What is a blog?

Category: Computer/Network>> Internet

Analysis:

The word "blog" is transliterated from the English word Blogger, which refers to the Internet People who publish and read running records. This form of media publishing on the Internet is called Weblog in English, or Blog for short. Weblog is a combination of the two English words Web and Log. In Chinese, it is usually translated as "web log" or simply "weblog". In Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and other regions, it is transliterated as "blog".

However, blog is often directly translated as "blog" by netizens in mainland China and other regions, and the act of writing a blog is sometimes translated as "blog". Therefore, the Chinese word "blog" seems to confuse the meanings of Blogger and Blog. However, based on the usage habits of netizens, we can tentatively think that "Blog" can be used as a noun, referring to two meanings: Blog (blog) and Blog. Blogger (a person who writes a blog) can also be used as a verb, which means the act of writing a blog. It just means different meanings on different occasions.

Blog is a web page, usually composed of short and frequently updated posts (Post, as a verb, means to post, and as a name, refers to the posted article). These posts are usually in reverse order of year and date. arranged. As the content of a blog, it can be your purely personal thoughts and experiences, including your personal views on current news and national events, or your careful preparation of three meals a day, clothing, etc. It can also be based on a certain situation. In the case of a theme or in the same field, it is content created by a group of people. It is not the same as "online diary". As an online journal, it is obviously private, and a blog is an effective combination of private and public nature. It is not just the expression of pure personal thoughts and the recording of daily trivial matters, it provides The content can be used to communicate and provide help to others. It can accommodate the entire Internet and has a very high spirit of sharing and value.

In short, Blog is a comprehensive platform that uses the Internet as a carrier to publish one's own experiences simply, quickly and conveniently, communicate with others in a timely, effective and easy manner, and integrates rich and colorful personalized displays. .

The concept of blog (BLOGGER) is explained as Web Publishing, publishing and posting (Post-when used as a noun, it refers to posted articles) articles. It is a rapidly growing network activity, and now it even appears A proper noun used to refer to this kind of online publishing and publishing of articles - Weblog, or Blog.

A Blog is a web page, which is usually composed of short and frequently updated Posts; these posted articles are arranged according to year and date. The content and purpose of blogs vary greatly, ranging from hyperlinks and comments to other websites, news about companies, individuals, and ideas to the publication or posting of diaries, photos, poems, essays, and even science fiction novels.

Many Blogs are the expression of personal thoughts, while other Blogs are the collective creation of a group of people based on a specific topic or the same area of ??interest. Blogs seem to be real-time messages delivered to the Internet. The person who writes these Weblogs or Blogs is called Blogger or Blog writer.

The idea of ??publishing blogs on the Internet began in 1998, but it did not really become popular until 2000. In 2000, blogs began to enter China and developed rapidly, but their performance was mediocre. It was not until the Muzimei incident in 2004 that the Chinese people learned about blogs and used them. In 2005, various domestic portals, such as Sina and Sohu, who were originally not optimistic about the blogging business, also joined the blogging camp and began to enter the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era of blogging. Initially, Bloggers recorded their daily experiences and opinions on the website and made them public for other people to refer to and follow. But with the rapid expansion of Blogging, its purpose is far from its original purpose. There are currently thousands of Bloggers on the Internet publishing and blogging purposes vary widely. However, because communication methods are simpler and easier than emails and discussion groups, Blog has become an increasingly popular communication tool among families, companies, departments and teams, as it is also gradually used in corporate intranets (Intra). . At present, BSP merchants are surging, and there are dozens of large blog sites.

It can also be said that Blog is the abbreviation of weblog, which has two meanings: First, Blog, that is, diary/log. What is recorded every day is a diary/journal, and its writing unfolds in time. , time is in order, including anything we write; second, BLOG is displayed and published in the form of Web (web page). With the help of the Internet, people can share their experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc. with each other, and thus Form a new type of online virtual community and interpersonal communication method.

In appearance, Blog is an independent site, which is equivalent to a personal homepage. However, there is no need to learn any technical software and anyone can use it easily, just like everyone starts with their own laptop. It's as easy as writing.

The emergence of blogs has replaced the previous personal website. Anyone can express their opinions, show their style, and record their life trivia or work experience on the Internet without knowing web design and production technology. ． ． ． Let yourself get more people's attention. This is one of the reasons why blogs have developed rapidly.

Blog (BLOG)?

