Joining the Blogosphere

The term blog has become part of common vernacular. What was once thought of as a fad has become an integral part of the social, media, and business worlds. It seems like everyone knows someone who writes or reads a blog. In fact, many people read blogs and don’t even realize it! Today, blogs can look just like traditional Web sites. In fact, some of the most popular online destinations are blogs, which shows just how far the fad has actually come.

According to the popular research report, The State of the Blogosphere 2008, published by Technorati.com (a popular blog search tool), there were over 184 million blogs by the end of 2008, and that number continues to grow each day. Why? It’s simple. There are virtually no barriers to entry. Just about anyone can create a blog, for free and with very little technical abilities, and have a place on the Web to publish anything he or she wants. (Of course, there are unwritten rules of the blogging community, called the blogosphere.

The inherent draw of blogging is the opportunity it provides for anyone with access to a computer and the Internet to publish content online. They can make that content available to a global audience or to a select few. The choices are made by each individual blogger. Again, when you start a blog, you become the leader of your own mini media outlet.

As you read, keep in mind that different people have different goals for their blogs, and for that reason no two blogs are alike. You find out more about why people blog later in this chapter. For now, just remember not to judge a blog by its cover. A blog is what the author makes of it, and that’s where this blog comes into action. There are few rights and wrongs to blogging, but you can’t begin to understand why that’s true until you dive in and join the blogosphere!