How should one blog?

Sometime ago, I watched this Channel U talkshow on TV. On that particular day, they discussed about blogs, blogging and of course bloggers.

A lawyer, a secondary school teacher and two bloggers were invited as guest speakers on the show. One of the blogger works in the media industry, while the other one is probably Singapore's most well-known (notice I did not say most popular) female blogger "Xiaxue".

One of the issues discussed during the show was: Should bloggers write in proper English?

The teacher told Xiaxue that many of his students read her blog, and that he noticed her blog was often written in broken, colloquial English, and frequently contained foul language. Moreover, she was not abashed in discussing sensitive, sensual and sexual issues. He then asked her if she could start writing in better English and on other topics so as not to allow the teenagers who frequent her blog to be led “astray”.

Her reply was: “If you think that my blog is not suitable for your students, you should teach your students not to read my blog, and not to ask me to change my writing style.”

She has a point. But, I beg to differ.

Yes, I agree that a blogger has the right to write in either proper English or broken English. He is also free to write about his own life, his thoughts or other issues as long as they are not offensive to others.

But, why write in broken English when you know proper English? Why discuss about measuring the size of penises if you have more intellectual and meaningful thoughts to share?

I feel that blogging serves the same purpose as the mass media.

The role of the mass media is to inform, educate and entertain.

Journalists write columns which are published in the newspapers. Similarly, bloggers write entries which are posted on the internet.

There must be a certain message that the journalist wants to send across to the general public when he writes. Likewise, the blogger has to have something that he wants to tell his virtual readers. That is, of course, if we are talking about responsible bloggers.

Xiaxue explained during the show why she wrote about sexual topics and why she blogged in broken English. Her reason was short and obvious, “Because that is what people like to read.” She pointed out that there are so many blogs out there which uses proper English and talks about meaningful stuff. But, the thing is, nobody reads them.

I do not mean that bloggers have to preach and blog about dull issues. But I feel that bloggers need not be swayed and manipulated by their virtual readers. Especially those bloggers who have made it big. For them, all the more they should have integrity, social responsibility and uphold a sense of morality in what they write, because what they write may have an influence on somebody else’s, or even many other people’s life.

My friend commented that this set of thinking does not apply to Xiaxue, because she started off writing in that way, and became famous because of the type of things she writes and her writing style.

Nevertheless, I feel that once a blogger has successfully attained the aim of reaching out to the masses, it is time to move on to a higher level. To improve and not degrade.

There is nothing wrong to discuss about sensual or sexual issues, but surely nobody would not like to be remembered as the blogger who takes pleasure in discussing about the size of penises?