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Definition of: blog
(1) To write a blog entry. Blogs (definition #2 below) became so popular that the noun was turned into a verb; for example, "I'll blog about that subject next month."
(2) (WeBLOG) A Web site that contains dated text entries in reverse chronological order (most recent first) about a particular topic. Blogs serve many purposes from online newsletters to personal journals to "ranting and raving." They can be written by one person or a group of contributors. Entries contain commentary and links to other Web sites, and images as well as a search facility may be included. Blogs may also contain video (see vlog).
Although some blogs invite feedback and comments, Internet newsgroup discussions, which started long before the Web, tend to be more question-and-answer oriented (see newsgroup). See also cyberjournal.
Software and Services
The first blogs were manual entries in the late 1990s, typically just a part of a Web site that was updated by coding in HTML. They took off in 1999, when blog publishing applications such as Pitas, Blogger and GrokSoup were released. The template-based software made it easy to create a blog on a Web server and add entries without having to know any HTML. Blog hosting services came along and offered the same functionality on their own servers, allowing anyone to set up a free blog on the Web in just minutes.
The News Feed
Many blog sites offer an RSS or Atom syndication feed that provides headlines of their latest entries along with URLs to the content (see syndication feed).
The Blogosphere
After 9/11, blogs were used to convey information, thoughts and feelings faster than any previous method. On controversial issues as well as mainstream subjects, blogs can quickly reach people around the world. The "blogosphere," which is the world of blogs, has become such a forum for public expression that it is being routinely searched for reactions and opinions about products, politics and issues of all kinds.
Everybody's Talking
By 2007, there were more than 100 million blogs on the Web offering a mind-numbing amount of comments about everything. To help wade through them, sites such as Technorati (www.technorati.com) and Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com) were created. See blog network, blog ping, spider, blogrolling, blognosing, blogorrhea, blogger, War blog and dooced.
 Geek HumorFrom "The Best of The Joy of Tech" cartoon book by Nitrozac and Snaggy (O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 2003, ISBN 0-596-00578-4). (Image courtesy of GeekCulture, www.geekculture.com)
RELATED TERMS:
Blogger
blognosing
blogorrhea
blogrolling
cyberjournal
dooced
newsgroup
spider
syndication feed
vlog
War blog
blog network
blog ping
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