What is a Blog?Presented By Eric C. JonesAssocio SoftwareApril 2008

Section 1Web 2.0

Web 2.0

It is critical to understand the context of what is making blogging so powerful.

There has been an explosion of innovation in the last couple years on the web using technologies together to make it simpler and easier to get things done.

These technologies aren’t necessarily new, but it the combination of these things that adds power and is creating a new world on the web.

It is really just a buzz word

The term was coined by Tim O’Reilly, a journalist that observed a shift happening in the early 2000 after the .dom crash.

Companies began taking a different approach to the web

What are some characteristics of web 2.0 products?

Power of the network Fax machine Mac vs Microsoft

Information freely shared and available outside the application Microsoft vs Google Microsoft project vs Basecamp Email vs RSS

User created data and user involvement Yahoo vs Digg Getty Images vs Flickr

Examples Mibazaar.com (http://www.mibazaar

.com/top100celebrities) Zillow.com Google Maps (http://www.scalextric-usa.com) Youtube (http://www.sunsetair.com) Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) Flickr Twitter Blogspot

We understand what is happening in the industry, but now let’s

understand exactly what a blog is.

Section 2What is a Blog?

Blog Definition

Weblog- A "blog", abbreviated word for weblog, is a web-based journal in which people can publish their thoughts and opinions on the internet.

Purpose of a blog

Distributing information- Providing an easy way to publish and access information

Interaction- Giving people the ability to respond to the content of a blog posting. This interaction is optional and depends on the purpose of the blog. Many bloggers choose to turn off the reader comments functionality of their blog.

Anatomy of a blog - #1Easy Access

Multiple posts listed for current month or previous number of posts.

Most blogs simply list the most recent articles posted right away when you visit the blog.

This makes current content very easily accessible.

Anatomy of a blog - #2Archiving Automatically

Easily accessing past posts Archive posts. You can view previous

posts usually by month. Tagged posts. You can also view months

by topic or tag. This gives you easy access to content within a given topic that you might be looking for.

Anatomy of a blog - #3Comments and user interaction. Many blogs allow readers to post their

comments or views about what is written. This can be both powerful and dangerous. For some articles, this is a good thing

because the comments pose questions or even provide clarifications. But it can also be a bad thing if a disgruntled employee or customer wants to vent about something.

Anatomy of a blog - #4RSS Subscriptions.

One way that blogs distribute their content is through what’s called RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication.

Readers can subscribe to the blogs of their choice using a RSS reader.

Outlook, Apple Mail, Google and others provide RSS readers that notify you when new content has been added.

What a Blog is not

Not a forum Not an email group list Not an online magazine or enewsletter

(although there are email newsletters more and more that are integrating multiple blog posts to create the content o the newsletter)

Section 3Blogging Growth

Blogging Growth

Web 2.0 has created an environment that is really allowing the concept of blogs to grow and there are record numbers of blogs being created.

Blog Stats(source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm)

In July 2006 the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that the US "blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults", some 8% of US adult internet users. The number of US blog readers was estimated as 57 million adults (39% of the US online population), although few of those people read widely or read often.

Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm)

David Sifry reported in April 2007 that growth in the number of blogs created had slowed - "matured" - with other observers noting that the percentage of active blogs are compared to the total number of blogs tracked by Technorati was declining, down from 36.71% in May 2006 to 20.93% in March 2007.

Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm)

Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated.

Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm)

The 'average blog' thus has the lifespan of a fruitfly. One cruel reader of this page commented that the average blog also has the intelligence of a fly.

Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm)

males were more likely than females to abandon blogs, with 46.4% of abandoned blogs created by males (versus 40.7% of active blogs created by males).

Why Blogs work

Blogs are a simple and powerful way to create a buzz about your product , organization or cause.

This buzz is created mostly through viral mechanisms of people telling people who tell people.

Following are some examples of why

Influence Ripples (from Eric Kintz)

http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/kintz/archive/2006/10/01/1683.html

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Numa Numa

Within three months of releasing in 2004, viewed 2,000,000 times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmtzQCSh6xk

Network Effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect

Section 4Examples

Examples

Now that we understand a bit about blogs, it is helpful to look at some actual blog examples.

We have five categories of types of blogs that we have pulled together as examples.

Tips and thoughts Blogs

37 Signals- http://www.37signals.com/svn/ Smashing Magazine http://www.

smashingmagazine.com

Information Blogs

Forbes: http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/ Cnet:

http://www.news.com/8300-10784_3-7.html?tag=ne.tab.hd

BIA- http:///tacomabia.org

Product Niche Blogs

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/ http://www.treonauts.com/

Political Blogs

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

http://www.anncoulter.com/

Company Blogs

http://www.whatcounts.com/blog?pid=965AABA79286169C

http://productblog.37signals.com/

Section 5Your Own Blog

Do it!

Don’t just sit there….now you can start your own blog!

Following are some tips to creating your very own blog.

Choose your topic

Knowledge Passion Confidence

Find a good blogging application

Most are free! Examples (MuseCrafters.com,

Livejournal.com, JournalHome.com, Blogger.com, WordPress.com, TheDiary.org, Mindsay.com, Blog.com, Blogagotchi.com, Diaryland.com, Blogdrive.com, or Xanga.com.

Or Associosoftware.com !

Update regularly!

Add posts daily or weekly at a minimum You don't only need to create your own

content- link to other's content Monitor and respond to comments ( or turn

this feature off)

Promote

Share about other bloggers and thank other bloggers for sharing yo

Promote through your physical network Create electronic networks: MyBlogLog,

Twitter and Facebook Promote and analyze with http://www.

feedburner.com

Thank You

For more information:

Eric C. JonesAssocio Software253-461-1110eric@associosoftware.com