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Every day I’ll pick a Internet-related term and try to explain it in plain English. If you know of a term to you would like me translate from geek to English, let me know
Today’s term is a part of a series that focuses on Web 2.0 related terms

I’m not exactly sure that this term truly qualifies as a Geeky term as lately it seems like blogs are going mainstream…but I just realized that I had to explain to my hubby exactly what I was doing while I’m writing my blog posts so….

The word “blog” is actually a short way of saying “web log” or “weblog”…and basically a blog is a web site that’s written like an online journal, with time stamped and dated entries in reverse chronological order…or listed from the newest entry to the oldest. If you’re reading this right now..guess what…you’re reading a blog.

The beginning of the very first blogs began waaay back in 1994, when groups of people created online diaries in order to chronicle the their daily goings ons. This group of people who called themselves diarists created a community called Open Pages. Eventually these personal diaries evolved from just commenting on personal events to news, politics, technology. Blogs and blogging gained a boost as a mainstream phenomenon with the popularity of political and news blogs. Even the traditional new media is taking notice of blogs as a news source and are even creating blogs of their own. Now with the availability of both free and paid blogging tools like Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, or Wordpress, it’s easier than ever to start your own blog about any topic you can imagine. With the latest blogging software you don’t need to know HTML or even to have a web site…just grab an account and you’re off to the blogging races!

So how are blogs different from regular old web sites? Other than the journaling format, there are some other differences. Blog software not only makes it easy to make regular entries, but it also makes it easier for blogs to link to other blogs and it’s easy for regular visitors to start conversations on blogs, and therein lays the power of blogging. Instead of one lone blogger tapping away at a solitary blog, bloggers link to other bloggers through a system of tools called permalinks, trackbacks, and blogrolls. If one blogger sees an entry on another blog that he or she finds interesting, they can link to that entry on their own blog through a permalink or trackback, creating a network of interlinked blogs. Visitors to a blog can make comments about a particular entry and even sustain conversations through these comments.

And blogging is not just confined to words…there are also different flavors of blogs including:

  • Photolog- blogging with photos
  • Vlog- blogging with videos
  • Moblog- blogging using a mobile device like a cell phone

More interested in reading blogs than creating one of your own? Well, you’re certainly welcome to keep reading this one! :) But if you’re still hungry for more, blog directories like Technorati, Feedster, and Blogdigger will find one for every interest imaginable. With over 57 million blogs (and counting) to choose from…how can they not?