What is a Blog?
�Blog� is short for the word web log.
Basically it�s just an online journal that is frequently updated, and
written sort of like a diary, with the last entry on the top.
Blogs are fast becoming a preferred
delivery method of news and information, because they are so easy to
use, and because they allow for comments by the reader, making the
experience more interactive than just listening or watching the news on
TV. Because they routinely have the most current information about any
given subject, they are starting to show up more and more in the search
engines.
When the Tsunami hit this past summer, Bloggers (the term for �one who
writes a blog�) were the first to break the news, along with video
footage. Bloggers also were the first to report that the 60 Minutes TV
story about President Bush�s National Guard service was based on forged
documents. Blogs have become the fastest way to share information
worldwide, and anyone can do it in an instant, because it�s actually no
more difficult to create a blog entry, than it is to send an email. My 9
year old son even has his own blog and he has fun with it.
My own blog (http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog) is laid out chronologically
with the latest information on the top, but it is also organized into
categories you can see on the right. Each post always shows the date,
and there are links to any comments that people may choose to add. I
post nearly daily on a wide variety of subjects, and it�s much faster
and easier for me to do than adding a new webpage or article to my
website.
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, about any subject
you can imagine. In September of 2005, Google actually started a new
search engine specifically devoted only to blogs. (http://blogsearch.google.com)
Blogs are typically started by people
for free, although they may move into paying for blogging software
later, if they find that the free software does not meet all of their
needs. Some blogs are hosted on existing websites like my own, but many
blogs are hosted on free servers too.
If you have no website or domain of your own, you could still start your
own blog right now, and have it up in 15 minutes and at absolutely no
charge. Just go to http://www.blogspot.com (now owned by Google) and
click on the big orange arrow at the bottom. By putting comments in
other blogs, and telling people about your blog via e-mail, you just
might find that there are a lot of people interested in what you have to
say. Once you set yours up, visit my own blog and let me know you�ve
done it, and I�ll come visit yours. |
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