What's on a Malaysian blogger's radar??

Blogs provide an avenue for social interaction, expressing random thoughts and even a business channel. Malaysians, epitomised to be truly asian are no different from other global citizens of the blogosphere. Every Ah Chong, Ahmad and Muthusamy has a blog these days. Pun intended as Tom, Dick and Harry would not fit in as well in a Malaysian context. According to Bernhardt(1986), multiple considerations of audience and purpose functionally constrain the text, and influence its shape and structure. I believe in applying theory to practice!



TheCicak.com(literally translated to mean 'The Lizard') is an example of a popular peer-reviewed social interaction blog that discusses issues affecting Malaysian youth.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's ex-Prime Minister was the latest personality to jump onto the blogosphere bandwagon. His first post generated a whopping 1177 comments, and counting. Check it out for yourself at http://www.chedet.com/

On a personal note, I created a blog, *connectedthinking during my stint as a Vacation Trainee at PwC to stay connected with the other interns. It doubles as a platform for Vacation Trainees to share their random thoughts and experiences at the office.

Here's an example of a blog used as a business channel. Cuppacakes by Wondermilk was well received not only because it sold pretty little cupcakes that would make one stop and stare; it was actually interactive and the customers like the fact that they are able to engage with the owners. A successful business venture that started its humble journey from a blog. It now boasts a full-fledged cafe in Damansara Jaya. The blog was definitely a catalyst to it.






References
Berhardt, SA 1986, ‘Seeing the text’, College composition and communication, vol. 37, no. 1, pp.
66 – 78.

Cuppacakes 2008, 'The Cuppacakes Show 03', viewed on 2 May 2008, at http://cuppacakes.blogspot.com/

Mohamad, DM 2008, 'The Appointment of Judges', viewed on 6 May 2008, at http://www.chedet.com

The Cicak.com 2008, 'Tap Into The Young Minds Of Malaysians', viewed on 2 May 2008, at http://thecicak.com/