This document discusses the rise of blogging as a phenomenon where people share their thoughts and experiences online. It notes that many celebrities, politicians, and regular people in Hyderabad are taking up blogging. It explores some of the motivations for blogging, including the desire for self-expression and connection with others. The document also provides examples of popular blogs by Hyderabadis on topics like films, food, and city life. It summarizes the ease of starting a blog and encourages bloggers to blog regularly and avoid plagiarism.

1. cover story
The virtual
world
blogging
has everyone
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The Virtual World has everyone Blogging
http:// The Virtual World has everyone Blogging//index Blogs
create your blog Blogging What is Blogging
Just about anyone
you know, from
CEOS, RJS, DJs to
fashion designers is
a blogger. Even the
Bollywood biggies
are blogging: from
Amitabh Bachchan,
Aamir Khan to
Shekar Kapur. Why
even Laloo Prasad
Yadav feels the need
to say something on
a blog! NINA takes
a look at this self-
publishing online
phenomenon, and
checks out some of
the city bloggers
who like the city,
well, are laid back
about updating their
blogs
(With inputs from
Chaitanya Kumar)
29 WOW! HYDERABAD June 200828 WOW! HYDERABAD June 2008

2. ‘Hyderabad is a delightful city. Full of
culture and excitement and history
and delicious food!’ To us Hyderabadis
this is not really news. But somehow,
it is thrilling to read it on the Big B’s
personal blog (http://blogs.bigadda.
com/ab/). Slower than their Hollywood
counterparts, Bollywood stars are finally
getting on the blogging bandwagon.
Now we don’t have to depend on film
magazines to satiate our curiosity about
tinseltown. We can peep into personal
online diaries and read about what
a particular star had for dinner last
night, or where another one went for a
party. Aamir Khan’s blog (http://www.
aamirkhan.com/) is a huge draw, with
500 reader responses signifying the
lower end of the feedback he receives
on his entries! Even our intrepid Railway
Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, known
for his idiosyncratic ways, has had his
say on a blog. His comment on wanting
to play a politician in Shahrukh’s film
elicited over a hundred responses:
(http://www.mypopkorn.com/blogs/
celebrityblog.html?blogid=MTA)
What is it about blogging that is so
compulsive, both for the reader as well
as for the writer? What is it that drives
people to blog?
Long ago, loneliness and existential
angst were overcome by a good old-
fashioned prayer session before bed.
Whether the rest of the world cared for
us or not, one had the conviction that
God was listening, that He loved us and
listened to our worries and could fix our
troubles. Then, when Darwin shook up
the age-old notion of the celestial nature
of human origin, there began a craze for
diary writing. Although one was not sure
whether God was listening, it became the
fashion for everyone – from intellectuals
to bored housewives – to pour mundane
thoughts and feelings into ‘Dear Diary’.
So is blogging just a natural progression
of this? In our wish to express ourselves,
to overcome a sense of increasing
isolation caused by our lifestyles, is
blogging to an unknown audience better
than living without having made a mark
at all?
One can argue that a well-known
personality has compelling motives for
blogging. It has now become almost
an essential part of good PR, since it
bypasses the sometimes biased media
reports and allows the public to get an
idea of the person behind the image.
Whether these articulate entries are
really typed in by our superstars and
politicians or ghostwritten is another
matter altogether. Aspiring writers also
have good reason for trying out their
skills online. In some cases it has even
cover story
For the absolutely
clueless: what is
blogging?
A blog is short form of web log
and is a website, maintained by
an individual, group or company,
with regular text entries as well as
photographs, graphics or video.
Blogs can focus on a particular
subject – like sport, technology,
cooking or art, or can be online
personal diaries. There are currently
over 110 million blogs worldwide.
led to a contract with a publishing
house, as in the case of Meenakshi
Reddy Madhavan, arguably India’s
most popular young female blogger,
who landed a book contract with
Penguin as a result of her blog, http://
thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com/.
