What is: Blogosphere?

The phenomenon known as the blogosphere consists of all of the parts of the social universe associated with and created by online individuals who make use of, read, comment on or publish weblogs or blogs. More simply, the blogosphere is the slang term for the entire collection of blogs on the internet. This is a form of grassroots journalism where anyone is able to comment on any and all topics that capture their interest.

Because of the widespread popularity of blogs, the blogosphere is a powerful social network which allows public opinion and freedom of speech to thrive without any form of regulation. The blogosphere provides the potential for a person to have an audience of thousands or even millions of readers and followers without being censored.

The blogosphere does not represent any particular, unified social unit, though there are subgroups contained within it. Similar blogs often follow other blogs, repost portions of other blogs or even link out to other sources associated with the blog post, drawing certain types and classifications together within a particular niche of the blogosphere.

Though maintaining a blog is a means of increasing popularity, search engine ranking or attracting attention to certain goods and services, in the greater scheme known as the blogosphere, blogs tend to be more focused on sharing private thoughts with like-minded people.

The blogosphere is an invaluable source of citizen journalism which has helped to overcome the corporate and governmental controls that often squelch the truth behind events or conditions in local areas and allow the forum of public opinion to thrive as well.