Thursday, December 11, 2008

So What Is A Blog?

By Don Bethune

With the popularity of the internet has come a new way for people to communicate with each other. Besides email, instant messenger, and chat, some individuals are even taking up a form of journal keeping that allows everyone to read and participate in their writing. Blogs are becoming increasingly popular, and are starting to be maintained by celebrities, and even businesses. But really, what is a blog?

Your blog is whatever you want it to be: it can be a personal diary that you share with the world, or your outlet for your political views. It can keep track of stories in the media, or connect a company to its customers on a personal level. Blogs are even being kept by family members to keep other family members who live too far away involved in their daily lives.

And what is the purpose of a blog? First, it gives the author a mechanism to share his complete thoughts on topic without censorship of any type. Many blogs give their readers a way to comment on their topics. Still others are created solely to create debate or generate discussion.

Blogs allow their owners to share personal pictures or actual videos of their daily activities. Other blogs have postings by other people who want their thoughts to be visible to a wider audience. Bloggers commonly link to other web sites that they appreciate, or sites owned by their friends, and even web sites owned by visitors that leave comments on the blog.

Blogs can be insanely popular, and garner a lot of website traffic. Some of the most popular web sites on the internet are strictly personal blogs of individuals who we would otherwise have never heard of. People can gain celebrity status just from creating a popular blog.

Blogs can generate income for their owner. The main way of making money using a blog is advertising. Many blogs allow inexpensive advertising. There are advertising management programs that allow the applying blogger to post content-targeted ads, generating money for each view.

There are multiple ways that bloggers use to increase their web site traffic, such as having online competitions, or giving their visitors the opportunity to view content unavailable elsewhere. Some bloggers even shell out money for web site traffic in order to increase their perceived popularity and thus, perhaps, generate more money from advertising.

So the next time you wonder, really, what is a blog? You know itas now more than just a random collection of someoneas thoughts; it can be informative, entertaining, or thought-provoking. It can create extra income for the author, or if it gets popular enough, even become a full-time job.

About the Author:

No comments: