Blogging Culture gives Positive Effects on the way of

MMU Cyberjaya students spend their time.

Submitted to

Ms. Diana Abu Ujum

Prepared by

Nadzirah Fadzil 1051101254

Mohd Fahmi Abd Aziz 1051101515

Badruz Nasrin B Basri 1051101534

Sayyid Sabiq Bin Mohd Anuar 1051101548

Mohd Fahmi Fazreen B Mohd Hanafi 1051102512

Nur Balqis Abd Rahman 1051105041

Nur Adilah Shabuldin 1051106290

Nurul Huda Bt Zainal 1051106860

24th March 2008

Table of contents

Summary

1. Introduction

1.1. Background Information

1.2. Purpose

1.3. Scope

1.4. Methods and Sources

2. Findings and Discussion

2.1. Introductory Paragraph

2.2. General Background

2.3. Discussion

2.3.1. Relationship of Gender with interest to blog

2.3.2. Content of blog

2.3.3. Advantages of blog

2.3.4. Disadvantages of blog and awareness of blogging security

2.3.4.1. Disadvantages of blog

2.3.4.2. Awareness of blogging security

2.3.5. Hours spent on blog

2.3.5.1. Hours bloggers spent on their own blog

2.3.5.2. Hours students spent reading blog

2.3.6. Interest and attraction for blog

2.3.6.1. Introduction

2.3.6.2. Source of Gossip

2.3.6.3. Source of Knowledge/Tips

2.3.6.4. A Better Way to Keep In Touch

2.3.6.5. Platform to criticize

2.3.6.6. To Expose Interest/Hobby

2.3.7. The usage of language in blogs.

2.3.7.1. Quality of language in blogs

2.3.7.2. Blog do not contributes to poor language among students

2.3.7.3. Blog as a media to improve usage of language

2.3.8. Should government urge bloggers to register their blog under certain bodies

3. Conclusion

3.1. A tool to improve language

3.2. Positive attraction of blog

3.3. Hour spent for blogging activities

3.4. Advantages of blog

3.5. Disadvantages of Blogging

4. Recommendations

4.1. Encourage students to use proper language.

4.2. Resourceful information

4.3. Manage time wisely

4.4. Encouragement by the readers.

4.5. Security awareness.

Bibliography

Appendices

Interview transcript with

Interview transcript with

Sample survey question

1. Introduction 1.1. Background Information

A blog (short for “Weblog”) as quoted from www.wikipedia.com is a website where

entries are in a reverse sequential order. A common blog combines texts, images, links to

another blog, and media related to their topic. Many blogs contain commentaries or news

on a particular subject while others act as online diaries. Basically, blog is a web journal

to post arts, views, poems, rants, reviews, music or anything that you want to share with

either private groups or to the public. It is also used by politicians, businesses and others

to keep voters, customers and the like informed on matters of common interest. Hence, a

blog can function as an alternative to television, newspapers and other types of media

especially in a country where media are controlled by the government. Blogs or online

journals first appeared in the early 1990s. The development of software and the

evolution of websites in the late 1990s spurred the rapid growth of blogging. As of

December 2007, Technorati (a blog search engine) was tracking more than 112 million

blogs. Typically, blogs has advantages and disadvantages of their own.

1.2. Purpose

The objective of the report is to identify whether blogs has more advantages or

disadvantages to the students. While there are many advantages, likely there are also

many disadvantages. Hence the report is summarizing the research we have done. The

research questions are as follow: How many percentages of students have blog? What

are the advantages of blogging? , What are the disadvantages of blogging? , What is the

purpose of blogging among students? , Is there any awareness of security when

blogging? How many hours does student spent in writing or reading a blog? Do the

students agree with the suggestion to register blogs?

1.3. Scope

For this report, we had done the research involving only students from all faculties that

is Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Faculty of Management (FOM), Faculty of Information

Technology (FIT) and Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM). It is done in Multimedia

University Cyberjaya branch.

1.4. Methods and Sources

We used many methods for our research. As for primary data, questionnaire papers were

distributed randomly around campus to get the opinion from various students. The

survey was done to 151 students. We also interviewed two experts in language for their

views and opinions. One is a Multimedia University lecturer from Melaka campus and

another is a teacher with 30 years experience in English language from a secondary

school in Kuala Lumpur. Both interviews were done by email. For secondary data, we

used information mainly from the internet and some of it is from articles in newspaper

and magazines.

2. Findings and Discussion 2.1. Between 24th February and 29th February 2008, we conducted a survey on the blogging

culture among Multimedia University Cyberjaya students. A total of 151 questionnaires

were distributed to randomly selected students from various faculties and courses. Below

are the findings and discussion based on the data collected. Data is presented in the form

of graphs and pie charts for easy reference. Each tabulated data is then described and

analyzed.

2.2. The objective is to study the influence of blogs to the students of MMU Cyberjaya.

Specifically, we would like to know if blogs give more advantages than disadvantages

towards students’ life.

2.3. Discussion

2.3.1. Relationship of Gender with interest to blog

Figure 1.0: Relationship of gender and interest to blog

The purpose of this bar graph was to survey the largest number of gender among

bloggers and non bloggers in MMU Cyberjaya or in other words to know how

many male students and female students involved in blogging culture.

