Why blog?
By Susan Braunstein

“Blogging has become a social phenomenon, taking website publishing to a new level and allowing anyone to become an instant online publisher. Anyone can be the star of his or her blog and build an online community”
--Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of “The Everything Blogging Book.”

For the uninitiated, the term blog is a contraction of “web log.”  One definition offered by Biz Stone in his book, “Who Let the Blogs Out,” is “… a collation of digital content that when examined over a period of time exposes the intellectual soul of its author or authors.”

In Risdahl’s book mentioned above, the author states that blogging embodies the best aspects of the Web: communication, community and connection. She believes even a person with no web programming skills can set up a blog and be blogging in minutes. I’d agree it was very easy to set up a free account on blogger.com, one of several free websites available to create your own blog, as well as wordpress.com, livejournal.com, and typepad.com.

There are three basic components of a blog: chronology, frequency and focus. In a blog, every entry (called a “post”) is stamped with the date and time of its publication. Blogging is the act of creating a blog; a blogger is a person who maintains a blog. Bloggers create entries which they post to their blog. Blogrolling is the act of moving from one blog to another.

There are several types of blogs. They can be created to publish your opinions, improve communication with family, co-workers, the public or other businesses, to build a community around an issue such as politics or environmental concerns, to increase visibility for yourself, your company or your product, to share personal experiences or knowledge in order to help others, or to make money. 

Blogging really took off in the 1990s and two of the pioneers, Dave Winer’s scripting.com, which started in 1997, and Justin Hall, who created links.net in 1994, are still going strong.

Why are blogs popular? Part of the reason is the same desire to keep a private journal filled with one’s innermost thoughts and dreams. This time the forum isn’t a small pink book with a little tiny lock. It’s a webpage for the world to see, and you can decide who you want to be able to view or contribute to your blog.

If you decide to create a blog, there are several practices to keep in mind, according to author Biz Stone. He states that blog posts are usually just a few lines or one paragraph. The focus of the blog is the personality and passion of the blogger, and if you want people to visit your blog it’s important to find your own voice. He recommends that you think about who you want in your audience. Is it your co-workers, family, friends, the universe as a whole? Once you start a blog, keep adding to it or people will lose interest.

Some of the more well-known blogs include: Jason Kottke’s blog, www.kottke.org;  Kevin the homeless guy, www.thehomelessguy.blogspot.com;  www.megnut.com; and www.boingboing.net.

Trying to influence the opinion of others is a big focus of blogs. Examples of this include Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo at www.talkingpointsmemo.com; Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, www.andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com; Steve Sibson’s www.sibbyonline.blogs.com; or www.townhall.com. For a local angle, you can try www.dakotavoices.blogspot.com, www.southdakotapolitics.blogs.com, or the Rapid City Journal’s Mount Blogmore, at www.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog.  

If you are interested in a certain subject and wonder if there is a blog about it, you can choose a search engine like www.blogsearch.google.com and type in the topic; there are many types of blogs geared towards specific interests such as health, business, genealogy, travel, art, and news. 

Other books on blogging in the library include “Extraordinary Blogs and Ezines,” by Lynn Rominger; “Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies,” by Susannah Gardner; and “Secrets of Videoblogging,” by Michael Verdi. We also have a book on CD, “Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World,” by Hugh Hewitt.

If you haven’t created or posted on a blog yet, why not give it a try? It can be fun to explore a new Internet frontier.  If you’re still unsure, there will be a free class, “Blogging for Beginners,” at the Library on Saturday, March 24 at 10:00 a.m. If you are interested, register by calling 394-6139 ext. 501 or go to www.rapidcitylibrary.org. The Rapid City Public Library will also share its own blog later this spring when a “What We’re Reading” blog will appear on the library’s website, where staff will post reviews of items you can find in the Library.