Introduction
Man has an instinct nature of always wanting to be aware on the current issues and happenings around the globe. This led to the invention of different technologies for sharing of information locally or internationally, such as the Radio set, TV box, or through the web. As time passes, the number and categories of different information shared to people expands, that requires it to be filtered into certain categories for easy and convenience when it comes to viewing and reading the information. This led to the invention of something like a platform, that will be used to share information on a particular topic to the public. This platform is now known as Blog, and is the only hosted on a web.
The blogs allowed early internet users to "log" the details of their day in diary-style entries. Blogs often allow readers to comment, so as they became more common, communities sprung up around popular blogs. The content of blogs varies significantly. For example, travel blogs may feature many pictures with few written passages, while political blogs may weigh in with wordy takes on the news of the day.
Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. Materials are largely written, but pictures, audio, and videos are important elements of many blogs. The “blogosphere” is the online universe of blogs.
Definition and Overview of Blog
A blog (shortened version of weblog) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first, at the top. It is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject. Blog content is often referred to as entries or blog posts.
Blogs are typically run by an individual or a small group of people to present information in a conversational style. However, now there are tons of corporate blogs that produce a lot of informational and thought-leadership style content. Typical blog posts have a comments section where visitors can respond to the article.
Blogs are usually simple websites. Older pieces may be archived in separate sections of the site, and there may be a separate page with contact info or a bio, but the blog itself is usually just a single page that can be scrolled through - similar to the news feed on social media sites like Facebook. As with a Facebook news feed, a blog displays the newest content at the top of the page.
Key elements that identify a blog post from a static website page include a publishing date, author reference, categories, and tags within a byline. While not all blog posts have all of those byline elements, static website pages do not have any of these items. From a visitor’s perspective, the content on a static site will not change from one visit to the next. However, depending on the blog owner’s publishing schedule, the content on a blog will offer something new each day, week, or month.
Blog also has another unique feature that differentiate it with a static website, which is interlinking. This occurs when a blogger links to another person's blog within their own blog post. For example, if a music teacher maintains a blog, and they write a blog post about how to form a chord, they might link to a musician's blog to show an example of the chords in action. A political blogger may link to another politics blog and then discuss how they agree or disagree with a post on that blog. Interlinking, along with the comment section, fosters the sense of community that makes blogs unique.
A typical blog combines text, digital images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave publicly viewable comments, and interact with other commenters, is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. However, blog owners or authors often moderate and filter online comments to remove hate speech or other offensive content. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (video blogs or "vlogs"), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources, these are referred to as edublogs.
The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users who did not have much experience with HTML or computer programming. Previously, a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and File Transfer Protocol had been required to publish content on the Web, and early Web users therefore tended to be hackers and computer enthusiasts. In the 2010s, the majority are interactive Web 2.0 websites, allowing visitors to leave online comments, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking service. Indeed, bloggers not only produce content to post on their blogs but also often build social relations with their readers and other bloggers. However, there are high-readership blogs which do not allow comments.
Structure of a Blog
The appearance of blogs has changed over time, and these days blogs include a wide variety of items and widgets/sections. However, most of the blogs still include some standard features and structures.
Here are common features that a typical blog will include:
- Header with the menu or navigation bar.
- Main content area with highlighted or latest blog posts.
- Sidebar with social profiles, favourite content, or call-to-action.
- Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, etc.
Blog structure
History of a Blog
According to an article published on blogging from Wikipedia, the term weblog was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. The short form, blog, was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May of 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used blog as both a noun and verb - "to blog", which means "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog" and devised the term blogger in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.
Types of Blog
There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in a way the contents was delivered or written.
- Personal blogs
Rather than a corporation or organization, personal blog is written by an individual. It is an ongoing online diary or commentary blog. While the vast majority of personal blogs attract very few readers, other than the blogger's immediate family and friends, a small number of personal blogs have become popular, to the point that they have attracted lucrative advertising sponsorship. A tiny number of personal bloggers have become famous, both in the online community and in the real world. - Collaborative blogs or group blogs
It is a type of weblog in which posts are written and published by more than one author. The majority of high-profile collaborative blogs are organised according to a single uniting topic/theme, such as politics, technology or advocacy. The blogosphere has seen the emergence and growing popularity of more collaborative efforts in the recent years, often set up by already established bloggers wishing to pool time and resources, both to reduce the pressure of maintaining a popular website and to attract a larger readership. - Microblogging
Microblogging refers to the act of creating concise and short posts for audience interactions. The posts could be a text, pictures, links, short videos, or other media - on the Internet. Microblogging offers a portable communication mode that feels organic and spontaneous to many users. It has captured the public imagination, in part because the short posts are easy to read on the go or when waiting. Friends use it to keep in touch, business associates use it to coordinate meetings or share useful resources, and celebrities and politicians microblog about concert dates, lectures, book releases, or tour schedules. Examples of Microblogging platforms include Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. - Corporate and organizational blogs
A blog can be private, or it can be for business or not-for-profit organization or government purposes. Blogs can be used internally, and made only available to employees via an Intranet, which are called corporate blogs. Companies use internal corporate blogs to enhance the communication, culture and employee engagement in a corporation. Internal corporate blogs can be used to communicate news about company policies or procedures, and improve morale among the employees. Companies and other organizations also use external, publicly accessible blogs for marketing, branding, or public relations purposes. Similar blogs for clubs and societies are called club blogs, group blogs, or by similar names, the typical usage was to inform members and other interested parties of club and member activities. - Aggregated blogs
Individuals or organization may aggregate selected feeds on specific topic, product or service and provide combined blog view for its readers. This allows readers to concentrate on reading instead of searching for quality on-topic content and managing subscriptions. - By genre
Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as Tech bogs, Astronomy blogs, journalism blogs, health blogs, travel blogs (also known as travelogs), gardening blogs, house blogs, Book Blogs, fashion blogs, beauty blogs, lifestyle blogs, party blogs, wedding blogs, photography blogs, project blogs, psychology blogs, sociology blogs, education blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs, legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs), or dreamlogs. How-to/Tutorial blogs are becoming increasing popular. Two common types of genre blogs are art blogs and music blogs. - By media type
Blog can be categorized based on the content of the blog that mainly deals with a particular media type. A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs. - By device
A blog can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a tablet or PDA could be called a moblog. One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters, as published from Wikipedia. - Reverse blog
A reverse blog is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of a blog, and the writing of several authors. These can be written by several contributing authors on a topic, or opened up for anyone to write. Though, there is typically a limit to the number of entries to keep it from operating like a web forum.
Blogs has contributed in today’s World, such as in establishing an online social relationship among the blog users through comments features. A blog can also be used to post a recent news on what’s currently happening around the globe to be read by the users. Some blog are strictly based on how-to, which also contributed to a very large number of people on how to operate or carry-out some certain operations, by making people lives more easier.
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