Blogging can also prove lucrative, in
rare cases, like Amit Agarwal’s Digital
Inspiration, http://labnol.blogspot.
com/ whose phenomenal success has
earned him the title of the first Indian
professional blogger. Even at WOW! we
have our bloggers – Vijay Marur, http://
vijaymarur.blogspot.com/ and Jeremy
Brian, http://salsahyderabad.blogspot.
com/ who actually have energy left over
after their day jobs to go online and
work again.
But what drives the aam aadmi or
aurat to power up and hunch over a
keyboard, sharing trivial minutiae about
their run of the mill lives? Is there
an exhibitionistic streak in so many
of us? Or is it just a case of doing it
because we can? City DJ BlackJack! who
posts at www.magickalkingdom.com
says, “Posting my thoughts online is
essentially conversations with myself. If
my words relate to someone else who
cannot articulate similar thoughts, that
is even better.”
Many bloggers also use their sites to
share their passion for a certain subject.
Venkat Siddareddy, who blogs in Telugu
at http://www.24fps.co.in/ and http://
navatarangam.com/ says, “ Cinema has
been my passion and blogging gives me
a platform to document my ideas and
share them. It is a two way channel-
my ideas are critically viewed and are
debated upon. I chose to blog in Telugu
as there are already many blogs in
English on cinema, and I wanted to bring
Andhra readers closer to cinema.”
How to start your own blog
in three easy steps
But be sure you really have something
to say
While almost every email provider or
search engine now offers the opportunity
for users to create a blog free of charge,
Google’s old classic blogger.com is still
the simplest system for novices. It really
does get you started in three easy steps
and will provide answers to problems
as well. Open https://www.blogger.
com/start to begin with and then follow
instructions. It’s that simple! Now go
ahead and start writing. But do wait until
you are sure you can really blog on a
regular basis before mailing friends and
family telling them to see your creative
outpourings. Nothing is as frustrating
as dead blogs with a paltry four entries
from two years ago. Also, remember that
however informal Internet publishing
may seem, copyright and plagiarism
laws apply here as well. Do not fill
your pages with information lifted from
other sources without permission or
acknowledgements. It is also a good
Blogabad zindabad: Five
city blogs to check out
http://hyderabad.metblogs.com/:
Metblogs feature every major city
in the world with locals posting
their impressions of day to day life.
Unfortunately, the Hyderabad site is
suffering from a dose of our typical
lackadaisical slowness, and posts are
much too infrequent.
http://lazybug.wordpress.com/: A
city-centric personal blog which covers
a variety of topics, with some very
striking pictures and lots of titbits
about Hyderabad and its happenings.
http://spaniardintheworks.blogspot.
com/: poetic, graphic and a pleasure to
read. This blogger is temporarily off the
air, let’s hope she’s back before we have
read all her old posts.
http://sudeepdsouza.blogspot.com/:
The blogger is a software professional
and it shows! But also has a good
smattering of social, local and family
issues.
http://cinnamontrail.blogspot.com/:
Deliciously laidout food blog, with
yummy pictures.
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30 WOW! HYDERABAD June 2008 31 WOW! HYDERABAD June 2008

3. cover story
Bloggers in Hyderabad are true to the
city’s reputation, laidback and easy-
going as Hyderabadis are said to be.
There are no super-active bloggers here,
updating every four hours, or even every
four days! In general, our city bloggers
are not a prolific bunch. Still, you can
find blogs about almost everything, from
Telugu films and shairi to technology
and IT news. Even MNCs have caught
on to the implications of blogging, with
companies like Infosys featuring blogs
regularly on their website. (http://www.
infosysblogs.com/). From CEOs to RJs,
DJs and college kids, it would seem that
everyone in the city has something to
say, and they are all doing it via the Net.
As with so many technological advances,
there is no consensus of opinion on
blogging. On the one hand, it seems a
depressing indication of how isolated we
are becoming. Images of socially inept
loners, closeted with their laptops, are
what come to mind. Unwilling to venture
out, the young student crouches in
front of his screen typing furiously as he
takes on a new virtual avatar – complete
with an impressive alias or penname to
screen his true identity. There is rarely
anyone who can live up to their online
image, just as there are few authors who
can impress us as much in person as
they do in print.
