What we call blogs today started in the early 1990s. Originally diarists and journalers would write about their experiences in online text-based groups like Usenet or on bulletin board systems. Blogs (short for web logs) gave people an outlet to publicly purge their passions.
Today blogs have evolved into multimedia communities where bloggers (and the blogging community) have grown in size, stature, and impact to eclipse all but the largest media outlets. Some blog aggregators have a larger readership than the most famous newspaper.
In their truest form, blogs are a web-based log of entries (or posts) about a particular subject or subjects. The content can be educational, inspirational, political, or whatever the theme supports. While most postings are text-based, blog entries can also be drawings, photos, video, and audio. In addition to sorting blog entries by date, blog entries are categorized based on subject, keyword, author, and type of blog entry (list, quiz, video, etc.).
There are various technologies that support bloggers, including WordPress, TypePad, Blogger and many others. Blog technology also allows readers (the recipients of content) to have the ability to respond. Blog managers can moderate and respond to comments, allowing for a two-way conversation. Although blogs started as one-way conversations, by today’s standards, a blog is not a blog unless comments are allowed.
It is important to understand that it is not the blog tools or technology that yields marketing success, it is how a blog is executed (the strategy and management) that makes all the difference.
