WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOUth?

It’s no surprise at all to see a 5 year-old child surfing the net. That emerging-techno-savvy child does even have faster fingers than my mom. At such a young age, they’re already discovering their promising potentials in the virtual world.  I don’t know if I should be green with envy that in no time they could be the computer experts and the celebrated bloggers of their generation.

Considering our time now, Filipino youth of ages 15-24 govern the blogosphere.  

This emergent tweak in the behavior of the Filipino youth reminds me of the principle of Emergent Adulthood introduced to me by my professor in Educational Psychology class. Adolescence is extending beyond the teenage years already. At the age of 24, you’re still considered to be an ‘adolescent’. Isn’t it music to your ears if you’re at your mid-twenties?

Nonetheless, it’s definitely not late for me. I’m 19 and I started blogging this year 2011. Back when ‘blogging’ was still just a floating suggestion to me, I was embracing journal-writing. Yes, I love keeping journals. But, I just can’t get my way with it. It would be updated for the first 2 weeks; yet, come next days and my activities have totally overtaken my time for my journal that it’s becoming archaic. Poor journal.

Later did I realize that I want to share my thoughts to other people. Mr. Web just answered my thoughts about it. I was introduced to the online community and the interactive space that the blogosphere offers.

This, of course, is not all about me. I should write something that my target audience can relate with. And as I’m becoming a part of this community, I’m already learning what’s trending or not.

Below is a portion of an interesting study [2005] about the blogging trends featuring one hundred top bloggers selected from the Pinoy top blogs. According to the methodology presented, ‘the study was limited only to those who registered in the Pinoytopblogs and who were ranked in the top one hundred by the unique hits they received ‘:

 The data above was in partial response to the interview question: What blogging trends do you see in the future? [2005]

Now, at year 2011, let’s try to relate this study to see if the blogging trends today justified the means gathered back in 2005.  Let’s check if the blogging trends today match the answer provided in the question mentioned above.

There are varying studies that feature the top ranking blogs in the Philippines. There’s one compiled by the Technorati Authority Ranking. But, let me feature the ones registered in TOPBlogs.com.ph:

The above list may not reflect the actual standings since it changes on a daily basis. It would give you an idea of what kind of content does youth want to see on a PH blog.

[Technology] First on the list is Yugatech with 57, 029 visitors at the time of viewing. It features technology news and gadget reviews. 

[Entertainment – Anime] Naruto Manga/Naruto Shippuden/Naruto Spoilers ranked 2^nd on the list at the time of viewing.

[News] A news blog called COOLBUSTER.net is third in rank with 49, 028 visitors.

Moreover, it was interesting to check what categories do the top 10 blogs fall under.

Ranking according to Categories [refer to the list above]:

1. Technology & Computers                       6. Education
2. Entertainment – Anime                            7. Home & Living - Wedding
3. News & Journalism                                8. Business and Finance
4. Entertainment – Celebrity Updates          9. Personal
5. Entertainment – TV Shows                     10. Health & Medicine

The above list may change in a daily basis. Although interestingly, three entertainment blogs were included in the top 10 listing of TOPBlogs.

There’s quite an indication of similarity from the study done in 2005 as to the figures and listings that TOPBlogs came up with.

The study in 2005 featured 100 blogs. 51 of those were personal blogs. 14 were entertainment blogs. 12 were news/politics blogs. 10 were technology blogs.

These blogging trends [categories] were brought out in the top 10 blogs of TOPBlogs today.

Knowing these blogging trends and its development, I will try to tap different drifts in my personal blog. It’s important to me as a blogger that I will write about what I know about and what I’m interested about. Since I don’t have a strong inclination to a specific trend, e.g. technology, I will set up a personal blog which will feature anything that intensely interests me. As an online reader, I usually visit fashion, book and news blogs. But, my interests are boundless that even rock music and theatre tickle my interest. With these interests, I will categorize them and render them into different pages like the one below:

It would have the same structure but different labels. The labels could be ‘Books, Music, Fashion, WHAT’s NEW? etc.’.

Below is a book blog with a simple design that I want to adapt:

 

As much as I can, I will integrate different forms of media not limited to pictures and videos. I will try to make everything original, even the audio-visual materials that will be introduced. It means to say that I will only present pictures that I have taken.

Here’s another book blog that I always visit:

Let me borrow the much used adage: Simplicity is beauty.  With a lot of things that interest me, I want to feature them in a very defined simple design and layout.