According to Douglas Rushkoff’s Media Virus, blogging changes a passive audience to a participatory public. By creating blogs, BYU-Idaho students can plug into world issues while in Rexburg.

The shortened “blog” comes from web log — so named by Jorn Barger in Dec. 1997, according to www.unc.edu. Some BYU-I students are not interested in blogging, but others actively participate in blogging to discuss music, politics and life.

“Blogging is taking the communication world by storm. It has been an even bigger impact than most people would have thought. The playing field is leveled, more people can participate,” said Lee Warnick, a professor in the Communication Department.

Students looking for jobs in media, business or journalism should have a keen interest in the future of blogging. As for what the public thinks about blogging versus paid advertisements, “regular people’ are three more times more credible than established figures of authority,” according to the 2005 Edelman Trust Barometer.

Musician and BYU-I student Evan Macdonald, a sophomore from Tacoma, Wash., knows the value of blogging.

“The power behind a blog is that thousands of people read it. If I can get the right blogger to listen to my music and like it, I can explode, I really can,” Macdonald said.

Macdonald referred to Brooklyn five-piece band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which sold close to 20,000 copies of its self-released album by mail through word of mouth due to bloggers, according to www.cdnow.com. The exposure placed the band in Rolling Stone magazine’s coveted Hot List.

With resources like www.youtube.com, bands can place messages and videos on blog forums, allowing fans and critics to comment and propel discussion. This leads into the next big thing, video blogging or vlogging.

According to www.Timesonline.co.uk, vlogging is here to stay and will most certainly grow. “Google certainly thinks so, and is investing to profit from the expected boom.”

Journalism, advertising and public relations are mixing with blogging. Edelman ran a campaign promoting Wal-Mart connecting bloggers, “feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.” said Michael Barbaro of the New York Times.

Putting heat on the issue the legality of Edelman’s use of bloggers for their campaign, Edelman was straightforward about their sources and did not