How do you define blog?

Blog is a popular term nowadays. The origin of blog generated from the first online blogger Justin Hall. His home page of his documentary film morphed into online journal named ‘Web log’. And this is how ‘blog’ comes from (Conniff, M 2005). Pew Internet & American Life Project reports reflect that, there is one out of 20 people in U.S. owned a blog and one in six people are blog readers. (Conniff, M 2005) It is almost a mission impossible to have only one definition for the term ‘blog’ due to its constantly changing characteristics and different point of views from the people.

What makes blog a blog? It seems complicated. As there are many kinds of blog nowadays. Bloggers post photos, videos, audio, and some blogs even connects with other websites through hyperlinks. Within a website, it is said that, hyperlinks enable readers to choose their own reading pathway by clicking on the hyperlinks provided. (Walsh 2006) Is hyperlink a vital element within a blog? There are two extremes of view. According to Walsh (2006), hyperlinks make readers feel engaged and they can opt to get involved in certain topics or to remain in the same website whereas Calcanis thinks that ‘hypertext links to the world outside the blog’ (Calcanis in Conniff 2005). Schriver (1997, p.378) states that ‘links are made for jumping’. Readers might be attracted to go beyond the blog’s territory and never come back again. Hyperlink is a kind of distraction. But in other way, it helps the readers to gain more information so that they can apply it to the articles in the blog. Using too many hyperlinks is risky, but without it, there is no interactivity between the blogger and the readers.

Jeff Jarvis (in Conniff 2005) argues that blog is more about conversation than content. In other words, comments play a big part in a blog. It enables readers to voice out their opinion towards certain issues. ‘People go to blogs to read AND write, not just consume.’ (Arrington, M 2006) Undeniably, comments are painful sometimes, but they keep the writers honest. For example, Yahoo official blogs allow readers to leave their comments there, this direct user feedback mechanism is leading them to improvements and betterment. (Arrington, M 2006) A blog without a single comment is not credible. Furthermore, comments can make a blog more interesting and interactive.

I think blog is a successful transformation of written diary. Sharing thoughts with other people with the comments dropped by the readers makes blog a very interactive tool in communication. Furthermore, the hyperlinks, photos, videos that are being posted on the blog makes readers feel more engaged with the blogger. I believe that blog is a positive and healthy form of new communication tool.



References

Arrington, M 2006, What Is The Definition Of A Blog?, viewed on 30 October 2007,
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/31/what-is-the-definition-of-a-blog/

Coniff, M 2005, Just what is a blog, anyway?, viewed on 30 October 2007,
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050929/

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York, p.378.

Walsh, M 2006, ‘textual shift’: examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, Australian journal of language and literacy, vol.29, no.1, pp.24-37.