What's a Blog?
This review is about blogging in general. I have explained a little on how to go about it, but blogging is best learned hands-on. All I am trying to do here is share with you about the world of the blogger I suppose you could say that I have become a blogger. Hmm, I just had an idea… I might get a hat or badge with "I am a Blogger" written on it… On second thoughts… Nah!
I think most
people have heard of blogs now, but for those who haven't I'll do my best to
explain…
Blog is the shortened name of Web-Log. Somebody somewhere,
decided to drop the "We" from the beginning of Weblog and join the remainder
together to get Blog and the name stuck. I think there is something satisfying
about saying BLOG… Try it…. B-L-O-G… There, doesn't that feel good?
So
what can we do with a Blog?
Firstly we can log all our thoughts and no
matter how personal, we don't have to worry about getting embarrassed, because
we can make our blog entries under a pseudonym and nobody need ever know who we
are.
This is something that can be very cathartic about blogging - or to
put it in simpler language, we can purge our negative feelings and emotions. We
can "yell and scream" about Aunty whats-a-name or Uncle Bobs-ur-uncle without
them ever knowing it was us doing it. Because a blogger can choose his/her own
user name… For those of us so inclined, we can describe in graphic details about
what we would like to do to the stunning girl (or fella) who lives down the
road, without ever having to apologise or feel embarrassed - unless we believe
they have telepathic abilities. But of course, most of us are not into that, are
we?
For those of us that have websites, that we earn a few pennies from,
blogs are a great way to promote them. A great way to show our potential
customers, that we are serious about our endeavours - that we are the real
person behind the website.
Blogs can be used for those who are writers
and want to get some exposure for our creations, we can put extracts on our blog
for the world to see and perhaps give a push in the direction of our blog to a
suitable publisher or literary agent.
A great thing about blogs is that
they are interactive. That means that visitors can leave messages and
friendships can be struck up in that way. And if something unsavoury appears on
your blog, it can be deleted.
I have a blog - well several actually -
with Google's blogging service. Signing up is easy. You just go to the Google
homepage (http://www.blogger.com/start ) and follow the instructions to sign up
and there you have it - you have joined the ranks of millions of bloggers all
over the world. If you wish, you can "take a tour" before you commit yourself.
The next thing is to create your profile with a picture of yourself if
you wish - not dissimilar to what you've done on Ciao. You can then view your
profile on your home page and you'll see links just under labelled, Blogger
Knowledge, and Blogger Help. Clicking on these links will tell you everything
you need to know about running your blog including writing in code (like html)
but it isn't necessary as you can use WYSIWYG editor that is no different to
using a word processor. WYSIWYG are the intials for What You See Is What You
Get.
Getting your blog seen and read is also quite easy. I have signed up
with a site called, Blog Explosion. Here you get to visit other people's blogs
where you can leave messages and generally interact. In return for visiting
these blogs, others will visit your blog. But first, you blog has to be accepted
by the site as there are rules regarding pornography and hate etc.
I find
I have great fun on Blogger Explosion. I never cease to be amazed by the blogs I
have read. Political, religious, and some of them are wonderfully weird -
especially those that specialise in posting weird pictures or stories. (Oh yes,
you can put pictures on blogs).
To summarise:
To get a blog you can
go directly to http://www.blogger.com/start and then to look around and get a
feel of what a blog is you can go to. http://www.blogexplosion.com
Oh
yes... An addition here.. Most blogs are free - the ones with Google are
anyway...
Have fun and happy blogging.
