What is Blogging and How Do Get Started?
A blog is very much like an online journal, but it can be authored by numerous people, or by just one individual. Each post is written on a website chronologically, but often appearing in reverse order. The term ‘blog’ or ‘blogging’ can also be used as a verb to mean an action - in other words, that of creating a comment on a blog.
The term ‘blog’ comes from Jorn Barger’s term ‘weblog’ and supposedly came into existence when Peter Merholz divided it into the two words ‘we blog’ on his website for a lark.
When lots of folks interact using a blog, they are typically discussing a particular subject of interest for them. Consequently, if someone wants to know what’s the best pink gadget to buy for his boat, others will write in with their comment on how that particular gadget worked - or didn’t work. Blogs are ideal for discovering what other folk’s experiences have been with anything you can conceive.
If some person is knowledgeable on some topic with plenty of experience that other people can benefit from, then he may start up a blog about it and offer advice. They may also offer links to other websites that promote items applicable to the area of expertise. Also he may offer links to other blogs or other articles about the same topic.
Blogs utilize both images and text, but some blogs emphasize art (artblog), videos (vlog), images (photoblog) and audio, that is, podcasting or MP3. Blogs can be long or short, but those that are very short are referred to as micro-blogging. Blogs are typically updated frequently and the technology utilized today permits people who understand very little about it to become competent bloggers with just a tiny learning curve.
In the early days of blogging, bloggers called themselves diarists, journalers, or even escribitionists. A comment or article written on a blog is called a post, a blog post or an entry. Old blogs on a topic are occassionally referred to as ‘archives’ and may be kept on a another page or pages that can be accessed via a hyperlink. There are at times a variety of hyperlinks - like the index of a book and they are found on the left or right of the blogging page.
The great thing about blogging is that individuals who have the same interests can all come together and talk about, getting to know each other (so to speak) at the same time.
