What is a blog?
This isn’t as easy a question to answer as it used to be. When the early pioneers of blogging sat down and recorded their first posts in the 90’s I wonder if they had any idea how the concept will evolve and reshape itself to become what it is today.
What Is A Blog? Watch For My Thoughts:
A blog used to be something resembling an online diary, a place where people would keep a record of their daily lives. The term itself is a shortening of ‘weblog’.
But things have changed. The word ‘blog’ has morphed and depending who you are talking to it means a lot of things or very little.
As someone who blogs I feel a definition is needed. If what I am doing right now is no longer defined specifically as a blog what is it?
Many blogs are still online diaries, others are related to specific topics. Mine, it’s a part of my business. It’s a marketing tool. It’s more like a magazine about digital marketing than a diary.
A couple of years ago I tried to re-define what a blog was. I wanted to be able to explain it to my students better. The definition I came up with was:
‘It’s a website or part of a website that is updated with new pages on a regular basis. And allows commenting.’
It seemed like a good explanation to me at the time and it’s one I’ve continued to use right up until this year. Now I’m not so sure.
Does a blog have to be a website, can it be rented space on someone else’s site?
When I started blogging there were few options. I was only aware of three blogging platforms:
Blogger – Back then it wasn’t owned by Google
WordPress – I had no idea about the two types of WordPress
Typepad – A paid service that only hardcore bloggers used
Now there are many more. We have sites like Tumblr and Medium that merge social networking and blogging. LinkedIn and Facebook both have built in blogging options. Video blogging (Vlogging) has become more accessible as digital video cameras have become prevalent.
Many of these don’t fit my definition.
In the last few weeks I’ve seen bloggers classified as:
1. People who are active online on channels like Snapchat or Instagram
2. Only people who write on their own websites, LinkedIn and Medium posts were discounted
As you can see opinion seems to be widely varied.
So what is a blog? What do I think a blog is? Is it video, can it be audio? Is an Instagram account a blog? Is it only a blog when there are large swathes of text attached? What about a photo blog? Can that work without text?
Doesn’t an Instagram or Snapchat account that shares snippets of the users life fulfil the original meaning of the word better than my business blog ever will?
I don’t have the answer, what are your thoughts? What constitutes a blog and how would you define it. I’d like to hear what you think.
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Tricky one! I guess if you go by the original definition of weblog, then a blog would only constitute written posts of a personal nature on the interwebs. But as you mentioned, we didn’t have the variety of tools available to us now, like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc.
My opinion? You could split blogs into two categories. Personal blogs and business blogs.
I think, as we now have more apps and tools available to us, a personal blog could be on any platform, so long as the content is of a personal nature. “This recipe reminds me of…” “I did this crafty thing with my kids at the weekend…” “I remember when my dad would put this LP on and start singing…”
I think business blogs are still technically weblogs, although not personal in the same sense. It would be current updates about what’s happening in the company, the obvious would be promotions and specials, but something that’s also now available to the masses is information about a company’s charity work or something which is a little more “personal”, albeit to the company. Even giving helpful information, like you do, is a personal thing for a company as I don’t think that would have been too common on regular business websites before blogs came to be, and it adds a person or a voice to what could be a faceless organisation.
Maybe a new term is needed for business blogs… B-blog? Bizblog? And when I say business blogs, I would include personal bloggers who are now doing blogs of a business nature ie. product reviews, sponsored posts etc.
I guess, you’d then have hybrid blogs for individuals who started as personal bloggers, but then have made their way to business blogging, but still do personal posts as well. Oh dear. Now I’m complicating things!
But, do you think I’m on to something? Probably not, but there’s my 2c!
It’s so complicated when you start thinking about it. When I set this question for myself I didn’t imagine it being such a hard one to answer. I’ve always blogged for business, my personal blogs get neglected.
I do try and add personality into my posts but so do journalists and people who write in magazines, I’m not sure that defines what I do. Maybe we should be using Darren Rowse’s term ‘Pro-blogger’ to define those who make money from it.
But then what about the online diaries that live on Instagram and Snapchat, how do we define those people, I don’t think it can be platform specific e.g. Instagrammers or snapchatters. I’m also beginning to hate the term social media. Perhaps the term ‘journal’ is a better way to describe all the online activity we see now?
