WHAT IS A BLOG?

Introduction

So you’ve heard the term “blog” and you want to know what blogs are all about. Well you’ve come to the right place. In this series of articles we will take you from asking what a blog is to having all the knowledge you need to start a blog of your own.

Over the months and years you will be able to share your thoughts with hundreds or thousands of readers, promote yourself, your business or your cause and you may even earn a full time living from your blog.

So What Is a Blog?

Let’s begin with some definitions. A bit dry, we realize, but this is a necessary evil. First we’ll define the word this whole site is based around – blog.

A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or diary. It is a place to express yourself 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.

Here are a couple of other definitions:

“…the first journalistic model that actually harnesses rather than merely exploits the true democratic nature of the web. It’s a new medium finally finding a unique voice.”–Andrew Sullivan

“[a] collection of posts…short, informal, sometimes controversial, and sometimes deeply personal…with the freshest information at the top.”–Meg Hourihan

Terminology

As so often happens in the English language, many derivates of the word blog have been created. One who participates in the activities of maintaining a blog is known as a blogger and the activity of keeping a blog is known as blogging. So we could say that the blogger blogs in his blog, but that might cause your English teacher to weep. We are going to use these terms with alarming frequency, so make sure you understand what they mean before you go on.