Despite the fact that blogging started as a means for people to post their most private thoughts in a public forum, it has evolved into a semi-automatic marketing tool to drive traffic to web sites. Since emerging from the primordial bit bucket, the erstwhile weblog's fingers have morphed into hairy spidery legs. Once upon a time, the weblog operated by way of keyboard; today, it crawls through the Worldwide Web. The vestigial finger limbs still function, though their efficiency pales in comparison to its modern counterparts.
Je pense, donc je suis
One of the earlier inefficiencies of weblogs was the mental block. Although ideas bounced around freely in the primitive weblog's brain, translating the synapses into meaningful finger-clicking sequences had become onerous. If the weblog were to survive, it had to adapt.
The Purrfect Storm
As weblogs proliferated, they segregated into distinct branches of their family tree. Seth Godin (a highly evolved form of this species) enumerated these categories in his e-book, Who's There: