It all started with Xanga.
Xanga is a Web site where members can post anything from their deepest, darkest secrets to an account of what they do each day. That was in addition to pictures, song lyrics and class schedules.
Blogging on Xanga may be a thing of the past, but blogging is still a popular Internet escape for college students. While some people blog regularly, reading the online journals is becoming a new way to get information about myriad topics.
A majority of blogs focus on comedy or satire: taking an everyday topic, such as politics, and spinning the truth to make it funny. While this type of blog provides humor for the reader, it sometimes is difficult to interpret fact from fiction.
Bloggers don't need any kind of credentials, so while you may think you're getting an accurate article about the United States' failing economy, the information could be written by a 13-year old who happened to hear his or her parents arguing about it over dinner.
"Personally, I don't have too much (trouble) with (determining if something is fact or fiction) because I do enough research to confirm what I read," said Andrew Lacy, a sophomore sports broadcasting major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Lacy sticks to political blogs, as well as a couple blogs maintained by friends, including a friend doing mission work in the Czech Republic.
Political blogs are becoming increasingly popular because of the coming election, but celebrity gossip blogs are what many people choose to read. Perezhilton.com is one of the most well-known online celebrity rags. Perez Hilton, a "celebutante" in his own right, gossips about everything from a Victoria's Secret model's missing dog to Harry Potter.
Another gossip blog gaining in popularity is www.wwtdd.com, or "What Would Tyler Durden Do?," a blog that makes fun of the rich and famous.
"The blogger has an extremely dry and almost vulgar humor, but I find it humorous," said Andrea Micek, a senior merchandising major. "He says what many of us are thinking. He embellishes a lot, but [the stories] become so far-fetched from the real thing that you'd have to be extremely dense to not be able to tell fact from fiction."
With new blogs being added every day, now is a good time to jump on the bandwagon and get reading.
Better yet, start your own.
paigejuhnke@dailynebraskan.com
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