIA blogging community, the blog serves to promote the development of social consciousness and APIA identity.
Middle Eastern: No Snow Here
Although she recently switched her blog hosting website, Nadia has established herself as a well-respected blogger among the cyber Middle Eastern community. Nosnowhere is a blog about race, culture, life and art from an Arab American feminist viewpoint.
Latin: The Latin Americanist
Maintained by three avid bloggers, The Latin Americanist is an English-language forum for all things Latin American- covering business, politics, and culture.
Africana: Black Refer
This website strives to created an online community between readers and the bloggers by inviting bloggers of African-American descent to link their blogs to the homepage. The website also offers an outlet for individuals to post events or interact with one another through forums.
So there’s our list of need-to-know blogs. Is there any that we’ve missed? Let us know.
Rupa, 20, was born and raised under the warm sunshine of the Bay Area, California but decided to pursue a BA in English and Sociology at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (and yes, she enjoys living in the cornfields).
The views and opinions expressed in these comments do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The CulturalConnect.
Indias first and very own desi blog awards, the Indibloggies are publicly-chosen awards conferred on bloggers from India and of Indian origin settled elsewhere; check out the link: http://www.indibloggies.org/nominations-2006/ for the nominees in various categories and other details………
Thanks for including me in this article, I feel honored! There are a lot of other great Middle Eastern blogs that I link to on mine, everyone should check them out.
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