Suddenly web logs, or blogs for short, are everywhere. There are
personal web logs. There are company web logs. Even the President of the
United States has a web log.
In fact, there are at least 1.5 million active blogs, and about 3.5
million web logs have been created, according to Blogcount. About 10,000
domains have the word "blog" in them. According to Jupiter Research,
roughly 2 percent of the people that use the web have created a blog.
What is a blog?
A web log, or blog, is a frequently-updated web site with entries
arranged in chronological order. They often contain personal commentary
on information found at another site. They are usually built with tools
that automate the process of maintaining a frequently-updated website.
Web logs are frequently made available in an XML format known as RSS.
RSS is a format for content syndication. An RSS "feed" consists
primarily of three things: links, descriptions, and titles. These feeds
make it possible to share headlines that link to a web site, along with
a short description or summary of what the content is. This makes RSS a
good fit for blogging.
The idea of the web-based diary emerged with the birth of the web. Tim
Berners-Lee's first web pages could be considered a web log.
Web logging became more common around 1995. Several current web logs
date back to this time. In the late 90's, tools were developed to
automate web log posting, making it easy for non-technical users to post
their thoughts to the web. Standards were also developed for
distributing and syndicating web log content, and this led to tools
being developed to aggregate and filter through this content.
Now, there are blogs devoted to almost any subject, in addition to
personal ones. There are web logs devoted to technology, entertainment,
personal relationships, politics, humor and more.
More than anything, though, the US presidential campaign is putting
blogs on the map. Howard Dean has used his web blog as a tool to
generate an unprecedented amount of money for his campaign against US
President Bush. Most of the democratic candidates have followed suit,
setting up frequently updated web logs on their sites. The sites serve
as a record of the candidates activities and their reflections and
positions on current issues.
These blogs are now cited frequently in news stories about the
campaigns. They help put a personal face on the candidates, and give
them a tool for communicating directly to interested voters.
Why are blogs important to ebusiness?
There are several reasons why companies should be aware of Web logs. Web
logs frequently provide commentary on information found on the web.
Because of this, blogs may offer a different perspective or spin on
information officially available from your company. Whether or not this
is positive or not depends on the content of the web log.
Web logs have emerged as a new business tool. Content management systems
can be expensive, high-maintenance projects that can create a technical
or procedural barrier to publishing within a company. Blogs can serve as
an easy way to have frequently updated web content, without the overhead
of a full CMS.
Most blogging tools also have built-in content syndication tools. This
allows content generated by multiple people in a company, or even across
multiple companies, to be shared. This means users can aggregate content
together, read it, and even republish it in a new form.
Feed readers are personal aggregators that take the "feeds" from web
logs and other sources, and present the information in a uniform
interface. This allows users to quickly review news and information from
many sources. This can be a much more efficient way to keep track of
news on a variety of sites than visiting each one individually.
Web logs have become a new publishing platform. Publisher Nick Denton is
using web logs as an easy way to create low-maintenance web sites. His
Gawker site covers New York gossip, fashion and trends. The Gizmodo site
is devoted to new technology, and finding gadgets at bargain prices.
Publishers are beginning to realize that blogging software is perfect
for publishing content to the web inexpensively.
Web logs are also useful for identifying trends on the Internet. The
best blogs are updated frequently, so news travels very quickly in the
blog world. It's possible to track news as it travels through the web
log world
by analyzing what people's blogs are linking to. It's also possible to
determine who's blogs have the most influence. Sites like DayPop and
BlogDex track the flow of information through the blog world.
Blogs are here to stay, and rapidly becoming a tool for ebusinesses to
be aware of.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Blogging by the numbers
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_2238831,00.html
Blogging statistics
http://www.blogcensus.net/weblog/
The blogging iceberg
http://www.perseus.com/blogsurvey/