One of the most popular Internet words in 2004 - blog and a brief history of its development

(Internet marketing teaching website wm23 2005-01-03)

"What is a blog" became one of the most popular search keywords in major search engines in 2004 (related search keywords include "what is a blog", "what does blog mean", "blog China", etc.), and blogs ( BLOG) was also rated as the hottest Internet phenomenon in 2004 by many institutions and media. BLOG is the abbreviation of WEB LOG. Simply put, it is an online diary. Many media and websites at home and abroad regard BLOG as the most popular word in 2004. There are already many introductory articles about BLOG (blog) on ??the Internet. Here is a brief excerpt of the introduction.

Related concepts: What is blog marketing (Feng Yingjian’s definition of blog marketing)

Related research: Special research on blogs and online marketing (new observations on online marketing)

The following is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Fang Xingdong, the founder of Blog China and the Chinese translation of "Blog", about the brief history of blog development and basic historical facts. Those who are interested in learning more can refer to it. The publication date of the original article was approximately August 2002, not long after it was released on the Blog China website.

A brief history of blog development and basic historical facts (blogchina Fang Xingdong)

Who is the father of blogging?

The emergence of blogs only happened in recent years, but writing the history of blogs is not an easy task. Many historical materials must be verified like digging for "antiques", and there are many differences and disputes. For example, who is the “father of blogging”? It is impossible to have a clear answer to this question because so many famous people are involved.

The earliest blog prototype

First of all, which is the earliest blog website? Obviously, the earliest blogs appeared as a "filter" on the Internet, that is, to select some special websites and make a brief introduction. Therefore, some people believe that Mosaic’s What’s New webpage developed by browser inventor Marc Andreesen is the earliest blog webpage. Justin Hall's underworld links web page (links/vita/web/story) is also one of the earliest blog website prototypes.

The earliest blog prophet

Secondly, who is the earliest blogger named? The famous science fiction writer William Gibson predicted professional blogging in 1996 (salonmagazine/weekly/gibson2961014): "It won't be long before someone will browse the Internet for you, select content, and make a living from it. There is indeed such a demand."

The earliest blog

Scripting News (scripting) started by Userland CEO Dave Winer in 1997 began to truly possess the basic important features of a blog. And he integrated these functions into the free software "Frontier Scripting Environment". However, there is a lot of controversy as to whether this is truly the earliest blog. Some people believe that, formally speaking, it was Jorn Barger who established the basic appearance of today's blog website at the end of 1997 (the original appearance at that time can be seen online: roboisdom/).

Network administrators use log (log files) to refer to "system record files". Therefore, if you used Google to check weblogs a few years ago, most of them were website traffic analysis software such as Seacloak. Not like today's real weblogs.

The earliest use of the word "weblog"

In December 1997, the "Robot Wisdom Weblog" (roboisdom/lit/index) run by Jorn Barger used the official name of weblog for the first time. . To this day, he is still a very influential figure in the field of blogging. Jorn Barger's contribution is mainly reflected in the form. He transformed the meaning of log from the impersonal, quasi-objective, mechanical writing that is close to the voyage log, to the "humanized, personalized" free writing that is closer to the travel log. Metafilter, a community blog site launched by Matt Haughey, has been widely criticized, but for a long time it was indeed more interesting than other blog sites.

The earliest person to use the word "blog"

The most popular word "blog" is generally recognized as Peter Merholz (peterme/archives/******** **) Named only in 1999. On May 17, 2002, Peter Merholz recalled this in a post titled "Vocabulary Game":

I have always liked vocabulary and like to dive into the dictionary whenever I encounter a new word. I love word games, and etymology is even more interesting. I didn't expect that this hobby would actually have an impact. Around April or May 1999 (I can't remember the exact time), I posted a post on my homepage: "I decided to pronounce weblog as wee'-blog , or abbreviated as 'blog'". I didn’t think much about it and just used this term in my post. Later, people started using it in emails. Keith Dawson included the blog in "Jargon Lookup". However, if Pyra had not released Blogger in August 1999, this term might have died out.

Peter Merholz thus turned blog into a verb, and later derived the terms blogging, blogger, I blog, Blogsphere (blog world), etc.

Blog software tools

1999 was also the year when blogs began to grow rapidly, mainly due to many automated online publishing companies such as Blogger, Pita, Greymatter, Manila, Diaryland, and Big Blog Tool. The emergence of free software distribution, and they often also provide free server space. With these, a blogger can publish, update, and maintain his or her website at zero cost. Among them, Blogger, produced by Pyra Company in August 1999, is the most popular and influential tool.

