Blogging – An Emerging Web Technology

Blogs (short for Web Logs) first emerged almost a decade ago as a medium for posting online diaries. (In a perhaps apocryphal story, Wired Magazine claimed the term “Web Log” was coined by Jorn Barger, a sometimes homeless, yet profoundly prolific, Internet poster).[1] Blogs in the typical sense, provide comment mechanisms where users can post feedback for authors and other readers. The blogging community form what is today known as the blogosphere (a powerful voice for change). Popular blogs are discovered via blogging apps like ‘trackbacks’. Blog popularity is reinforced mainly through the use of ‘blog rolls’. Blog-ranking indexes and websites then take over with the blog classification.

Trackbacks are links in
a
blog
post
that refer readers back to cited sources. Simply put, trackbacks are third party links back to original blog post(s). Trackbacks allow a blogger to see which
and
how
many
other
bloggers
are referring
to their
content.
A‘trackback’
field
is
supported
by
most
blog
software. While
it’s
not
required
to
enter
a
trackback
when
citing
another
post, it’s
considered
good
netiquette i.e. net ethics to
do
so.
Blog roll refers to
list
of
a
blogger’s
favorite
blogs.
Not all blogs include blog rolls, but those that do often display blog rolls on the left or right column of a blog’s main page. This is some sort of shout-out to blogging peers/mates. This helps to reinforce or reclaim the strength of frequently read or popular blogs.

Blog indexes like Technorati and BlogPulse are in charge of blog ranking. Their main input is gotten from blog rolls and trackback. Blog comments are useful to the author of a post because opinions and ideas are gathered through them (blogger comments). These are for most, sincere and honest expressions. There’s risk in any undertaking in life, and so is there in allowing users comment on blog posts. Users can make ridiculing comments regarding corporate efforts, which tarnishes corporate image. Bloggers ought to be responsible when reacting to comments to which they disagree, and not go about using prejudicing terms, and breaking out digital fights among bloggers.

Reasons Why People Blog

A corporation would like to blog for the reasons mentioned below. Note that blogs are used in corporations for business purposes.

·        Blogs are used for marketing a corporation’s latest products, or to revamp dying products.

·        They are popularly used for
gathering
feedback after a new product has been launched in the market.


·        Finally, blogs could be ideal for maintaining brand equity or to promote a brand. Thus, blogs are a powerful image shaping weapon in business.

A student (college student would want to blog for the following reasons:

·        Mobilizing a student community for protest, or problem-solving, and knowledge production.

·        Brainstorming with the entire academic community.
·        Sharing updates on any theme of interest which could be academic or social in nature.

A news outlet like the very popular Huffington post would offer a blogging service mainly because of these two reasons:

·        It offers greater details, it is in-depth, and offer dead-line free timeliness.

·        Blogs save the cost of print publication, which is very much more expensive, and inaccessible to all members of the news outlet’s population.

Advantages of Blogging

·        Most blogs offer ‘running dialog’ which can read like an electronic bulletin board, and is notably an effective way to gather public opinion when vetting/analyzing ideas (could be opinions regarding a new product, service, or corporate policy reform(s)).

·        Blogs have outpaced MSM (Mainstream Media) as far as reaching public audience is concerned, and their services are cheap relative to hiring mainstream media services for publishing and outreach.

·        Blogger comments are a great imperative for user honesty. Just as the "wisdom of crowds" keeps Wikipedia accurate, a vigorous community of commenters will quickly expose a blogger's errors of fact or logic.[1]

·       Blogs offer a rapid way to disseminate opinion, ideas and information from a single writer to several readers.

·        Popular blogs
are a very powerful and influential political, economic, and social tool, acting
as flashpoints
on
public
opinion.


·        With blogs, there aren’t limits on page size, word count, or publication deadline, and best of all, unfiltered idea/opinion distribution.·        Top blogs operating on shoestring (limited) budgets can reap several hundred thousand dollars a month in ad revenue.

Disadvantages of Blogging

Blogging has its downside despite its increased popularity.

·   Controlling employee blogging easily becomes an up-hill task. Employees easily release confidential information just to be heard on a blog. They’ll be blogging, blogging, blogging, and there they go “bla, bla, bla”, nothing good for corporate image!

·        A blog can easily turn into a commenting ground (hothouse) for the highly dreaded and detested spam and disgruntled persons.

·       Public postings experience ‘everlasting life’ on the internet and can be pasted as input on other web sites. Bloggers better beware what you post on blogs; inappropriate, nasty, or non-genuine statements could hunt and cost you much longer and more than you think!

·      Blogs could generate too much attention for undeserving issues, derailing public focus from themes that really matter.

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[1] Gallaugher –Peer Production, Social Media, and Web 2.0