The Advantages and Disadvantages of Blogging

            Thinking back to when I was a child most individuals often keep journals written down on paper.  In today’s society many individuals are still keeping journals but now there online for everyone to see.  The first blogs were created in online discussion forums where individuals often wrote articles about companies, products and services they were familiar with.  Now blogs are often written about everyday occurrences or about events in the news.  Searching through some of the blogs found online I came across three that poised some serious thought.

The first article I blog I read was entitled Shutdown: Snakes in the House written by John Willis.  This article was written in response to the United States government shutting down due to a political dispute.  Although some of the information is useful in this article one must remember that what the individual is writing is his own personal opinion and not that of the general American public.  With that being said it is interesting to see how an “average” American views the political battle that has shut down government offices for three days.  Being rather familiar with the current situation I am able to distinguish the facts and what are the writers own opinions but those who are unfamiliar with the situation might not be able to distinguish these. 

The second blog was written by Andrew Miller entitled Virtual Schooling: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?  This was a very interesting blog written about the future of online learning.  Andrew writes about shift from the old way of learning through textbooks to newer technological approach that allows students to learn at their own pace from home.  This allows more students to take courses they are interested in at universities across the world without ever having to leave their house.  There are some disadvantages to this idea is not all universities are going to have the same rigorous standards as others.  Also those who do not do well without physical interaction with professors will not effectively learn the information.

            The last blog I am going to write about was written by John Quelch entitled “How General Motors Violated your trust.  This article goes back to the 2008 meltdown and bankruptcy of General Motors and explains in detail how General Motors became so disconnected from its customers. Although General Motors may have lost a valuable connection with consumers it is not the only reason behind the failure of the company.  There are many other factors that were left out of this blog which include having too much debt and more importantly the American subprime mortgage crises.  It is still an interesting view point but there is much to be said about what information individuals are choosing to publish in articles and what information they chose to leave out.

             Blogging plays an important role in our lives today with regards to the amount of information that is available to you. Either though consumer or blogging websites or other social media websites much of the information we view today is in blog form.  Many individuals write consumer reviews about products or services online to share their opinions about certain products.  With so many individuals taking to blogging on social media websites it’s become hard to find products that don’t have consumer reviews written about them online.  It also becomes useful for news information because individuals are always blogging about current news events.

            There are also some disadvantages with regards to blogging and information posted online.  The individual reading the blog has to understand that what he or she is reading is the opinion of that particular writer.  Some individuals writing blogs about products or services may have an affiliation with that organization and may be receiving compensation for their work.  There have been many incidents where individuals post false claims online.  The problem now is with our society becoming so connected with social media and blogging it’s possible for this misinformation to spread like wildfire.   Although there is ample information available at our fingertips it is getting harder to sift through which information is valid and relevant and which is not.  We are in an age where information is available at our fingertips but misinformation is also available as well.