Weblog

A blog, short for weblog, is a frequently updated web page used for personal commentary or business content. Blogs are often interactive and include sections at the bottom of individual blog posts where readers can leave comments.

Most are written in a conversational style to reflect the voice and personal views of the blogger. Some businesses use blogs to connect with target audiences and sell products.

Blogs were originally called weblogs, which were websites that consisted of a series of entries arranged in reverse chronological order, so the newest posts appeared at the top. They were frequently updated with new information about various topics.

It is estimated that in 2020 there were around 500 million blogs worldwide, accounting for more than two trillion posts per year! Bloggers therefore really do form a world of their own. While all these different blogs and bloggers of course have their personality, they are collectively referred to as the blogosphere.

As well as personal blogs, the blogosphere now includes B2C blogs (Business-to-Customer) and B2B blogs (Business-to-Business). By promoting themselves on social media and using blog content as part of their marketing strategy, many companies find they can significantly extend their reach and boost customer retention.

Blogs that have a niche topic and target audience are most likely to attract a large community and loyal audience. Bloggers who create valuable, original content can either become part of an existing community or create their own community.

A personal blog usually results from a passion for a special interest. It may initially begin as a hobby, but many bloggers eventually end up putting a lot of time and energy into their projects. This effort can pay off if you market your content in a professional way and make money by blogging. Once the most important requirements are met, a world of possibilities opens up.

Lots of people think blogs are just a kind of online diary, but that’s underestimating the reach and impact of professionally managed blogs. Bloggers of all kinds – solo entrepreneurs, companies, artists, lifestyle influencers – have become an integral part of social media and online marketing. If you want to establish new online customer bases and build customer loyalty, starting a blog is a great idea.

Blogs: Definition and history
Blogs are online journals where content on specific or general topics is published for a community of readers at regular intervals. Most blogs are run by one person – the blogger – and are hosted on a website or blogging platform. Other blogs are managed by a team of authors, and posts are written by different bloggers each time.

The word blog comes from the earlier term “weblog”, which Peter Merholz jokingly shortened to “we blog”. Like so much in the universe of the World Wide Web, weblogs originated at the CERN nuclear research facility in Geneva. Although blogs, or weblogs, were not common at the time, on August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and the HTTP protocol, started the first website and connected users all around the world using the first web clients and servers. He, therefore, laid the foundations for bloggers.

Thanks to sites on the World Wide Web, internet resources, new scientific publications, and links could be easily published, shared, and linked together for the first time. As to who created the first ever blog, that’s as difficult a question to answer as “Who wrote the first diary?”

It is generally believed that the first private online journals emerged in the mid-1990s. The forefather of blogging is held to be Justin Hall, who shared information about the growing digital world and personal anecdotes from his everyday life in an online diary called “Justin’s Links from the Underground”.