Friday, May 13, 2011

Classifications of blogs

Over the years, there a numerous attempts in trying to classify blogs into its respective categories. However, the constant growth of the blogosphere is making it tough to classify them specifically. With the increasing number blog posts being posted daily, there are simply no boundaries to the structure of a blog and you can really expect a wide range of topics being discussed. Each blog has their own topics, styles, formats and audience, therefore, if one were to classify each blog uniquely, there would be millions of classifications. At such, a general classification system of blogs is essential and useful for readers to search for blogs that are within their interest.

According to Farrington (2009), though there are hundreds of types of blogs online, mainly those can be classified into four types.
  • Personal blogs - Personal details, emotions, experiences, reviews irrespective of topics
  • Corporate blogs - Published by an organization to achieve its organizational goals
  • Proffesional blogs - Focus and specialize in specific subjects and fields of work
  • Micro blogs - Short texts and micro media such as audio clips and photos

On the other hand, Simons (2008) classified blogs into the following categories :
  • Pamphleteering Blog
  • Digest Blog
  • Advocacy Blog
  • Popular Mechanics Blog
  • Exhibition Blog
  • Gatewatcher Blog
  • The Diary
  • The Advertisement
  • The News Blog

By comparing both the classifications, I personally find Simons's classification of blogs to be a lot more specific than Farrington's classifications. However, I still prefer to identify blog categories through simple terms like media, news, personal, corporate, music blogs, photo blogs, video blogs etc.

References :
Farrington, R 2009, 'Different types of blogs', viewed 13th May 2011, http://www.articlemonkeys.com/Different-Types-Of-Blogs-8430.html

Funnell, A & Davies, A 2008, 'A taxonomy of blogs', viewed 13th May 2011, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript

Simons, M 2008, Towards a taxonomy of blogs, viewed 13th May 2011, http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0

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