Obviously, it can be seen in the bar graph that mostly female students are

spending more time on blogging or reading the blog which consist 96 female

students out of the total of 151 students. Meanwhile, only a small amount of male

students which are 55 students.

It can be shown that among the bloggers (blue bar), there were a lot of female

students compared to male students which are 56 female students and 22 male

students. Total of the bloggers that already been surveyed are 78 students out of

151 students. In contrast, other 73 students are non bloggers (red bar). On the

other hand, the research about the non bloggers, female students also has the

highest amount of numbers that is 40 students out of 73 students. The rest which

is 33 students are male students who do not have a blog (non-bloggers).

As identified, there were a lot of female students than male students based on the

survey. This matter occurred in this research because MMU Cyberjaya campus

has larger capacity of female students compared to male students. This can be

referred to Multimedia University official website

(http://www.mmu.edu.my/TheUniversity_facts.htm) on facts and figures subtopic.

Thus, the surveys were not equally distributed. Besides that, it can also be seen

that mostly female students are interested and involved in blogging culture.

Actually it might be because female students have more curiosity to know what

was going on around their life. They want to know about their friend’s life

activities, issues in the country, to criticize and a lot more. Female students are

more likely to spend most of their free time on reading blogs or blogging.

Compared to male students in Cyberjaya campus, they prefer to spend their time

with playing soccer, computer games, indoor football and lots more. Male

students usually did not have interest in blogging culture because they assumed

that it will be a waste of time.

The conclusion that can be made based on the bar graph is gender affects the

amount of students who have a blog and who have not. Female students tend to

involve more in blogging culture and this is proven by 96 female students out of

151 students that we had surveyed.

2.3.2. Content of blog

Figure 1.1: Content of blog maintained by MMU students

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is

happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary or guide site, although there are

as many unique types of blogs as there are people.[1]

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others

function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images,

and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The

ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important

part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on

art , photographs, sketch blog, videos , and music.( Welcome to Technorati ,

2007-12-17. )

In general, we can divide blogs in several different categories based on its

purpose. 78 out of 151 respondents which classified themselves as bloggers

give their answer on this topic. Six different categories were provided for this

question such as diary, political issue, entertainment (music, movies etcetera),

online business, information technology (IT), and others.

Nearly half of them, which are 46 percent, use blog as their online diaries.

Based on observation, online diaries of the respondents mainly talk about their

student’s life, family and friends. Blog has been used as a place for them to

express their emotions, feelings and share stories. Instead of using book as

conventional way of writing a diary, most of them use blog because of its

interactive feature and easy to organize.

Meanwhile, 22 percent of the respondents use the blog for the purpose of

entertainment. The content of their blog mainly talk about their interest in

music, movies, television show, sharing MP3’s, and many more. This kind of

blog have large network among bloggers with same interest. Some of them

give reviews, comments and criticism on local bands, latest movies on cinema

etcetera. 10 out of 78 respondents have deep interest in political issues either

from the government, opposition or both sides. The most interesting part is that

some of them also have wide knowledge to discuss on world political issue.

Their discussions are mainly about election, corruption, political strategies,

wars and many more.

14 percent of respondent give others as their answer. This categories being

chosen by those who have many different things published in their blog not

just as their personal diaries, but also as the place for them building business

network, gossiping, and anything that cross their minds.

Only four percent of the respondents use blogs as a place for them to share

knowledge on gadget, latest information technology, sharing tools and tutorials

for software. And last but not least, only one percent of the respondents focus

on their blog for the purpose of online business. There are wide range of

product being sold using blogs such as food, e-book, gift, gadget and many

more. Blog being used for the purpose of promotion as it provide large market

among nowadays society.

In a nutshell, the content of blogs closely related to student’s interest, hobbies

and their daily life. Students with skills and abilities in certain fields tend to

share and discuss using their blogs. In the other hand, bloggers use their blog

to replace conventional ways of writing diary.

2.3.3. Advantages of Blogging

Figure 1.2: Advantages of blogging among MMU students

The benefits of blogging among Multimedia University (MMU) students in their

daily life vary to categories.

The categories are to release stress, to find friends, to promote business, to gain

side income (advertisements), to share opinion, and others (hobby, fun). The

biggest contribution in the total pie chart comes from release stress category and

the category business and promotion purpose put in the smallest percentage in the

total pie chart which is only 2%.

MMU students believed that blogging is one of the ways to release stress as the

total pie chart obviously shows that 44% of it belongs to release stress category

which is 34 out of 78 students. They find that blogging can help them to release

their stress throughout their daily life. The other 21 students which in the pie chart

are 27% think that blogging is a space for them to share their own personal

opinions on everything such as current issues, political issues, and others. While

13 students out of 78 uses their blog for other purpose such as having fun and

some may treat it as a hobby that is only 17%. Surprisingly only four students out

of 78 take blogging as a source of their side income for example, people usually

put on an advertisements on their blog whereas they will get profits whenever

people clicking on their blog site. As interesting as it is, only few students

believed that blogging can assist them in getting their side income which is only

5% in the pie chart. As far as it concern only four students out of 78 which also

put in 5% in the pie chart think that they can find friends either new or old friends

through blogging. Lastly, only two students out of 78 trusts that blogging can

benefit those in business and promotion purpose which gives only 2% to the pie

chart.

