Journalism 1189 Blog #1

Now, just a bit about blogs. The term blog comes from “web log.” At its essence, a blog is an online journal, or log. A blog may be maintained by professional journalists, citizen journalists or ordinary people who have something they’d like to share. Ideally, the writer updates the blog frequently. Blog entries tend to be informal and conversational. The quality of thought and research going into the writing varies widely from blog to blog. There are well-written blogs representing the entire political spectrum; the opposite is also true.

Often readers respond to the writer’s blog entry through a comments section. The interaction allows readers to feel a part of the blog, and allows the writer to gain information and ideas from the readers, which can help create a conversational, interactive feel to the blog. A skillful blogger can create a sense of ownership and community for the readers through the effective use of comments.

Blogs often go beyond merely displaying text. Graphics and video enrich the readers’ experience. Links to other information such as relevant news stories and other writers’ blogs are common.

Compared to setting up and maintaining a web site, blogging is an easy and inexpensive way to share thoughts, opinions and media via the Internet. That’s one of my favorite things about blogging. It’s just so quick and easy to visit the blog site and add an entry, along with photos.

Though easy technically, blogging has its challenges. The major challenge I see is finding topics of general interest I might have some knowledge about, so I’ll know where to begin. I’ll struggle with writing style also. I’m more experienced in “technical” writing, where using passive voice, big words and long sentences is desired. It’s a bad habit I’ll need to break.

Writing for blogs is a helpful skill for anyone who wants to communicate effectively online --- I’m looking forward to learning more.