What's a blog?

If you are not quite sure what a blog is, and are too embarrassed to ask, this post is for you.

You may know that the word "blog" is a contraction of "web log," which was originally an online journal or diary. But did you know that "blog" was coined just a few years ago (by Peter Merholz) in 1999?

Blogs were originally online journals, but now many of them look like regular websites. But have 2 key features which differentiate them:

1. New content is added on a regular basis, with the most recent entry at the top.

2. Blogs are "syndicated." This means that you can subscribe to them and read their content without visiting the actual blog websites. Why would you want to do that? If you subscribe to several blogs, you can receive all their new content ("feeds") all at once, in a single web interface. You don't have to hop from blog to blog.

For this you'll need a blog aggregator or reader. The reader translates the syndication code (called RSS or Atom) into readable language.


Here's an example - a partial screen shot of my own Google Reader, which shows some of my blog subscriptions. The blogs are listed at the left, like folders in an email box.

There are 3 ways to view your blog subscriptions:

1. An online reader like Google Reader, Bloglines or Netvibes - set up an account and all the blogs you want to subscribe to. Access your blogs via your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) Or download the Sage extension for Firefox.

2. Microsoft Outlook and the Thunderbird email program, from Mozilla, the same group that created Firefox - Use the same interface as you do for email. Blogs are listed as folders.

3. Built-in functions and extensions in your browser - Internet Explorer and Safari have built-in readers. Each blog subscription is a bookmark on your toolbar. These are fine if you subscribe to just a couple of blogs, but if you have more than that, use a reader, where you can organize and view your feeds more efficiently.


Where to find feeds:

Through a blog reader: Google Reader, Bloglines and other RSS readers enable you to search for blogs by category or keyword.

Subscribe as you surf: Your favorite websites and blogs may offer feeds that you can sign up for right on the site's web page. Look for an icon like one of these:
Note: the above icons are not "live." But there is a live icon to subscribe to this blog, at the top right of this page.

Pauline
teachmeinternet.com