They say there is a book inside everybody and most people wish their book to be

discovered. Bloggers tends to blog on their everyday life that they treat their blog

as an online-diary. Many blogs posts founded highly emotional. Sometimes, these

bloggers just need to express how they feel and an easy way to do so is through

blogging where the bloggers will not receive any judgment from anybody unlike

in the real world where people easily judge others. And even if there is, it is so

easy to ignore them especially if it comes from an anonymous. It is a satisfaction

for the bloggers when their thoughts on their blog were read by people even

though they will get the same attention from the same audience. The attention

which is in terms of comment and reply encourages them more to blog as to keep

their audience up to date with their life activity. It is a view that people blogs to

share their opinion not only on their personal life but also on other issues such as

current issues, political issues, latest technology and many more. They simply

blog just to let other people know their stands and they just want to be heard. In a

smaller scope, it is a good method for people to have a say in issues as this will

benefits both parties; the bloggers and the people who reads their blog, the

audience. The bloggers can state their opinion through their post while the

audience can reply their opinion in the comments section which usually provided

in all blog sites. Take for example in our own university, there is an activity club

in MMU who promotes their event through blogging. This will ease the students

to give suggestions and have a say in the event whether it is before or after the

event. A comment on the posts in the blog before the event can be taken as ideas

to improvise the event while the comments after the event can be taken as lesson

to the respective activity club or maybe to the others for the next coming event.

There is also a club or two that run their activities through a blog and as far as

they concern there are no problems arise yet (http://yoga-division.blogspot.com/).

For most people, their hobby brings creativity and fun into their lives. It stretches

the mind and body, actually making them a better student for the time away from

the study. Some student discovers that blogging can do that. They actually are

having fun when they posting up details about their life that it becomes hobby for

certain people. This hobby as it is always compared to journalism however could

bring up the skills in them. People tend to be conscious about their grammar,

spelling, and others when they are writing even when it is involving emotional

feelings. But when hobby turns to business, there is no fun in it anymore. There

are people out there who write for money. Some even turns it out as a job.

Woodham (2007) suggest that “putting Google Adsense on your blog is a good

way to generate income. You put relevant advertisements on your blog and the

more visitors you get to your blog, the more income you will get from people

clicking on those ads.” But this matter have not come to our student’s awareness

yet that only few students think that this really can help in increasing their side

income. But there are people who run their business through blogging. They are

not just promoting their product in their blog but they actually do the transaction

and the details through blogging. [3] From an organizational perspective, the

consumers are potentially better informed and this will help in developing

stronger relationships and brand loyalty. Blog can be a positive way of getting

feedback as readers can reply on certain pieces, suggest story ideas, and many

more. This also can prove that the organization as having talent and expertise. [4]

Furthermore, having blogs are much easier than websites. To update websites, the

organization needs special skills that can work really well with an application like

Macromedia Dreamweaver and such. With a blog, it is as easy as going to a

certain tab and updating necessary information where there are no special skills

needed. Less time spent updating blogs as this can be learnt over a night. Having

a tab in the webpage such as ratings, feed reader, and others helps in promoting

their business since the blog sites are easier for the search engine bots to read and

a lot more people can access the websites thus increases it’s ratings. For example

this business that starts from a blog till they have their own shop due to big

demands; http://cuppacakes.blogspot.com/ and

http://www.szeaccessories.blogspot.com/ . There are also students who actually

benefit from this and also benefit other student (http://firg-

printing.blogspot.com/). Blogs are created to expose oneself to the world of

internet and is treated as a social activity. It is learned that blogs create the

audience and the audience also creates the blog. The readers letting the bloggers

know that they were waiting for them to update their blog which will urge the

bloggers to put up something in their blog with their audience in their mind [5].

The reader, if it is not a friend builds a new relationship with the bloggers thus

increases their circle of friends which will lead to vary opportunities. While the

reader that the bloggers already knew will kept up to date with the bloggers life

activity and therefore strengthen the relationships that they already had. Though

students rather find new friends through other networking service than using a

blog, few uncover it is a side advantage that they will get from having their own

blog.

Most of MMU students find that blogging pretty much helps them in releasing

stress that caused by their hectic life routine. They believe it helps them to excel

in their study even by bits. Only few agree that blogging is a healthy way to run

business in view of the fact that the students are more attracted in real business

where there is no use of blog involve. Instead, they use other methods of

promotion that we have been introduced since ages to make sure their business

succeed.

2.3.4. Disadvantages of blog and awareness of blogging security

2.3.4.1. Disadvantages of Blog

Figure 1.4: Problem aroused from blogging

From the figure above, it was found that 25 respondent agreed that

blogging might be addictive to some people. Female bloggers mostly

addicted with blogging as compared to male bloggers. This is because,

female respondent most likely to be more open minded in discussing their

personal life in blogs compared to male respondent. In addition, male

respondent tend to join outdoor activities rather than spending their time

updating their blog.

37 out of 151 respondent said that blogging culture bring disadvantages

from the perspective of bringing misunderstood in delivering information.

