Has blogging become the new Facebook?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to get away from blogs; they are everywhere and it seems that most people have one or at least read one on a regular basis.

Blog discussions cover a variety of topics from politics to gossip and pretty much everything in between. One may think, that like Facebook, blogging has emerged overnight, but it has actually been around for quiet a while. It has even spawned its own spin-offs, such as Twitter and Friend Feed. Though still rare, academic blogs are on the rise, focussing not so much on research, than on more general topics. A number of articles in Research Fortnightly, and more recently in the Times Higher have looked into the increasing presence of blogging in academic circles. In August, Nature Networks held the first ?UK Science Bloggers? conference to much success. The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills is currently inviting the public to comment on a range of higher education and science issues at a JISC-hosted blog . It may now be the time to formally assess the impact that blogs are having on the scholarly communication system before they become a widespread tool among academic researchers.