ABSTRACT
The 21st Century has
been tagged the digital information age. The emergence and growing interest in
blogs and blogging has dramatically increased recently making information
seekers to bypass the traditional media access to information. This project
aimed at audience assessment of blog as information sharing platform in a
globalized era, with reference to Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi. A survey research
design was adopted. 150 questionnaires were administered to the respondents
using Accidental Sampling Techniques, Descriptive Statistic, Mean and Standard
Deviation was used to analyze data. From the analysis of data collected, the
findings revealed that investing in blogs as information platform will spur
organization to greater accomplishment and that audience preference for blog
information is on the increase. Individual and institutions should therefore
align their information design system to meet up with blogging platforms.
However, the results shows that blogs as information platform provides the
individual or organization with good information needed for planning brand
positioning advertising products as well as developing better customer
relationship and social interaction. Based on the findings, recommendation were
made such as effort should be gear towards installing blogs experts in the
institutions with a view to guiding the staff and students on the effective use
of the medium as information platform and also educate them in the aspect of
information management, especially in the age of globalization, also,
stakeholders at all levels should maintain some degree of patronage,
encouragement and demonstrate the habit of using blogs. This practice will help
to sustain professionalism in the information management.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
The advent and consequent use of
information channels for services and operations have had profound impact on
the users. Advances in this field have further had huge impact in the number of
ways platforms of information gathering, sharing and dissemination made
possible to deliver information accurately and faster, cost effective, ease of
use and Really Simple Syndication (RSS), create a new and powerful push-pull
publishing concept. Consequently, blogs have become widely used platforms for
information delivery. The 21st Century has seen the emergence and growing
interest in blogs and blogging which has dramatically increased in recent years
thereby making it possible for information seekers to bypass the traditional
media access to information as asserted by Casey and Sawastinuk (2007),
Thelwall and Goody (2007).
Weblogs or blogs can be described as
a form of personal easy to manage website with content presented in a reverse,
chorological order Schrano (2004) as well as discussion and informational site
publish on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entities. The term
“Weblog” was coined by John Berger on 17 of December, 1997. The short term blog
was coined by Peter Merholz in May 1999 after its first appearance in the late
1990s. Blogging is a concept publishing text on the web is combined with its
syndication. The central virtue of blogging is an online market place of idea. For
the purpose of this study, a blog would be defined as a form of mediated
expression as well as discussion, informational and unique platform to share
thoughts, feelings, opinions or experience. In all human endevours
communication is certainly the most important thing man needed mostly to send
ideas, messages and information.
Digital communication took many forms
including Usenet commercial online services such as Genie Bix and the early
CompuServe e-mail list and Bulletins Board System (BBS) before blogging become
popular.
Ashbee (2003) and Sweetser (2007)
revealed that bloggers are also frequently described as influential agenda
setters in the coverage of politics. This follows from the observation that
blog is a form of mediated human expression and blogging a human activity that
is of interest to academic, from a variety of scientific discipline.
Edelmam and Intellissek (2005), Robert J. Key
2005 argued that many weblogs began sporadically as variety publishing because
any one with an opinion about anything could create, in a matter of minutes,
his or her own web site for publishing news, opinion, commentary and links to
other sites.
A look at the history of blogs
reveals that they have been around since the late 1990s, depending upon the
interest of the author (blogger) typically focus on a single area politics,
technology, health etc. A number of bloggers have received substantial media
attention after being fired for positing comments critical of their employers,
revealing organizational secretes, discussing their world environments or for
breaking stones about organizational events that they were party to as
employees Edelmam and Nielson Buzzmetrics 2005, and Rainie 2006.
