Week 3- Chapter 1: "The Origins of Social Media," in The New Influencers, pp. 1-14.

This article was a really informative, eye opening piece about blogs. I do know that blogs are a powerful way for consumers and other informed citizens to voice their opinion about all sorts of topics. I know bloggers help keep companies and the media honest, by calling them out on goofy or deceptive tactics and claims. But I was unaware of all the different types of blogs, and their reach and frequency. The article outlines several different blogs types, including dairy, topical, and opinion. I was familiar with the diary and opinion ones, and appreciated their relevance, but was unaware of the more topical blogs that are actually the most popular kind. These topical blogs act more like traditional media, by tracking down exciting stories about a specific topic. They aren't as concerned with accuracy, as much as frequency and timeliness, so they often rush to put out a non-verified story, quicker than traditional media. But often their leads are right and main stream media will even pick up their stories. The reverse is also true, because topical bloggers rely on mainstream media to supply them with fresh ideas and stories as well. Also, topical blogs don't worry about having lengthy posts. Sometimes they just feature a link with a few sentences describing the stories relevance.
Based on the information in this article, I am actually going to change my blog style. Instead of posting one long blog about all the resources I covered for the week, I am just going to post small blogs as I get through each piece of material!
Overall, I really enjoyed this article and recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about blogs, or just be refreshed on how powerful they are!