Blog menjadi fenomena belakangan ini, apalagi setelah seminar “Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility: Battleground and Common Ground” di Universitas Harvard, AS, pada Januari 2006. Dimana persaingan bloggers dan journalists sempat mengemuka, karena mengingat reportase dan jurnalisme blak-blakan dapat dilakukan lewat blog, sehingga tak jarang para jurnalis dari mainstream publication merasa tersaingi. Mengapa? Sebab, mereka kehilangan monopoli dan kendali atas reportase suatu berita. Ini bukan hanya menyangkut cara reportasenya, tetapi juga dalam memilih apa yang cocok dan disukai publik, kata Eason Jordan, senior editor dan jurnalis dari CNN Network.

Power of Blog

Dalam konferensi para jurnalis di Universitas Harvard, terungkap enam pilar kunci yang membedakan blogging dengan saluran komunikasi lainnya.

1. Publishable. Anda dapat langsung mem-posting berita. Mudah, murah, dan dapat dibaca di mana pun.
2. Findable. Mudah ditemukan lewat situs pencari, berdasarkan subjek, nama penulis, atau keduanya. Makin tambun suatu blog, makin digemari.
3. Social. Blogosphere cirinya adalah cuap-cuap. Percakapan yang menarik berdasarkan topik beralih dari suatu situs ke situs web, nge-link dari suatu link ke link lain. Melalui blog, mereka yang memiliki minat yang sama dapat membangun network atau berita lintas geografi.
4. Viral. Informasi menyebar lebih cepat melalui blog dibanding news service. Saat ini tak ada viral marketing yang dapat menyetarakan kecepatan dan efisiensi suatu blog.
5. Syndicatable. Content yang kaya mudah disindikasikan oleh siapa saja. Bayangkan dunia penuh dengan orang pandai, dan, lewat media blog, ribuan informasi yang tersebar dapat didapat.
6. Linkable. Setiap blog nge-link ke yang lain, memiliki akses ke puluhan juta orang yang mengunjungi blogosphere setiap hari yang bercirikan komunikasi internet dua arah. Media blog itu bak supermarket tabloid, demikian Dan Gillmor, penulis buku We the Media.

Mengingat kekuatan dari blog tersebut, saya berpikir kiranya seorang dosen perlu nge-blog, kenapa? Karena blog adalah media yang paling OK disamping untuk menambah wawasan sekaligus untuk eksistensi diri.

Kok bisa? Tentu saja, sebab dalam blog bisa;

1. Menuliskan apapun tentang kegiatan di kampus seperti; menceritakan kegiatan belajar yang menyenangkan bersama murid-murid, menceritakan inovasi dalam metode mengajar yang memang menarik minat dan bisa jadi contoh bagi dosen-dosen yang lain untuk dipraktekkan di kelas mereka, menuliskan uneg-uneg akan protes kebijakan kampus selain jadi bahan melepas stres juga bisa sebagai ancang-ancang berargumen dengan kepala kampus/kepala yayasan.
2. Bisa menjadi cermin evaluasi diri karena tulisan-tulisan kita juga dikomentari oleh berbagai orang dengan berbagai sudut pandang sehingga kita juga belajar memahami berbagai karakter orang dan sudut pandang seseorang menyikapi masalah.
3. Menguji kualitas tulisan-tulisan. Posting sebuah tulisan di blog. Kalau banyak orang yang menyukainya, maka sukses jadi penulis yang berbakat. Jika tak ada yang suka, berarti harus belajar lebih giat lagi untuk membuat tulisan yang menarik. Intinya, aktivitas blogging bisa menjadi sarana yang sangat jitu untuk mengevaluasi kualitas dan kemampuan.
4. Bisa menjadi ajang sosialisasi dan menyusun kekuatan opini apalagi dengan teknologi sindikasi berita, link dan mesin pencari sekarang.
5. Siapa tahu curhat, opini, dan protes-protes selama yang ditulis bisa jadi buku, sekaligus jadi pendapatan sampingan juga kan?

APA ITU BLOG? (Sebuah Catatan Sebelum nge-Blog)

Sebuah Weblog , Web log atau singkatnya Blog , adalah sebuah aplikasi web yang memuat secara periodik tulisan-tulisan (posting) pada sebuah webpage umum. Posting-posting tersebut seringkali dimuat dalam urutan posting secara terbalik, meskipun tidak selamanya demikian. Situs web semacam itu biasanya dapat diakses oleh semua pengguna internet sesuai dengan topik dan tujuan dari si pengguna blog tersebut.

Media Blog pertama kali di populerkan oleh Blogger.com , yang dimiliki oleh PyraLab sebelum akhirnya PyraLab diakuisi oleh Google.Com pada akhir tahun 2002.

