A Quick History of Blogging
The web log started in the early 1990′s as an online diary or journal. The modern blog evolved from forums on the World Wide Web, called newsgroups. Newsgroups are discussion forums, which are moderated.
These newsgroups evolved as they started to include summary posts as well as links to other sites of interest on the Internet. These posts were the start of the online diary. Some of these sites began posting news releases as well as commentary that was meant for others to read.
Early weblogs were actually regular websites, which were updated manually. As technical tools became available these sites were able to support posts made in reverse chronological order. The newest posts are automatically added to the top of the site.
This is similar to the way email chronology works as well.
The term weblog was first used in 1997 to mean a log maintained on the web. Several years later the term was shorted to “blog” which can be used as either a noun or a verb. Blogs began to be more widely popular as blog software became available that provided easy access to the blog format.
Blog hosts provide templates for blogs so that anyone with any computer skills can set up and maintain one. Blogging combines the tools typically available with personal web pages with other tools to allow for ease of use.
As the use of weblogs increased so did the availability of weblog search engines. This allows other people with like interests to search through blog sites using keywords.
In 2000 and 2001 some popular political blogs began to emerge. This helped to introduce blogs to many people who were not aware of them. By 2002 the term blog was familiar to most anyone who uses the Internet.
Books about how to set up and maintain blogs started to appear. Blogs started to become an important news source as well as an outlet for popular opinion.
Blogs Have Become Increasingly Popular
Some estimates show that there are millions of blogs on the Internet with more than 10,000 being added each day. Blogging sites have been increasing so rapidly that they are thought to double every six months or so.
The ease of use makes them a fun and interesting way to communicate with others.
Blogs Are Used For Many Different Reasons
Companies use blogs to communicate with their employees and customers. They also use blogs to promote their product or service as well as to make their name known. Personal blogs are used for individuals to talk about their lives and families.
Political blogs are a way for people to voice their thoughts about politics. Blogs can contain pictures, audio and videos. There are many available blog hosts who offer free blogs. It has never been easier to host a site on the web.
As technology advances there will be more advances in blogs and blogging as well.
