Blogs

A blog is a discussion or an information site that is published on the World Wide Web and it is constructing the discrete entries typically displayed in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first. Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group and often were themed on a single subject. Recently multi- author blogs have developed, with post written by large number of authors and professionally edited. Moreover, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Bloggers do not only produce the content to post on their blogs but also build a social relationship with readers and other bloggers.

Many blogs focus on particular subjects, other functions such as more personal online dairies and still other functions more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company.

A typical blog combines text, images and links to others blogs, web pages and other media related to its topic. The readers have an ability to leave comments in an interactive format and it is very important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual but some focus on art, photographs, videos, music and audio is another type of blogging and featuring very short posts.

Types of blogs –

·        Personal Blogs: - The personal blog is an ongoing diary by an individual. It is the most common traditional blog. Personal blogger feel proud on their own postings, even if their blog is never read.

·        Corporate and organizational blogs: - A blog can be private or it can be for business purposes. Blogs are internally used to enhance the communication or externally for marketing and branding. These are used to improve the public relations and are called corporate blogs.

·        By genre: - Some blogs focus on particular subjects such as political blogs, health blogs, travel blogs, gardening blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs etc. The most two common genre blogs are art blogs and music blogs.

·        By media type: - A blog which comprises videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called linklog, a site containing a potfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog.

·        By device: - Blog can be defined as a type of media which is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile phone could be called a moblog.

·        Reverse blog: - A reverse blog is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of blog and allows writing on it. These can be written by several authors on a topic or opened up for everyone to write.

Reference: -

Thelwall, M., & Hasler, L. (2007). Blog search engines. Online Information Review, 31(4), 467-479. doi:10.1108/14684520710780421