What Are Blogs?

A web log is merely a instrument that lets you do anything from alter the world to share your shopping list. A blog is a frequently updated, personal website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles or additional Web sites. Your blog is talking for you…to folks who may not know anything about you. Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.

Blogs

Blogs provide comment or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online journals. Blogs are demonstrating themselves as new and original media form. Blogs are not about authorship, they're about a conversation. Blogs really started to go mainstream in 2005 and its going to change the way companies communicate with the public.

Blogging

Blogging by established politicians and political candidates, to express opinions on war and other issues, cemented blogs' role as a news source. Blogging was used to draw attention to obscure news sources. Blogging is all about transparency, authenticity, and honesty. Blogging done right is never seen as the “outpouring from the still-faceless company,” because it puts a face on it.

Bloggers

Bloggers began to provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word "blogging": to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television. Bloggers tend to be more opinionated, niche-focused, and partisan than journalists, who strive for editorial objectivity. Though often seen as partisan gossips, bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead.

Comments

Comments on blogs are often criticized as lacking authority, since anyone can post anything using any name they like: there's no verification process to ensure that the person is who they claim to be. What's more, blogs are designed to change daily and -- importantly -- to receive comments from the public.

Information

Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a newsservice. Though often seen as partisan gossips, bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead. One area of concern is the issue of bloggers releasing proprietary or confidential information. Once you start to blog and that information/thought/conversation becomes public, it begins to take on a life of its own, moving in multiple directions, thus creating a ripple effect of continual learning.

Blogs are still a minuscule percentage of the news sites that the general population uses and I don't think that will change. Blogs are certainly redefining the online landscape. Blogs are not about writing, they are about a conversation. Blogs are another inflection point in the unfolding history of mass communication.