#3 Discover what blogs are

• Watch this video: Blogs in Plain English [2:58]

Begin at the beginning, that’s what I always say!

Derivation of the word blog:

internet = world wide web = web
diary = journal = log
web log = weblog = blog

Voila!

People built blogs to broadcast opinions and news of a personal, national, international, or whatever variety, to friends, family, and whoever else is out there. Blogs have since evolved to become a blank slate – they can be whatever the user wants. So just think of a blog as a website, like any other. You can also see pictures, videos, songs, etc. on blogs. This blog is meant to teach you about web 2.0 stuff, so you can see that blogs can be instructional as well.

Blogs are usually updated often, if not daily. The most popular blogs are constantly updated, every hour of the day. These constant updates mean that there is the potential for new information all the time. When people say that they “read blogs,” it means that they read them regularly—daily, hourly, through an RSS reader, whatever—because there is always new information there (as long as the blog writer puts it on the blog). Think of it like a newspaper. People read that every day, right?

Another great thing about blogs is that they invite people to comment on what the writer or writers have said. Old “1.0” websites didn’t have that capability. Comments are an integral part of blogs; it’s how they build communities. Readers post comments, others respond, and a conversation occurs. It’s a very democratic medium where anyone can be published. How many blogs are there? No one knows exactly, since they are created (and, sadly, abandoned) all the time, but let’s just say: a lot. Like, more than 50 million.

In 2006 Technorati.com, a website that tracks blog popularity, was saying there were 50 million blogs, and that was 2 years ago. So you get the picture. That’s a lot of people, a lot of diverse interests, and a lot of reading material.

I think I’ve hit you with enough information for now. You can read lots and lots more about blogs at Wikipedia, everyone’s favorite not-quite-encyclopedia.