The issue re the credibility of bloggers is an interesting one. Some see bloggers as dangerous and capable of leading others astray, others see them as writing any kind of tosh in response to getting something for free. However, some see them as serious writers too, worthy of credibility. I’ve noticed recently that when I’ve been introduced (happened a couple of times on TV), that I’ve been introduced as a farmer, blogger and author and the ‘blogger’ term seems to carry as much weight and respect as the other two.
I was at a literary festival recently and during conversation with someone at lunchtime, I was a little taken aback when she said she didn’t like writers being called authors as so many of us write. Sometimes I wonder if we get a tad too much hung up on it all.
Personally I see a blog as a person’s own work, be they photos on their own blog, written text, audio or video but it should be on their own blogging platform or guesting on someone else’s platform (unless video and then on a Youtube channel). I wouldn’t consider notes on a facebook page or snapchat updates to be a blog.
That’s interesting Lorna. A man on the train asked me if I was blogging the other day and I bristled. I was worried what he was going to ask next! Maybe we shouldn’t be so ashamed of the idea.
Certainly food for thought this. I’m relatively ne to blogging in the grand scheme of things I suppose. I’m at it just over two years and tend to simply do what I like with my site content wise. If I want to write about restaurant reviews for example or spread into travel etc. I treat it like a home base for all my hobbies in one place and a creative outlet at the same time. I don’t tend to think of it as a business because I don’t earn any money from it. I’ve never had a paid (money) for post on it and I’ve turned down lots of offers to have advertising on the site. I have a full time job and don’t think I’d ever move to blogging full time because I really enjoy having something outside of my work life as such to embrace.
I do see a difference in some respects between a personal blog and a business blog but it depends how the business blog is done. Some businesses I only seem them using it as promoting their own brand and it can feel more push push push than generate discussion or share tips etc.
Since I’ve been blogging the whole argument about credibility has come up time and time again. Blogger is seen as a dirty word by many and only last night someone said to me ‘sure you bloggers get everything, weren’t you away the other night’ to which I politely replied, yes I was, and I paid for it, and they were surprised by this. I don’t rely on blogging for income and I always mark a post clearly where I was a guest, usually with a star just above the paragraph or in the first line and I see nothing wrong with sharing an experience you enjoyed regardless of whether you were a guest or not. Anyone who blogs knows the time it takes to put a piece together and no way in hell I’m wasting my time, outside my usual work day to create content that is meaningless.
I see a lot of people very concerned about what others are doing and spending so much time commenting on what others should or shouldn’t be doing. I prefer to do what I feel is right for the content I create, safe in the knowledge my opinions, thoughts and feelings are all my own and not influenced. If a brand approached me and wanted me to work with them as an ambassador for example, sure I’d be open to it as long as it fit what I write about and the terms are clear on both sides. Again I see nothing wrong with pursuing opportunities which may come my way, if I have the time.
The whole snapchatter/influencer vs bloggers (content creators) again involves a small amount of people in my opinion and there are arguments for and against. I see snapchat as a complimentary platform to any content I create on my site. I follow mainly food bloggers and love how they use it to engage people in recipe creation. I have less enthusiastic about people on snap chat who literally walk around their house picking up every product under the sun and talking about how amazing they are.
I suspect their will be a shift in the blogger/snapchatter/influencer sphere in the near future. I say good luck to anyone who makes a credible living out of the work they do, and I don’t think anyone should be slagging them for doing so. If the work is honest, credible and trustworthy then thumsb up. If it’s sponsored, simply say it and let people choose to engage with it or not.
That’s just my thoughts at the moment ! great food for thought Amanda
Great comment Rory! I agree there seems to be a lot of in-fighing, particularly in the non-business blogging community. Blogging should be fun.
“Some businesses I only seem them using it as promoting their own brand and it can feel more push push push than generate discussion or share tips etc.” I couldn’t agree more, I think a lot of businesses are told they should blog but don’t really know where to go with that so they just promote. The same happens on other social media channels. I’m on a bit of a mission to change that.
You will see a lot more about my business and what I do on my social accounts than my blog but that’s a deliberate strategy, in some ways my other channels are more blog like than this place.