Sharing Digital Diaries

By Trudy Tang Tin Wai

11:00 p.m., it is time to sleep, but Cherry Chan, a Year 3 student of Wuhan University, has another thing to do before she goes to bed. She would like to write her digital diary – the blog.

Chan updates her blog at least six times a week. She writes about everything on her blog and she is what people call a blogger.

Writing blogs has become a trend among Internet users, especially the post-80s generation. According to the 2008 Macau Internet Project, 21.1 percent of people write their own blogs and 52.3 percent of people read others’ blogs when using the Internet.

Bloggers write all sorts of things on their blogs, such as their daily experience and opinions towards some issues. The blog is a channel for them to express their feelings, so most of them write about their emotions and grumble about different issues on their blogs.

“Mostly I would write about my emotion and complaints about other people,” said Chan. “When I complain, I would set a password to my blog so that the people I do not like cannot read my blog.”

One reason that post-80 youngsters feel free to blog is that they can make sure who their readers are by setting access and giving permission to their blogs. Some websites also allow bloggers to know who has read their blogs even though the readers do not leave any comment. “The blog service I am using now allows me to chase the readers’ IP (Internet Protocol), so I roughly know who has read my blog even though they do not log in,” said Chan.

Although the trace function can protect bloggers’ privacy, it also widens the generation gap between the post-80s and their parents. Many bloggers would rather express their feelings on their blogs than communicate with their parents. They do not worry about their parents reading their blogs. “My parents do not know how to use a computer, let alone the Internet,” said Chan.

Blog websites attract many people because they do not require bloggers and readers to stay online at the same time. Friends can read each other’s blogs whenever they are free. According to Chan, only some of her friends would write a comment after reading her blog. “Those who do not comment can also know what has happened to me and they would give me a call,” said Chan.

Another attraction of blogs is that bloggers not only can use text to express their feelings, but also some videos and images. Chan said that she would post photos on her blog when she has a gathering with her friends. “I would also upload and share some music videos of my favorite singers on my blog,” said Chan. “Photos and videos can enrich my blog and attract more people to read.”