Blog mempunyai fungsi yang sangat beragam, dari sebuah catatan harian sampai dengan media publikasi dalam sebuah kampanye politik, program-program media dan korporasi. Sebagian blog dipelihara oleh seorang penulis tunggal, sementara sebagian lainnya oleh beberapa penulis. Banyak juga weblog yang memiliki fasilitas interaksi dengan para pengunjungnya, yang dapat memperkenankan para pengunjungnya untuk meninggalkan komentar atas isi dari tulisan yang dipublikasikan, namun demikian ada juga yang yang sebaliknya atau yang bersifat non-interaktif. Situs-situs web yang saling berkaitan berkat weblog, atau secara total merupakan kumpulan weblog sering disebut sebagai blogosphere . Bilamana sebuah kumpulan gelombang aktifitas, informasi dan opini yang sangat besar mengerupsi beberapa subyek atau sangat kontroversi dalam blogoshpere, maka hal itu sering disebut sebagai blogstorm atau badai blog.

Karena semakin banyaknya pengguna fasilitas blog dan seringnya para pengguna blog yang sering berkunjung ke blog lain, maka lazim dibentuk sebuah organisasi atau komunitas kumpulan blogger.

Komunitas Blogger

Komunitas blogger adalah sebuah ikatan yang terbentuk dari para blogger berdasarkan kesamaan-kesamaan tertentu, seperti kesamaan asal daerah, kesamaan kampus, kesamaan hobi, dan sebagainya. Para blogger yang tergabung dalam komunitas-komunitas blogger tersebut biasanya sering mengadakan kegiatan-kegiatan bersama-sama seperti kopi darat.

Untuk bisa bergabung di komunitas blogger, biasanya ada semacam syarat atau aturan yang harus dipenuhi untuk bisa masuk di komunitas tersebut, misalkan berasal dari daerah tertentu.

Beberapa jenis komunitas blogger adalah Komunitas Blogger Daerah, yaitu Komunitas Blogger berdasarkan kedaerahan atau wilayah tertentu, Komunitas Blogger Non-Daerah, yang biasanya terbentuk karena kesamaan hobi atau yang lainnya, dan Komunitas Blogger Kampus.

Jenis-jenis blog

• Blog politik: Tentang berita, politik, aktivis, dan semua persoalan berbasis blog (Seperti kampanye).
• Blog pribadi: Disebut juga buku harian online yang berisikan tentang pengalaman keseharian seseorang, keluhan, puisi atau syair, gagasan jahat, dan perbincangan teman.
• Blog bertopik: Blog yang membahas tentang sesuatu, dan fokus pada bahasan tertentu
• Blog kesehatan: Lebih spesifik tentang kesehatan. Blog kesehatan kebanyakan berisi tentang keluhan pasien, berita kesehatan terbaru, keterangan-ketarangan tentang kesehatan, dll.
• Blog sastra: Lebih dikenal sebagai litblog (Literary blog).
• Blog perjalanan: Fokus pada bahasan cerita perjalanan yang menceritakan keterangan-keterangan tentang perjalanan/traveling.
• Blog riset: Persoalan tentang akademis seperti berita riset terbaru.
• Blog hukum: Persoalan tentang hukum atau urusan hukum; disebut juga dengan blawgs (Blog Laws).
• Blog media: Berfokus pada bahasan kebohongan atau ketidakkonsistensi media massa; biasanya hanya untuk koran atau jaringan televisi
• Blog agama: Membahas tentang agama
• Blog pendidikan: Biasanya ditulis oleh pelajar atau guru.
• Blog kebersamaan: Topik lebih spesifik ditulis oleh kelompok tertentu.
• Blog petunjuk (directory): Berisi ratusan link halaman website.
• Blog bisnis: Digunakan oleh pegawai atau wirausahawan untuk kegiatan promosi bisnis mereka
• Blog pengejawantahan: Fokus tentang objek diluar manusia; seperti anjing
• Blog pengganggu (spam): Digunakan untuk promosi bisnis affiliate; juga dikenal sebagai splogs (Spam Blog)

Sejarah Blog

Blog pertama kemungkinan besar adalah halaman What’s New pada browser Mosaic yang dibuat oleh Marc Andersen pada tahun 1993. Kalau kita masih ingat, Mosaic adalah browser pertama sebelum adanya Internet Explorer bahkan sebelum Netscape . Kemudian pada Januari 1994, Justin Hall memulai website pribadinya Justin’s Home Page yang kemudian berubah menjadi Links from the Underground yang mungkin dapat disebut sebagai Blog pertama seperti yang kita kenal sekarang.

