According to data provided by the publishing platform Moeabletype.org, 6-million Americans currently get their news and information from "RSS aggregators," otherwise known as blogs. Eleven percent of the U.S. population as a whole reads blogs and 59 percent of corporate CEOs claim they find blogs useful for internal communications.
Many Boston College students also follow blogs in order to keep themselves updated on the antics of new musicians, Hollywood celebrities, fashionistas, and even their closest friends.
Some students use blogs for easy access to news and current events. Others, like Cara Placentra, CSOM '12, might take their daily cues from blog writing. "The blogs I read make it easy for me to access the news I want about fashion; my favorite blog, The Sartorialist, has new pictures of people on the street everyday, which inspires how I dress," she said.
Blog followers often claim that blogging allows for a new type of writing, the kind without any editorial process. Ian Roundtree, A&S '12, said that he enjoys blogs for the "raw" emotions found within their unedited pages.
"Blogging is tempting because it's very raw, people just type what they think, and either you agree or don't," he said.
Roundtree said that he regularly follows the blogs of friends, such as Ricardo Antione, a blogger on the Web site Interneetgoon.com and BC '09. "I follow Ricardo's blog because it's interesting to read. It's like a magazine but catered to me," he said. "He posts music and videos that I like and writes articles that relate to college students."
Another way in which students can acquire information relevant to their everyday campus life is through the Boston College Student Admission Program's (SAP) blog. BC students contribute to the blog, which serves to provide prospective students who cannot visit Boston College with information on day-to-day life at BC.
One such student is Luke Lapointe, CSOM '12. "The blog is about my interactions on campus and the city of Boston. As a student in CSOM I try to highlight the opportunities available at BC as well as BC's culture, which is centered on dedication to school as well as involvement outside the classroom," Lapointe said. This is not the only way, however, that students can be informed about life on campus.
The University also has its own Twitter page, with which it provides students news from around campus. Individual campus offices have also entered into the "blogosphere," with twitter pages for BC Dining and the Office of News and Public Affairs floating around the Internet.
Blogging also has the power to give an audience to otherwise unknown writers. One such writer is Mary Tomer, BC '03, who began blogging in 2005. "At the time, I was just reading blogs like Stereogum and Pitchfork because I wanted more information on the music scene in Boston," she said.
Eventually, Tomer was inspired to create a blog about First Lady Michelle Obama. "The inspiration came while watching the Democratic National Convention in August 2008," Tomer said.
Tomer said she was interested in Obama's style and searched on the Internet for a blog on the subject, but found herself out of luck.
"I loved that Mrs. Obama married strength and self-possession with a very feminine sense of style. I wanted to know more about her style but surprisingly found very little," Tomer said, "It was at that moment I decided a blog was in order."
It was not long before Mary's blog, opened the door to many other opportunities. "I've written a book, Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy which comes out in October. I've had the chance to meet designers I've never imagined I would, and I'm headed to Fashion Week for the first time," Tomer said.
Like many blogs, Tomer's has its appeal in its originality and her knowledge in her subject matter.
"I think that good bloggers have a good eye for the subject matter they blog about; most importantly, they have the ability to find unique and rare subject matter," Placentra said. "I don't want to read a blog that has stories I could go to The New York Times or CNN for."
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