Blogging: Multiple Uses

[Will]

When I think of blogging, and many of you probably think the same way, I think of someone complaining or ranting about something that only affects them or a few select people. For some reason I have this stigma chiseled into my brain about what it means to blog. I forget that there are multiple uses for such an expressive form of communication.

One use I've come across recently has to do with pregnancy. My brother and his wife recently had a child, and without getting to personal, there were complications. Alicia, my brother's wife, has come up with a unique way of keeping everyone up to speed about the baby's condition. She found a website, carepages.com, that has allowed her to post updates, photos, and individual messages. This has allowed my brother's family to stay connected and inform everyone without having to talk to everyone individually and repeat everything numerous times. I can imagine in certain situations this would be much easier than telling someone face to face some really bad news. I feel that this allows them to let all the nosy, "less-important" friends and family all they have to offer without really having to talk to them. At the same time this is less intimate and you lose a human aspect to the birth of a child.

I know my brother was receiving 60+ calls a day, of people just wanting updates on the baby. He doesn't have time to get to all those people, so this was a way of doing it. Blogging about the situation has helped them a tremendous amount as well, because people are posting support messages. I can't even imagine what I would be feeling if I was in their situation, all these people with all these kind words. You get my drift.

Does anyone else have some other use for blogging that they have thought of or come across?

[Deanna]

Will- i too have the same mindset when it comes to blogging. For some reason, at least before this class, i used to think of blogging as people using their blogs to promote their own ideas, and ranting on about what they think or stupid petty things that no one but them really care about. I used to connect the word blogging to sites like livejournal, or xanga. I do not know if this is even the same thing as blogging, but i didn't really take it seriously.

I think that what your brother & his wife are doing is so great. It just shows how technology has affected everything in our lives. I think that it is 100% beneficial for your brother & his wife because now they can update people without being hassled or pressured into it. Plus, after the baby is born, they are going to have a personal journal and pictures, updates,etc for them to look back on and remember all the experiences. Those types of things can't be recorded in a phone call or in a conversation. Although it does cut out an aspect of the intimate part of birth, i think it also brings about other ways of intimacy by allowing more people to be connected and know whats going on in their life.

I think blogging can be used in many beneficial ways. I have a few friends in Iraq, and they will update their facebook/myspace/etc blogs once in a while. I think this is very beneficial to allow loved ones at home know what is going on. Although i do write to my 2 friends in Iraq, it sometimes takes weeks before they get a letter, or i get a letter back from them. Blogging has helped them keep in contact with their friends and family ( when they can get access to a computer of course), as well as allowing them to document parts of their lives & experiences. I think blogging has many other opportunities and purposes that we sometimes overlook.

[Will]

Yeah, actually guys and girls use their facebook/myspaces a lot to keep in touch with friends while their over seas! I can think of 2 or 3 guys right now in the same position as your friends that I know.

It gives them a chuckle every once in a while, and I know that helps them with their morale in a desolate place. They can also keep in touch with friends and family that they might otherwise not be able to call.

Great comment!

[Brooke Alden Hoffman]

Blogging always seemed selfish to me as well. Mostly because the only blogs that I ever really read were those created by my friends and created primarily to document their own life. Being in this class has also introduced me to a world of unselfish blogging; where those with knowledge to give are helping out this in need of knowledge. Also Will, as you mentioned there are various blogging support groups where people can help each other cope when they are in a time of need. I also think that it is fantastic that Alicia and your brother have decided to update those who care about them through the internet. It is draining enough to have complications with a pregnancy, and it must almost be therapeutic to be able to write down your feelings and thoughts and post pictures at that time and sign in later to see that you have received numerous messages of hope from everyone that you love.

On the downside, I have also explored blogs such as http://community.livejournal.com/anorexicqueen which is pro-anorexia and instructs girls on how to lose weight unhealthily. The bloggers help each other maintain their eating disorders by listing their daily caloric intake and giving each other tips on how to make themselves sick. I guess where there are ups, there are also downs and with blogging, any kind of support group can form.

[Will]

"On the downside, I have also explored blogs such as http://community.livejournal.com/anorexicqueen which is pro-anorexia and instructs girls on how to lose weight unhealthily."

---WOW!--- I had no idea such a blog existed, and I am thoroughly nauseous. Although, there is a counter to that that I just remembered

www.postsecrets.com

I don't know the history about this site, but I know a man in Maryland receives post cards from people who express their feelings on different difficulties of life. A common one is how people beat eating disorders. A lot of people write the guy and get many positive responses and it encourages them/empowers them to do well. This is a little different than a blog, but still under the same category, I think.

The guy updates the site every Sunday, so track the site and you'll see what I mean. There are also a few books that have been published with pages upon pages of postsecret post cards...It is really something amazing...

Any more uses?

