A blog or weblog (derived from web= + log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (norma= lly, but not always, in reverse chronological order). Although most early blogs = were manually updated, tools to automate the maintenance of such sites made them accessible to a much larger population, and the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of "blogging".

Blogs range in scope from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns, media programs, and corporations. They range in scale from the writings of one occasional author (known as a blogger), to the collaboration of a la= rge community of writers. Many weblogs enable visitors to leave public comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered around the blog; others a= re non-interactive. The totality of weblogs or blog-related websites is often called the blogosphere. When a= large amount of activity, information and opinion erupts around a particular subj= ect or controversy in the blogosphere, it is sometimes called a blogstorm or blog swarm.

The format of weblogs varies, from simple bullet lists of hyperlinks, to article summaries or complete articles with user-provided comments and ratings. Individual weblog entries are almost always date and time-stamped (but this= is not a pre-requisite for being a blog), with the newest post at the top (or bottom) of the page, and reader comments often appearing below it. Because incoming links to specific entries are important to many weblogs, most have= a way of archiving older entries and generating a static address for them; th= is static link is referred to as a pe= rmalink. The latest headlines, with hyperlinks and summaries, are frequently offered= in weblogs in the RSS or Atom XML format, to be read with a feed reader.

The tools for editing, organizing, and publishing weblogs are variously referre= d to as "content management system= s", "publishing platforms&quo= t;, "weblog software", a= nd simply "blogware".

About Blogs (Technorati)

   &nbs= p;        http://www.technorati.com

A weblog,= or blog, is a personal journal on th= e web. Weblogs express as many different subjects and opinions as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have enormous readership while others are primarily intended for a close circle of family and friend= s.

The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of pe= ople to easily publish their ideas, and millions more to comment on them. Blogs = are a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a 'conversation' than to a library — which is how the Web has often been described in the past. With an increasing number of people reading, writing, and commenting on blogs, the = way we use the Web is shifting in a fundamental way. Instead of being passive consumers of information, more and more Internet users are becoming active participants. Weblogs let everyone have a voice.

According to Technorati data, there are about 70,000 new blogs a day. Bloggers = update their weblogs regularly; there are about 700,000 posts daily, or about 29,100 b= log updates an hour.

(As of Q= 4 2005: There are about 275,000 posts daily, or about 10,800 blog updates an hour.)=

Blog Primer - John C. Dvorak (PC Mag)

        &= nbsp;   Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers)

   &nbs= p;        http://ww.dvorak= .org/blog/primer/blogprimer1.htm

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen)

   &nbs= p;        Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, October 17, 2005

   &nbs= p;        http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.htm= l

Weblogs are a form of website.

One of a weblog's great benefits is that it essentiall= y frees you from "Web design."= ; You write a paragraph, click a button, and it's posted on the Internet. No = need for visual design, page design, interaction design, information architectur= e, or any programming or server maintenance.

Weblogs make having a simple website much easier, and = as a result, the number of people who write for the Web has exploded. This is a striking confirmation of the importance of ease of use.

Weblogs' second benefit is that they're a Web-native content genre: they re= ly on links, and short postings prevail. You don't have to write a full article or conduct original research or reporting. You can simply find something interesting on another site and link to it, possibly with commentary or additional examples. Obviously, this is much easier than running a conventi= onal site, and again indicates the benefits of lowering the barriers to computer use.

As a third benefit, weblogs are part of an ecosystem (sometimes annoyingly referred to as the Blogosphere). This means that wha= tever good postings exist are promoted through links from other sites. More reader/writers see this good stuff, and the very best then get linked to ev= en more. As a result, link frequency follows a Zipf distribution, with disproportionally more links to the best postings.

Some weblogs are really just private diaries intended = only for a handful of family members and close friends. Usability guidelines generally don't apply to such sites, because the readers' prior knowledge a= nd motivation are incomparably greater than those of third-party users. When y= ou want to reach new readers who aren't your mother, however, usability becomes important.

