Blogging has become a real virtual phenomenon. The blog phenomenon began in the USA in 1994 and caused a worldwide revolution was a new type of media. However, quite a few people still don’t know what it is. Let’s define what a blog is, even though the word has not been included in dictionaries! Internet revolution is so fast, that it is difficult to keep up-to-date with its facilities. Blogging started off as little more than the sometimes wacky, sometimes inspired writing of on-line diaries published on the web. It is a basic definition, but actually, there is no real effective definition since there are as much blogs as there are bloggers. Anyone does whatever he or she wants with it, with total freedom. It can look like a simple diary or be a real soapbox where you express your ideas and comments about everything and anything under the sun. There are about 10 millions blogs worldwide, but it is only a rough estimate since new ones are added more often than one could imagine. Malta is also part of it in this process and blogging caught on at the beginning of the year, even though some Maltese started blogging one or two years ago.
And who is the typical blogger? Anybody actually, since they can be men, women, teenagers, and even children, as I found blogs from people aged 14 to 80. The only criterion is being keen on new technologies and aware of Internet facilities. The Maltese blogging scene is really diverse and you can find funny ones, more serious ones, and the most original is that you have blogs in Maltese, in English and some in old Maltese.
The Maltese blogosphere is booming and the process is in continual evolution, since some Maltese discovered blogging a few days ago, like Ronald Colombo (http://www.roncorner.blogspot.com) who discovered it “by accident” and thought he “would give it a try”. “In short, the bloggosfera Maltija is a pot-pourri of ideas, creativity, an escape valve from any form of routine repression, as well as a new voice for the virtual community in the first five years of the new millennium… a space allowing us to comment on the happenings and mishaps of our country as freely and openly as possible. Maltese people have happily chosen to start a blog, on which they express their feelings and opinions on all sorts of issues worthy of debate, often in a way which would otherwise be impossible in Maltese newspapers without the risk of being sued for libel. Each blogger writes in a diary-reminiscent style, touching on whatever subjects take their fancy, while others can leave a comment after each post or reply in more detail in their own blog,” Archibald wrote on his blog to define the Maltese blogosphere (www.ajjut.blogspot.com).
New blogs are booming in Malta, even though this phenomenon is still in its infancy here. The Maltese blogosphere is really different since it brings together Maltese people living in Malta, Maltese people living abroad, foreigners living in Malta and even foreigners who are linked in a way to this country. There is actually a list of the Maltese blogs on the Internet, available on http://www.aboutmalta.com/INTERNET/BLOGS, and it lists about 70 blogs, discovered by bloggers Robert Micallef, Martin Debattista, Pierre J. Mejlak, and Toni Sant. But it is probably not exhaustive since it is very difficult to know about all of them, as there are several blogs providers on the Internet.
“A blog is anything you decide to make it”
In order to really understand what it is about this new phenomenon, I decided to contact some bloggers and ask for their point of view.
I asked them to define this new concept “blog”, which is a hard question since it is very difficult to describe it properly. “Weblogs are hard to describe but easy to recognise.” (The Weblog Handbook, Rebecca Blood)
Anyway, who can define it better than someone who is actually involved in this field? Here are a few definitions I got.
“A blog is a way to make public whatever’s on your mind” said Toni Sant, who lives in the UK (http://maltamedia.com/ ~blog). He introduces the notion of publicity for your thoughts. Blogging is actually saying what you think and and being able to publish it freely.
Archibald said there are two types of blogs. “The first is strictly a diary of your private life”. This definition emphasises the fact that boundaries between private and public areas are little by little disappearing. Indeed, when you publish your private diary on the Internet on a regular basis, when you really talk of your private life and show pictures, it goes from being private to the public domain. That is why there is always a kind of “exhibitionism” in this kind of blogging, and to a certain extent in all blogs. For some bloggers, a blog is “like a written big brother”. But even if they consider it as a diary, they don’t consider it as a real diary since they write “personal things but not too personal”. Actually it is a diary, but not as secret as a diary usually is, which is why they try to keep things secret and don’t write everything. So, the basic definition of a personal diary is not perfect.