Misunderstood information usually happen because of the way the

information being presented. Biased opinion, grammatical error and

mixture of language being used are some examples of mistakes that might

contribute into misunderstanding.

Only 17 respondents agreed that blogging bring disadvantages in

copyright issues. Copyright issues aroused among bloggers mainly

because the nature of blog allow readers from all over the world to view

the content of the blog unless the blog owner restrict their blog to certain

people. Therefore, readers might plagiarize bloggers photos, stories, ideas,

poem and many other things from the blog.

Only 40 students agreed that offending other peoples’ sensitivity is the

disadvantages of blogging culture. Harsh words and impolite language

might make people angry and disappointed. Bloggers with narrow minded

usually show their disagreement without considering other people point of

view. Their opinion also did not include facts from reliable sources to

support their words. This situation usually happen in blogs discussing

political and religious issues.

Some respondent also agreed that blogging wasting their time. They

believe that students should give priority in their academic matters rather

than updating their blogs frequently.

In conclusion, disadvantages of blogging might arouse if bloggers did not

use the medium wisely. Time management is the main key to avoid

addictive issues and most importantly bloggers must set their academic

matters as the main priority in any way.

2.3.4.2. Awareness of Blogging Security

Figure 1.3: Revealing identity issues in blogging

First, awareness of security in blogging can be divided into two categories

of respondent, which are bloggers and non-bloggers. According to survey

that has been done, it was found that 64 respondents did reveal their

identity compared to only 14 bloggers which did not reveal their identity.

From the perspective of economy, blog creates wide market that highly

dependent on advertisement. When a lot of people like to read that blog,

so, a lot of things can be promoted from that blog. This means that a lot of

company or individual interested and will pay the space for advertisement

to build their connection to people that read that blog. Example of one

blog that created by MMU Cyberjaya student is

http://neutronics.syokz.org/. This is the reason why bloggers want to

reveal their identity. The problem is how it’s related to awareness of

security?

From the political view, under Multimedia and Communication Act 1998,

there are stated that any issue that were posted and can disturb peaceful in

Malaysia countries could be stop. This reason also affect, maybe some of

them do not want to reveal their identity because of they want to freely

writing anything regarding critics or anything to government.

2.3.5. Hour spent for blog

2.3.5.1. Hours bloggers spent on their own blog

Figure 1.5: Hours spent in a week updating blog

Blogging culture is now the alternative way to spread information and

opinion. Various people spend various hours on their own blog. The pie

chart shows how MMU Cyberjaya students spend time on their own blog

per week. Majority spent average maximum five hours per week and the

least spent more than ten hours per week.

Based on the conducted survey, most of MMU Cyberjaya students spent

one to five hours per week which recorded 44 percent. Then, 42 percent of

students spent less than one hour followed by nine percent spent five to 10

hours. The rest five percent spent more than 10 hours a week on their own

blog.

Most of students spend one to five hours may probably because most of

MMU students are ‘active’ bloggers, active bloggers might have a single

update per day. Their blogs may contain personal diaries or just simple

review about music or other simple topic that not need deep research to

write an article. They just spend 15 to 20 minutes per post. This also may

due to most of MMU bloggers have good time management. They can

divide their time very well between studies and updating their blogs.

Less than an hour noted second high slightly less with 42 percent could be

due to most of the students are new to the world of blogs. They can be

categorized as non active bloggers that update once or twice a week. They

might just have a single blog to manage. It might just for fun and they did

not care who or how many have visited their blogs. Others commitments

such as studies, sports or others social activities can also be the cause for

them to spent less time on their blogs.

The remaining categories left are five to 10 hours and more than 10 hours.

Both recorded nine percent and five percent. This could be due to least of

MMU students are blogs addict. These blogs addicts express most

everything in their life through blogs. They might have many blogs to

manage. They can spend 3tofive hours or more a day just to make sure

their blogs is interesting not only from the aspect of contents but also their

interface designs. These are to ensure their blog can attract many visitors.

They are concerns about the feedback comments from readers to improve

their blogs. Moreover the contents of blogs might also be the caused of

spending a lot of time managing blogs. Topics related to scientific matters,

politics or religious takes a lot of research to find the exact facts to support

their opinion. These consumed a lot of time just to produce one article to

be posted.

So, it can be concluded that most of the students spent one to five hours on

their blog which means they are an active bloggers that have good time

management.

2.3.5.2. Hours students spent reading blog

Figure 1.6: Hours spent in a week updating blog

Blog can also be accessed not only for blogger but also other internet user.

The pie chart shows how MMU Cyberjaya students spend reading others

blogs per week.

Nearly half of the students spent less time reading on others blog and very

few of them spent most of their time in the blog world.

From the overall survey, 43percent spent less than one hour followed by

31percent spent one to five hours and 14percent recorded none. The rest

spent five to ten hours and more than ten hours. Both noted nine percent

and three percent.

Majority of students spend less than an hour reading others blog may

probably due to most of the student are aware of the new information

mechanism called blog but they use it lightly. They might have a lot of

other things to do because as students there are a lot of other commitments

like study and club activities. Besides, maybe they did not feel they can

get a lot of things from blog. For them there are much more reliable out

there to find what their information desired such as news feed, politics

matters and education. This also could be due to most of the blogs that are

mass produced are diary type that just share about personal life. Moreover,

maybe students think blogs are not the best way to socialize because they

are a lot of global social network website such as Friendster or Facebook.

