Before You Learn How to Blog, You Better Learn What a Blog is (and Isn’t)
Thinking about starting a blog, are you? Before you learn how to create a blog, you had better get an idea of what a blog actually is and how it is fundamentally different from other online presences. That’s exactly what I’ll be reviewing in this article.A blog, short for weblog (web-log, not we-blog), is an online journal. Blogs are specialized forms of web sites, so they typically contain text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, or other media related to their topics. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning “to maintain or add content to a blog.”Blog entries, or “posts,” are usually displayed in reverse chronological order, and posts are assigned to categories to assist with organization. Posts refer to individual articles, or writings, in a blog.Blogs differ from traditional web sites in several crucial ways:
RSS feeds?RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of feed formats used to publish blog content. Feeds make it easy for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that’s easier than checking them manually.Feeds can be aggregated in a feed reader, a web page or portal page, or a web browser. The feed reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds. In essence, it’s a way for your favorite content to be “pushed” to you, or in this case, a way for your subscribers to get your content pushed to them as it’s updated. In a nutshell, feeds make sure that your readers receive your content as it’s published.Blogs range from personal journals intended for close friends and family, to influential and significant media journals, to informal communication channels for companies. Blogs exist in about every shape, size, and topic imaginable.The power of blogs is that they allow millions of people to have a voice. Blogs are fluid and interactive, consisting of two-sided conversations rather than broadcasts. Blogs are fundamentally changing how we use the web, so get your blog started or you’ll be left behind!
