First Post

     I have created and maintained numerous blogs but I have never created a Blogger account.  Personally, I did not enjoy working on Blogger.  I find that other blogging websites are much more user friendly and much simpler to use.  I have spend spend almost all of my free time on the internet and learned to read/ write HTML many years ago when I was about twelve years old- I have always been fascinated with the Internet and with technology in general.  As you can see, I am very familiar with blogs as well as designing layouts on the internet.  If I was someone who was not familiar with these things, I would not have been able to navigate and design my Blogger profile at all.

     Although I did not enjoy designing my blog I think that generally Blogger blogs are more intellectual than blogs on other websites.  For example, the majority of Tumblr blogs are maintained by teenagers or young adults and do not have much substance to them.  Although there are some Tumblr blogs that are stimulating, I find that there are more Blogger blogs on this intellectual level.  From perspective I think that Blogger is a great website.

     Some of the blogs that I examined were more useful than others.  I have listed them on my blog under the 'Favourite Blogs List' heading, (Architecture Wanted, iGNANT, iPhone in Canada, PostSecret, Rules of Thirds, and The Absolute Best Photography Posts).  I thought that the blog Architecture Wanted was very useful.  The blog had a very clean looking layout which made it easy to navigate.  I thought one of the best and most useful features of this blog was the fact that every post on it had a relatively short blurb explaining what the pictures were.  Since this is an architecture blog it provided me with many great pictures that I eagerly wanted to see, as well as some follow up information if I wanted to further research the presented topic.
     Another blog that I examined was iGNANT.  This blog consisted mainly of photographs and one of the categories featured was architecture.  I did not find this blog as useful as Architecture Wanted for one reason: the blog is entirely in German.  I still found this blog to be very entertaining and the images were captivating!  I would have found it more useful if I was able to read about the pictures presented.  I enjoy further researching a subject if I find it interesting but I was not able to do that with iGNANT.
     Another blog I examined was PostSecret.  I found PostSecret very useful and the idea behind it very intriguing.  People from all over the world anonymously mail post cards to a given address with their 'secrets' written on the back.  A number of secrets are then selected each week and posted on the PostSecret blog.  I was very interested by this blog and found it very useful because it is commonly seen as a support for people.  For example, if a secret is posted and someone is able to relate to it they may feel that they are 'not alone' and in turn feel more optimistic.  I now frequently visit the PostSecret blog because I find it so useful!

     I think that blogs are very useful in today's society.  There are many different types of blogs created for a variety of people.  For example, there are personal blogs where people write about their day-to-day lives, there are educational blogs that discuss endless subjects ranging from visual art to the evolution of DNA, there are blogs that teachers create to keep their students up to date on a specific class, and the list goes on.  Blogs are written in different languages and for different age groups and because of this they are able to service almost anyone.  The amount of information stored, explained and circulated on blogs is incredible.  Since blogs service so many people and contain so much relevant and important information they hold the ability to have a great impact on people today.  Due to all of this and of course the aspect that they are constantly available to be accessed, blogs present people with endless advantages.
     Despite all of the advantages blogs have there are also disadvantages.  Many people are not tech-savvy and have trouble navigating blogs and the internet in general.  An example of how a blog would be a disadvantage is if someone was required to investigate a given blog for class and they could not figure out how to navigate through it.  Traditionally, instead of investigating a blog a professor would assign a novel or a magazine article to read.  So, if we look at blogs from this perspective they have many disadvantages for people who are not able to use them in today's society.  I believe that overall there are more advantages than disadvantages of blogs due to the amount of information people can so easily access.