1 Introduction
We use blogs all the time - to share our thoughts, to learn other people or simply to find solution on the problem we are googling around. And this isonly a tip of the iceberg as nowadays web logs are used in nearly everypossible area, for instance, politicians use blogs to promote themselves (see http://blogi-politykow.com/) and companies post "news" in the form of a blog (example: http://www.gnvpartners.com/web/category/blog/).
2 History
Digital communications was there long before first blog pop out. This part is boring and I'm sure most of us know what email or web forum is. But why blog? Well, Jorn Barger coined the term weblog and shortly after Peter Merholz used phrase we blog for the first time back in 1997. It needed only a couple of months for other users to start blogging with other bloggers on blogs.
3 Social impact
Today everyone know what a blog is, many people maintain their own web log. Some of them treat this much too seriously [1] in my opinion.
On the other hand nowadays it is important to publish thoughts in proper form. What does it mean? First impression is very important so one's blog have to be nice looking - of course substantive value of the post is important too but most people browsing web need to make quick decisions on which content they would consume. One of the ways it is done is judging a book by its cover. It may not be fair but that's how reality looks like.
Even if you didn't want to read one's blog at the time you started searching for something it is quite possible that you would end up digging one or maybe even more blogs. It's simple - you wanted to read about some topic, you found someone who you share interests with, so you want to know more about him/her. By participating in blog's discussions you may find even more such people within posts' comments. So you jump to another blog. And another. It is called blogosphere - a net of blogs connected somehow. In fact, blogospheres create one of the largest community on the web [2]. In Poland we have about 2,800,000 blogs but only about 300,000 are active [3].
For many people blogs are very important which shouldn't be so surprising as, in fact, web log is kind of a diary with personal thoughts. Community has even established some ranking sites [4]. Additionally, many tools for easier searching through blogs content were made [5].
4 Own experience
For over two years I've been working as a programmer and I was thinking about starting a blog for a couple of times. Why? Mainly in order to have access to history of ideas, workarounds and solutions for problems I had faced. Eventually, one of my friends started a blog (which is available at www.python-blog.com [6]) and grant me access to it. I still do not have enough time to write there as much as I would like, but I try my best. Oh, and I had written a blog engine for company I'm working for [7].
Occasionally I store feeds [8] to blogs I'm interested in. I'm also using Django's aggregator which provides quick access to entries from it's community blogs.
5 Questions
And how about you? Do you have your very own blog? Do you visit some blogs on a daily basis? Or maybe you are just ocasionally reading blog's entries if google redirects you into one?
| [1] | Take a look at this. You can find there many tips how to make your blogging experience better. And more time consuming. There is even a book about it and you may get one on amazon. |
|---|---|
| [2] | You may read more about the blogosphere and get some statistics about it here. It is slightly outdated piece of information, though. |
| [3] | Source: wikipedia |
| [4] | One of blog-awards site. |
| [5] | For instance google offers http://blogsearch.google.com/ and there is a global blog search engine available at http://www.blog-search.com/ |
| [6] | http://www.python-blog.com was established in 2009 by Marcin Kuzminski |
| [7] | It will be available soon within company site |
| [8] | RSS/Atom feeds are alternative ways to track whats new on a website. |
Personally I'm rather introvertic person so I don't blog or have profile on Facebook\Twitter\Nasza-Klasa etc, for me blogs are usually simply another source of information.
ReplyDeleteHowever subject of blogs is quite interesting, many times I encounter blog post while doing search for some programming stuff. Often they are written by employees of company which have designed the framework which is in my opinion is quite good way to educate developers. There are also blogs of freelancers and employees of 3rd party companies although I prefer to rely on verified solutions :).
I had my blog when I was in high school, but it was some kind of diary. And, like all diaries in my life, I forgot about it very soon ;)
ReplyDeleteOne year ago me and my friends created a blog about cultural events, but now none of us have time for updating it :(
I read blogs ocassionally.
Unfortunately I don't have enough time to read as many things, as I would like to, on the internet. There are plenty of great blogs, but the biggest problem is how to find them. Probably, the only time I visit them is when I am redirected there from some social portals (links to my friends etc.) or from site like wykop.pl where you can find the most interesting things from the internet.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to have my own blog, but every time I try to start one, I realize that I have nothing to write about. Moreover, no one would probably read it, except from my friends.
When I was young I had an idea to start a blog. My plans ended after week when I realized that there is no point in writing a blog. What is more what could I wright? That I have eaten a pizza or washed my teeth. Maybe now when I have become an IT Professional it would make some sense to post some tutorials, but still why should I share with my knowledge and experience in exchange for nothing? For me blogs are old idea that still leaves only because of young PC users that can share with their stupidity on the web or simply want to have the own place in the internet and do not know how to design the own web page. As we can see on our blog right here it is not really popular. Few of us who want to get a good mark compel themselves to wright a few senseless words about a subject that is for them not very interesting and I bet they didn’t even read to the end the authors post. Some others find blogging so time consuming and misaimed idea to even visit us. In the other hand I have seen many blogs that I really liked but for me those creations were more like simple webpage with Content Management System.
ReplyDeleteI think there is always something interesting to write about in a blog. The key issue here is that you'd have to find something your good at ,or enthusiastic and share your ideas or thoughts to other people.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are just an another way of passing on information. Of course they may be used to store ideas or experience through some period of time.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's mostly an another way to make my life "easier" by letting me sit in my chair, allowing me to travel not further than to the bathroom...
I really prefer going out with my friends, even after a year of not seeing each other, have a beer and talk about what happened in each others lives, than read about their achievements, crushes or problems on a blog =)
To Krzysztof: "but still why should I share with my knowledge and experience in exchange for nothing" - is it really what you think? So tell me, how did you become an IT Professional in the first place? In my view it is just exact time when you should start to share your knowledge with others :P Of course, you most probably do not need own blog to do so...
ReplyDeleteI heard a song about twitter on radio. And that song performed by some rapper was really bad, but it got me thinking how strong are facebook and twitter positions on the IT market. Already we have 5 clones(Moblo (Pino),
ReplyDeleteFlaker (Netguru)
Pinger (o2)
Spinacz (Fotka)
Blip (Gadu Gadu)
Śledzik (Nasza-Klasa)
) of twitter in Poland, and they doing quite well. Poland recently was in top 10 of newly crated facebook accounts (300K per week). I think those two companies will mess on the market during next few years.