[Deanna]

Will- I've seen the post secret books. Actually, at one of the SAB meetings I went to a while back, they talked about possibly getting the guy to come to Cortland, with his collection to talk about it. I guess he goes touring and then talks about the post cards & issues people present. I think that he was really expensive to bring to campus though.

I remember reading about the pro-anorexia blog! That type of thing makes me sick. I can't believe there are people out there that are sick enough to help other people through such a thing. Is there a drug addict blog too- teaching people different ways to drug themselves up?

I think that there are blogs out there to help people with problems. For example,I am not positive, but there has to be blogs out there ( or should be at least) for people who need help with their problems. - Alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, etc. I think that blogging about problems and getting POSITIVE feedback would be helpful. It might be a little less intimidating than attending a meeting. I am not saying it is the best way to "get help" but if it is a positive feedback blog, then it definitely is a start!

[Jessica]

I've been on post secret I can't even tell you home many times. I never really thought of it as a blog but it most certainly is. The site is actually pretty depressing yet every Sunday when new posts come up I have to go and look at every single one of them. I've never contributed but I like to see everyone's different stories through just a few worlds and pictures on post secret.

[Tim]

A girl in my Senior Sem class last semester researched websites like that. I remember she posted a comment by someone in a forum she joined that said "my b.f will buy me kittens if I lose 10 lbs by Christmas." No joke. Hard to believe websites like that exist......

[Vinny Thide]

Will, I think I've mentioned somewhere along the line in this class that my mom is a nurse. She actually has patients that use care pages to update friends and family about their situations. For instance, a breast cancer patient who wants to keep those who care updated about what is going on without having to repeat over and over again by phone what their current situation is. Blooging here and there about what is going on in carepages with automatic emails sent to each member of their invited conacts is so much easier than spending hours on the phone. Like you said your brother was getting a ridiculous amount of phone calls, this helps prevent that at a time when you would rather just rest and treasure down time instead of yapping on the phone. With all this said, I never really looked at this site as a blogging site but I guess you are right.

[Will]

Yeah, just by using carepages a bit I can imagine the uses people have been getting out of it. It doesn't surprise me one bit that people are using it for cancer support, but it does make me smile.

This brings up something unrelated to me; I'm sure most of you are participating someway in Relay For Life, but if not I would like you to consider it. Either participating, donating, or both, Relay For Life is one of the most powerful event I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of. If you'd like to donate I've enclosed a guide on how to do so, the proceeds go directly to the American Cancer Society, and my team is through the Leadership House.

Step by Step:
1.Go to the link, http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=9578
2.click on Donate to a Team,
3.Search for a Team (The L-House),
4.Click on Jessica D'Angelo
5.Click Donate- and follow the 3 easy steps to make your donation!

It's a lot of fun, powerful, and I'll be there DJing if you stop by! Hope to see you there!

[AlexReid]

You're right Will. There are many, many different kinds of blogs out there. Here are some of the one's I try to keep up with.
http://www.bloglines.com/public/alexreid
Bloglines is a website where you can subscribe to blog rss feeds and keep them all together.

You should also check out this site:
http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

Technorati is like google for blogs. And each year Dave Sifry, technorati's founder, puts out this "state of the blogosphere" report.

[Jessica]

Blogs can be used for all sorts of different things that you might not even think of; like some of the blogs everyone has wrote about here. I have found all differnt types of blogs on Yahoo! about all different types of things from cruise reviews to easy recipes. Blog sites are everywhere and they are a great way to get information in an honest way because its not someone trying to tell you somethings its just people stating their opinions and experiences.

This is a blog about cruise reviews that I actually used recently to decide on what cruise company to use:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=shi...

This is a blog on easy recipes that is simple and straight forward:

http://www.quickeatsplus.com/quick-and-easy-recipes-blog.html


All this information was honest and helpful for me.

[Jacob Martinko]

Wow...60+ phone calls a day! Thats a lot! There is no way that I would ever be able to handle that..especially if I had to tell the same updated news 60 times to 60 different people. I think that the reason for all of these phone calls is that as a society, people are nosy and as a society, we are taught to be nosy. Everyone wants to be in everyone else's business. I'm not saying that I'm not a victim of this society as well, but I try to keep my "nosyness" to a minimum. So, this blogging idea that your sister-in-law had I think was a great idea. People can still be nosy without interrupting your brother's life. Now, obviously the blogging may take away the type of communication that your brother is having with 60 people a day by talking to them on the phone, but blogging isn't really that much different from talking on the phone. They are both means of communicating with people without meeting face to face.

I think that blogging is so useful in so many different ways. I think that it helps me in this class because had this class of been in a classroom, there is no way that the ideas that I came up with through blogging would of been expressed. I would not have of participated nearly as much as I have over the coarse of this past semester. Blogging has helped me in this way. I think that blogging could also help people in other ways by allowing their ideas to be read by thousands of people. This could create a social change. Blogging is one new age way of communicating ideas.