Blogging 101

Holly NielsenIBM GTS US Social Media LeaderSeptember 9, 2014

Agenda

What is a blog? Types of blogs What’s the difference between a blog and a website? Blog terminology How many blogs are there? 10 reasons to blog Great blogs Creating your blog in WordPress

What is a Blog?

Contraction of weblog; first known use 1999

Merriam Webster defines a blog as:– A Web site that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks

provided by the writer; also:  the contents of such a site

“…the first journalistic model that actually harnesses rather thanmerely exploits the true democratic nature of the web. It’s a new medium finally finding a unique voice.”–Andrew Sullivan

“[a] collection of posts…short, informal, sometimes controversial, and sometimes deeply personal…with the freshest information at the top.” –Meg Hourihan

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Types of Blogs

– A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic.

– Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; others function more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company.

– Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on: Art (art blogs) Photographs (photoblogs) Videos (video blogs or vlogs) Music (MP3 blogs) Audio (podcasts) Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources. These blogs are

referred to as edublogs.

Wikipedia

What’s the Difference Between a Website and a Blog?

A website has a very similar definition to a blog:– A group of World Wide Web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other

and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution, government, or organization

How a blog differs from a website:– Consists of discrete entries, called posts, which typically displayed in reverse

chronological order – Originally blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a

small group, and often covered a single subject. – Multi-author blogs (MABs) are popular, with posts written by large numbers of

authors & professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic.

– The rise of Twitter and other microblogging systems helps integrate blogs into societal news streams. 

– A majority of blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments on the blogs, which is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs.

Wikipedia

Blog Terminology

Blogger (noun) – a person who keeps a blog – Bloggers are revolutionizing the way news is shared.

Blog (verb) – to write a blog – I am going to blog before breakfast this morning.

Blogging (verb) – the action of writing a blog – Blogging is my way of sharing my passions with the world.

Blog BasicsImage courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Many Blogs are There?

February 2011– Over 156 million public blogs in existence. 

February 2014 – 172 million Tumblr blogs– 75.8 million WordPress blogs– Technorati has 1.3 million blogs

Wikipedia

10 Reasons to Blog

1. To Express Your Thoughts and Opinions2. To Market or Promote Something3. To Help People4. To Establish Yourself as an Expert5. To Connect with People Like You6. To Make a Difference7. To Stay Active or Knowledgeable in a Field or Topic8. To Stay Connected with Friends and Family9. To Make Money10. To Have Fun and Be Creative

About Technology

Great Blogs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

http://www.visualnews.com/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/

http://www.ted.com/

http://tinybuddha.com/

http://hookedonsocialnetworking.blogspot.com/

Creating Your Blog in WordPress

1. Create a blog name

2. Register the name

3. Log in

4. Set up your blog name

5. Choose a theme

6. Verify your email

7. Start blogging!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Resources

Free photos & images http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

WordPress support http://en.support.wordpress.com/

Blog title generator http://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator