c.Types of blogging communities & methods to build blogging communities

Blogging community is often related to a cyberspace community. Owyang (2007) stated "An online community is: Where a group of people with similar goals or interests connect and exchange information using web tools. " These communities allow people to discover other's blog and comment on them through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed. Kinkeldei (2007) also stated "Blog communities allow communities of interest, organizations, loose associations,
groups of alumni, etc. to instantly, easily and effectively create a single point of
access and content aggregation." This is further support by Lefever (2003) stating "In business or socially, online communities have the power to create lasting and productive relationships where none existed before."Thus, a blogging community is vital for increasing the number of blog readers.


White (2007) later breaks down these communities into 3 main groups of blogging community :

Taken From The Knowledge Tree

1. The Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community
We will first look at White's definition of Single Blog/Blogger Centric Community. This type of community based on one A-list blogger or organisation who runs the site. The commentors could communicate with the blogger as well as other commentors with the commentary system. The downside of such community is that the commnunity is solely based on the blog and the owner's interest. Therefore, if the blogs went down, the community would eventually disappear too. Example such as kennysia.com who owns the blog is an example of the single blog community.

Taken From The Knowledge Tree

2. The Central Connecting Topic Community
Different from the single blogger community, the Central Connecting Topic community is based on more than one blog linked by a common interest. Such community is more network-like rather than community. Due to the networks, the community might not fall or disappear with one site being shut down. The community might stay because it is not a single technological platform and it is linked from one to another. An example of such community would be the Global Voices community.

Taken From The Knowledge Tree

3. The Boundaried Community
This community resembles a forum based community that have collection of blogs on a single site. The rules are regulated by the site owner but also affected by the blogger's influence. It requires member to 'register' and offer them opportunity to blog. This community based site also allows members of the community to communicate with one another. There is less linking between blogs or RSS as they are an ecosystem. Share You Story is an example of such blogging community.

Screenshot from katelovesme

Applying White's (2007) single blog community to katelovesme. As the blogger, Pelayo Cruiz who owns the site is a A-list fashion blogger, he have a large fan-base which builds up a community revolving men's fashion and him. 


Reference list
1. Kinkeldei, B 2007, Blog Communities: Forging Connections and Promoting Growth Through Blogging Community, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://www.21publish.com/pub/21publish/blogging-whitepaper.pdf>
2. Lefever,L 2003, What is an Online Community?, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000208.html>
3. Owyang, J 2007, Defining the term : Online Commnunity, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/12/28/defining-the-term-community/>
4. White, N 2007, Blogs and Community, viewed 22 August 2011, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-%E2%80%93-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>