Blog On: You are now Entering the Blogosphere

Feb. 9, 2005

Blog this and blog that. What the blog is going on? Why don’t you go blog yourself. Blog, blog, blog.
Blogs are popping up everywhere and still so many of us have no idea as to what they are. Blogs are pop-culture artifacts that have garnered such an incredible amount of popularity that Time magazine considered making bloggers (or those who create and maintain blogs) the people of the year in its annual “Person of the Year” issue.
But what the blog is a blog?
As www.marketingterms.com says in its official definition a blog is “a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links.” It consists of web postings reflecting the creator’s personal thoughts on pretty much anything.

WEBLOGS
The term blog is a smashing together of the words “web” and “log” (or “weblog”) but the word blog has become the accepted term. This is because of the fact that a web log can also mean a server’s log files. Essentially the regular folks have been saved confusion with the coining of the word.
Blogs of all types and subjects have popped up on the internet and there seem to be no boundaries defining what a blog can be about. As Wikipedia says, “Blogs run from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns and corporations.”
Most blogs become a sort of personal diary or journal that is left for anyone on the internet to view. Of note, Forrester Research group has posted an article informing businesses how to get the most from their company’s blog.
The blog format is also as diverse. Blogs can be comprised of a simple list of bulleted links, a set of article summaries, full-length creative writing or just a set of diary entries. The mass appeal for blogs lies in that they are easy to set up, don’t have to cost anything, and allow large numbers of people to view your thoughts, ideas or work.

RINGS OF BLOGS
Many writers have used blogs to post short stories or novels and there are even sites encouraging writers to form rings of blogs dedicated to a literary pursuit. This lines up perfectly with the publishing ethos because the consensus is that a blog should be treated just like any other publication. If the blogger is posting something that most people would not want to read in a magazine, newspaper, or book that they have purchased, then they shouldn’t post it for everyone to see.
With the election year just passing, the majority of the most popular blogs have been given to political rants and essays on the state of the country and world. CNN even offered a write-up on how much of an influence bloggers had on the political setting of 2004. “For the first time, the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention will credential a small number of bloggers to cover their nominating processes,” said Marsha Walton of CNN.com.
The effects of blogs on politics may seem overestimated, but not according to Markos Moulitsas, who blogs at www.dailykos.com. Moulitsas claims he “has raised more than $400,000 for democratic candidates.” Not a figure to be taken lightly.
But as CNN also points out, blogs are nothing new. They were used in the 2000 election, and were in heavy use even before then.
According to an article by Farhad Manjoo of Wired magazine, blogging is not a recent discovery, it has just outgrown its underground nature.
“The practice of blogging is hardly new. Well before the dot-com swoon, blogging began to boom. Hundreds and then thousands of people set up their own weblogs, with some of those sites garnering traffic numbers that beat those dot-coms,” Manjoo says.

FAMOUS QUICK
An increase in the amount of bloggers on the Internet stems from its current trendiness and the fact that many people think it is a way to get famous quick. But Dave Linabury, creator of the annual Anti-Bloggies awards, says it takes a lot of time and dedication to get the large amounts of hits that you want for your blog. “I spend two hours a day on my weblog. Many people don’t realize this. They think it is a quick way to get popular.”
The main beef that many early bloggers have with the new stock is that they can be, quite bluntly, just “boring or lame.” Linabury has much to say about most of the blogs that are currently on the web. “One of the things I don’t like is the blog where someone says something like, ‘Today I had a cheese sandwich.’ That’s the kind of thing you see in most of these blogs. You know, fascinating. I don’t give a flying... whatever you ate. Don’t tell me you have a flat tire. And if this is how boring their writing is, I can’t imagine how boring they must be to talk to in general.”

CHECK IT OUT
For those of us who are still new to this world of blogging, www.blogpulse.com offers links to some of the most popular and critically acclaimed blogs from 2004. The top cited blog from the past year was www.boingboing.net. It is a self-described “directory of wonderful things” and includes blog articles on everything from Victorian film (mostly made at the end of the 19th century) to a recently born two-headed baby to an “1850’s era account of London’s working class.” The site was created by a number of experienced bloggers working together.
The most widely read blog article from last year came from www.livejournal.com where a blogger named Anniesj posted a very interesting account of how the FBI came to her house to discuss a political rant she posted. The writing was misconstrued into a threat on President George W. Bush’s life. Whether or not it’s true is up for debate, but it has drawn the attention of thousands (if not millions) of blog readers.