I talked about exhibitionism but there is a kind of voyeurism as well. It could be compared to the real TV where people enjoy showing themselves to others who enjoy watching them. “The second type of blog is a new kind of on-line discussion – a ‘public sphere’ discussing and debating all topics openly under the sun”. Most of the Maltese bloggers are more interested in this and don’t really enjoy reading the first category of blogs, “Which I don’t personally read much unless I’m feeling voyeuristic”. Most of them try to avoid writing things that are too personal, because “I don’t think that my readers are interested in my private life,” Toni Sant said. A journal? A collection of ideas? A form of expression? Blogs can be simply a personal diary but can also be a strong tool for the expression, transmission and sharing of ideas beyond the controlled media”, Jacques Rene Zammit (http://bollettino.blogspot.com and http://akkuza.blogspot.com) said.
Most of the Maltese blogs look like a new sphere of debate, like a forum actually, a revival of the antique Greek agoras, a sort of new public space. Even if the problem remains that everyone doesn’t have an access to it. There is still an asymmetry of information, so this public space is not the perfect one.
Wired Temples, a blog by Robert Micallef (http://wiredtemples.blogspot.com) is a blog of reference in Malta and “is mainly, although not exclusively, a platform for Malta related information on the Internet. It is a window on Maltese culture, history, blogs and news. I often link material about Malta that is produced by international sources including foreign news sites to comments about Malta by non-Maltese bloggers. My blog is also my personal channel to air my opinions about current affairs, both local and international. Wired Temples is aimed primarily at an international audience with an interest in Maltese affairs,” he said.
Many of the Maltese blogs deal with burning issues, politics and so on. “Obviously it could be a mixture of both, and that’s usually the case for most blogs.” Indeed, blogs are always personal, even in the way they talk about “serious” stuff. Even when you try to avoid expressing personal stuff, sometimes it comes out. Antoine Cassar (http://maqluba.blogspot.com) is slightly bothered by the fact that his blog “has become rather more personal than I would have liked, but perhaps that is what keeps a blog alive”. Indeed, the interest of a blog is that it is written by a specific person with his or her own views, feelings and experiences. Even commenting on serious things always engages you in that type of publication.
At last, “a blog is anything you decide to make it”, like Owen Cutajar (http://www.u-g-h.com) said. Lots of bloggers also confessed that they were not really able to define what a blog is. Everyone can have his or her own vision of what blogging is. It is a territory for freedom where everybody can deal with whatever he or she thinks interesting. Not only interesting according to him or her, but also interesting for the readers. Indeed, the aim of bloggers is to be read by others as we will see later on.
There are several reasons why people go for blogging: expressing yourself, interacting with others, being famous sometimes, or having a modern personal diary – even though we wonder if it remains a personal diary since anyone can access it. Actually, I wouldn’t say that anyone can read it, since the blogosphere is a kind of community, bloggers blog between them in a way. Indeed, lots of people who have a look at blogs are usually bloggers themselves.
Freedom is in the blog
Lots of bloggers decided to blog to have a way of expressing themselves. “It’s a way to express yourself without having to adhere to other’s rules. Sometimes the only way to express your self about some issue is by writing to a newspaper – and it is included some week after edited. In a blog you can write whatever you want, in the style you want, and you can get the feedback of fellow bloggers. There is a kind of release in knowing that you’re writing down thoughts that otherwise would have vanished into thin air” said Archibald. He added that the advantage of blogging is that “it doesn’t really have any boundaries – I can write anything, and I like that freedom”. Indeed, you can write about absolutely everything, which could be dangerous since all kinds of things can be said, even racist or fallacious writings since there is absolutely no control on the contents.
