Sunday, April 01, 2007

To blog or not to blog?

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from kuwait times
To blog or not to blog?
Published Date: March 30, 2007
By Sumayyah Meehan
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Now that is a good question. Just about everyone I know has a blog. They keep sending me annoying little blog invitations and I am getting lost in them all. The whirlwind of blogs available is also confusing. Some blogs are about life in general others are bitter political diatribes and some are just silly with content about pets or the latest fashions. There is so much hype surrounding the blogging craze and blogs are definitely going to shape the future of socialising on the net. So anyone planning a future on the net needs to explore blogging.

I have to admit that I was late in even knowing about the blog craze. The first time I even heard the word 'blog' I thought it was a mistake. I thought that I was being told about, "The Blob" which is a sci-fi movie that was made in 1958 about a killer alien that resembles a blob of red J-ello. I actually had to search the term 'blog' on the net. I discovered that a guy named Travis Petler invented the blog, or personal diary, back in 1997. He used the term 'Web Log' on his own personal web dairy while studying at Brown University. He simply cut of the 'W' and the 'E' to make the word 'blog'.

Once I found out what a blog was I set to work to find blogs based in Kuwait. My absolute favourite blog is one of the first ones I found. The content is awesome and always current. It is called 'K The Kuwaiti' (www.K.TheKuwaiti.com). The creator/owner of the site goes by the same nickname as his blog or 'K' for short. He is a 23-year-old systems engineer and lives in Kuwait. K launched his blog in 2005. He was inspired by two of his friends, Mark (www.248am.com) and Nibaq (www.2by4.org), who had already established their blogs early on. "My friends had started their blogs awhile back and I was a constant reader. There were times where I felt I had certain topics that I wanted to express; and after spending enough time commenting; I decided it was time to shift to my own blog," says K.

Deciding on Content: As for deciding on content for his blog, in order to keep things up to date and interesting, K turns to his nearest and dearest for their input. In terms of content, K says, "I usually discuss matters that I personally find interesting or important; I am also influenced by topics brought up by friends and family." K's formula for success appears to be working; He averages about 15,000 visitors a month and that adds up to a whopping 100,000 monthly hits.


Creating your own blog: Ready to jump on the blogging bandwagon, I turned to K for his advice for creating my own blog based in Kuwait. It is so easy that anyone can do it! According to K there are numerous methods in setting up your very own blog. " The easiest would be to visit popular blogging sites (wordpress.com and blogger.com) and create an account. This would give you your own sub-domain (user.wordpress.com or user.blogspot.com) and account to create a quick blog," says K, " You could also purchase a domain (www.yourname.com) and host your own blog (installing wordpress); that would require a bit more work."

Keeping it fresh One of the unfortunate things that I noticed while pouring through the innumerable blogs based in Kuwait is that most of the blogs are almost identical. The bloggers are talking about the exact same things. This totally takes the fun out of blogging and will totally cause your blog to crash and burn into a fiery twisted chunk of text if you don't keep the content fresh. K advises, "To make a blog different and special you want the reader to discover something new or something interesting. This involves finding topics, which haven't been touched upon or expressed from your viewpoint." For example, K says, "Reading a woman's perspective on being allowed to vote in Kuwait allows me to understand the significant shift of politics. Or reading about what foreigners see from their viewpoint in Kuwait allows for the citizens to fix issues they didn't realise were present." K suggests visiting the site www.KuwaitBloggers.com to read blogs by other people living in Kuwait. But he warns, "Your blog should echo your perspective and not that of blogs that you read." From my newfound perspective, blogging is an awesome idea. It's a way to connect with others by sharing your life experiences and viewpoints. And blogging has already demonstrated that it is an influential force in the political landscape (Kuwait's Orange Revolution) and I am convinced it will continue to shape the way we live and think. So, let your voice be heard and start blogging TODAY!
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4 comments:

True Faith said...

It was you who encouraged me and it was bloboz's blog that I've first started reading; and was Purgy's blog that I've enjoyed the most!!

Mohammad Al-Yousifi said...

حطيلنا مختصر رحم الله والديج

حدي تعبان و مالي خلق اقرأ

Ra-1 said...

TF ...
LOL okay :)

kila ma6goog ...
it is an article about blogs and an interview with 'K The Kuwaiti'
:)

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.