Also, while readers of your intranet weblog might know= you, usability is important because your readers are on company time.

Blogosphere -- Directories and Searching<= /h2>

<= ![endif]>        CNET News.com - Blog 100 list

            More than 14 million blogs in exist= ence; 80,000 created each day (10/05)
            http://news.com.com/2310-1= 0784_3-0.html

    Technorati - Popular &a= mp; Search

            Most popular weblogs / Search, tracking

            Tracking 31.4 million sites, 2.2 billion links (10/05 - 18.9 M sites, 1.5 B links)

            ** http://www.technorati.com

<= ![endif]>      Blogdex - Information spread

            Research project of the MIT Media Laboratory

            Tracking the diffusion of information through the weblog community

            http://blogdex.net

<= ![endif]>       Google - Blog Search

      = ;      ** http://blogsearch.google.com<= /p>

<= ![endif]> Yahoo Search - including blogs

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Yahoo! News Search has blogs; Creative Commons licensed content

            http://search.yahoo.com

DAYPOP        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;       Daypop - Current events search engine

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Indexes over 59,000 news sites and web= logs every day; rankings, the living web

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       http://www.daypop.com

<= ![endif]><= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>    IceRocket - Blog Search

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Link tracker, tends, topics

      = ;      http://www.icerocket.com

Social Networking Sites

Social Networking Websites (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        - MySpace: 41 million subscriber= s

   &nbs= p;        - LiveJournal: 8.5M accounts, 2.= 5M active, 24K posts / hr., 400 / min.

   &nbs= p;        ht= tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

        &= nbsp;         MySpace - Social networks and music

            Online community that lets you meet your friends' friends. Free.

            Share photos, journals and interests -- music and videos

            More than 41 million subscribers, 1= 50,000 new subscribers daily

           &nbs= p;            more than 90 percent between age 14 and 30 -- 10's K groups

            ** http://www.myspace.com

<= ![endif]> LiveJournal - Blogging and communit= y

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Simple-to-use communication tool that lets you express yourself
       &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   and connect with friends online. Free.

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Use as a private journal, a blog, a social network and more.

            9.8 million accounts, 1.9M active= , 21K posts / hour, 350 / min.

            (10/05 - 8.5M accounts, 2.5M active, 24K posts / hour, 400 / min.)

            http://www.livejournal.com

            ** Stats - http://www.livejournal.com/st= ats.bml

      = ;      ** Posts - http= ://www.livejournal.com/stats/latest.bml

<= ![endif]>     Friendster - Frie= nd networks

            Stay in touch with your friends, discover people & things that matter to you most

            24+ million profiles, photos, and= blogs

            http://www.friendster.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p; Facebook - Colleges and high schools

            Online directory that connects people through social networks at schools

            Valid e-mail address from 2,000+ universities, 25K+ US high schools

            (12/05 - 6 million US college accounts, 20K new accounts daily)

            TechCrunch: 85% of students in supported colleges have a profile

           &nbs= p;            60% log in daily, 85% at least once a week, 93% at least once a month

            http://www.facebook.com

<= ![endif]>         = Xanga - Blogs and communities

            Community of online diaries and journals; 45 million users

            http://www.xanga.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;      del.icio.us - Social bookmarks (Yahoo)
            Keep, share, and discover favorite collections: websites, music, books, and more<= /p>
      &nb= sp;     http://del.icio.us

<= ![endif]> &nb= sp;      LinkedIn - Business contact networks

            Find jobs, people and service providers through network of business relationship= s

            5.2 million users; 1.8 M in Europ= e, 1/2 M in Asia

            https://www.linkedin.com

Blog Creation Tools

Wikipedia - Weblog software

      =       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog_softw= are

<= o:p>

<= ![endif]>&n= bsp;            = ;          Blogger / Blogspot (Google)

      &nb= sp;     ** http://www.blogger.com

A blog is your easy-to-use = web site, where you can quickly post thoughts,
interact with people, and more. All for FREE. -- Explore

<= ![endif]> blosxom :: the zen of blogging Blosxom

            http://www.blosxom.com

Blosxom (pronounced "blossom") is a lightweight yet feature-packed weblog application designed from the ground up with simplicity, usability, and interoperabilit= y in mind

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;     WordPress - Publishing

            http://wordpress.org

WordPress is a state-of-the= -art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. Free; Elegant, well-architectured personal publis= hing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL.