Blogging is an “easy and cheap way to have a personal website”, Ronald Colombo said. Bloggers all love writing obviously and it is the best way for them to be published without needing an editor. Some decided to write on Maltese culture, others on music and so on, without having to wait to be published. Sometimes blogs are really specified, which is why some bloggers have several blogs, like Maltagirl who has three – one general (www.maltagirl.typepad.com), one for her thesis and one photoblog. You can do anything with your blog(s) and can easily keep in memory what you felt at a particular time. It is very easy to find it again since it is digital.
A way to keep in touch with family and friends
Some Maltese bloggers use their blogs to keep in touch with friends and family, especially if they live abroad and want to share their adventures without sending lots of long e-mails with attached photos. A blog makes things easier. Indeed most Maltese blogs are written by Maltese residing abroad. This way they can keep their links to their home country. “I felt the need to write and comment in Maltese due to the fact that I’m now an expat, since I work and live in Luxembourg”, Mark Vella (http://xifer.blogspot.com/ 2004/08/xifer-il-blogg-mit-truf.html) said. Some Maltese began blogging thanks to Il Bollettino della Sfiga (http://bollettino.blogspot.com), which was originally an exchange of e-mail stories by students studying abroad where everyone wrote his little stories of bad luck. “Its success as a blog is based on its humour and the specific ‘old Maltese’ that is used when writing the stories” Jacques Rene Zammit said. He thinks, “a blog seemed to be the best format to post regular stories of misadventures of Maltese people from all over Europe”. It is also a good means for foreign people living in Malta who want to share their experience here with others.
An “alter media”
“Blogs also seemed to be the place where one could talk about matters which usually do not make it to the papers, which are sites of conservative political and commercial interests,” Mark Vella said. Several Maltese bloggers emphasise the need of free expression in Malta, because too much media belong to the political parties. Expressing themselves next to the traditional media is a way of putting forward an alternative view. For Mark Vella, “The revolution has begun!” There is a real wish to counterbalance the views disseminated by the traditional media, and some are really critical. Indeed, some blogs deal with news, and could easily be compared to a new kind of media, like Wired Temples, which also offers links to articles written in Maltese newspapers. “Blogging has been the safety net thrown out to all those individuals who have been frustrated by the Maltese political and cultural scene. Blogging allows expression beyond the limits and frustrations of conventional means,” Jacques Rene Zammit said. He added that “their major contribution is that they demonstrate clearly the beauty of Thinking Different!”
It also seems to be a way to learn things about Malta in a different way. “Some Maltese bloggers tend to talk a lot about politics, and I’ve learned a lot about local politics from reading these blogs even though I’m not usually into politics just for its own sake,” Maltagirl said. Some blogs seem to be a sort of counter power to the traditional media. “I like blogs when they become an instrument of expression which can bypass the centres of power,” Mark Vella said. “Of course, a blog is not a suitable substitute for a journal, but at least it is something,” Immanuel Mifsud (http://mifsudimmanuel.blogspot.com) said. “It is more of a trend: you see others do it so you join the club”.
The blogging community
There is indeed a sort of snowball effect in blogging. Toni Sant said he began to blog because a friend of his blogged but was blogging alone and was losing interest. Bloggers encourage their friends to blog as well. Actually the blogosphere represents a kind of community where members enjoy reading each other’s blogs, and it’s even more true in a small country like Malta, where blogs are not as numerous as in the US for instance where it is impossible to know the entire American blogosphere. Actually even if you blog alone, blogging is not a personal and lonely activity. Bloggers always link their blogs addresses of the blogs they enjoy reading. And you always find the same names in the comments. When you are a “blog addict”, you try to stay up to date with the blogging activity of others. Now, moderators alert you when a blog is updated. It is more practical than having to browse all the blogs to see if there is anything new. Sometimes when a blogger writes about a subject, another one will post a comment and then go into more detail in his own blog. It is a real network and not a selfish activity as we might have thought when we first heard about these “personal diaries” on the web. Maltagirl even said “there are other Maltese bloggers who I would consider to be my friends even though we have never met. We often comment on each other’s blogs, offer opinions, share jokes, and so on.” It is a true virtual world even if the expression sounds antithetical.
