ABOUT BLOG

Blog Defined


by the Beginners Guide Staff

(Hello)

Last updated July 7, 2006

The term blog formally entered America's vernacular when it was inaugurated into the printed pages of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2005. In fact, the word was at the top of Merriam-Webster's list of "words of the year" in 2004, a testament to its ever-increasing popularity. But what exactly is a blog?

The term blog is actually a blending of the words web and log. Over time the two words combined to become weblog, and eventually simply blog. A blog is defined in the dictionary as "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."

Blog History

Modern day blogging has roots in the 1990s when people began creating and updating personal web pages. During his time at Swarthmore College, Justin Hall began a web-based diary entitled "Justin's Links from the Underground." The site began as a general guide to the web but evolved into a collection of personal thoughts and ideas. It resulted in the New York Times referred to Hall as "the founding father of personal blogging" in an article published in December 2004.

Editor of blog precursor Robot Wisdom, Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in December 1997. The shortened form blog was first used by Peter Merholz in 1999 when he broke the phrase into the words we and blog on his website.

Blog usage began to spread rapidly and is now considered a mainstream portion of modern day media.

Types of Blogs


Most blogs fall into one of four categories:

Personal Blogs: By far, the vast majority of blogs fall into the category of a Personal Blog. These are blogs created by people simply for the purpose of sharing information, trading ideas, and communicating with both friends and strangers. Personal blogs typically focus on a topic the writer is passionate about, be it cooking, photography, child-rearing, education, or politics.

Some personal blogs can be general in scope, but the most effective ones tend to have a fairly narrow focus. This allows the blogger to cultivate a group of regular readers that are interested in the same topic.

A personal blog can be as simple as posting pictures and family stories as a way to stay in touch with out-of-town relatives and friends, or as complex as a hobby-related blog with a great deal of advertising intended to generate income for the writer.

Business Blogs: Business Blogs exist for the sole purpose of selling products or services. A business blog is a promotional marketing tool, though it is usually well designed and packed with helpful content, so as not to appear completely commercial.

Organizational Blogs: Organizational Blogs are similar to personal blogs, except that the content represents an organization, rather than an individual. Organizational blogs can be internal (within a large company, for instance) or external (communicating with clients or interested parties). Organization blogs are a common way for not-for-profit groups to communicate their message to the general public.

Professional Blogs: Thought not common yet, professional blogging is slowly becoming a career for some writers. More and more companies and organizations are hiring writers to maintain blogs promoting their services, products, or ideas.


Finding the Best Blogs


Finding interesting blogs largely depends on your personal taste. There is something out there for everyone, to be sure, but finding the best blogs can sometimes feel like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. The only way is simply to begin searching. There are several Internet websites dedicated to listing and rating the web's best blogs. Many newspapers also publish lists of the best blogs, as well as reviewing new or growing ones.

The aforementioned blogrolls are a great source of discovering new and interesting blogs. When you find a blog you enjoy, take time to explore the author's other listed blogs. Chances are you will find additional blogs that peak your interest.

The Weblog Awards (or the Bloggies) are a set of 30 publicly chosen awards handed out to blog writers and those associated with producing blogs. Perusing the lists of pervious winners may help you find a blog gem that is just what you are looking for.
Blog Components

One of the unique facets of a blog is that is typically viewed in reverse chronological order. When you open a blog, the first entry you see is the one written most recently. This differs from a webpage where the first page you view is usually a portal which directs you to the various portions of the website, which organized categorically or topically, rather than chronologically.

There are several components that are included in most blogs:

Entry Title: Every blog entry will have a title of some sort to give you an idea about the content it holds.

Bio: Short for Biography, most blogs include a short bio giving a description of the writer, the blog's content and sometimes a short history of the blog.

Date and time: Most blog entries are marked with a time and date so the reader knows when the information was posted.

Recent Posts: The most recent posts, or entries, are usually listed on the side of the webpage, so readers can quickly scan through the titles to see if any of the topics interest them.

Comments: Blogs are designed to be interactive, and most blogs have a comment section where readers can respond to the writer's entries.

Permalinks: Short for permanent link, a permalink is a URL pointing to a specific blog entry.

Blog Links: Bloggers love other bloggers, and most blog writers include links to other blogs they themselves enjoy or think their readers might be interested in. These lists are referred to as blogrolls.

Archives: Most blogs allow you to search the site to catch up on entries you may have missed or revisit past entries.

Photos: Most blogs feature photos related to the topic content. The photos may be actually on the site or may be viewed through a photo-sharing site.

Advertising Links: Many blogs have links to products the writer recommends or links to sites offering products related to the content. Bloggers can generate income through these links. For instance, a blogger might discuss a book and include a link to Amazon where the reader can purchase the book. For every book purchased through the blogger's link, the blog writer will be paid a certain percentage. Other advertising links only have to be clicked on to create income for the blogger.

The Future of Blogging


According to Technorati, a search engine that monitors blogs, there were more than 8 million blogs online as of March 21, 2005, up from 100,000 just two years prior. Estimates say a new blog is created every 7.4 seconds, which adds up to 12,000 new blogs a day. Blogging is certainly on the rise.

How blogs will fit into mainstream media in the long-term remains to be seen. While the World Wide Web made obtaining information universal, blogging is now making the publication of information universal. Anyone can log onto a free blog creation site and publish their own unique ideas and thoughts for the rest of the world to read. This development is the next great extension of the power of the Internet.

Thanking you
JAYAN

• @draft on JULY 2006[PUBLISHING 3/2014]