These kinds of websites connect millions of people all over the globe and

provide easy and interactive way to keep in touch with others. Besides’

some blogs are very long and look dull. These factors can most probably

result less attention from our modern students hence less time was spent

on blog. People who are in this category might have some favorites’ blog

that they had already bookmarked. They will often surf it but

unfortunately not all of these favorites’ blogs are daily updated hence

made them spent less time on blogs.

Maximum five hours spent on others blog pointed second high with 31

percent may probably due to some students have used blog effectively.

Maybe they used blog as an alternative way to find information, state

opinions, discuss of certain topics and get to know what people around the

world are talking on the internet. They might like to know what other

people in the world are talking about. Besides they used blog as an extra

way to keep updated with their friends and gives comments to their

friends’ life activity. Meanwhile bloggers also read others blog. Maybe

they want to see what others have on their blogs. They check designs and

related topics to be put back in their blogs.

Next 14percent have recorded spent none of their time reading other blogs.

It could be due to less knowledge about recent information technology

hence results students not to know or they do not realize that there are

using blogs. Besides, if they knew about this new alternative information

services, maybe they did not believe at all that blog is reliable as

information search engine. They think it is just a waste of time if they use

blog because there are a lot of other methods to gain information such as

newspaper, internet, journals or even classical way like having

conversation.

The rest ninepercent and three percent spent five spend a lot of time

readings blog may probably because least of MMU students use blogs as

procrastination tool to use up their time. They might use blog as hobby

and have a lot of blogs that they bookmarked. They keep on reading blog

to search everything that they want and they can spend hours in it.

As a conclusion, MMU students spend less time reading others blog

because as a students they have other commitments that are even more

important rather than blogging.

2.3.6. Interest and attraction of blog

2.3.6.1. Parallel with the mainstream development of ICT technology, blogging, is now

a popular interest among internet user. Blog can be created and use easily by

any stage of age irrespective of their job, life status and many more. There are

several factors that may contribute to the attraction of having and reading a

blog. Most of the factors are good influence towards bloggers and readers.

However, certain factor might lead to bad influence in blog usage such as

gossips.

2.3.6.2. Source of Gossip

Figure 1.7: Attraction of blog: Blog as source of gossip

As blog may become an endless communication through out the internet,

gossip can easily spread out through the entire readers around the world.

However, from the survey result, we can conclude that MMU Cyberjaya

students did not take blog as the source for gossiping other peoples’

personal life. 37 percent of the students decided to be in the middle

followed by 33 percent disagreed and 30 percent of respondent agreed.

It could be due to most of bloggers are aware that every posting are

possibly read by anyone. Therefore, they will carefully think twice before

posting any personal matter in blog. Vice versa, as for the readers, they

might think that blog is the best way to get other’s personal information

since daily routine of the blogger being exposed. Perhaps, it is also due to

different interpretation of certain posting by the readers.

2.3.6.3. Source of Knowledge/Tips

Figure 1.8: Attraction of blog: Blog as source of knowledge or tips

Blogs can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge within the

community especially for MMU Cyberjaya students. The students agreed

that they can gain new knowledge from blogs. 41 percent of the students

agreed, 35 percent disagreed while others falls into average categories

group.

It may probably because most of the MMU Cyberjaya students use blogs

to share their knowledge or tips on their own expertise. For example,

Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) students usually share their

knowledge about software and computer by uploading tutorials and tips in

buying computer, mobile phones and software. Moreover, not only

technology information, motivational ideas, reviews about new music and

books also included in some of the blogs. In contrast, readers found out

blogs are unbeneficial may probably due to knowledge or tips provided

are not helpful to their own satisfaction.

As a conclusion, sharing knowledge in blogs is one of the main attractions

of having and reading blogs.

2.3.6.4. A Medium to Keep In Touch

Figure 1.9: Attraction of blog: Blog as medium to keep in touch

Blogs have potential to help the community develop stronger relationships

as they interact with the ‘human face’ of the community through blogs.

Most of the students believed that they can keep in touch with their fellow

friends and relatives using blogs. From the overall survey, 41percent of

the students are agreed, 25percent are disagreed while others are average.

Blogs tend to reveal a lot about the blogger. Blogs reveal tastes, likes,

dislikes, interests, penchants and problems of the blogger. Therefore, it is

easier to make connection as they can keep in touch in such a cheaper and

faster way. However, this could not be an attraction if the bloggers do not

keep their blog update. Their friends and relatives may lost interests and

may forget of their blogs. Blog can expand the link among friends and

relatives.

2.3.6.5. Platform to criticize

Figure 1.10 : Attraction to blog : blog as medium to critise

By blogging, users are freely to criticize about certain issues and get

feedback from the readers. 42 percent of the students are agreed that

criticizing is one of the attractions of blogging. Only 25 percent disagreed

with the statement, while others are average.

They have a tendency to agree because bloggers can express their own

personal opinion about certain issues such as politics, economics and

educations. At the same time, readers too, can give their own feedbacks.

