Research Proposal: Truth over Facts

Truth over Facts:

How blogs have transitioned citizens from popular news reporting to stranger’s perceptions

Have you found yourself reading blogs in the morning, yet? Something to stimulate your mind, perhaps something that is a little more thought provoking. Maybe fewer facts and more real life perspectives or maybe just a little something different than the normal negative news. Well it seems that you may not the only one. There are many individuals, including myself, who wake up the morning and have become accustomed to browsing blogs over reading traditional newspapers and online news. We could agree that most blogs are streams of conscious, various thoughts, perspectives and emotions in a text format that we as human experience on distinctive levels in life. But why are blogs becoming so intriguing to citizens who for years have been used to turning to news for information?

In my research paper I will study these positive and negative effects of blogging, and analyze the system and perceptions behind blogging. In detail, I will evaluate citizen journalism to prove the popular theory that people would rather read opinions than facts. With the emergence of interactive journalism where users control their information flow, blogs have become extremely popular sources of information. They do not always discuss breaking new stories or politics, but are more than often perspectives that keep people’s attention.

The purpose of conducting research regarding blogs is to more accurately analyze the audience (both writers and readers) and the theories behind the blogging system in order to understand the transition that continues to become increasingly popular. A variety of methodology (content analysis, virtual ethnography and Skype interview with interactive media professional) will be conducted in order to see what blog audiences have in common and perhaps explain what exactly people are receiving and taking away from the blogosphere. I will analyze and report why the distinctive features of blogs are so attractive, whether it be the technological component or democratic liberty of self-expression. Hence, this research paper will evaluate audience analysis, the theories behind blogging and how all of these factors affect new media.

I would like to briefly define and analyze citizen journalism for those who may not be as knowledgeable and show how it is relevant to blogs and conversation style journalism. Interestingly enough, blogs are being incorporated in corporate web sites across the world for various reasons, which I wish to explore. I will use Essence magazine online (www.essence.com) as an example website to help explain how web standards and interactivity have encouraged this large mass movements from traditional news reporting websites to blogs. Over the past few years Essence.com, as well as many other news-related companies, have integrated multiple bloggers into their website to support the movement of citizen journalism and perhaps give their audience what they want. These companies seem aware of the urgent shift and to remain reputable and in competition with other top companies, have made a transition into the blogging world. Some companies are even demanding employees to blog about their job duties and personal lives, while other companies are strategically selecting average “joe” bloggers to blog on their sites. I intend to find research supporting the argument that the average blogger is getting just as much, if not more attention, as the popular presidents and executives are top companies.

In conclusion, this research paper will be an effective review of audience analysis of blogs. Although we know surface level information concerning blogs, it is important to accurately analyze the factors surrounding the blogosphere and how they affects individuals who choose or choose not to participate in reading or writing blogs. This study will help to evaluate these open-ended issues regarding blogging we observe so often during the evolution of new media.