A blog rally is the simultaneous presentation of identical or similar material on numerous
blogs, for the purpose of engaging large numbers of readers and/or persuading them to adopt a certain position or take a certain action. The simultaneous nature of a blog rally can join the efforts of otherwise independent bloggers for an agreed-upon purpose.
Blog Action Day
Blog Action Day is an annual worldwide event where bloggers write about a single topic on November 3 or 4th of every year. The event commenced in 2007 on the inaugural topic of the environment. Successive years have focused on poverty in 2008 and c ...
can be likened to a blog rally.
The term was used by undergraduate student Karissa Kilgore at
Seton Hill University
Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Formerly a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students.
History
The school was founded in 1885 by the Sist ...
in 2004 ("Since all of us in EL150 have blogging portfolios to do, and I realize that there is some pressure to have comments and whatnot, I suggest some sort of a blog rally to make sure we get decent feedback" from the instructor.), to describe a last-minute push by students to complete blogging homework for an English class.
An early instance of a planned blog rally outside of academe took place November 26 through November 30, 2008, in support of a
viral
Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents).
Viral may also refer to:
Viral behavior, or virality
Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example:
* Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...
movement called '
Engage with Grace: The One Slide Project' was organized to encourage families to discuss
end-of-life care
End-of-life care (EoLC) refers to health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death. End-of-life care can be provided in the hours, days, or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotio ...
issues while gathered together for the
Thanksgiving holiday weekend. As reported by one of the project organizers, over 95 bloggers participated in this event. This blog rally was repeated in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Another blog rally occurred in April 2009, when a group of bloggers in the
Boston area banded together in support of the ''
Boston Globe'', which was threatened with closure by its owner,
The New York Times Company. Over two dozen bloggers simultaneously published a post asking readers to submit suggestions on ways the ''Globe'' could improve its financial position. Later that month, another blog rally emerged in support of an imprisoned
Iranian writer,
Roxana Saberi
Roxana Saberi (born April 26, 1977) is an American CBS News correspondent and former Miss North Dakota pageant winner. In 2009, she was held prisoner in Iran's Evin Prison for 101 days under accusations of espionage. She subsequently wrote a b ...
.
Another blog rally occurred on June 22, 2009, when thought leaders across healthcare collaborated to launch HealthDataRights.org and unveiled a shared statement to ensure
patients’ rights to access and share their own health information. A blog rally supported the introduction of the Declaration of Health Data Rights.
References
{{more footnotes, date=April 2011
Boston Globe on November 26, 2008Wall Street Journal's Health Blog on November 26, 2008Blue Mass Group Blog on April 6, 2009Boston Globe article on April 7, 2009*
ttp://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/06/bloggers_rally.html "Bloggers rally for health data rights" Boston Globe June 22, 2009
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