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;       Movable Type - Six Apart

            http://www.sixapart.com/movabl= etype

Premier weblog publishing p= latform for businesses, organizations, developers, and web designers. Powerful customization and elegant interface.

Content Syndication Feeds - RSS

   &nbs= p;        --

RSS is ... Just a news reader for Web subscriptions ...

but also:

   &nbs= p;        - Content syndication feeds

   &nbs= p;        - Use news aggregator client to view recent posts over all sites

   &nbs= p;        - Wide acceptance: Personal and mainstream sites

   &nbs= p;        - Standards for syndicated feeds using XML: RSS, Atom

- Feedster: 27 million syndicated feeds

About Web Syndication (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.o= rg/wiki/Web_Syndication

Web syndication is a = form of syndication in which a section of a website is made available for other sit= es to use. This could be simply by licensing the content so other people can u= se it, but more commonly these days web syndication refers to making Web feeds available from a site so other people can display an updating list of content from it (for example o= ne's latest forum postings, etc.). This originated with news and blog sites but = is increasingly used to syndicate any information.

Although the format could be HTML or JavaScript, it is more commonly XML.

Considerable discussion about the right format has led to RSS, which has several parallel versions; more recent attempts produced the new Atom web syndication format / protocol.

On web pages, RSS feeds are typically linked to with an orange rectangle with the letters XML () or RSS ().

About News Aggregators (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.o= rg/wiki/News_aggregator

An news aggre= gator, or simply aggregator, is a type of software that retrieves syndicated= Web content that is supplied in the form of a web feed (RSS, Atom and other XML formats), and that are published by weblogs, podcasts,= vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites

Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites of interest f= or updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper.&q= uot; An aggregator is able to subscribe to a feed, check for new content at user-determined intervals, and retrieve the content.

The content is sometimes described as being "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" with email or IM. Un= like recipients of some "pushed" information, the aggregator user can easily unsubscribe from a feed.

Aggregator features are gradually being built into portal sites such as My Yahoo! and Google, Web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, e-mail programs like Microsoft Outlook, and other applications, including Apple's iT= unes, which serves as a podcast aggregator.

The aggregator provides a consolidated= view of the content in a single browser display or desktop application. Such applications are also referred to as RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators or news readers, although in Internet communication, the latter term was first used for programs that read Usenet newsgroups.

A website may incorporate aggregator features by republishing syndicated content on one or more of its pages. Aggregator features also may be incorporated in other client software, including Web browsers, e-mail clients, weblog creation programs, or media player programs. Devices such as mobile phones or Tivo video recorders (alr= eady aggregating television programs) may incorporate XML aggregators.

The syndicated content an aggregator will retrieve and interpret is usually supplied in the form of RSS or= other XML-based data, such as RDF or Atom formats.

Content syndication markup languages (Wikipedia) -- RSS and Atom

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_syndication_markup_lan= guages

RSS - Really Simple Syndication (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikip= edia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29

RSS is a = family of web feed formats, specified= in XML and used for Web syndication.= RSS is used by (among other things) news websites, weblogs and podcasting. The abbreviation is variously used to refer to the following standards:

   &nbs= p;        Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)

   &nbs= p;        RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)

   &nbs= p;        Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

Web feeds provide web content or summaries of web cont= ent together with links to the full versions of the content, and other metadata= .

The technology behind RSS allows internet users to sub= scribe to websites that have provided RSS feeds; these are typically sites that ch= ange or add content regularly. To use this technology, users are required to download an aggregation service, which presents new articles in a list, giving a line or two of each article= and a link to the full article or post. Unlike subscriptions to pulp-based newspapers and magazines, RSS subscriptions are free.

