Blogging
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| See also: | The Impact of Blogging on Fandom |
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A blog (from "web log") is a type of web content that is like an online diary or a serialized column. Blogging snobs (or purists) often don't consider sites like Livejournal examples of blogs, but this type of social networking-oriented personal diary is the most influential blog format in online fandom.
The blog format makes nearly anything possible, from sharing private thoughts to creating content to bringing together like-minded fans. Blogs are easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Many blogging platforms, like Livejournal, Tumblr, Wordpress, and others, are free to use or have a free option. It is even possible to make money from a blog via advertising, if one can attract a sufficiently large following. Like paper diaries, blogs allow one to record ideas, stories, and artwork; but they also allow that material to be shared worldwide with a click.
Fandom bloggers may use their blogs for a number of purposes. Tumblr bloggers post and share artwork, photosets, gifsets, and even fic. Followers may then reblog posts they like, and a single fanwork could then be seen by hundreds or even thousands of people. Popular and successful fan artist alicexz uses her Tumblr to share her work, work in progress, and news about upcoming projects that might interest her followers. Her posts and reblogs receive notes - likes or reblogs - from anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of people.
With reblogging, Tumblr allows users to add content to the reblogged post. This results in fascinating collaborative works such as this imagining of the aftermath of the battle of Hogwarts. J.K. Rowling didn't cover the immediate aftermath in her Harry Potter novels, but her fans worked together to explore and flesh out that part of the story.
Some fans use their blogs to post recaps and reviews of their favorite media. Blogger Neil Perryman set out to re-watch every episode of Doctor Who with his wife who had never seen the show. His blog 'Adventures with the Wife in Space' chronicles the project episode by episode via discussions between the two. Other fans may use their blogs to promote fannish podcasts (an example) or to chime in arbitrarily on whatever fannish thought comes to mind (an example).
The Mary Sue is a popular professional fan blog with a feminist angle. Articles range from 'The Last Airbender' Newbie Recaps to comic book recommendations to the latest space and tech news.