Feature

Express Bloggers: debut of an English blog

Ireen Sultana

What do people like doing most in their lives? They love to express. No doubt that today's generation is very expressive in their lifestyles. Revolution of technology has brought communication right in our fingertips. Wide use of Internet have popularised features like email, messenger and the likes among the hi-tech generation. The more you express, the more you communicate and vice versa becomes a drift of many. There were many grand beginnings. Web platform today offers an exciting feature to advocate one's opinions and discuss about current affairs. Blogging is the new way of communication.

Blog gives you the freedom to express. It has minimized distance, making the world smaller than ever before. As a booming country in ICT sector, Bangladesh is widely connected with the Internet service. It did not take long for us to drown ourselves in the trend of blogging. Due to availability of a variety of medium of communication, frontiers have dissolved. Users of Bangla language around the world connected as they shared their views in a blog. Bangla blogging gained immense popularity in a very short space of time.

A lot of people around the world maintain personal blogs. Though hundreds of personal Bangla blogs also exist, community blogs are leading the 'Blogosphere' as the most powerful communication platform. Single blogging platforms engaging a host of bloggers are called community blogs. Numerous blogging sites are available today. In the five years of Bangla blogging, today we have more than ten Bangla community blogs, with more in the pipeline.

A very recent debut in the blog arena is the 'Express Bloggers'. With no grand launching ceremony, EB had its first blog post on June 30, 2010. “The blog went live as soon as it was ready to go”, said Sajib - the dreamer and the developer of this community blog. When the ability to write in Bangla is the secret of current Bangla blogging craze, Aminul Islam Sajib took the challenge to come up with an English Blog. Thus 'Express Bloggers' unites Bangla speakers from all the corners of the world to blog in English. “It is definitely difficult to convince people to blog in a language they do not speak throughout the day. However, I am determined to tak the challenge to make English blogging popular among Bangladeshi people,” expresses Sajib.

Any mother tongue will always have its own special place, but to uphold one's own culture and identity globally, English becomes the language of the world. Bangla blogs has makes up for the lacks of information on web in Bangla. It is not to discourage Bangla blogging but to promote the blogging culture for all Bangla speakers, while meeting its motiveto reduce the interaction gap. “To talk of our primary target audience, we are working on attracting the attention of the younger crowd who find the use of English language difficult. Of course we encourage older people to blog in English and connect with the ever-changing world out there”, Sajib explained.

Like many other community blogs, Express Bloggers is an open platform to discuss about some of the most versatile topics, as long as the content is suitable for general audiences and are not directed to hurt sensibilities. Express Bloggers has all the regular blog features like post, post category, bloggers profile, most viewed post, comment and reply, recent comment and recent post highlights in an easy-to-use interface. To become a blogger, one has to register the usual way. So join the latest blog on the scene and start expressing; the world hears you!

(The writer is a regular blogger in Bangla)