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Blogging: A Brief History

Guest post by: Jamaal Abdul-Ali

Article Overview: The History of blogging,the time-line, how it got it's name, the players involved and the power it wields.

Blogging: A Brief History

To understand blogging it will be helpful to know some history as well as what the future holds for this phenomenon. Simply put, a blog is short for the term "web-log" which is sort of a diary of online content referred to as" posts" displayed in reverse chronological order. This practice dates back to 1997 when there were just a handful of sites identified as web-logs (so named by Jorn Barger Dec 97). The short version of "blog" was coined by Peter Merholz in April or May of 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs devised the term "blogger" which popularized the terms we have today. As of December 2007, Technorati, a blog search engine, reported more than 112,000,000 blogs. The types of blogs are many, differing in the way content is delivered as well as the type of content. For Instance, a personal blog, where you have ongoing commentary is the most common type of blog, though many of them are rarely read by the masses it gives the owner satisfaction and has sentimental value. You have corporate and business blogs for the purpose of branding, public relations and inner office communication, travel blogs, technology blogs political blogs, etc. The classification is virtually endless and limited only by your imagination. Blogs can also be classified by media type or device, such as photo blog, video blogs, audio blogs (pod-casting) etc, there's even a category called "sousveillance" where you use text and video together and used as evidence in legal matters. Becoming increasingly mainstream by 2004, blogging would eventually be used by news services, influential businessmen, political consultants, candidates and governments around the world all taking to the Internet in an effort to get their message out, influence people and insure market share. My, how times have changed. The collective community of blogs in existence is commonly referred to as the Blogosphere. By definition all blogs are Internet based and somewhat interconnected through blog-rolls, link-backs, track-backs and back-links.. Because of the ever growing popularity, importance, reach and influence of blogging, savvy Internet marketers would be prudent in paying close attention to the trends in the blogosphere which in a real sense is still in it's infancy. With the online population of 1 billion seven hundred thirty three million nine hundred ninety three thousand seven hundred forty one users as of September 30, 2009 and the prediction that, soon, half the worlds population will be on the Internet, it's safe to say the blogging community and all it's related services will increase as well. To give another illustration of the growth, when Bill Clinton was inaugurated there were 200 domain hosts in use with only 8 of them ending in dot com or dot net. As of January 1, 2004, there were 194,000,000 domain hosts in use and dominated by the dot com ending. Again, this little brief history should shed some light on why Internet marketers should be blogging as a means of not only communicating and promoting but marketing for profit. Already a force to be reckoned with, from the lens I'm looking through, it's clear to see, blogging is here to stay, don't resist, embrace it. This is the second in the series of five on the marketing magic of blogging.

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Article Tags: blogging, blogging history, blogs, brief history, internet marketing, timeline
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Quote of the Day - "People are not lazy. They simply have im - Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a mystery and Today is a gift –that is why we call it the present –Cherie Carter-Scott
Blogging for Entrepreneurs - If you run a small company, you may find that the world of blogging for Entrepreneurs is a world that you want to be a part of. Blogging is a great way to get the word out to consumers about your product or service, and it can even be useful for inspiring employee loyalty and helping you keep your workers at peak morale. If you are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, consider what starting a blog might be able to do for you. Blogging for entrepreneurs has a lot in common with all other types of blogging, but it has its own unique pitfalls and strengths. The key to having a successful blog as a business owner is keeping your goals clear and concrete at every step of your blogging adventure. It can be all to easy to get sidetracked, especially if you are just learning about the exciting possibilities of blogging technology, but if you want your blog to succeed you need to stay focused. Write up a plan for how often you will update, how you will promote your blog and retain readers, whether you will feature photographs or video, and other aspects of your blog, and then stick to it with the same kind of determination that you used when you built your company.
Re: Best Internet Marketing Strategy - Hi David, I agree about the Blogosphere. You have a smaller group that Blog, but do so on the premise that they think they should, but have never really considered the purpose of their Blog. Then I think there are a few SEO or Internet Marketing types that see Blogging as just another link building strategy. But the largest group of Bloggers, tend to be people who enjoy writing and discussing their topics of interest. Blogging is good for link building, but the true Blogger is a breed apart from the rest. They want to dialog, to debate, to have feedback and they are very willing to link to other worthwhile conversations that are relevant to their topic. I agree with you. These group of Bloggers obviously are passionate about their writing and together, they create huge conversation trails interactive and travel from Blog to Blog. But the evidence is clear with this group that loves what they write about. With comments enabled on a Blog and having a Blog tuned to a specific purpose you already have the evidence of original Social Media.
Use of Blogging For Promotion - Blogging might not be the easiest promotion and advertising method however it certainly is one of the cheapest methods. All you need is a hosting package and a domain. Actually you could do it through Blogger and it would be free of charge.
Site promotion and Blogging - Blogging might not be the easiest promotion and advertising method however it certainly is one of the cheapest methods. All you need is a hosting package and a domain. Actually you could do it through Blogger and it would be free of charge


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