Blog is effectively online diaries (Clapperton, 2010) while community is defined as a group of people who hold or share something in common like sharing the same values or interests (Williams, 1993). Hence, blogging community means a group of people who shares the same interests in online diaries.
Jane (2011) uses a very unique way to explain on how to build a niche blogging community:
- The Seed
Blog posts should serve a purpose and OUTSTANDING!!
- Seed Sown on Right Soil
Select the right platform and accepts comments from readers and make the readers feel prioritised.
- A Clean Platform/Consistency
Presentation of content is indeed important and must be updated in a regular basis in order to catch hold of your readers.
- Accommodate Visitors
When readers increase, create new platforms and add new functionality in order for more interactions with readers.
Blog based Community
Source : Nancy White 2006
Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community
This is the first form of blog based community and it centers around one owner or organisation. There may be more than one blogger writing in a blog, but it is definitely not an aggregation of blogs. Communities respond to the blog by being the commentor but they are not in control of the blog except for the blogger him or herself.
Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community
Central Connecting Topic Community
Unlike Blogger Centric Community, Central Connecting Topic Community focuses more on the topic rather than the blogger. This blogging community does not emphasise on the profile of the blogger,however, the blogger's personal details can be shared via instant messages or email. Community is formed within the network who are interested in the topic discussed in the blog.
Topic Centric Community
Boundaried Community
Boundaried Community Blog usually requires the members to register and join the community in order to create a blog. This type of community blog does not merely have blogs but also other tools such as discussion board, forums, social networking sites where it allows the members to not just have their own personal spaces but also enable them to share their interest in a common area or for daily 'conversations. The power in this kind of community lies in the platform owner. Bloggers hold power in three ways which are (1) frequency of posting, (2) popularity gained through comments and (3) visualising relationships through social networking sites.
Boundaried Community
Global Voices is a community blog of more than 300 bloggers and translators around the world that come together to us reports from blogs and media everywhere with emphasis on voices that are not usually heard in mainstream media. It is a Topic Centric Community as the bloggers blog based on the topic, not based on own interest. Their personal details are not revealed in the community but their emails are available for the public to email or to instant message them for queries. The bloggers play the role of 'telling' the voices which cannot be heard which appropriately defined the 'affordance' theory. Affordance is applied to Global Voices as the bloggers will use words to narrate the topic and by 'showing' photos and videos to maximise the interactions with the community (Walsh, 2006).Reference:
- Clapperton, G 2010, What is blogging, and how do I get a blog?, BBC, viewed 21 August 2011, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/how-to-get-a-blog>.
- Jane 2011, Tips on building a niche blogging community, viewed 23 August 2011, <http://www.seommotips.com/blogging-tips/tips-on-building-a-niche-blogging-community/>.
- Walsh, M 2006, 'The 'textual shift': examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts', Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37.
- White, N 2006, Blogs and community - launching a new paradigm for online community, The Knowledge Tree, viewed 21 August 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.
- Williams, R 1993, The virtual community, viewed 21 August 2011, <http://people.ucalgary.ca/~bakardji/community/definition.html>.
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