It is a means to exist in a community to a certain extent since the interest is to be read and have comments on what you say. Feedback by fellow bloggers is indeed important and Maltese bloggers confess they also enjoy the fact that “it offers you the proverbial fifteen minutes of fame,” Fausto Majistral (http://malta9thermidor.blogspot.com) said.
Exchanging views and being read
This aspect seems to be the most important for the Maltese bloggers. Indeed, a blog is made to be read. According to Toni Sant, “people have a great desire to communicate without an intermediary and blogs are a very easy way to do this... perhaps the easiest”. The rule is that you authorise others to answer you, since a blog is not only a simple diary, like a normal personal website would be, since it is configured to receive post. Actually, it seems to be what interests bloggers most: having people react to your post. Otherwise it would remain a classical website about your life. Some bloggers confess that they don’t count visitors, since they would be tempted to stop if nobody cared. It is a new form of communication, and communication induces exchanges, otherwise it is only a page where you say whatever you want. The aim of a blogger is to be read, and to get reactions, and even arouse controversies.
It s a place where you can express yourself freely, but above all where you expect having a readership. Maltagirl thinks that “if the commenting feature is not there, then it’s just a website and not a blog”, which is true. The important aspect is indeed communication, interactivity and exchange. She also said: “In the beginning, I used to check my stats a lot, but these days I rarely bother. I write for myself, not for other people, so it doesn’tmatter how many people visit. It’s nice to know that people read my blog, though”.
“A safety valve”
Rupert Cefai (http://bertutalangli.blogspot.com) started blogging a few weeks ago, and said he began because he “needed a safety valve; if too much pressure builds up – blog it”. Archibald presented the Maltese blogosphere on his blog (www.ajjut.blogspot.com) as a sort of “escape valve from any form of routine repression”. Writing everything you want whenever you want can indeed be a good way to relieve the pressure. When it is written, you feel better. “When I am angry about something I just show my anger in my blog,” Ramon Mangion (www.ramonsopinions.net) said.
“More and more people need to express themselves in a world where few are ready to listen,” Rupert Cefai said. The only original thing is that you do this thanks to the new Internet facilities by browsing on this activity. For others, like Tulip Yoni (http://tulipyoni.blogspot.com), it is a good way to communicate while writing since she confessed to “not being a great bit talker, but I consider myself a good writer, and can communicate better that way”.
“An addictive activity”
For lots of the Maltese bloggers, blogging has become a habit, since most of them try to blog everyday. Some of them use the term “habit”, while others agree that “it is definitely an addictive activity” Jacques Rene Zammit said. “If I realise that no one is reading it I might be tempted to remove the plug. On the other hand if I see that a lot of people are reading my blog, I might be tempted to put aside more important work to blog more often,” Pierre Meljak (http://www.booksandbeans.blogspot.com) said.
The necessity of keeping your blog updated regularly is probably the reason why there are people I would call “false bloggers”, since they don’t blog often. Indeed, lots of blogs contain a few posts and have not been updated for months. They are not what I would call bloggers, since they are not really into it, they just wanted to give it a try. Actually blogging takes time if you want to do it well.
Some bloggers confessed that they try to avoid blogging more than once a day and some have stopped because it takes lots of time to update it regularly. Addiction can indeed be the bad side of this activity, since you need to have time to blog, and even more time if you read others’ blogs. And it can become a way of being cut from reality thanks to this virtual life.
For some of the bloggers, this growing phenomenon “remains a mystery though, because all in all, no one really needs to blog”. Indeed, blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, especially in Malta, so it is still a kind of UFO of the Internet world. So we can wonder if it will last or if it is only a fashionable activity. However, it is a very interesting world where you can find points of views on everything and it is worth taking a look at it, and maybe try to have your own blog. As Mark Vella said, “the Maltese blogosphere is too exciting to be missed”.