Blogging, as a form of literary
expression, also has editors
shuddering at the thought of the
masses of unqualified people writing,
at the inaccurate and mis-spelt
information clogging the Net. But
Vemana Madasu, city blogger (http://
destructivedistillation.blogspot.com,
http://hyderabadindeed.blogspot.
com, http://onthesill.blogspot.com)
who recently completed a degree in
engineering, says, “The whole idea
behind blogging is freedom of speech,
the right to voice an opinion. Some
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Top five blogs
worldwide
(Technorati
rankings)
http://www.
huffingtonpost.com/the-
blog/:
a liberal online news site
founded by American media
heavyweights, it is currently
number one on Technorati’s
blog ratings, and was ranked
the world’s most influential
blog by The Guardian
http://www.techcrunch.
com/:
focuses on Internet products
and companies
http://gizmodo.com/:
a reputed online publication
for those obsessed by gizmos
of any kind
http://www.engadget.
com/:
another high quality site for
the gizmo geeks
http://www.boingboing.
net/:
a group blog dedicated to
cultural curiosities, odd news
and other such novel titbits
of these opinions may be caustic,
some may ridicule and offend certain
sections of people. But that doesn’t
warrant censorship. Every person on the
blogosphere is equal and is responsible
and accountable for their own posts.”
It is also important to remember that
blogging has given a voice to a huge
section of the middle class in our country
that was silent before. The small-town
teenage girl, hemmed in by convention,
can now speak up without fear thanks
to blogging. As Akila Ramachandran,
a final year MBBS student, who blogs
at www.mymirrortalking.blogspot.com
puts it, “The relative anonymity of the
Internet makes it easier to speak out
about things about I wouldn’t have done
otherwise. The ease with which I can be
heard and understood by people is what
makes me blog. And the feeling that I
am not alone in this world is of some
consolation.”
Every blogger knows there is a great
sense of validation when readers
respond. Whether it is a frustrated
housewife, a misunderstood adolescent,
or even a grandmother whose wonderful
recipes are ignored by her own family,
they can all find a sense of community
online. With real life gettogethers,
like the Indiblogger Meet, which is
held in major Indian cities, (it was
held in Hyderabad earlier this year),
bloggers come together to share their
experiences. Bloggers have also proved
their value as citizen reporters breaking
stories, for example in the hours
immediately after disasters like 9/11
and the tsunami or in the aftermath of
violence such as the unrest in Tibet.
Whether good or bad, wholesome or
unhealthy, cool or geeky, blogging is
here to stay. Like radio, way back in
the 1930s, blogging has grown from a
few qualified known personalities toW
Podcasting allows the user to share information, views, opinions and a lot more
through online audio files. In a nutshell, it is a media forum that lets you publish
and interact with the whole world. Podcasting is a simple and effective way of global
communication. A better alternative to blogging, it lets you create your own talk show
or radio program with content of your choice. Teachers can Podcast their classes
and upload them for students to listen to later, movie reviews can be podcast for
avid cinema buffs, students can publish their presentations, auditions can be held
online. It’s guarantees a lot more for anybody who just wants to be heard. All the
applications needed to Podcast are free and easily available on the Net.
One step further – Podcasting
“Unfortunately, podcasting
hasn’t really caught on in
Hyderabad yet”
It is a simple three-step process that
involves recording, uploading and
receiving.
Recording can be done through normal headsets
or microphones that record sounds and save
it in a particular media format. For recording a
conversation on the net, software like Skype or
iChat can be used. Most blogging sites also offer
podcasting options.
You can listen to podcasts directly or download
the audio file, which can be played using
common audio players. Apple’s iTunes and
Microsoft’s Zune allow you to subscribe, store
and organize your podcasts.
Must listen
n Buzz out loud on Cnet.com –
a daily podcast on technology
n Filmspotting on blogspot –
a podcast on movies
n Econtalk – a podcast on politics and
economics
Recording, Uploading and Receiving
32 WOW! HYDERABAD June 2008 33 WOW! HYDERABAD June 2008