A blogger wrote: "I was very shocked when I used Blogger's service for the first time. The entire interface is so easy to use, and the publishing results are equally touching. If you start with some experience, After using Radio Userland, tears just dripped on the keyboard. It was a bit like the feeling that emacs gave me back then: omnipotent and easy to use. I would mainly attribute these software and services to (or encourage?) CSS and CMS. Development. The former provides the basis for the separation of content and form (layout), and the latter prompts program designers to start thinking and provide an interface that makes updating web pages easier."

At that time, Pyra had a A "dream team" of online publishing software. However, this success did not bring profits to the company, and even due to financial pressure, the company laid off employees in January 2001, and cut them to the limit in one fell swoop: leaving only one formal employee, Evan Williams, who was one of the founders. The dream team also fell apart, and its other founder was New Englander Meg Hourihan. However, in 2003, Blogger was acquired by Google, and the bittersweet finally came to an end.

What exactly is a blog?

Finally, and the most important question is, what exactly is a blog? What is the difference between it and personal websites, communities, online publications, micro portals, news web pages, etc. Since the blog form itself is a combination of a variety of original online expression methods, it is unrealistic to strictly define this "hybrid", and it cannot be too mired in ***. With the evolution, the form of blog will become more and more diverse. Someone wrote: "This phenomenon does exist in blogs. In order to highlight the amazing rise of blogs, many news media (such as ***) often use the number of bloggers (currently 750,000) as an indicator, regardless of the characteristics of their content. Compliant with blogs. In fact, it is easy for us to think that using moveable type, greymatter, b2, blogger, pmachine and other weblog tools is a blog. At this point, it is not important whether the blog has characteristics, the key is what software or service it uses. I even think that it is basically correct to say that these software or services have contributed to the blog craze, but in fact, the entire digital and mass population has absorbed all similar activities (regardless of whether they meet the characteristics of blogs or not) because of these software and services. In the black hole of blogs, it transcends those attempts to classify. ”

Because blogs are not purely technological innovations, but a gradually evolving network application. The natural grassroots nature of blogs also makes it difficult for us to identify an authentic blog ancestor, nor can we officially identify who is the "father of blogging". To this day, no one dares to wear this hat. Otherwise, you will definitely be beaten to a bloody head.

A simple chronicle of blogging

June 1993: The oldest blog prototype - NCSA's "What's New Page" web page (archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/ Sofare/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new), mainly lists the index of emerging websites on the Web. This page started in June 1993 and has been updated until June 1996.

January 1994: Justin Hall opened "Justin's Home Page" (Justin's personal webpage), which soon began to collect links to various underground secrets. This important personal website can be regarded as one of the earliest blog sites. one.

April 1, 1997: Dave Winer begins publishing Scripting News. This website evolved from early Dave, originally on October 7, 1994.

December 1997: Jorn Barger first used the term weblog to describe personal websites that have comments and links and are continuously updated.

May 7, 1998: Peter Merholz starts publishing the website peterme (from his own archival records).

September 15, 1998: Memepool began publishing, and the earliest link was about “Alex Chiu’s Eternal Life Device”.

1999: Peter Merholz named blog after the acronym "blog", which has become the most commonly used term today.

On May 28, 1999, Cam wrote in his personal blog site Camworld: "Dave Winer started the earliest blog site, and Camworld need not hide that it is a model and follower of Scripting News."

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April 12, 2000: The Weblogs eGroups mailing list was terminated, and the originator dispute between Jorn Barger and Dave Winer became public.

August 22, 2000: Wine posts on the FoRK mailing list, and a quarrel breaks out.

October 2000: Jakob Neilsen said: "...the average blog site is unreadable."

October 14, 2000: Dave Winer hinted that his Scripting News was the original blogging site, then elegantly gave that honor to his respected predecessor, WWW inventor Tim Berners- Lee.

November 2000: But Winer soon found another crown for itself, Scripting News changed the website's slogan to: The longest continuously running blog site on the Internet, started in April 1997 January 1st.

December 17, 2000: UserLand released SuperOpenDirectory, hoping to become the de facto tool for directory creation.

September 11, 2001: Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, blogs became an important source of important information and first-hand experiences of the disaster. Since then, blogging has officially entered the mainstream society.

