The Belfast Telegraph looks at the influx and influence of UK blogs. They point out when it comes to politics, it’s a blend and trend picking up speed. The UK was a bit behind North American on the blog curve.

Last week Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) reported that 53% of people who responded to its recent survey on the subject were influenced in their purchasing decisions by information they read in blogs.

But the influence of the bloggers goes even wider.

What usually happens is this: a topic becomes the subject of online “buzz”, it then becomes a news story in the traditional media and the wider population gets to hear about it. Sometimes it happens to be about a particular product or service and the company involved benefits.

But equally it might be about something negative.

That’s why many companies and organisations have established their own blogs where they can at least have some input into the online chatter. An added advantage is that it’s cheap.