Genre of a Blog

Blogging is a growing theme amongst the online community.  People gravitate toward it for many reasons.  Perhaps to reflect of personal experiences, talk about the sports hub, and share anything from business to health.  It is its own genre.  Social networking is something different than all other types of writing because this takes place in an open forum where any one can read and comment on what you say.  No other forum allows such interaction from so far away and so instantaneously.  It is also the only kind of writing that absolutely requires a computer with the Internet.  Users have even developed their own personal way to write uniquely describing their thoughts.  The uniqueness of blogging, and all other forms of online social media, is what makes it a new genre.

Genres organize products into categories to make things easier to find.  In terms of a blog, I see no difference.  Blogs have themes just like any other work of art.  Whether that’s business themed, science, philosophy, or history, everything has at least one spot where it is similar to other works.  When we can organize efficiently, which genres allow us to do, it makes it easier to acquire related writings.  If there is a raw interest in the genre, as readers we are aware and already connected to the reading.  For example if I’m looking around online for a blog about fishing, when I type fishing into Google, I wouldn’t expect related searches to be articles on the zombie apocalypse.  Caroline Miller, a fellow blogger, wrote that when a type of discourse is given a certain name by a community, then it is functioning is a genre.  This really classifies what is a genre.  This discourse also has jargon only people with knowledge would completely understand.  So not only does it help readers find what their looking for, but also what they might be trying to avoid.

            Since I am a business major, I’m going to look at genre from a business perspective.  When I walk into a grocery store and start looking for what I want, I look at the top of the isles to see what is down each isle.  If I want some bread, I look for the bread isle and down that isle I might find some peanut butter and jams to go along with it.  To me that’s what a genre is, that sign on top of the isle to let you know what is down there, and you’ll find some other related items along the way.  Social networker, Daniel Chandler, says that genre serves to increase efficiency and communication. In the business world, that is completely true.  Being able to get what you want faster is a quality most consumers find useful.  In a world where everything is about now and immediate information, genre sure does make it easier to sift through what is irrelevant.  All of this is to, as another online writer Cornelius Puschmann, puts it, to maximize profit.  If customers have a good experience, they are more likely to return. 

            Computers make finding all of this information as easy as a click on the mouse.  We wouldn’t even be talking about this if computers didn’t exist.  The mass amounts of information are organized into genres.  All of the sites we view on the Internet are tracked.  This data can be used to make advertising more specific to the genre of sites you visit.  Companies use genre by finding similar hobbies and advertising them to you in hope of making a purchase.  It all comes down to money and genres can help make more of it.

            Blogging is a complete genre on its own with sub-genres with in the blogging community compiled into categories so to set up the audience.  With out it, readers might be confused while reading and won’t know what to expect.  Business, sports, health, cooking, boating are all types genre that a blog could be about.  It is clear to see that I believe genre is needed to keep order.  Without some way to organize, there would be chaos. 

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogging_as_social_action_a_genre_analysis_of_the_weblog.html

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre2.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=fMLR07uRGcEC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=genre+consumers+blog&source=bl&ots=WlvbRBqcSB&sig=2pJTO13huI8HOYRHMhmm_5gOcB4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kGJlUODSGYKoigKU8oGYDA&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=genre%20consumers%20blog&f=false