This is a good opportunity to discuss and widen ideas about the current

issues. For bloggers with the purpose of write essays to improve their

language, they can have feedbacks from readers to keep on improving

their writing skills. On the other hand, they tend to disagree maybe

because lack of awareness in current issues.

As a result, using blog to criticize and giving feedbacks make blog more

popular nowadays.

2.3.6.6. To Expose Interest/Hobby

Figure 1.11 : Attraction of blog : Blog as medium to share hobby

Blogging might be a healthy way for a student to spend their free time as a

hobby. From the survey, majority of the students agreed blogging can be

their hobby. Only 23 percent of the students did not agree and 35 percent

prefer not to choose either.

Blogging is not only about posting essays, reviews or personal diaries, but

also can be a platform to expose their talents and creativities. Specifically,

student from Faculty of Creative Multimedia mostly use blog to post their

own artworks such as photographs, paintings, animations, music and web

codes. Moreover, it might be a good opportunity to get feedbacks from

readers with same interests so that they can improve their creativity. Plus,

it is also a better way to release their stress. Vice versa, some of students

might think blogging is wasting time because in order to post a quality

entry, it might take at least one to two hours per day.

Therefore, it can be seen that, blogging is now one of the choice for

students to spend their leisure time with.

From the surveys conducted, most of the students believed that blogging

culture leads to a healthy and positive social life. They are attracted to

blog to gain knowledge, keep in touch with friends, express opinions and

spend leisure time.

2.3.7. The usage of language in blogs.

Between 7th March and 9th March 2008, we had sent the interview transcript by

email to two experts in language. One is a language lecturer from Multimedia

University Melaka campus and another is an experienced English teacher from a

secondary school in Kuala Lumpur. The data was then analyzed. An observation

on blogs were also done in few blogs belong to students and public. Below are the

findings and discussions based on the data from the interview.

2.3.7.1. Quality of language in blogs

The quality of language is varied from one blog to another. Normally in a

blog, bloggers rarely check their spelling and sometimes use mix language

in their posts such as ‘Manglish’ (mix between Malay and English

language). But this scenario mainly occurs in the student’s blog. In a blog

such as The Ancient Mariner by Captain Yusuf Ahmad

(http://cyusof.blogspot.com ), the quality of English language used is

excellent. Madam Azlah (lecturer from Multimedia University Melaka

campus) also believes that the language used by working adults/

professionals are good while the students needs improvement. The reason

for this maybe because of adults use blogs to express their thoughts on

intense issues such as politics or economy while the students mainly use

blogs as online diaries.

2.3.7.2. Blog do not contributes to poor language among students

Some of the experts and teachers have said that by blogging, students are

exposed to use poor language and Manglish, which is the biggest problem

in Malaysia as many of us, speaks in Manglish more than we speak in

Malay or English itself. But Madam Azlah has disagrees with this opinion.

Quoting Madam Azlah, “when you write with the intention to share your

personal views and experiences with audiences worldwide, you need to

ensure that your language use is correct and can be easily understood. For

instance, unlike the frequent use of texting language for sending SMS or

chatting online, such usage is minimized in blogs to ensure clarity of

ideas. Not only that, you also need to ensure that the narration is

interesting, and in many cases, witty to attract readers. So, this necessitates

students to be creative in their writing which will then, gradually improve

their language proficiency.” Madam Mazuin (English teacher) also agrees

with Madam Azlah by dismissing the idea of using mix language in blogs

as it is not easy for the readers to understand the contents/posts if the

blogger uses mix language.

2.3.7.3. Blog as a media to improve usage of language

Some of the blogs belongs to the students are used only to post language

creative work such as poems, script play and etc. This is a very

encouraging move made by the students as it can help the student to

improve their language and get opinion by the readers. Madam Mazuin

suggests that this can help the students to maximize their vocabulary and

be creative with the language.

Madam Azlah thinks that for the students to improve their language the

attitude the blog writer is the most important. “If he takes heed of what has

been commented on and then rectified his errors, this will contribute in

improving his language proficiency.”

2.3.7.4. Should government urge bloggers to register their blog under certain

bodies?

Figure 1.12: Should government urge blogger to register

This question was developed with the intention of relating one of blogging current

issue with our survey

Freedom in mass media has become a very sensitive issue that later raise an issue

whether blogs should also be restricted by some rules and regulations in order to

protect sensitivity, safety and harmony. [6] Therefore, this question hopefully

giving the opportunity to understand the issue from the perspective of MMU

Cyberjaya student.

Overall, it is found that 120 out of 151 respondents disagree with the suggestion

of registering the blog as compared to only 31 students who agreed. In

percentage, nearly 80 percent of respondent says “no” for the suggestion. This

statistic was found disregard whether the respondent were bloggers or not.

As a summary from those who disagree on the suggestion, we found that most of

them see blogs as not more than just an individual expression, opinion or view on

certain issues around them. Besides, this result coherently related with the fact

that most of the respondent use the blog as their online diaries (refer to 2nd

question of the survey). In the other hand, some of them believe that the content

of blogs nowadays does not give bad implications on Malaysia as multi racial

country but even provide new channel for the people to raise attention from the

authority. Freedom of giving opinion also has been raised by some of them, where

they believe anyone disregard of their age, race or religion have their own rights

to show support or disagreement on certain issues as it will later directly bring big

impact on their life.