Hingga pada tahun 1998, jumlah Blog yang ada diluar sana belumlah seberapa. Hal ini disebabkan karena saat itu diperlukan keahlian dan pengetahuan khusus tentang pembuatan website, HTML, dan web hosting untuk membuat Blog, sehingga hanya mereka yang berkecimpung di bidang Internet, System Administrator atau Web Designer yang kemudian pada waktu luangnya menciptakan Blog-Blog mereka sendiri.

Pada Agustus 1999 sebuah perusahaan Silicon Valley bernama Pyra Lab meluncurkan layanan Blogger.com yang memungkinkan siapapun dengan pengetahuan dasar tentang HTML dapat menciptakan Blog-nya sendiri secara online dan gratis. Walaupun sebelum itu (Juli 1999) layanan membuat Blog online dan gratis yaitu Pitas telah ada dan telah membuat Blogger bertambah hingga ratusan, tapi jumlah Blog tidak pernah bertambah banyak begitu rupa sehingga Blogger.com muncul di dunia per-blog-an. Blogger.com sendiri saat ini telah memiliki hingga 100.000 Blogger yang menggunakan layanan mereka dengan pertumbuhan jumlah sekitar 20% per bulan. Blogger.com dan Pitas tentu tidak sendirian, layanan pembuat blog online diberikan pula oleh Grouksoup, Edit this Page dan juga Velocinews.

Sejak saat itu Blog kian hari kian bertambah hingga makin sulit untuk mengikutinya. Ribuan Blog kemudian bermunculan dan masing-masing memilih topik bahasannya sendiri, dimulai dari bagaimana menjadi orang tua yang baik, hobi menonton film, topik politik, kesehatan, sex, olahraga, buku komik dan banyak macam-macam lagi. Blog adalah daerah kekuasan si Blogger-nya tanpa ada editor atau boss yang ikut campur, tema segila apapun biasanya dapat kita temukan sejalan dengan makin bermunculannya Blog di Internet. Dan ya, ide itu telah terpikirkan, Blogger bahkan sekarang telah membuat Blog dari Blog, dan bahkan Blog dari Blog dari Blog.

Lalu apa gunanya membuat Blog? Apa yang mungkin didapatkan oleh seorang Blogger dalam usaha mendosens Blognya? Rabecca Blood menulis bahwa setelah ia membuat Blog-nya ada dua efek samping yang terjadi yang tidak ia perkirakan sebelumnya. Pertama ia menemukan kembali minatnya semenjak ia mulai membuat Blog. Dan hal kedua yang lebih penting, ia mulai lebih menghargai cara pandangnya sendiri.

Kamus Singkat nge-Blog

• Blog adalah suatu diary online yang dibuat melalui internet atau web oleh individu (perseorangan). Kebanyakan blog dipelihara oleh orang-orang yang hanya sedikit tahu tentang desain website atau website development.
• Blogger adalah seseorang yang mempunyai dan memelihara sebuah blog yang dibuatnya sendiri .
• Blogging adalah aktivitas meng -update sebuah blog oleh seseorang yang memelihara posting blog ( biasanya oleh orang yang tidak professional).
• Blog posting adalah informasi yang diletakkan pada sebuah blog yang secara kronologis dilakukan bersamaan dengan penambahan feature.
• Weblog adalah nama lain untuk blog . Terminologi blog dipandang lebih baik daripada weblog .

Membuat Blog Sendiri

Seberapa susah membuat blog? Tidak lebih susah dari membuat email. Artinya kalau Anda memiliki email –dan membuat sendiri- biasanya akan terbiasa dengan pengisian form-form pendaftarannya. Sudah banyak website-website yang menyediakan layanan blog bagi anggotanya. Tapi sebagai pertimbangan, bisa dipikirkan hal-hal apa saja yang perlu digunakan dalam memilih blog.

• akses cepat,
• mudah digunakan,
• ada fasilitas umpan balik.
• ada sindikasi
• punya koleksi template yang sudah jadi,
• bisa diutak-atik (templatenya)

Berikut ini daftar website yang memberikan layanan weblog bagi anggotanya:

Blogger atau Blogspot

Blogger merupakan layanan blog gratisan yang lebih stabil dari yang lain-lainnya mungkin karena sekarang dia telah dibeli ( menjadi bagian dari ) Google. Dilengkapi builtin editor yang digunakan untuk menulis artikel karena dia sederhana dan ada fitur toggle untuk preview dan edit HTML.

Bisa diakses di http://www.blogger.com . Kelemahan blogger adalah adanya fitur yang hilang, yaitu fitur statistik. Tadinya fitur ini ada, tapi dihilangkan karena oleh Blogger.com dianggap memberatkan system mereka. Sehingga perlu sedikit tenaga ekstra memasang statistik sendiri, sudah banyak yang menyediakan statistik yang gratisan sehingga tinggal copy & paste saja. Oh, ya fungsi dari statistik ini adalah untuk mengetahui jumlah pengunjung yang datang dan membaca artikel di blog. Kelemahan lainnya adalah tidak menyediakan fitur tagboard (papan chatting) dan penyimpanan gambar.

