Let us start with the basic question of what is a blog?
Blog - A popularized term that is short for (contracted) web log. It is generally taken to mean a website or web presence that is usually maintained by an individual. The contents of which can be in practically any format text, image, photograph(s), sound files, video to name a few but the primary consistency is that of the electronic or digital form as is usually the case these days.
It also needs to be an open format readily accessible to the multitudes if one actually wants somebody else to be able to view, read, listen or watch it. Creating blogs in archaic format that nobody can view is good as a cryptic puzzle but not really suitable to the blog format. Being maintained by an individual also has its drawbacks in that the individual must give freely of their time, for routine maintenance tasks which some bloggers are not truly interested in doing anyway.
CommonFormats - Posting blogs in a format such as a PDF document is a good way to ensure that the viewer will see the content as you intended it but the viewer will need software to open and view the PDF document. Fortunately Adobe™ Reader® is free and readily available so PDF documents are becoming a very common format as the blogger can package a whole months worth of material into one convenient package and have the PDF archive accessible to anyone including the merely curious.
Content Topic or Theme - The content of a blog can be as wide in topic as the human imagination may dream up. It may be about topical events such as news, politics, the events in your local community, vague impressions of something the blogger did or may do. They maybe geographically pointed, community-oriented, educational, comical, personal, current or dated or just about anything and anywhere else in between or outside.
Many blogs are more or less a public personal diary or journal if you will. An individual will make regular entries in a running informal style telling one and all what they had for breakfast or lunch or whatever they so desire to write. Love and sex are obvious common topics fro blogs and may not necessarily be restricted to the authors own personal activities.
Chronology - Generally blogs are in reverse chronology. That is the most recent entry will be at the top of the page or list. For those who came in part way through the conversation and deciding that they would like to read the story as it occurred the need to start at the bottom of the page and work your way up can be a little inconvenient. Yet another compelling reason to create an archival version in standard chronological format. PDF documents are great for this.
MonetizingBlogs - Money is also a common theme to be found throughout many blogs. I will in fact be writing more than just a little about how to make money from blogging myself over the course of these articles after all it is one of the reasons that I am writing this in the first place. So; tips on "monetizing" blogs will abound. After all making money seems to appeal to so many of us that we are prepared to try and do just about anything within reason that is legal to get at the green stuff.
It is also very popular to watch somebody else doing just about anything to get their hands on the cash. One of the very reasons that “Reality TV” shows attract an audience. “Fear Factor®” being one where we can watch those whom many would call idiots doing things that we ourselves most definitely would not do or at the very least would do everything within our power to avoid doing.
ToBlog - When used as a verb blog means to create maintain or add content to a blog (web log).
Social Networking - Members of Facebook, MySpace and even Y
outube have either viewed or contributed to a blog in one form or another and probably without realising it.
ReaderComments - The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format can be an important part of a blog and is very appealing to many. This can be seen from the sometimes lengthy conversation threads associated with some blogs.
Topical Commentary - Blogs may contain commentary or news about or on a subject or range of subjects.
Multimedia Formats - Because a blog can be comprised of many different media formats it can be thought of as being a social multimedia medium. It is not uncommon to find blogs comprised of text, images, and links (URL) to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to the blogs topic.
Accuracy - One issue that some do put forward with this is that just because you as the blog's audience agree with the content of a blog does not make that content or its point of view right, factual or authoritative in any way. Always bear in mind that more often than not the validity of statements made or referred to in blogs is often not verified or validated in any way by the author. It may simply be a point-of-view.
