What Exactly is a Blog?

Let's start at the very beginning with a definition of a blog.

What is the word blog short for?

Blog is the short form of the two words 'web log'. It is a website with a few more features that make it deserving of the name 'blog'.

Here are some of the features that make a blog different from a website:

1.Posts - Usually the pages are referred to as posts. This is kind of like how you would refer to posts on a bulletin board, with the most recent stuff on the top.

2.Ordered - Posts also are usually in reverse chronological order.

3.Social - Blogs are more 'social' than websites. It's not uncommon to post personal pictures and link out to other bloggers.

4.Interaction - One of the most important distinctions between a website and a blog is that almost all blogs allow the ability for the reader to interact with the publisher. This happens through the comment forms available on every post.

5.Types - Blogs are usually made up of text based posts, but can also be vlogs (video blogs), podcasts (audio blogs) or even made up of pictures. Some blogs use a combination of various types of media.

6.Subscriptions - Another feature of blogs that make them different from websites is that a reader can subscribe to receive blog posts automatically through email or through what is called a 'feed reader'.

Blogs not only have posts where people can comment and interact, but you can also set up what would more commonly be known as 'pages' on a regular website. A page usually looks more like a regular website page and most often doesn't allow comments (thought it is possible).

As mentioned in number four above, one of the biggest features of a blog is the ability for the visitors and publisher to interact. The reader will leave their comment on the site, public for everyone to see and a conversation can happen not only with the publisher but also with other readers.

That's the basics of what a blog is and what it does. Every blog runs on a piece of software that allows you to log in and create your posts. Some programs are easier to use than others and some programs are more popular than others.

Blogs also have many additional features such as a search form, easy categorization of different topics, automatically created post history archived and the ability to schedule posts into the future automatically.