Blogs Technology

When our professor asked us last week to create a blog, I started thinking about this communication technology (Blog or Blogger) and about the history of blog technology. When and this technology start and how it becomes very popular method for communication. For this purpose, I spent last weekend searching in the net for any things about Blogs. My aim was to find any information about the definition, impact and history of this technology to share it with my classmates in the seminar IT: 695.
So, What Is A Blog?
Blog is short for web log, a site a person maintains (which can be part of a larger blogging site). For some people it’s a dairy, for others commentary and reportage on specific subjects - whatever the topic, no matter how vague or difficult to understand, there’s a blog on it.
Most blogs are personal even if they relate to particular topics like computers, but these days a vast number of companies also maintain blogs, known as corporate blogs. They’re a good way of unofficially dispersing information about new products, letting people know about problems, and much more – they serve the quick and easy purpose of communicating directly with the public, rather than using press releases, and they keep an air of informality that appeals to many businesses.
A blog can be many things. For some people it’s a way to make some extra money, allowing advertising that pays a small amount for every click-through. Some people make a little money. In some very rare instances, those blogging have become famous and had their blogs turned into books, movies or TV shows.
If you ask anyone about blog, he/she will tell you it is a new way of journalism or a personal diary. But let us go in this journey and see what the people and researchers round the world think about this technology.
The Origins of the Word Blog:The Blog Herald cites the origins of the term weblog to G. Raikundalia & M. Rees, two lecturers from Bond University on the Gold Coast (Australia). The term was first used in a paper titled “Exploiting the World-Wide Web for Electronic Meeting Document Analysis and Management.” Popular use of the term Weblog as we know it today is from Jorn Barger of the Weblog Robot Wisdom (robotwisdom.com) in December 1997. Barger coined the term weblog meaning logging the Web. In 1999 programmer Peter Merholz shortened the term weblog to blog.
Timeline: Notable Blogging Events
1994, January
Justin Hall a Swarthmore College student creates what is considered to be the very first blog “Links.net”. Some industry trackers cite the first blog as belonging to David Winer, “Scripting News” (1997).
1997, December
Jorn Barger coins the term Weblog.
1998, October
Open Diary is founded.
1999, April
April: Peter Merholz shortens Weblog to blog.
1999, July
The first free weblog tool launches (Pitas).
1999, August
Pyra releases Blogger.
2002, February
Heather Armstrong is fired for discussing her job on her blog. The term "Dooced" (see below) is coined.
2002, August
Gizmodo launches.
2003, February
Google buys Blogger from Pyra (1 million blogger users, with 200,000 active).
2003, June
Google launches AdSense and incorporates matching ads to blog content.
2003, July
MySpace launches.
2003, August
TypePad (blogging and hosting service) launches.
2004, December
MSN Spaces launches (which ties in MSN Messenger and Hotmail services with blogging)
2005, March
AOL launches its RED Blogs service, aimed at the teen segment
2005, July
News Corp buyst Intermix Media (owner of Myspace.com) for $580 million.
2005, October
AOL buys blog publisher Weblogs Inc. ($25 million).
2005, August
TypePad launches TypePad Mobile (mobile blogging tools).
2005, November
Andrew Sullivan moves his popular blog "Daily Dish" to Time.com. Time gets advertising revenues from the blog and Sullivan is paid a fee for his services.
2005, November
DigitalGrit launches its Business Blog Service
2006, June
eBay launches user blogs at its eBay Live! Conference.
2006, August
Google pays $900 million in shared revenue to be the exclusive search provider for MySpace.com

Blog and Blogging Terminology:Like most new technologies, the blogosphere (blogging world) is full of new words, terms, and slang used to describe blog and the act of blogging. To get you started on knowing the lingo, here are some of the many blog-related terms that you will find written online today.
Blog: Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Blogger: A person who blogs.
Blogging: The act of writing or updating your blog.
Blogosphere: Meaning all blogs, it is an expression used to describe the 'world of blogs'.
Blogroll: Found on blogs it is a list of links to other blogs and Web sites that the blog author commonly references or is affiliated with. Blogrolls help blog authors to establish and build upon their blogger community.
B-blog: Short for business blog, a blog used by a business to promote itself. Moblog: Acronym used to combine the terms "mobile" and "Web log". Where a Web log (also called a blog) is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual, a moblog is a blog which has been posted to the Internet from a mobile device.Tagging: Commonly used in blogs, site authors attach keyword descriptions (called tags) to identify images or text within their site as a categories or topic. Web pages and blogs with identical tags can then be linked together allowing users to search for similar or related content. If the tags are made public, online pages that act as a Web-based bookmark service are able to index them. Tags can be created using words, acronyms or numbers. Tags are also called tagging, blog tagging, folksonomies (short for folks and taxonomy), or social bookmarking.
Blog and Ping: An online marketing term applied to a system that utilizes blogs and pings (short for pingback) to deliver content and /or sites for indexing in search engines with the ultimate aim of profit. Also called blog ping.
Vlog: Short for video blog, it is the term used to describe a blog that includes or consists of video clips. Typically updated daily (or with regular frequency) vlogs often reflect the personality or cause of the author.
Why Do People Blog?
People used to keep diaries - some still do, of course - recounting the events of the day or week and expressing their feelings. Blogging, for many, is exactly the same thing, but it’s a diary they can augment with video and audio if they choose and publish online. The anonymity of the web still gives them privacy, a way of communication without completely revealing themselves.
To many people blog is a communication tool about a particular topic. They may well be experts, and the blog draws like-minded souls. Often they have access to a lot of information on their subject, so they can reveal things that might not otherwise be known. Some of these blogs have become important resources and reference points for people.
What Do Blogs Achieve?
For some, blogging is a road to fame and hopefully fortune, if their blog is popular enough (and yes, people do read certain blogs faithfully); they can turn a hobby into a living.
Most, however, do it for the sheer fun, to express themselves and to become a part of the community known as the blogosphere. Some act as journalists, commenting on current events and adding their voices to the throng (interestingly, some working journalists also maintain blogs). It’s a chance to be heard and to stand out from the crowd.
In conclusion, a blog can be anything those blogging want it to be. Whether it is a diary available for anyone to read, or discussing particular topics with authority, ultimately a blog becomes a method of communication.
Note: I started to think to make my research paper, in this class, about Blogging and the reason behind using this technology in communication? Especially for individuals who live for away from their country, for instance the international students in the University of Tenneessee.