The RSS formats provide web content or summaries of web content together with links to the full versions of the content, and other meta-data. This information is delivered as an XML file called RSS fe= ed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS cha= nnel. In addition to facilitating syndication, RSS allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator.

Atom (Wikipedia)

        &= nbsp;   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_%28standar= d%29

&n= bsp;

Atom is= an XML-based document format for the syndication of web content such as weblogs and news headlines, and an HTTP-based protocol for editing weblogs based on the format.

&n= bsp;

Media RSS (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.org/wik= i/Media_RSS

Media RSS (MRSS) is a R= SS module used for syndicating multim= edia files (audio, video, image) in RSS feeds. It was designed by Yahoo! and= the Media RSS community, and adds several enhancements to RSS Enclosures.<= /o:p>

Media RSS is used by content publishers to feed media files into Yahoo! Video Search, which is a feature of Yahoo! Search that allows to search for video files.

Recently, this format has been getting increased attention, due to the development of= Podcasting, which uses the Media = RSS format as a means of delivering audio content to popular MP3-playing device= s.

OPML - Outline Processor Markup Language (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPM= L

OPML is an XML format for outlines, used to exchange lists of RSS feeds between RSS aggregators. The OPML specification defi= nes an outline as a hierarchical, ordered list of arbitrary elements. The specification is fairly open, and suitable for many types of list data.

XML - eXtensible Markup Language (Wikipedia)

   &nbs= p;        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xml<= /a>

XML is a W3C-recommended = general-purpose markup language for creating special-purpose markup languages, capable of describing many different kinds of data. It is a simplified subset of Stand= ard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of data across different systems, particularly systems connected via the Internet. Languages based on XML are defined in a formal way, allowing programs to modify and validate documents in these languages without prior knowledge of their form. Feeds are written in XML.

News Feeds - Directories and Searching; Aggre= gators / Readers

NewsGator: Today there are = millions of news, information, blog and other content feeds published in RSS, with a= bout 1 million feeds being added every month

        &= nbsp; Feedster - RSS Search

            Search links, feeds, and blogs -- for listings, news, and blogs

            27.4 million feeds indexed and fu= lly searchable

            (10/05 - Over 15 million syndicated feeds, 75,000 professionally published)

            http://www.feedster.com

   Bloglines - Search & Crea= te News Feeds

            Search, subscribe, create and share news feeds; Free service

            Blog and news feed search, online subscriptions, news reader,
       &= nbsp;    blog publishing and social sharing tools

            http://www.bloglines.com

tech.memeorandum

            Aggregated reports and opinions on technology / Politics & Tech -- Feeds

            ** http://tech.memeorandum.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;      My Yahoo

            Subscribe to RSS content

            http://my.yahoo.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp; Mozilla - Firefox Browser

            With integrated RSS

            http://www.mozilla.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p; Opera - Web Browser

            RSS/Atom newsfeed reader

            http://www.opera.com

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;           Ne= wsGator / NetNewsWire (OS X)

            Read all of your favorite news, websites, blogs, and podcasts all in one place.<= /p>
            Free online version

            http://www.newsgator.com

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       FeedDemon - RSS Feed Reader for Windows

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       NewsGator Inbox - RSS Feed Reader for Microsoft Outlook

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       NetNewsWire - RSS on Mac desktop

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       MarsEdit - Weblog editor for Mac OS X

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;        Pluck - Browser-based RSS reader

            Browser-based RSS reader - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Web

            Publisher tools for syndication, social network, social solutions

            http://www.pluck.com

<= ![endif]>    Feedreader - OSS aggreg= ator

            Lightweight open-source aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM - Windows

            http://www.feedreader.com

&n= bsp;

<= ![endif]> <= /span>SharpReader - Aggregator

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Simple RSS/Atom Aggregator for Windows

   &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       http://www.sharpreader.com

News Feed Creation Tools

<= ![endif]>        &= nbsp;      NotePage - FeedForAll

            Feed creation tool - Windows / Mac - easy to&nb= sp; use

            Create & edit RSS feeds & podcasts; manage & publish RSS feeds

            http://www.feedforall.com

&n= bsp;

<= ![endif]>&= nbsp; &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;     Software Garden - ListGarden

      &nb= sp;     RSS Feed Generator Program; Open source - Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

            Tool for manually creating and maintaining RSS feeds

            http://softwaregarden.com/products/listg= arden

Blogging

A Blog is ... Just a chronological journal on the Web ...

