~Interesting Passage in Blogging~

"As blogs become more and more common, they may develop more conventions that make them less susceptible to these anxieties about truth and fiction. We may also see more blog narratives that are explicitly fictional and that never attempt to fool their readers" (Rettberg 126).

What Rettberg is addressing in this quote is the issue of bloggers who essentially make-up characters and stories and blog about them without informing the reader of their fictitious nature. Since journal like blogs of this nature are generally truthful of people's lives and real situations, readers become emotionally invested in the blog and then subsequently feel tricked and betrayed when they learn that what they have been reading is not true.

I find it interesting that people use blogs this way when by the very nature of a blog it's purpose is to share opinions, learn about a specific topic, or record personal thoughts and emotions. Blog writers are aware of their audience (or potential audience) and write in a way conscious of the fact that it most likely will be read by others. People exploiting this fact is taking that a step further, by fabricating stories of human interest these bloggers are not only editing their lives to appeal to readers, but inventing experiences separate from their own to gain more readers and generate more feedback. This adds a whole new level to the narcissism of blogging.

Rettberg, Jill Walker. Blogging: Digital Media and Society Series. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008. Print.