People listen to a speech on blog writing at a seminar on web logs at the Myanmar Info-tech compound, Yangon, on September 1. Pic: Kyaw Soe Lin

A LOCAL company on September 1 launched the first website designed exclusively for Myanmar’s blogging community in a move aimed at encouraging the country’s newfound passion for online writing.

Inforithm Maze Co., Ltd announced the launch of the Myanmar-language site www.mysuboo.com at a meeting of some 300-400 local bloggers who had gathered at the Myanmar Info-tech compound at Hlaing University, Yangon, to discuss their pastime.

Ma Cho Zin Aye, operations executive for Inforithm Maze Co., said the new site offered free uploads to anyone interested in sharing their blogs, poems, photos, music or general knowledge (the site has a “wiki” section) online.

“It’s intended for the Myanmar online community, giving them a place to show their creations, to share their thoughts and to see what other people are up to,” she said.

“It can help put two people in touch with each other, either by searching what’s there or by posting something. It’s an easy way to make social contacts for those who find it hard to meet others outside.”

MySuboo – suboo means “piggybank” in Myanmar – is designed to be a treasure trove of ideas as well as a place to make friends, making it something of a social networking site with an informative edge.

“We give tips to bloggers on how to write on the site. For instance, to write in the ‘Wiki’ section people have to be aware of the style they should be writing in, and facts and figures mentioned must be reliable,” Ma Cho Zin Aye said.

Users are required to register to use some features, such as the discussion forum, and terms of registration include pledging not to use the site to promote “illegal issues” or “prohibited issues”.

If membership in the recently formed Myanmar Bloggers Society is anything to go by, Myanmar people are hungry to make themselves heard online.

The group, which helped organise the September 1 seminar, claims more than 400 members and is also planning to launch its own website in the near future to feed demand.

Blogs, or web logs, have soared in popularity worldwide in recent years as writers find satisfaction commenting on current events and readers enjoy a peak into others’ lives and getting information direct from the source, not filtered through an established news agency.

Eight speakers at the seminar this month drew an attentive audience. Talks focused on the history of blogging in Myanmar, how to create a blog and reasons why writing online was becoming so popular.

The event was free to attend and was sponsored by Inforithm Maze Co., Ltd, the Myanmar Bloggers Society and computer sales and training firm Service +.
The 3rd World Blog Day passed on August 31.