Blogdrive

Blogdrive yang beralamat di http://www.blogdrive.com merupakan weblog yang cukup stabil dengan jumlah anggota yang lumayan banyak. Layananya hampir sama dengan blogger. Keunggulannya adalah adanya fasilitas tagboard dan ruang penyimpanan gambar. Namun koleksi template desainnya lebih terbatas dan tidak sebagus di blogger.

WordPress.com

Layanan yang bisa diakses di http://www.wordpress.com ini menggunakan software wordpress. Software ini merupakan software khusus dalam membuat weblog. Kebaikan layakan wordpress.com, sudah ada fitur statistiknya meskipun masih belum sempurna. Keburukan layanan wordpress.com adalah templatenya yang masih terbatas dibandingkan bila menggunakan software ini pada situs yang dikelola sendiri (membeli domain dan hosting).

WordPress memang software blog yang sangat ampuh sehingga tidak jarang banyak web-web blog yang lain menggunakan software ini sebagai layanan di web mereka.

Blogsome

Weblog ini menggunakan software wordpress. Kebagusan blogsome adalah dia menggunakan wordpress sebagai basisnya. Kekurangannya adalah template tema yang terbatas. Bisa diakses di http://www. blogsome.com.

Edublogs.org

Blog ini dikhususkan bagi kalangan pendidikan, dengan masih menggunakan software wordpress, bisa diakses di http://www.edublogs.org.

Efx2.com

Fitur tampilannya lebih berkesan fleksibel dan modern. Desain bisa diubah secara total atau hanya per-blok. Sebagai contoh, bisa mengubah desain untuk kolom bagian kanan saja dengan pergi ke menu untuk desain. Akses ke efx2.com juga relatif cepat.

Suasana komunitas di efx2.com juga sangat kental. Anggota saling mengunjungi blog . (Sebetulnya suasana ini juga ada di multiply.com) Fitur templatenya juga cukup fleksibel. bisa diakses di http://www.efx2.com

Jurnal di Multiply

Multiply lebih mirip disebut jurnal dari pada sebuah blog, karena layanan multiply lebih bersifat komunitas -seperti friendster- (akan tetapi untuk kalangan yang lebih “tua”). Layanan multiply memberikan fitur blog dalam bentuk “jurnal”. Selain itu juga ada kolom untuk melakukan review. Bisa di akses di http://www.multiply.com

Blog di Friendster

Semula Friendster tidak menyediakan layanan blog, namun belakangan mereka yang awalnya adalah web komunitas menyediakan juga fasilitas blog. Namun mayoritas pengguna Friendster adalah ABG.

Blog di Yahoo 360

Seakan tidak mau kalah dengan friendster, Yahoo pun membuat fitur weblog. Cukup dengan hanya memiliki account email di yahoo. Namun kelemahan dari Yahoo 360 -dan juga Blog Friendster-, karena mereka menyediakan blog bukan sebagai fasilitas utama sehingga kemampuan-kemampuan andalan dari blog seperti sindikasi tidak diperhatikan, selain itu untuk komunitas pun belum terlalu banyak.

Sebenarnya masih banyak layanan weblog yang lain, namun saya memilihkan beberapa yang sudah sangat dikenal luas dan komunitas yang sudah cukup baik. Sekarang terserah bagaimana kesukaan saja dalam memilih akan nge-Blog dimana.

Komunitas Blog

Saat ini, weblog tidak hanya menjadi sebuah fenomena teknologi, namun telah berubah menjadi gaya hidup ( life style ). Jika beberapa tahun lalu orang berlomba-lomba membuat situs pribadi (yang mempopulerkan beberapa layanan situs gratisan seperti Geocities, Tripod, AngelFire, dan sebagainya), maka sekarang adalah jamannya weblog. Weblog tampaknya lebih menggiurkan ketimbang situs pribadi konvensional, karena pengelolaan content-nya yang sangat mudah, cepat, dan praktis. Coba bandingkan dengan situs pribadi yang dibangun secara manual dengan bahasa HTML standar، ءukup merepotkan. Mungkin inilah sebabnya, jumlah pemilik weblog jauh lebih banyak ketimbang pemilik situs pribadi konvensional.

• Bandung Blog Village -komunitas weblog Bandung- (http://bbv.or.id/)
• Angkringan -komunitas weblog Yogyakarta- (http://www.angkringan.or.id/)
• Blogger Family (http://blogfam.com/)
• Indonesian Muslim Blogger (http://blog.muslimblog.net/)
  dan sebagainya.

