What is… A Blog?

“Blog” is short for “web-log” and started as a way to write a journal online. It looks like a website but uses a software platform that lets you upload your entries very easily. Publishing what you’ve written online is instantaneous and happens at the push of a button - literally.

Entries are called “posts” and they appear on the blog in reverse date order ie the newest post is at the top.

These days, many people use blogs to engage online with their friends or others who share their interests. Businesses engage with their customers by writing about what’s happening in their company or in their area of expertise. Visitors to the blog can add comments to a particular post or email the person blogging, the “blogger”. Other visitors may see the comments and add what they have to say as well.

The best way to find out what the world of blogging is all about is to visit some.

Here are a few to start you off with.

A Saville Row tailor uses his blog to talk about his passion for bespoke tailoring and to share some unique insights into the world of cuffs and lapels and hems. He also uses his blog to share his travel schedule so that his international clients know when he is visiting their part of the world and can book an appointment. His blog has been featured on the BBC and other traditional media. See http://www.englishcut.com/

A creative writing teacher and writer, Sharon Bakar, based in Malaysia, shares her book addiction and writes about the latest books and book news from Asia, the UK and US. Her readership is primarily Malaysian but she has been featured in the UK’s national paper, The Guardian. See http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/

A photographer has been taking a photo at 11.47am every day since 2000. See http://eleven47.com/. It’s fab!

You can also visit my blog, of course, Fusion View, a cross-cultural view on writing, culture and the arts at http://www.fusionview.co.uk.

I will also be blogging about blogs that strike me as interesting, thought-provoking, fun, unusual, well-designed or has something that makes me want to say to my friends, “Hey, take a look at this!” - go to the category Blogs to Explore in the sidebar on the far right.

Or you can go to Google Blog Search at http://blogsearch.google.com/ - type in any topic or keyword and it will throw up all the blogs you can read on that subject.

Pic: thanks to beth.typepad.com