Translation of Adam’s post (RUS).For part 1, click here.

The blogosphere is a fairly recent phenomenon in Kazakhstan. Although it does not yet have mass appeal, it is already quite complex, so let’s try and unpack it.

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Another project, the mobile microblog platform moblog.kz, has been developing not only as an autonomous resource, but also as a means of posting on Twitter using MMS. Additionally, we should take note of other innovative projects like podkazt.kz, a specialized site for domestic podcasters.

The podcast as a genre has been gaining popularity in Kazakhstan’s blogosphere. Enthusiasts record specifically themed “shows” about new features of the internet, or user manuals to go with them, in addition to dynamic discussions about current (or simply interesting) topics. In the spring of this year, Almaty was host to Kazakhstan’s first BarCamp, an informal conference for new media specialists and enthusiasts, which has been a success since its inception, attracting hundreds of participants from tens of countries around the world. Here is the official website of the country’s largest blogging event – barcampkz.net.

What about other platforms that are that are so popular among bloggers outside the USSR? They primarily host the Kazakhs who wanted to keep journals in the Kazakh language at a time when LiveJournal did not support Unicode, which prevented certain unique letters of the Kazakh alphabet from displaying correctly. The open code of WordPress is also widely used today for the creation of simple, functional, standalone projects, like the Almaty municipal blog alatoday.info, the complaint book pomidor.kz, the international press round-up inosmikz.com, and many others. It was recently adopted by state agencies as well (bnews.kz and astana-almaty2011.kz).

Among English-language blogs about Kazakhstan, our colleagues from Registan.net stand out, particularly Michael Hancock, a very perceptive observer. Unfortunately, the controversial author Steve Levin has stopped writing on his blog oilandglory.com, although he has been replaced by a whole team of experts, who work on a customized platform of the Foreign Policy Association (centralasia.foreignpolicyblogs.com). However, the most regularly updated blog – after NewEurasia – is one run by a foreigner in Astana (kazakhstan.blogsome.com).

There are less successful examples of local blog services. They include cj.kz, a civil journalism project that was shut down without ever reaching its full potential after donor funding ceased. Attempts by well-advertised websites – zonakz.net for news and bb.ct.kz for forums – to convert users from other platforms also failed. Additionally, there is a whole garland of blog services that offer nothing new, technically or socially.

Nonetheless, there are two extremely popular projects that really took off in 2009. The first is afftor.kz. It was started by famous media personality Alisher Yelikbaev, who wanted to gather the thoughts of people he found interesting in one place. The elite blogosphere, which initially consisted of a dozen talented young journalists, businessmen and showbiz figures, began to expand, bringing in new participants and attracting new readers.

Another popular local online hangout is the government’s blog platform, commissioned by Prime Minister Masimov. In one interview, in which he was asked about the difficulty of accessing LiveJournal in Kazakhstan, he called himself a blogger and an internet user, and claimed he knew nothing about problems with LJ.

Soon thereafter, ideas began to spring up – from requiring all ministers and governors to keep blogs to creating the country’s own LJ instead of signing up for the real thing to equating blogs with professional media and allowing the state to block them as they saw fit… Now, does anybody doubt that this country takes the internet very seriously?