What is a Blog?

1. What is a Blog? Presented By Eric C. Jones Associo Software April 2008

2. Section 1Web 2.0

3. Web 2.0 • It is critical to understand the context of what is making blogging so powerful. • There has been an explosion of innovation in the last couple years on the web using technologies together to make it simpler and easier to get things done. • These technologies aren’t necessarily new, but it the combination of these things that adds power and is creating a new world on the web.

4. It is really just a buzz word • The term was coined by Tim O’Reilly, a journalist that observed a shift happening in the early 2000 after the .dom crash. • Companies began taking a different approach to the web

5. What are some characteristics of web 2.0 products? • Power of the network • Fax machine • Mac vs Microsoft • Information freely shared and available outside the application • Microsoft vs Google • Microsoft project vs Basecamp • Email vs RSS • User created data and user involvement • Yahoo vs Digg • Getty Images vs Flickr

6. Examples • Mibazaar.com (http://www.mibazaar.com/top100celebrities) • Zillow.com • Google Maps (http://www.scalextric-usa.com) • Youtube (http://www.sunsetair.com) • Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) • Flickr • Twitter • Blogspot

7. We understand what is happening in the industry, but now let’s understand exactly what a blog is.

8. Section 2What is a Blog?

9. Blog Definition • Weblog- A "blog", abbreviated word for weblog, is a web-based journal in which people can publish their thoughts and opinions on the internet.

10. Purpose of a blog • Distributing information- Providing an easy way to publish and access information • Interaction- Giving people the ability to respond to the content of a blog posting. This interaction is optional and depends on the purpose of the blog. Many bloggers choose to turn off the reader comments functionality of their blog.

11. Anatomy of a blog - #1Easy Access • Multiple posts listed for current month or previous number of posts. • Most blogs simply list the most recent articles posted right away when you visit the blog. • This makes current content very easily accessible.

12. Anatomy of a blog - #2Archiving Automatically • Easily accessing past posts • Archive posts. You can view previous posts usually by month. • Tagged posts. You can also view months by topic or tag. This gives you easy access to content within a given topic that you might be looking for.

13. Anatomy of a blog - #3Comments and user interaction. • Many blogs allow readers to post their comments or views about what is written. • This can be both powerful and dangerous. • For some articles, this is a good thing because the comments pose questions or even provide clarifications. But it can also be a bad thing if a disgruntled employee or customer wants to vent about something.

14. Anatomy of a blog - #4RSS Subscriptions. • One way that blogs distribute their content is through what’s called RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication. • Readers can subscribe to the blogs of their choice using a RSS reader. • Outlook, Apple Mail, Google and others provide RSS readers that notify you when new content has been added.

15. What a Blog is not • Not a forum • Not an email group list • Not an online magazine or enewsletter (although there are email newsletters more and more that are integrating multiple blog posts to create the content o the newsletter)

16. Section 3Blogging Growth

17. Blogging Growth • Web 2.0 has created an environment that is really allowing the concept of blogs to grow and there are record numbers of blogs being created.

18. Blog Stats(source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm) • In July 2006 the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that the US "blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults", some 8% of US adult internet users. The number of US blog readers was estimated as 57 million adults (39% of the US online population), although few of those people read widely or read often.

19. Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm) • David Sifry reported in April 2007 that growth in the number of blogs created had slowed - "matured" - with other observers noting that the percentage of active blogs are compared to the total number of blogs tracked by Technorati was declining, down from 36.71% in May 2006 to 20.93% in March 2007.

20. Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm) • Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated.

21. Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm) • The 'average blog' thus has the lifespan of a fruitfly. One cruel reader of this page commented that the average blog also has the intelligence of a fly.

22. Blog Stats (source: http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm) • males were more likely than females to abandon blogs, with 46.4% of abandoned blogs created by males (versus 40.7% of active blogs created by males).

23. Why Blogs work • Blogs are a simple and powerful way to create a buzz about your product , organization or cause. • This buzz is created mostly through viral mechanisms of people telling people who tell people. • Following are some examples of why

24. Influence Ripples (from Eric Kintz) http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/kintz/archive/2006/10/01/1683.html

25. Numa Numa • Within three months of releasing in 2004, viewed 2,000,000 times • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmtzQCSh6xk

26. Network Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect

27. Section 4Examples

28. Examples • Now that we understand a bit about blogs, it is helpful to look at some actual blog examples. • We have five categories of types of blogs that we have pulled together as examples.

29. Tips and thoughts Blogs • 37 Signals- http://www.37signals.com/svn/ • Smashing Magazine http://www.smashingmagazine.com

30. Information Blogs • Forbes: http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/ • Cnet: http://www.news.com/8300-10784_3-7.html?tag=ne.tab.hd • BIA- http:///tacomabia.org

31. Product Niche Blogs • http://www.theiphoneblog.com/ • http://www.treonauts.com/

32. Political Blogs • http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog • http://www.anncoulter.com/

33. Company Blogs • http://www.whatcounts.com/blog?pid=965AABA79286169C • http://productblog.37signals.com/

34. Section 5Your Own Blog

35. Do it! • Don’t just sit there….now you can start your own blog! • Following are some tips to creating your very own blog.

36. Choose your topic • Knowledge • Passion • Confidence

37. Find a good blogging application • Most are free! • Examples (MuseCrafters.com, Livejournal.com, JournalHome.com, Blogger.com, WordPress.com, TheDiary.org, Mindsay.com, Blog.com, Blogagotchi.com, Diaryland.com, Blogdrive.com, or Xanga.com. • Or Associosoftware.com !

38. Update regularly! • Add posts daily or weekly at a minimum • You don't only need to create your own content- link to other's content • Monitor and respond to comments ( or turn this feature off)

39. Promote • Share about other bloggers and thank other bloggers for sharing yo • Promote through your physical network • Create electronic networks: MyBlogLog, Twitter and Facebook • Promote and analyze with http://www.feedburner.com

40. Thank You For more information:Eric C. JonesAssocio Software253-461-1110eric@associosoftware.com