Sebagai gaya hidup, komunitas weblog pun semakin banyak yang tumbuh di internet. Nah, jika tidak mau ketinggalan dengan salah satu fenomena yang sedang ngetrend di internet, memiliki situs pribadi yang berisi catatan harian, segeralah membangun blog. Jika perlu, bergabunglah dengan komunitas blog yang disukai, untuk memperluas pergaulan Anda di dunia maya.

Selamat nge-Blog.

Blog

A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log“) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual ^[1], with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.^[2] With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something. There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written.

Personal Blogs

The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read by anyone but them. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality. Few personal blogs rise to fame and the mainstream, but some personal blogs quickly garner an extensive following. A type of personal blog is referred to as “microblogging,” which is extremely detailed blogging as it seeks to capture a moment in time. Sites, such as Twitter, allow bloggers to share thoughts and feelings instantaneously with friends and family and is much faster than e-mailing or writing. This form of social media lends to an online generation already too busy to keep in touch.^[3]

Corporate Blogs

A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for business purposes. Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.

Question Blogging

is a type of blog that answers questions. Questions can be submitted in the form of a submittal form, or through email or other means such as telephone or VOIP. Qlogs can be used to display shownotes from podcasts^[4] or the means of conveying information through the internet. Many question logs use syndication such as RSS as a means of conveying answers to questions.

By Media Type

A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog.^[5] Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs.

A rare type of blog hosted on the Gopher Protocol is known as a Phlog.^{[citation needed]}

By Device

Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog.^[6] One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person’s personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.^{[citation needed]}

By Genre

Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as a Splog.

House Blog

A house blog is a Blog created with the sole intent of using it to share and chronicle a home improvement or renovation process. Only in recent years has the concept of a house blog^[7] come into being and become more popularized through communities^[8]. The majority of house blogs are operated by homeowners who wish to share with the online community their remodeling projects from cost and materials to how it’s impacted their family. Most house blogs are not created with the intention of earning revenue although some house blogs do sell advertising or are part of ad networks. The most significant reason for the popularity of house blogs is the cost. Using services such as Blogger and Wordpress, house bloggers can quickly and easily create a blog for free. In this way, the marketer can determine the viability of the selected niche before making a large investment of time and money.

Community and Cataloging

The Blogosphere

The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere. Since all blogs are on the internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions “in the blogosphere” have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues. A collection of local blogs is sometimes referred to as a bloghood.

Blog Search Engines

Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents, such as Bloglines, BlogScope, and Technorati. Technorati, which is among the most popular blog search engines, provides current information on both popular searches and tags used to categorize blog postings. Research community is working on going beyond simple keyword search, by inventing new ways to navigate through huge amounts of information present in the blogosphere, as demonstrated by projects like BlogScope.

Blogging Communities and Directories

Several online communities exist that connect people to blogs and bloggers to other bloggers, including BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog.

Blogging and Advertising

It is common for blogs to feature advertisements either to financially benefit the blogger or to promote the blogger’s favorite causes. The popularity of blogs has also given rise to “fake blogs” in which a company will create a fictional blog as a marketing tool to promote a product.

Popularity

Researchers have analyzed the dynamics of how blogs become popular. There are essentially two measures of this: popularity through citations, as well as popularity through affiliation (i.e. blogroll). The basic conclusion from studies of the structure of blogs is that while it takes time for a blog to become popular through blogrolls, permalinks can boost popularity more quickly, and are perhaps more indicative of popularity and authority than blogrolls, since they denote that people are actually reading the blog’s content and deem it valuable or noteworthy in specific cases.^[9]

The blogdex project was launched by researchers in the MIT Media Lab to crawl the Web and gather data from thousands of blogs in order to investigate their social properties. It gathered this information for over 4 years, and autonomously tracked the most contagious information spreading in the blog community, ranking it by recency and popularity. It can therefore be considered the first instantiation of a memetracker. The project is no longer active, but a similar function is now served by tailrank.com.

Blogs are given rankings by Technorati based on the number of incoming links and Alexa Internet based on the Web hits of Alexa Toolbar users. In August 2006, Technorati found that the most linked-to blog on the internet was that of Chinese actress Xu Jinglei.^[10] Chinese media Xinhua reported that this blog received more than 50 million page views, claiming it to be the most popular blog in the world.^[11] Technorati rated Boing Boing to be the most-read group-written blog.^[10]

Gartner forecasts that blogging will peak in 2007, leveling off when the number of writers who maintain a personal Web site reaches 100 million. Gartner analysts expect that the novelty value of the medium will wear off as most people who are interested in the phenomenon have checked it out, and new bloggers will offset the number of writers who abandon their creation out of boredom. The firm estimates that there are more than 200 million former bloggers who have ceased posting to their online diaries, creating an exponential rise in the amount of “dotsam” and “netsam” — that is to say, unwanted objects on the Web (analogous to flotsam and jetsam).

