The Language of Blogs

I read over a lot of blogs each week, casually surfing one or two of the blog exchanges I belong.

I realized yesterday that I seldom read the whole entry unless it's very short. Many are quite uncomfortable to read, some downright excruciating, in terms of their grammatical skills, spelling, and style. Because it is such an immediate and off-the-cuff personal expression, do the standard language rules apply?

The conversational nature of a blog leads naturally to an informal, casual approach that can be refreshing and innovative, indirectly echoing some of the great writers of the past who used dialect and local expressions to vitalize their work.

It is unfortunate that so many who write don't understand basic language rules so cannot effectively break them. When it takes major time and effort to understand what on earth the writer is trying to say, rather than being able to appreciate the content and point of view being expressed, it becomes merely an exercise in frustration.

The beauty, and ultimate value of blogging, is that communication is direct, individual, and uncensored. No editor with an eye on public opinion or potential legal consequences is cutting out whole paragraphs in fear they will offend. There is no filter applied by conservative management or the need for committee consensus prior to publication.

However, those of us who publish our thoughts and opinions to the world do have one big responsibility: to our readers. We can, happily, say anything we want but need to clearly communicate our point of view.

Anything less demeans the value of this wonderful new medium and leads to millions of electronic pages that fail to unite us in community, as is our goal, but merely consumes virtual space like the incoherent ramblings of a lonely psychotic.

Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://drvirginiabola.blogspot.com

---

Article Marketing For Bloggers - 4 Tips To Build Traffic For Your Blog

Bloggers blog. That's what they do. A blog is short... Read More

A Blog Isnt Just For Christmas

I was watching the news on TV last night and... Read More

How To Add Random RSS Content To Your Site

Most savvy internet marketers will know how important it is... Read More

Blogs Explained

It seems like Blogs are everywhere these days. You can't... Read More

Avoid Bad Manners While Blogging

Blogging, the hottest trend in online publishing right now, is... Read More

RSS Directory Submission: The Key to Blog Promotion

According to Technorati, there are over 15 million blogs as... Read More

Make Money with Your Own Blog

Well, basically, setting up a blog means that you are... Read More

RSS for Newbies; A Quick Tutorial

"RSS" stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is a new... Read More

Start Blogging Now: 10 Reasons Why You Really Need a Blog for Your Business

1. It is perfect for creating a web presence for... Read More

How Yahoos Recent Facelift Can Mean More Traffic To Your Site

It even surprised me. Yes, even though I have... Read More

Google Does RSS

Has Google finally embraced RSS with their new XML powered... Read More

Marketers Still Dont Get RSS Metrics - How We Really Can Measure RSS

Even after all that's been written and explained, even reputable... Read More

Business Blogging: Where Do I Start?

The new hot commodity is a blog for your small... Read More

Blog and Ping: The Basics!

The buzz words on the internet at the moment are... Read More

How to Activate The Firefox Live Bookmark Feature on Your Site

Live Bookmark is Mozilla's response to offering RSS feeds through... Read More

RSS and Blog Marketing for Real Estate

Earlier this month, Realtor Magazine announced that they would be... Read More

Why I Use Bloglines as My Default RSS Reader

Choosing a decent RSS reader to browse and read your... Read More

The Right Blog Software Can Make A Blog Stand Out from the Crowd

Blogs are an easy way to get your voice out... Read More

Its A Blog, Not A Sales Letter

The recent spurt of interest in blogging has begun to... Read More

Should Affiliates Really Use Blogging and Pinging To Get Indexed?

There seems to be a huge craze lately with everyone... Read More

3 Reasons To Publish An E-Newsletter AND A Blog

With spam filters on high alert, delivering a newsletter by... Read More

Why Blog?

It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere... Read More

What Is This RSS, XML, RDF, and Atom Business?

It's been a long day at work and you're... Read More

The Power of the BLOG

Can a Blog earn you a prison sentence? Ask Mojtaba... Read More

The Key To Marketing With Blogs

I've spent months answering questions from marketers about blogs and... Read More

How To Build Traffic To Your Blog

With the growing interest in blogging as... Read More

Blogging will Soon Take Over the World

In recent years, it's been pretty obvious that "blogging" (Web... Read More

Benefits to RSS

RSS streamlines communication between publishers and readers. Since RSS has... Read More

The RSS Promise for Internet Users

The RSS promise for end-users is simple:--> a unified one-stop-shop... Read More

Blogs and Networking

In the middle 1990's everyone started talking about needing a... Read More

Reachout Throughout ? RSS

RSS has been around for more than a decade but... Read More

17 Mistakes Professionals Make with Their Blogs

Are you getting results from your business blog? Is it... Read More

Blogging Advice - Give Your Readers What They Want

Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure... Read More