20 percent of our respondents suggest that blogging activities should be govern by

certain bodies or department. The reason given by them is that, some of the blog

content did not being published in responsible ways. Harsh words, comments that

raise sensitivity, insults and many more has been listed as negative sides of

blogging which make they suggest an implementation of blogging activities under

the observation may solve the problem. In addition, the nature of blogging allows

user to hide their identity when writing in the blog. Half of them afraid that

bloggers might manipulate the space provided in their blog, bring misunderstood

and discomfort among the society but at the same time remain anonymous.

In conclusion, blogs may give positive or negative impact to us. It is now depend

on the bloggers and the readers to be responsible with the content of the blog. The

best way in dealing with this kind of situation, is to interpret the information

rationally by taking into consideration of everyone perspective. [7]

3. Conclusion

The following conclusions can be made based on the findings.

3.1. A tool to improve language

Results of the interviews suggest that blog is one of the media to improve language. Both

experts recommended blog to be a tool for students to maximize their vocabulary and to

be creative with the language.

3.2. Positive attraction of blog

Analysis of the data showed that most of the students believed that blogging culture leads

to a healthy and positive social life. They are attracted to blog to gain knowledge, keep

in touch with friends, express opinions and spend leisure time.

3.3. Hour spent for blogging

For bloggers, it can be concluded that most of them spent one to five hours on their blog

which means they are an active bloggers that have good time management. Furthermore,

both bloggers and readers spent less time on reading others blogs because as students,

they have other commitments such as studies and club activities.

3.4. Advantages of blog

A clear pattern which emerged from the survey showed that most of MMU students find

that in releasing stress caused by their hectic everyday life routine, blogging pretty much

help them to do so. 44 percent of the students believed that it is the main advantage for

blogging. Moreover, it helps them to excel in their studies.

3.5. Disadvantages of blogging

There are a lot of disadvantages of using blog as a way of communication but it all

depend on students to use it wisely. Some of the blogs need to be monitored by the

government to let some articles do not contain any sensitivity issues.

4. Recommendations

The following are several recommendations based on the conclusions.

4.1. Encourage students to use proper language.

Teacher should encourage their students to use blogs. As recommended by the experts, it

is one way to improve their language. In addition, the students should try to use proper

language and grammar in their blogs.

4.2. Resourceful information

Bloggers should provide various and resourceful information in their blogs so that it can

help the readers to learn and widen their knowledge. In addition, bloggers should keep

updating latest and sufficient information for the benefit of the readers.

4.3. Manage time wisely.

Students need to learn how to manage time wisely. Even though studies are their main

priorities, but they also need to have entertainment and healthy social life in their life.

4.4. Encouragement by the readers.

Readers should give advices and encouragement to the bloggers with the intention to

support ideas expressed by the bloggers. Moreover, it can help the bloggers feels

appreciated.

4.5. Security awareness.

Bloggers should be responsible to every action taken by them. Furthermore, they must be

careful while writing blogs because the possibility of that article to be read by the

authorities is high. In addition, the government needs to construct a body to monitor the

progress of blogs in Malaysia.

Summary

In early days, people use books as a medium to express emotions, feelings, ideas, and record

their daily routine. With the development of information technology, conventional way of

writing diaries has transformed into blogs. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati

was tracking more than 112 million blogs and this number is increasing drastically day by day.

As one of Malaysia leading university in information technology, Multimedia University (MMU)

students experience the influence of blogging as part of their life. Therefore it is very important

for us to understand how this culture affecting students in the way they spend their time. Firstly,

the researches focus on the population of bloggers among MMU Cyberjaya students. A survey

has been conducted to 151 respondents from four different faculties in MMU Cyberjaya that is

Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Faculty of Management (FOM), Faculty of Information

Technology (FIT) and Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM). Interviews also have been

conducted among professionals to understand the topic from their perspective on blogging

culture. Besides conducting survey and interview, research finding also being concluded based

on observation to 78 blogs maintained by MMU students. Main subjects being discussed in this

study are blog contents, safety issue, time spend, attractions, advantages, disadvantages,

language in blogs and current issues of blogging.

Major finding of the research is that blogging has become well known among MMU Cyberjaya

students regardless of their gender. Despite wide range of blog contents, such as sharing opinion

in political issues, religion and social issues, entertainment, information technology and online

business, online diaries remain as the main function of blog among MMU Cyberjaya students.

The nature of blogs allows users to decide whether they want to reveal their identity or not. This

later raise issues of safety and blogging in responsible manners. Majority of respondents revealed

their identity in their blog even though they aware the risk of revealing their identities to the

public. From the survey, it was found that bloggers spend mostly one to five hours per week

updating their blog entries. Meanwhile, less than one hour per week being spent by MMU

Cyberjaya students in reading other peoples blog. Based on the result it can be concluded that

time spend for blogging activities does not affect time spend on their studies.