Blurring with the Mass Media

Many bloggers, particularly those engaged in participatory journalism, differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of “getting around the filter” and pushing messages directly to the public. Some critics worry that bloggers respect neither copyright nor the role of the mass media in presenting society with credible news. Bloggers and other contributors to user-generated content are behind Time magazine naming their 2006 person of the year as “you”.

Many mainstream journalists, meanwhile, write their own blogs — well over 300, according to CyberJournalist.net’s J-blog list. The first known use of a blog on a news site was in August 1998, when Jonathan Dube of The Charlotte Observer published one chronicling Hurricane Bonnie.^[12]

Some bloggers have moved over to other media. The following bloggers (and others) have appeared on radio and television: Duncan Black (known widely by his pseudonym, Atrios), Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit), Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (Daily Kos), Alex Steffen (Worldchanging) and Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette). In counterpoint, Hugh Hewitt exemplifies a mass-media personality who has moved in the other direction, adding to his reach in “old media” by being an influential blogger. Equally many established authors, for example Mitzi Szereto have started using Blogs to not only update fans on their current works but also to expand into new areas of writing.

Blogs have also had an influence on minority languages, bringing together scattered speakers and learners; this is particularly so with blogs in Gaelic languages. Minority language publishing (which may lack economic feasibility) can find its audience through inexpensive blogging.

There are many examples of bloggers who have published books based on their blogs, e.g., Salam Pax, Ellen Simonetti, Jessica Cutler, ScrappleFace. Blog-based books have been given the name blook. A prize for the best blog-based book was initiated in 2005,^[13] the Lulu Blooker Prize.^[14] However, success has been elusive offline, with many of these books not selling as well as their blogs. Only blogger Tucker Max cracked the New York Times Bestseller List.^[15]

Blogging Consequences

The emergence of blogging has brought a range of legal liabilities and other often unforeseen consequences.

Defamation or Liability

Several cases have been brought before the national courts against bloggers concerning issues of defamation or liability. The courts have returned with mixed verdicts. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), in general, are immune from liability for information that originates with third parties (U.S. Communications Decency Act and the EU Directive 2000/31/EC).

In John Doe v. Patrick Cahill, the Delaware Supreme Court held that stringent standards had to be met to unmask anonymous bloggers, and also took the unusual step of dismissing the libel case itself (as unfounded under American libel law) rather than referring it back to the trial court for reconsideration. In a bizarre twist, the Cahills were able to obtain the identity of John Doe, who turned out to be the person they suspected: the town’s mayor, Councilman Cahill’s political rival. The Cahills amended their original complaint, and the mayor settled the case rather than going to trial.^[16]

In January 2007, two prominent Malaysian political bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan were sued by pro-government newspaper, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin bin Aun and Brenden John a/l John Pereira over an alleged defamation. The plaintiff was supported by the Malaysian government.^[17] Following the suit, the Malaysian government proposed to “register” all bloggers in Malaysia in order to better control parties against their interest. ^[18] This is the first such legal case against bloggers in the country.

In the United Kingdom, a college lecturer contributed to a blog in which she referred to a politician (who had also expressed his views in the same blog) using various uncomplimentary names, including referring to him as a “Nazi”. The politician found out the real name of the lecturer (she wrote under a pseudonym) via the ISP and successfully sued her for £10,000 in damages and £7,200 costs.^[19]

In the United States, blogger Aaron Wall was sued by Traffic Power for defamation and publication of trade secrets in 2005.^[20] According to Wired Magazine, Traffic Power had been “banned from Google for allegedly rigging search engine results.”^[21] Wall and other “white hat” search engine optimization consultants had exposed Traffic Power in what they claim was an effort to protect the public. The case was watched by many bloggers because it addressed the murky legal question of who’s liable for comments posted on blogs.^[22] The case was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, and Traffic Power failed to appeal within the allowed time.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Employment

In general, attempts at hiding the blogger’s name and/or the place of employment in anonymity have proved ineffective at protecting the blogger.^[27] Employees who blog about elements of their place of employment raise the issue of employee branding, since their activities can begin to affect the brand recognition of their employer.

In fall 2004, Ellen Simonetti was fired for what was deemed by her employer to be inappropriate material on her blog. She subsequently wrote a book based on her blog.

Ellen Simonetti, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant, was fired by the airline for photos of herself in uniform on an airplane and comments posted on her blog “Queen of Sky: Diary of a Flight Attendant” which her employer deemed inappropriate.^[28][29] This case highlighted the issue of personal blogging and freedom of expression vs. employer rights and responsibilities, and so it received wide media attention. Simonetti took legal action against the airline for “wrongful termination, defamation of character and lost future wages”.^[30] The suit is postponed while Delta is in bankruptcy proceedings (court docket).

