What Will People Do With Blogs Next?!

Yesterday when I was reading the news on CNN.com, I came across a fascinating article that really showed how social media is revolutionizing our society. The article, “Death at 25: Blogging the End of A Life,” described how 25-year-old and cystic fibrosis pantient Eva Markvoort used a blog to reach out to the world. Markvoort blogged about her terminal and incurable disease for nearly four years.

She used the blog to tell her story, show her suffering, and to reach out to others; some of whom also had the disease that causes mucus to build up in one’s lungs. She used writing to communicate with others, funny pictures of

Markvoot and her friends making silly faces for her blog

herself making faces to show how she was still in good spirits, and videos of her vomiting, coughing, and receiving IV’s to show the brutality of the disease.

According to the article, patients blogging about their dieases is becoming a more common thing to do. I think this is a great thing and a very positive and helful way to use social media tools, such as blogs. Patients who are currently undergoing treatments for certain diseases or who are suffering certain affects of diseases are able to tell others who have the particular disease what it is like to suffer. It allows those with a certain disease to learn, teach, and most importantly, not feel as though they are alone.

It truly is amazing that social networking tools, such as blogs, are revolutionzing something as serious and hard to deal with as death. Death is viewed by many as a taboo. Markoort’s mother even felth uncomfortable with her daughter’s openness about death and the disease. Blogs, like Markoorts are making topics like death, no longer hard to talk about. They are allowing people to connect during extremely difficult times in their lives.

I wonder what other good could come from using bogs?!