What is a blog? Part I

I could begin by telling you that the very first website recorded on the world wide web was really nothing more than a blog. I could tell you that blogs are short for "weblogs," which is to say a place on a server where software programmers would keep a "log" of bugs and software projects so everyone could see them and they'd have an archived history of progress. I could tell you that it was no surpise that these and the self-publishing feature of blogs appealed to writers and they began to use weblog technology as tool to help accumulate ideas, musings, first drafts and more. (By the way, �weblog technology� is no more than a space on a server and an authoring software package, which is sort of like Microsoft Word, for instantly publishing onto the web. And while some "edits" are harder to make than others, it's a lot cheaper and easier than to learn than html!)

I could tell you all of these things, but it's what happened next that made blogs explode and its reverberations are still being felt, and igniting new explosions. You see, as the use of blogs mutated from a programmer's bug list to a writer's self publishing tool, it was not uncommon to soon see non-writers join the fray, from teenagers to writer-wannabes to journalists to researchers, they began using them to highlight and document research; people of all sizes and types became self-publishers. They could "blog" a little every day (i.e., every entry into a blog is a "post"), and by year end, they'd have had enough posts accumulated to write a book! Also, all of these audiences quickly realized that their accumulated self-published materials represented "them." Their blogs were, in fact, their website. They began to design them, name them, and link them to other blogs. And then others began reading them. This changed everything.

As more and more blogs were created, and more and more "hits" (readers) to these blogs occurred, and as more and more links were created, and more and more users were joining the blog bandwagon, Google began finding blogs in its searches. These unique websites were not islands, but hubs within their own environment, and Google loves websites that get visited lots and they love websites that link to other websites. That's why it was so easy for so many people to have found the Baghdad Blog (the power of referral/viral marketing not withstanding).

So, now blogging starts to catch on in the media, and Google is finding blogs them in their searches. And now blogging software gets more fancy and a "comment" feature within every post promotes exchange between blogger and reader, and even between other readers. Feedback is given, questions are asked and expertise is shared. In short, relationships are built. This is powerful. The relationship builds trust and and the content brings relevancy and the reader keeps reading. One could say that blogs are no more than meme machines. (Want to know what a meme is? Click here for a quick review. And here for a more thorough review.)

Exponentially, and with the help of Google finding these "links" between people (i.e., websites), like-minded people are connecting with like-minded people. Researches are reaching students and other researchers. Writers reach other writers. People meet other people. Collaboration occurs. Communities are built. And the possibilities are endless. Howard Dean is making some predict that this will be the first election where the president is elected on the internet!

So what is a weblog? I suppose you could say that a weblog is a single unedited voice, with frequent (almost daily) posts, that are organized most recent on top and they are all archived and searchable. What are weblogs now and what are they evolving into the future? Extreme community-building tools, extreme communications tool, extreme archived, reusable and collaboration tools, and extreme content gathering tools. Or, they can be whatever you want them to be. Now the question is: What do YOU want them to be?

See also
1. How to get Started with Blogging
2. What is a blog? Part II