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What Are Blogs?
A blog (short for "web log") is similar to an online diary or journal. It is a collection of short articles or entries, very specific to the whatever the main topic of the blog might be, usually presented in reverse chronological order (most recent article first). Blogs are frequently updated with new entries, often several times each week or, even, each day. Most blogs have a single author who writes every entry, although larger blogs can have multiple contributing writers.
What sets blogs apart from typical websites is the ease and speed with which they can be published and updated. Unlike publishing a normal website, blog publishing doesn't require any web-development skill or computer programming knowledge... if you can write, you can blog. They're all about the content... spreading information quickly and efficiently is the heart and soul of blogging. Besides straight text and links to other websites, some blogs also present other forms of media such as images (photoblogs), video (videoblogs or vlogs), or audio (podcasts).
Because of the ease and speed of bolgging, it has caught on rapidly. Today there are millions of blogs online, from small personal journals ("My Daily Life") with only two or three regular readers, to large "official" blogs ("Latest International Headlines") with thousands of regular readers. It is estimated that a new blog is started every second of every day! |
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Reading Blogs...
Reading blogs is most often done just like any other form of web-surfing. Visit a blog's homepage to read the newest articles.
Eventually, however, you'll begin to single out some that you'd like to follow regularly, similar to following particular daily newspaper columns. As their number increases, having a way to keep track of them and easily access all or some when you want becomes handy. There are a few choices...
Casual blog readers can use our GLCN BlogReader. We've included preset links to a handful of the most popular, widely read blogs online to get you started. (Hint: To discover other blogs, you can use our SuperSearch to search the Web for blogs related to any topic of interest.) To read the latest entries from any blog that's not on our preset list, type its' web address (its' URL) into the address box under our list of blogs.
As your list of blogs that you'd like to keep up-to-date with grows, you'll probably want a more organized approach to blog reading. There are a variety of completerly free online services that will let you "subscribe" to your favorite blogs. They'll regularly check each of your subscribed blogs and create a ready-to-click list of new articles for you. You'll be able to access your account online from any computer anywhere. A few popular online blog reading services you can use:
Choose a service, subscribe to some blogs (or "feeds"), and start reading. |
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Your Own Blog?
So, you've been bitten by the blog bug and think it might be time to start one of your own? Good news... it's easy and it's free! Whether you'd like to share your favorite recipes, tell the world what haunts your dreams every night, or just impart pearls of wisdom, you can have your own blog up and running in as little as a few minutes. Remember, no computer programming skills are necessary -- if you can write (well, okay, if you can type,) you can blog.
The quickest, easiest route is to sign up for one of the numerous free online blogging services available. Give your blog a name, choose a "look" for it, then just start typing! Because these services are hosted online, you won't need any extra software installed on your computer. Simply visit the blogging service site that you've chosen, log in with your private password, and you'll be able to update your musings from any computer that has access to the Internet. (Yes, that means that you can even keep your blog current when you're vacationing halfway around the world.)
There are lots of free blogging services available, but here's a "short list" of a few that we recommend:
- Blogger - The Grandaddy of online blogging, now owned by Google
- LiveJournal - Simple to use personal journal publishing
- BlogSource - Focused on ease-of-use and overall simplicity
Have fun! |
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