Many blogs have also received media
attention for timely and biting coverage of social and political issues. It is
important to note at this point that blogs are weeks ahead of the mainstream
media when reporting stories in their own industry/profession, comp0uters, data
storage, music, politics, telecommunication etc. There are currently over 60
million blogs existing and 75,000 new ones emerging on daily basis.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
Recently, blogs and blogging have
dramatically increased as a niche community for personalized information
sharing platforms. Blogs therefore supports traditional media outreach and is
also an effective part of a larger outreach package, which also include press
release, media interviews, social networking and public dialogue events.
According to Fredman (2012) blogs
arose in the first place because people like to express themselves. Before the
internet people who wanted to express themselves needed to get published in the
traditional mass media. The internet blog has changed this by bypassing the
mass media gate keepers and giving everyone the opportunity to reach a large
audience. Buttressing this fact, Duda and Garneth (2008) assert that blog are
part of an online community of writers, creating a social environment for
feedback, and allowing students and teachers to share ideas and feelings and
encourage both peer and teacher reflective writing and reading, bouncing ideas
and questions at one another.
Previous research suggest the advert
and importance of blogging (Lawry 2006, Hilary 2012, Sweetser 2007). Similarly,
a renewed faith among bloger is the ability of blog displays to capture
consumer’s attention and draw them into an information platform has guaranteed
renewed interest in this communication tool in recent times (Zadah, 2012).
An
extensive search of leading electronic journal database, including
Google Scholar, EBSCO Host and Proquest, suggest that no academic research has
examine audience assessment of blogs as information sharing platform in the age
of globalization. Hence the need for an uncommon platform that could help fosters
quick and accelerates sustainable human development.
The core research questions that will
guide this study therefore are:
·
To what extent has blog as information sharing
platform helped in the growth and development of individual organization?
·
To what degree has blogs help in the growth and
development of audience?
·
To what degree does audience prefer blogs as
information platform to others?
1.3
Objective of the Study
The objectives of this research is to
investigate audience assessment of blogs as information sharing platform in the
age of globalization. The specific objectives include to:
1)
To determine the extent to which blogs as
information sharing platform has helped in the growth and development of the
individual.
2)
To ascertain the level of audience exposure,
assessment and awareness towards the growing trend of blog and blogging.
3)
To ascertain if blogs are the most preferred
information platform used by majority both in the public and private sector.
1.4
Research Questions
The following research questions were
developed to guide the study.
i)
To
what extent has blogs as information sharing platform helped in the growth and
development of individual organization?
ii)
To
what degree has blogs help in the growth and development of audience?
iii)
To
what degree does audience prefer blogs as information platform to others?
1.5
Scope of the Study
In terms of coverage, this study
focuses on audience assessment of blogs as information sharing platform in the
age of globalization. This means that issues relating to blogs as information
platform will be explained. The target population of this study includes
students, staff and various heads of information unit in Auchi Polytechnic,
Auchi.
1.6
Significance of the Study
This study will be of immense benefit
to the organizations communities and societies to interact and connected. It
will help them to know the relevance of using blogs. The research if conducted
will expose the strength and weakness of audience analysis of blogs.
1.7
Limitation of the Study
The researcher encountered a number of
problems in the course of carrying out this study. The time frame to carry out
the study was rather too short; there was also financial constraint and access
to relevant information sources were the major challenges encountered.
1.8
Operational Definitions of Terms
i)
Blogs: This is a truncation of the expression web log. A discussion
or informational site publishes on the World Wide Web.
ii)
Multi-Author Blogs (AMBs): These refer to blogs developed by
different member of authors and professionally edited.
iii)
Edublogs: This refers to blogs used for
instructional sources or educational purposes.
iv)
Bloggers: This is related to a constant user or
owner of a blog account.
v)
Threads: This refers to a topical connection
between messages on a virtual.
vi)
Blogroll: A list on a website of other linked
website that the website owner links are useful or interesting.
vii)
Globalization: The fact that different countries
and economic system around the world are becoming connected and similar to each
other because of improve communication.
viii)
Audience: The group of peoples who have
gathered to watch or listen to something.
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Item Type: Project Material | Attribute: 45 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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