blogs versus websites... the difference is more than a Dr Seuss comic!

A blogville accountant was heard to say, "Should I blog or not blog? Should I blog today? It is true they are tools with much to convey?”
(Lang 2005, p.36)

Blogs may be comic sounding like above but Lang argues that they aren’t a Dr Seuss invention.

Blogs have been around for a few years but gained credibility in the US in 2004 when three attorneys created a blog “Power Line”, in which they disproved CBS news reports about George W Bush’s military service and received 'Blog of the Year' in 2004 by Time Magazine.

So, blogs are much more than an online diary for teenage-angst poetry it would seem (or perhaps they began as much more anyway).

According to Lang, blogs are “an information-sharing tool with many business possibilities” (Lang 2005, p.36).

In 2003, the Oxford English Dictionary added the word blog, defining it as: “a frequently updated website consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources etc., typically run by a single person and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary”.

Another definition is supplied by Denise Howell, a Californian attorney, who defines a blog as “a web page so simple that its basic functions are well within the grasp of those who may have only basic technical ability” (Lang 2005, p.36).

Both of these definitions categorize a blog within the context of a web page. Yet, they are not the same thing.

So how does a blog differ from a webpage? Lang argues it is to do with accessibility. Blogs are about access because of “low entry costs” Furthermore, blogs are “accessible to small firms and a basic blog is easy to establish and to update, requiring no special skills” (Lang 2005, p. 37).

In other words, “once you’ve created a blog you can add new postings as easily as you compose and send an email” (Lang 2005, p.37).

Blogs are more popular and therefore have the advantage over websites. Lang offers three reasons as to why blogs attract more links than websites:

CULTURE: a culture exists in the “blogosphere” that encourages bloggers to link to each other.
RANKING: blogs rank higher in search engines due to their frequent updates and their structure which is easier for search engines to index than a conventional web site.

READABILITY: blogs are more fun to read with crisp and quirky writing.

So blogs really have taken priority over web sites it seems, due largely to their culture, ranking and readability as defined above. Blogs are the popular future of the internet, accessible and almost as fun as a Dr Seuss comic (and definitely more informative and even more intimate).