One of the major advantage of blogging is students can release their stress by sharing their

stories and experience with other people especially their friends. In the other hand, most of them

agreed that blogs content might offend other people sensitivity. It was found that language is not

bloggers main concern when publishing their entries. Most of them use mix language in

conveying their ideas. However, experts believe that blog does not contribute to poor language

usage among bloggers but at the same time help bloggers widen their vocabulary and being

creative in presenting their blog contents. Lastly respondents were asked about the ideas of

registering blog under certain body or department. From the survey, most of them disagree with

the idea as it makes blogging more trivial and it limits the way of blogger expressing their ideas

and emotions.

In conclusion, blogs may give positive or negative impact to us. It is now depend on the bloggers

and the readers to be responsible with the content of the blog. The best way in dealing with this

kind of situation, is to interpret the information rationally by taking into consideration of

everyone perspective.

Bibliography

[1] http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/

[2] Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission

http://www.skmm.gov.my/

[3] Gerry McGovern, Blogs and blogging: advantages and disadvantages

(August 23, 2004) Retrieved …,

From http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2004/nt_2004_08_23_blogging.htm

[4] Lamarche, T. Efficient Virtual Assistant The Advantages of Blogging

(2007) Retrieved July 24, 2007,

From http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Advantages-of-Blogging&id=658753

[5] Nardi, B., Schiano, D., & Gumbrecht, M. (2004). Blogging as social activity, or, would

you let 900 million people read your diary? Proceedings of Computer Supported

Cooperative Work 2004. Retrieved March 24, 2006 from

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ediane.schiano/CSCW04.Blog.pdf

[6] Fatema Richardson (2006). Freedom of Mass Media: dark side of South East Asia .

Montalvo Publication Network

[7] Shaziman Abu Daud (2003). Public Policy Studies: Different Perspective in Malaysia.

Karya Bestari Sdn Bhd.

Source : Sarah J.C, (2004 ) Webopedia Computer Definition , McGraw Hill

Fernanda Viégas , ( 2004 ) Blog Survey: Expectations of Privacy and

Accountability.

Appendices

Interview Transcript : interview with Madam Azlah

1. What is your opinion about blogging culture among MMU students?

To me, the blogging culture is healthy as it promotes freedom of self-expression as

well as creativity among students.

2. As an expert in language, what is your opinion regarding the usage of language

in a blog?

Frankly, I haven’t been reading many blogs written by students but based on those

which I’ve read written by professionals/working adults, the language use and quality

of writing is relatively good. And I think maybe the students need to improve a little.

3. Do you think that by writing/reading a blog will cause the students to have poor

usage of language?

No because when you write with the intention to share your personal views and

experiences with audiences worldwide, you need to ensure that your language use is

correct and can be easily understood. For instance, unlike the frequent use of texting

language for sending SMS or chatting online, such usage is minimised in blogs to

ensure clarity of ideas. Not only that, you also need to ensure that the narration is

interesting, and in many cases, witty to attract readers. So, this necessitates students

to be creative in their writing which will then, gradually improve their language

proficiency.

4. In you opinion, do you think that if a student use a blog to post their work such

as poem, script play and etc, and ask for the reader of their blog to comment and

correct any mistakes in their work, it will improve their language?

This very much depends on the attitude of the blog writers. If he takes heed of what

has been commented on and then rectified his errors, this will contribute in improving

his language proficiency.

5. Do you think blogging is a healthy way for students to spend their free time?

Yes, as I’ve highlighted before, blogging is healthy as it allows knowledge sharing

and also to some extent, collaborations between the Netizens. They can exchange

ideas, experiences and offer personal opinions and help when needed. In fact, some

people even used blogs as an avenue to run businesses online. This is definitely better

than loitering in shopping malls!

Interview Transcript : interview with Madam Mazuin

1. What is your opinion about blogging culture among MMU students? I do not particularly know about blogging culture among MMU students as I’m not associated with MMU. But to me, blogging has taken the people worldwide by storm ever since it has been introduced. So I’m very sure that many of the students everywhere including MMU are bloggers. And in my opinion, blogging is a healthy activity for students to spend their time on as it promotes the idea of being creative, self-expression, and gaining knowledge.

2. As an expert in language, what is your opinion regarding the usage of language in a blog? Honestly, I’ve read both students and adult blogs. There are such massive differences between both of them. As I had observed myself, student’s blogs are more laid-back in terms of language. They use mix languages in their blogs. Meanwhile, the adult’s blogs are more sophisticated. They use reasonably good language.

3. Do you think that by writing/reading a blog will cause the students to have poor usage of language? No and particularly because articles in blogs are like articles in magazines or newspapers. The writer must use appropriate language which is easily understood by the readers. The message in the articles needs to be understandable and delivered to the readers as clear as possible. So unlike online chatting nor SMS, bloggers should not use mix languages and in Malay we called it “bahasa pasar” in their articles as it might cause confusion to the readers.

4. In you opinion, do you think that if a student use a blog to post his/her work such as poem, script play and etc, and ask for the readers of their blog to comment and correct any mistakes in their work, it will improve their language? Well it all depends on the students themselves. If they have the intention to improve, it might be a good tool to develop their language. But personally, I think it is a good way to improve the language because it helps people to maximise their vocabulary and be creative with the language.

5. Do you think blogging is a healthy way for students to spend their free time? Yes. It is way better to be a blogger than to lounging around in malls or night clubs.