Blog Structure

Entries

Collateral &nbs= p; General: About, Author(s) &nbs= p; Archives: Recent headlines, monthly archives, calendar &nbs= p; Search: Tags (Technorati) / categories &nbs= p; Blogroll: Other blogs &nbs= p; Powered by: Blog engine &nbs= p; Ads: Google Adsense, Yahoo ...

Issues

Examples: Blobs / Weblogs

Selected Blogs / Weblogs (Wikipedia)

About Blogs (Wikipedia)

About Blogs (Technorati)

Blog Primer - John C. Dvorak (PC Mag)

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen)

Blogosphere -- Directories and Searching<= /h2>

<= ![endif]> CNET News.com - Blog 100 list

Technorati - Popular &a= mp; Search

<= ![endif]> Blogdex - Information spread

<= ![endif]> Google - Blog Search

<= ![endif]> Yahoo Search - including blogs

DAYPOP &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Daypop - Current events search engine

<= ![endif]><= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> IceRocket - Blog Search

Social Networking Sites

Social Networking Websites (Wikipedia)

&= nbsp; MySpace - Social networks and music

<= ![endif]> LiveJournal - Blogging and communit= y

<= ![endif]> Friendster - Frie= nd networks

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Facebook - Colleges and high schools

<= ![endif]> = Xanga - Blogs and communities

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; del.icio.us - Social bookmarks (Yahoo) Keep, share, and discover favorite collections: websites, music, books, and more<= /p> &nb= sp; http://del.icio.us

<= ![endif]> &nb= sp; LinkedIn - Business contact networks

Blog Creation Tools

Wikipedia - Weblog software

<= ![endif]>&n= bsp; = ; Blogger / Blogspot (Google)

<= ![endif]> blosxom :: the zen of blogging Blosxom

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; WordPress - Publishing

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; Movable Type - Six Apart

Content Syndication Feeds - RSS

RSS is ... Just a news reader for Web subscriptions ...

About Web Syndication (Wikipedia)

About News Aggregators (Wikipedia)

Content syndication markup languages (Wikipedia) -- RSS and Atom

RSS - Really Simple Syndication (Wikipedia)

Atom (Wikipedia)

Media RSS (Wikipedia)

OPML - Outline Processor Markup Language (Wikipedia)

XML - eXtensible Markup Language (Wikipedia)

News Feeds - Directories and Searching; Aggre= gators / Readers

&= nbsp; Feedster - RSS Search

Bloglines - Search & Crea= te News Feeds

tech.memeorandum

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; My Yahoo

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Mozilla - Firefox Browser

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Opera - Web Browser

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; Ne= wsGator / NetNewsWire (OS X)

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; Pluck - Browser-based RSS reader

<= ![endif]> Feedreader - OSS aggreg= ator

<= ![endif]> <= /span>SharpReader - Aggregator

News Feed Creation Tools

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; NotePage - FeedForAll

<= ![endif]>&= nbsp; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Software Garden - ListGarden

Collateral
&nbs= p; General: About, Author(s)

&nbs= p; Archives: Recent headlines, monthly archives, calendar

&nbs= p; Search: Tags (Technorati) / categories

&nbs= p; Blogroll: Other blogs

&nbs= p; Powered by: Blog engine

&nbs= p; Ads: Google Adsense, Yahoo ...

<= ![endif]> &= nbsp; del.icio.us - Social bookmarks (Yahoo)
Keep, share, and discover favorite collections: websites, music, books, and more<= /p>
&nb= sp; http://del.icio.us