In the spring of 2006, Erik Ringmar, a tenured senior lecturer at the London School of Economics, was ordered by the convenor of his department to “take down and destroy” his blog in which he discussed the quality of education at the school.^[31]

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was fined during the 2006 NBA playoffs for criticizing NBA officials on the court and in his blog.^[32]

Mark Jen was terminated in 2005 after a mere 10 days of employment at Google for discussing corporate secrets on his personal blog.^[33]

In India, blogger Gaurav Sabnis resigned from IBM after his posts exposing the false claims of a management school, IIPM, led to management of IIPM threatening to burn their IBM laptops as a sign of protest against him.^[34]

Jessica Cutler, aka “The Washingtonienne“, blogged about her sex life while employed as a congressional assistant. After the blog was discovered and she was fired,^[35] she wrote a novel based on her experiences and blog: The Washingtonienne: A Novel. Cutler is presently being sued by one of her former lovers in a case that could establish the extent to which bloggers are obligated to protect the privacy of their real life associates.^[36]

Catherine Sanderson, a.k.a. Petite Anglaise, lost her job in Paris at a British accountancy firm because of blogging.^[37] Although given in the blog in a fairly anonymous manner, some of the descriptions of the firm and some of its people were less than flattering. Sanderson later won a compensation claim case against the British firm, however.^[38]

On the other hand, Penelope Trunk, writing in the Globe in 2006, was one of the first to point out that a large portion of bloggers are professionals and that a well-written blog can actually help attract employers.

Political Dangers

Blogging can sometimes have unforeseen consequences in politically-sensitive areas. Blogs are much harder to control than broadcast or even print media. As a result, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes often seek to suppress blogs and/or to punish those who maintain them.

In Singapore, two ethnic Chinese were imprisoned under the country’s anti-sedition law for posting anti-Muslim remarks in their blogs.^[39]

Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer was charged with insulting the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and an Islamic institution through his online blog. It is the first time in the history of Egypt that a blogger was prosecuted. After a brief trial session that took place in Alexandria, the blogger was found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of three years for insulting Islam and inciting sedition, and one year for insulting Mubarak.^[40]

Egyptian blogger Abdel Monem Mahmoud was arrested in April 2007 for anti-government writings in his blog. Monem is a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

After expressing opinions in his personal blog about the state of the Sudanese armed forces, Jan Pronk, United Nations Special Representative for the Sudan, was given three days notice to leave Sudan. The Sudanese army had demanded his deportation.^[41][42][43]

Personal Safety

One unfortunate consequence of blogging is the possibility of attacks or threats against the blogger, sometimes without apparent reason. Kathy Sierra, author of the innocuous blog Creating Passionate Users, was the target of such vicious threats and misogynistic insults that she canceled her keynote speech at a technology conference in San Diego, fearing for her safety.^[44] While a blogger’s anonymity is often tenuous, Internet trolls who would attack a blogger with threats or insults can be emboldened by anonymity. Sierra and supporters initiated an online discussion aimed at countering abusive online behavior^[45] and developed a blogger’s code of conduct.

Therapeutic Benefits

Scientists have long known the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences. Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients and even speeds healing after surgery.^[46]

History

The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger^[47] on 17 December 1997. The short form, “blog,” was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May of 1999.^[48][49][50] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used “blog” as both a noun and verb (”to blog,” meaning “to edit one’s weblog or to post to one’s weblog”) and devised the term “blogger” in connection with Pyra Labs’ Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.^[51]

Origins

Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail lists^[52] and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). In the 1990s, Internet forum software, such as WebEx, created running conversations with “threads.” Threads are topical connections between messages on a metaphorical “corkboard.”

The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. Justin Hall, who began personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers,^[53] as is Jerry Pournelle.^{[citation needed]} Dave Winer’s Scripting News is also credited with being one of the oldest and longest running weblogs.^[54][55]

Early blogs were simply manually-updated components of common Web sites. However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance of Web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less technical, population. Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today. For instance, the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of “blogging”. Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services, or they can be run using blog software, such as WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger or LiveJournal, or on regular web hosting services.

Rise in Popularity

After a slow start, blogging rapidly gained in popularity. Blog usage spread during 1999 and the years following, being further popularized by the near-simultaneous arrival of the first hosted blog tools:

• Open Diary launched in October 1998, soon growing to thousands of online diaries. Open Diary innovated the reader comment, becoming the first blog community where readers could add comments to other writers’ blog entries.
• Brad Fitzpatrick, a well-known blogger started LiveJournal in March 1999.
• Andrew Smales created Pitas.com in July 1999 as an easier alternative to maintaining a “news page” on a Web site, followed by Diaryland in September 1999, focusing more on a personal diary community.^[56]
• Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs) launched blogger.com in August 1999 (purchased by Google in February 2003)

Blogging Becomes a Political Force

Since 2002, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, and spinning news stories. The Iraq war saw bloggers taking measured and passionate points of view that go beyond the traditional left-right divide of the political spectrum.

