THE WIDE AND GROWING WORLD OF THE BLOG
If you begin to explore what blogging is for the very first time
you will likely find yourself barraged by a plethora of strange
terms. You will soon begin to think that they are just inventing
a type of blog by attaching a random letter in front of 'log".
Which is probably not too far from the reality. There is no need
to fear though. We have created a short and concise guide to the
world of blogging to help you make sense of a type of media that
seems to be taking over the Internet.
First of all the basics
What is a blog?
A blog is a form of communication written from a personal
perspective for public consumption. The key is that a blog is
not objective. It is completely subjective and that is part of
the reason for the popularity of blogs. When you read one you
almost feel like you "know" the person writing it. The blog
typically communicates on a person-to-person level instead of
addressing itself to a wider audience. So, if we can summarize
it we would basically describe a blog as something communicated
on a personal level to the general public. And yes that seems to
be an oxymoron. However, it is probably the best one sentence
description of what a blog is without describing the technology
itself. And since we are going to be discussing the various
types of blogs we need to understand it at its most basic level.
FORMS OF THE BLOG
A blog 'format' is nothing other than the type of media used to
create the blog. In an ever-increasing digital world we are
given a large variety of options, which we can use to
communicate with other people. Naturally, most of these devices
have been used to generate a blog. And if they not, they soon
will be. So, with that in mind lets discuss some of the most
prevalent variations on the traditional blog.
VLOG / VLOGGING / VIDEO BLOGGING
The 'vlog' is something that emerged relatively recently.
Essentially it is exactly what its name describes. It is a video
recording addressed on a personal basis to the general public.
This form of the blog has been adopted primarily by the
corporate world, which sees it as a new way to communicate with
the end-user or consumer. This is not a media that the average
user has adopted - yet. However, with time expect this form of
the blog to gain wider acceptance and greater popularity.
A new and emerging type of "Vlog" is the Vodcast, which is
nothing more than a "live" version of the vlog.
Some helpful links for Vlogs: Wikpedia entry for Vlog
evideoshare
offers the ability to share vlogs
with others Vodcasts.tv offers a
comprehensive directory of vlogs on almost any subject
MOBLOGGING / MOBILE BLOGGING
Moblogging is a "style" of blogging. Essentially it means to
blog on the go from a portable device of some type. Most of
these types of blogs take the form of pictures with the picture
of something serving the same purpose of words.
One good reason to consider a moblog is when you want to give
someone else the experience of being at an event without being
physically present. Of course this also applies to the
aforementioned vlog. The "new baby" seems to be a popular reason
to moblog. And the concept of 'babies' can be applied very
loosely since corporations are also using it to introduce new
products with just as much frequency. One could almost make the
case for giving this type of blog entry (the photo) the moniker
of "Phlog" but then again do we really need another term to keep
track of? No, probably not.
The other form of a moblog is the blog entry made from a digital
communication device such as a bluetooth or a pocket pc.
Essentially, there is no difference between a traditional blog
and this type of moblog other than the fact that you are doing
it on the go.
Some helpful links for Moblogs: Flickrblog
is a service that allow you to quickly post pictures to your
blog SnapNpost is
another company that offers assistance with posting photos
FLOG (s) / FAKE BLOGS
As soon as a new technology emerges it is only shortly
thereafter that it is adopted for nefarious purposes by the
business world. Of course the purpose is only nefarious from the
point of view of the consumer. For the corporation it is usually
a pretty good idea. And of course this applies to the'flog'. A
flog is just what it says. It is a fake blog. It is a blog
written from the perspective of a fictional individual for the
purpose of hyping some product or service or in some cases for
the sole purpose of deception.
Of course corporations aren't the only ones to do flogs. It is
probably just as popular with individuals but most of them are
able to keep it secret much better and for a longer period of
time.
PODCASTING
Podcasting may seem to fall outside the scope of the blog but in
most cases it does not. A podcast is nothing more than a
personal radio show, which is broadcast from the individuals'
own computer or other digital device. The only major difference
in a podcast and a blog is that the podcast usually lasts for a
certain period of time and is given "live" whereas the various
types of blogs are usually a record of what happened in the past
whether that past is a few minutes or several days.