vBlogs and blogging

What is a blog?• A blog is a website with descriptive entries,

commentary, pictures, and video.• Topics: display of your creative work,

events you participated in, something you saw, exploring a passion, documenting your life, sharing information, news,...

• Prerequisites: If you can write an e-mail, you can write a blog. No software necessary.

vAnatomyof a blog

What is a blog?• A blog = a web + a log• A blog is a website that is frequently

updated, with the most recent entry on top• Blogging is now the most popular online

personal publishing platform• Blog authors, known as bloggers, can write

about anything• According to Wikipedia, as of 16 February

2011, there were over 156m public blogs

• Blogs are interactive to distinguish them from websites

• Visitors can leave comments• Blogs appear in different forms and are

based on a template• Basic templates are free. More refined

ones are bought for an annual fee• The most popular blog hosts are

WordPress and Blogger

• Layout can be as simple or sophisticated as the author chooses

• Typical design: title banner at the top, a side bar and the content taking up the remainder of the space

• Sidebar includes an “About me,” an archive of past posts in date order, and anything the author wants to add

• Blogs can display text, images, audio and video

Types of blogs:• News• Personal diary• Specialized subject• Aggregator• Fashion• Food• Sports• Photography…

Blogs can be linked to each other and to Web pages

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Websitevs.

Blog

A website and a blog are not the same:

Blog• Content is regularly updated• Not formal• Interactive• Informative and educational• Interactivity about industry/customer

issues• Some people have a blog

Website• Content is static• Formal/professional• Interactivity does not exist. There is only

one-way communication• Transactional• Communication about products and/or

services• Almost everyone has a website. In fact, it is

almost a requirement in business today

vThe diversity

of blogs

• The impact of blogs has been growing• It is affecting the mainstream media and

is widely acknowledged by governments• Newspapers, magazines and television

-- labeled “old media” -- have been suffering as a result of the growing number of blogs

• Bloggers sharing and connecting information in real time and are quicker

Political blogs• Since 2002, and with the invasion and

war on Iraq in 2003, blogs gained in political momentum as a way of covering the news in a non-conventional way

• One of the first political blogs in the region to address a wide international audience and make a big impact was “Where is Raed” by Iraqi Salam Pax

Aggregator blogs

Blogs that lead to books

Photography blog

Technology blog

Food blog

Activist blog

• A four-hour training will never be enough to go through 156 million + blogs

• The idea, however, is to look at the development and impact blogs are having on traditional media, marketing and PR

• There is a blog for practically every subject, from personal, corporate, genre…

• The community of all blogs is the blogosphere

Blogging and advertising

• Blogs can be monetized (?)• Some feature advertisements for

financial gain or to promote a cause• Some companies create a fake blog

to promote a product

Blogging for a cause

Blogging code of conduct

• Take responsibility for what you write• Don’t say something online that you

wouldn’t offline• Do not use abusive language• Eliminate anonymous comments

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