The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Here, the possibilities are `mind-blogging'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Here, the possibilities are `mind-blogging'

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI, SEPT. 20. Blogging — or posting web logs on the Internet — is more than just a hobby for some. It is also becoming a means to make money.

A group of Chennai-based bloggers, who have been actively posting web logs on a variety of topics over the past few years, say these are exciting times for the blogger. They have been able to incorporate Internet search engine Google's web advertisement tool, AdSense, on an earn-per-click basis on their blogs. There is also the scope for earning from online bookstores by reviewing books and providing links for potential customers.

Kiruba Shankar, a documentation engineer with a city-based IT company, says apart from earning him a steady income every month, his blogs on www.kiruba.com have helped him in presenting an effective resume.

``My blogs have helped me get my last two jobs. The beauty of blogs is that you can sculpt your own brand image.''

One of the city's veteran bloggers, Mr. Shankar was among the organisers of the blogger's convention in Anna University two years ago, when blogging itself was at a nascent stage. A lot has happened since then. ``A good number of Indian bloggers in the blogosphere are from Tamil Nadu,'' he says.

This includes several IT professionals, who have settled down abroad. There is also a dedicated group of people blogging in Tamil (www.tamilblogs. blogspot.com).

Though most bloggers write on current affairs and entertainment, a few of them prefer specific topics. Vinesh Venugopal Nair, who works with an Internet Service Provider in the city, is a Formula-1 racing fan and even radio jockeys for a racing programme on a Mumbai-based FM radio. Mr. Nair says his blogs on racing on www.blogs.sify.com/vineshvnair have helped him get in touch with Formula-1 fans from across the globe.

Bloggers in the United States are an acknowledged influence group and even get press invites to political conventions. Indian bloggers too feel that the political parties here will not be able to ignore them for long.

Mr. Nair said one of his blogs earlier this year on the Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue had more than 19,000 responses.

Chandrachoodan, another active blogger, feels that credibility of bloggers has generally increased in recent times and people are more forthcoming to be a part of the online community. He blogs on www.selectiveamnesia.org.

For a few others like R.L. Narayan, who works in an interactive marketing agency, blogging is still a pure hobby that he will enjoy with or without the money or responses.

``I am just hooked to it. My day is not complete without blogging.'' He blogs on http://rlnarain.blogspot.com.

Blogging can also be a stress-buster. ``It is my 15 minutes of sanity during office breaks,'' Mr. Nair adds.

The best thing about blogging is, of course, that it is free. However, there are also a few who spend up to Rs. 3,500 a year on domain name and server space. Beginners could just log on to free blogsites, which have several help documents.

The proliferation of broadband brings good tidings for the future, bloggers say. There will be voice blogs, video blogs ... the possibilities are mind-boggling. Or should we say "mind-blogging".

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