What is a Blog, Blogging, purpose of Blogs and Blogs Are not?

What is a Blog, Blogging, purpose of Blogs and Blogs Aren’t?

     

By: Soulality staff

What is a Blog?

Blog bläg

Noun

1.

A personal website or web page, on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.

Verb

2.

Add new material to or regularly update a blog.

"It’s about a week since I last blogged"

A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or diary. It is a place to express you to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions. Really, it’s anything you want it to be. For our purposes we’ll say that a blog is your own website that you are going to update on an ongoing basis. Blog is a short form for the word weblog and the two words are used interchangeably. A blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom. A blog (also called a weblog or web log). 

Blogs typically include features such as comments and links to increase user interactivity. Blogs are created using specific publishing software.

Blogs Are not Necessarily Personal

The major false impression concerning the definition of blogs comes from people that associate blogs with their content. More specifically from people that correlate blogs with the subject from one particular type of blog: personal blogs.

In other terms, those people think that blogs are online diaries where people share their views, ramblings, babbling and personal events.

Not Correct!

A blog is basically a type of website, like a forum or a social bookmarking site. As such it is defined by the technical aspects and features around it, and not by the subject published inside it.

The features that make blogs unique from other websites are:

·         content is published in a chronological fashion

·         content is updated regularly

·         readers have the possibility to leave comments

·         other blog authors can interact via trackbacks and pingbacks

·         content is syndicated via RSS feeds

·         A blog typically can be read in a number of different formats including the homepage, single post page, categories, tags, and also via RSS and other such syndication technologies.

What is Blogging?

Blogging is easy, almost instant, publishing of content to a website, where every entry is preserved in a database and is therefore categorizes able and searchable. Content can be photographs, recipes, restaurant reviews, or anything digitally storable on a computer that you can categorize. Blogging is the act of writing a post for a blog.

What is the purpose of Blogs?

The content and purposes of blogs differ significantly from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.

Blog posts are like instant messages to the web.

Many blogs are personal, "what's on my mind" type musings. Others are collaborative efforts based on a specific topic or area of mutual interest. Some blogs are for play. Some are for work. Some are both.

Blogs are also excellent team/department/company/family communication tools. They help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than email or discussion forums. Use a private blog on an intranet to allow team members to post related links, files, quotes, or commentary. Set up you blog where your friends can view your personal news. A blog can help keep everyone in the loop, promote cohesiveness and group culture, and provide an informal "voice" of a project or department to outsiders.