TheHistoryOf.net

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last fifteen years, you’ve probably heard the term “blog” in reference to the Internet dozens of times.

The term blog is derived from “web log,” or a web-based logging system that provides text information online. Blogs cover an unimaginable range of subjects, can be private or professional, and can be free or require a monthly fee to access.

The First Blogs

Blogs began appearing as early as 1994, and were mostly stylized journal entries written by college students or pioneers in the tech industry during the early years of the Internet. Back then, graphics and animations had not yet been developed, and the entire web experience was textual.

It wasn’t until the late nineties that the blogging universe opened up to the public, as sites like Blogger.com and LiveJournal appeared and offered users the ability to create and manage their own blogs with minimal experience and effort.

Since then, the blogging community has exploded. Industry experts estimate that over 400 million English language blogs exist presently, with millions more being added each month.

What Defines a Blog

To qualify as a blog, a webpage should contain the following:

• Content related to a specific subject, industry, or user
• Minimal advertising
• Active, first person narration, similar to a journal
• Regularly updated content

Obviously, there are uncountable possibilities – blogs may contain anything from recipes to conspiracy theories! But blogs are not limited to private matters – there are millions of blogs for small businesses that provide customers with new and important data on products and services.

The Expansion of Blogs

The reason the blog community has expanded so rapidly is largely due to the availability of content delivery software that allows blog posters to easily publish their writing online.

One leading innovator, WordPress, boasts over 25 million active users and a community that reaches around the globe. There are WordPress websites for small business, professional advice, astrology, political analysis, and nearly anything else you can imagine.

Further, blogging software tends to be extremely user-friendly. Learning how to set up a WordPress site takes very little time, and most blogging software is similar in nature.

Can I have a blog?

You might think that the market is already oversaturated, and since there are hundreds of millions of blogs already in existence, there’s no point in starting another one. But that’s not true at all! The blogging community is a vibrant, evolving industry, and there’s more than enough room for everyone.

Regularly blog readers typically visit between 30 and 50 blogs per month, and people who produce blogs are the most avid readers. This means that as the blog industry expands, the demand for more blogs increases!

Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, the farther it travels, the bigger it gets. With new countries entering the blogging community constantly, and translation software becoming more and more sophisticated, the global blogging community is nowhere near a plateau.

If you’ve got something to say, get a blog and say it! You might be surprised how many people out there will listen.

About the Author

Don Campbell is a veteran of MicroSoft and Google, and founded Expand2Web to assist small business owners in creating and marketing websites that use WordPress architecture. Don loves his family, and enjoys the ocean and mountains surrounding his home in the Northern California Bay Area. Don is also learning Jazz piano, and is trying to learn how to skimboard on Wednesday mornings in Capitola.