Blogging
Welcome to the blogging community collectively known as the Blogoshpere. Lets start with the basics
web + log = Blog
This fancy word was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997. Blog describes the web page on the internet and the action of Blogging (to post and edit one’s weblog) which has devised the term Blogger; a person who blogs. It is hard to exactly pinpoint when blogs became popular but it should be noted that websites that allowed the hosting of blogs such as Livejournal and Blogger.com, opened a door into the blogosphere for those who weren’t necessarily technically savvy. Another thing that drew the public to blogs are global events this first became noticeable after 9/11, when people found blogs a useful medium for sharing their thoughts. Today blogs could be considered the most popular online personal publishing platform on the internet.
There are many types and genres of blogs. Subjects that you can post about are unlimited, basically if you can talk about; you can blog about it. But some genres to note are arts, business, entertainment, environment, fashion, medicine, politics, science, sports, technical, trade, travel, weather and world news. Blogs are used as filters omitting irrelevant information thus providing a collection of information on a certain topic. Blogs also extend into a wide array of types such as Personal blogs: which are best described as a online diary. Another type of personal blog is microblogs which
“allows users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links” Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael.
Microblogs include the popular websites Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Coporate and organisational blogs are used for the business process, marketing, branding and or public relations. Blogs by media type such as vlogs (video + log) which are increasingly common on Youtube, sketchblog comprised of a persons sketches and photoblogs comprised of a persons photographs.
Blogging is a collaborative media. It is about sharing public posts and available for anyone with internet connection. Blogging allows people to tap into the power of freedom of speech allows ideas and knowledge to become transparent and easily accessible for many diverse sets of people. The public aspect allows for dynamic interaction with comments and trackbacks providing the forum discussion. Often bloggers will try to achieve the quality of research that it seen within the academic community using a peer review system. Facts are checked, arguments are analysed and sometimes countered by the readers. Blogs facilitate this by making people easier to find, and providing immediate and direct communication channels. Blogging also provides niche markets for advertisement which often provide funds for the blogger and promote subjects that are presented within the blog.
Blogging has evolved into a interactive medium between readers and authors fostering collaboration and a community that anyone can enter.