On 6 December 2002, Josh Marshall’s talkingpointsmemo.com blog called attention to U.S. Senator Lott’s comments regarding Senator Thurmond. Senator Lott was eventually to resign over the matter.

As an example of the rise of importance of blogs, in 2002, many blogs focused on comments by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Senator Lott, at a party honoring U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, praised Senator Thurmond by suggesting that the United States would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president. Lott’s critics saw these comments as a tacit approval of racial segregation, a policy advocated by Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign. This view was reinforced by documents and recorded interviews dug up by bloggers. (See Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo.) Though Lott’s comments were made at a public event attended by the media, no major media organizations reported on his controversial comments until after blogs broke the story. Blogging helped to create a political crisis that forced Lott to step down as majority leader.

Similarly, blogs were among the driving forces behind the “Rathergate” scandal. To wit: (television journalist) Dan Rather presented documents (on the CBS show 60 Minutes) that conflicted with accepted accounts of President Bush’s military service record. Bloggers declared the documents to be forgeries and presented evidence and arguments in support of that view. Consequently, CBS apologized for what it said were inadequate reporting techniques (see Little Green Footballs). Many bloggers view this scandal as the advent of blogs’ acceptance by the mass media, both as a news source and opinion and as means of applying political pressure.

The impact of these stories gave greater credibility to blogs as a medium of news dissemination. Though often seen as partisan gossips, bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead. More often, however, news blogs tend to react to material already published by the mainstream media. Meanwhile, an increasing number of experts blogged, making blogs a source of in-depth analysis. (See Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong.)

Blogging Becomes Mainstream

By 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services, and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Blogging was established by politicians and political candidates to express opinions on war and other issues and cemented blogs’ role as a news source. (See Howard Dean and Wesley Clark.) Even politicians not actively campaigning, such as the UK’s Labour Party’s MP Tom Watson, began to blog to bond with constituents.

In January 2005, Fortune magazine listed eight bloggers that business people “could not ignore”: Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott, Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble, and Jason Calacanis.

References

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3. ^ Wong, Wailin (2008-07-01). ““I’m now reading a story on microblogs”“. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
4. ^ [1] “Podcast Shownotes”
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6. ^ “Blogging goes mobile“, BBC News (2003-02-23). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
7. ^ Stephan Metcalf, “Fixing a Hole”, New York Times, March 2006
8. ^ Jennifer Saranow, “Blogwatch: This Old House”, Wall Street Journal, September 2007
9. ^ Marlow, C. Audience, structure and authority in the weblog community. Presented at the International Communication Association Conference, May, 2004, New Orleans, LA.
10. ^ ^{a b} Fickling, David, Internet killed the TV star, The Guardian NewsBlog, 15 August 2006
11. ^ “Xu Jinglei most popular blogger in world“, China Daily (2006-08-24). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
12. ^ “blogging Bonnie.“, Poynter.org (2003-09-18).
13. ^ “Blooker rewards books from blogs“, BBC News (2005-10-11). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
14. ^ “Blooker prize honours best blogs“, BBC News (2007-03-17). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
15. ^ Dude, here’s my book
16. ^ John Doe No. 1 v. Patrick Cahill and Julia Cahill
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18. ^ “Government plans to force bloggers to register“, Reporters Without Borders (2007-04-06). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
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55. ^ “..Dave Winer… whose Scripting News (scripting.com) is one of the oldest blogs.”David F. Gallagher (2002-06-10). “Technology; A rift among bloggers“, New York Times.
56. ^ Jensen, Mallory A Brief History of Weblogs

Further reading

• Alavi, Nasrin. We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs, Soft Skull Press, New York, 2005. ISBN 1-933368-05-5.
• Bruns, Axel, and Joanne Jacobs, eds. Uses of Blogs, Peter Lang, New York, 2006. ISBN 0-8204-8124-6.
• Blood, Rebecca. “Weblogs: A History and Perspective”. “Rebecca’s Pocket”.
• Kline, David; Burstein, Dan. Blog!: How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture, Squibnocket Partners, L.L.C., 2005. ISBN 1-59315-141-1.
• Michael Gorman. “Revenge of the Blog People!”. Library Journal.
• Ringmar, Erik. A Blogger’s Manifesto: Free Speech and Censorship in the Age of the Internet (London: Anthem Press, 2007).