This morning's research revealed that exactly 2,253 people searched for "blog definition" in October 2004.
I thought, I have a blog. I bet a lot of people come to my blog without even knowing the definition of blog. I'll tell my readers the definition of blog.
Here's the short answer:
Blog = Web Log = Weblog = Blog
And the long answer...
It all started out as "web log," a term that's equivalent to "online journal" or "online diary." Web log was then shortened to weblog. And since that looks so similar to "we blog" (which we do, of course, but that's not what we're trying to communicate), the blogging community, by and large, has dropped "we," leaving only blog.
Today, there are all kinds of blogs: health blogs (like mine), political blogs, book blogs, sports blogs, marketing blogs, and on and on. Each of these blogs is maintained by one or more authors who post new articles on a regular basis.
A good blog will have about 2-3 new posts per week. If a blog has only one post a month or every two months, it's probably not worthy of being called a blog.
A number of companies now make it easy for the average, technically-disinclined person to start a blog. I, personally, use Typepad. I once tried Radio Userland, but didn't like it as much. And then there's Blogger, WordPress, and probably scores more.
Well, you came here for a simple definition of blog, but got a lot more than you bargained for. :-)
If you're still new to the online community and would like to see what other confusing Internet terms mean, I suggest you check out Acronym Guide's list of Internet acronyms. It'll save you a lot of frustration.
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