Three stages of blog development (prehistoric stage, primary stage, growth stage)

To sum up, to be precise, the history of blogs is the same as the history of the World Wide Web (WWW, or Web) Just as "long". The earliest blog should be Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. The first website he opened, info.cern.ch (of course no longer exists and is preserved as an antique) ) is actually the first blog website, because the content inside is to list all the various websites that appear on the Internet. Then from 1993 to 1996, NCSA and Netscape’s “What’s New” columns also had the prototype of a blog website. Of course, we attribute all of this to the "prehistoric period" of blogging. The real history of blogging can begin in the mid-to-late 1990s.

The first stage (mid-1990s to late 1990s): the embryonic stage, or the enlightenment period.

Tracing the origins of blogging is undoubtedly a difficult task. Some people think that Justin Hall's infamous "online diary" in 1994 can be regarded as an early form of blogging. This guy posted his naked experience of drug abuse and sex online in a timely manner, attracting a lot of attention. Some people say that Jesse James Garrett’s online travel diary published in Camworld in 1998 was the fuse that ignited the blogging community, and blogging has become a new trend since then.

But more people believe that the most authentic source of blogging is Pyra (the predecessor of Blogger now). This is a small software company. The three founders wrote a small software in order to develop a complex "groupware" product. , maintain communication and collaboration with each other through blogging. Later, they felt that this simple gadget was also very useful to others, so in August 1999, they released the Blogger software for free on the Internet. Previously, there were probably only a few dozen people who could be considered bloggers. As a result, like dry wood meeting fire, many people used this software as a weapon to join the blogging ranks. The blogging army began to multiply rapidly. Pyra also became famous because of this little software with no care at all. In short, this stage is mainly the spontaneous behavior of a group of IT technology fans, website designers and news enthusiasts who are unconscious and have no theoretical system. It has not yet formed a certain group, nor does it have the social influence of a phenomenon. In the quiet process of evolution, there are also some events and characters that have played a very critical role in enlightenment and leadership. Setting the stage for the blogging revolution.

The second stage (around 2000-2006): the primary stage, or the rising stage.

By 2000, blogs began to appear in thousands and became a popular concept. In the history of blogging, the 9/11 incident was an important moment. It was this terrorist attack that gave people a new understanding of the fragility of life, the importance of communication between people, and the most immediate and effective way of transmitting information. An important blog category: War Blog (WarBlog) has prospered as a result. It can be said that the most authentic and vivid description of the 911 incident is not in "***", but in the blog logs of those survivors; the most profound reflections on the incident and The discussion was not conducted by any famous reporter, but among many ordinary blogs.

According to incomplete statistics, as of today, the number of bloggers who consciously practice blogging around the world has reached 500,000 to 1 million. Although compared with more than 300 million Internet users, it is still insignificant. However, the influence of these blogs has long exceeded his original scope as an individual or even as an industry. It began to attract strong attention from mainstream media, and the impact of the rise of blogs on traditional media was clearly felt. At the same time, blogs in various professional fields have sprung up, becoming more and more the focus of this profession. In addition to the United States, blogs from European countries such as the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Germany have also gained momentum. Asia, including China, is also beginning to feel the pulse of blogging. It is estimated that in the next one or two years, blogging will become one of the most important new phenomena during the Internet recession, attracting the attention of the whole society.

The third stage (2006-): the growth stage, or the development stage.

Predicting the future is always a stupid thing, especially predicting the Internet. It is indeed too early to make a conclusion about the future of blogging! And it's very controversial. However, based on our research and judgment, we still venture to agree with some of these bold judgments:

By around 2006, as a new media phenomenon, the influence of blogging may exceed that of traditional media ;

As a knowledge dissemination model in the professional field, blogging will become one of the most influential figures in the field;

As a social communication tool, blogging will surpass email , BBS, ICQ (IM), have become more important ways of communication and communication between people.

Obviously, the above is mainly a simple division of the development stages of global (U.S.-centered) blogs. In China, like all Internet revolutions, there continues to be a certain "lag". Blogs are no exception. China's development stage is basically one stage behind. In other words, the development of blogs in China has only entered the enlightenment stage, the embryonic stage, and it may take 2-3 years to enter the real primary stage, that is, the rising stage.

However, members of the "Digital Forum" who have always paid the most close attention to the development of the Internet have been aware of it since around 2000 and paid great attention to it. In 2002, he began to serve as a pioneer in promoting and advocating "blog ideas" in China. The "BlogChina" website is one such product.

Although the official Chinese name for the "blog" was only completed in 2002. But in China, the first person to pay attention to, track and systematically elaborate on the "blog" imagination was Sun Jianhua, who has been studying new media. He had begun to cover many blogging phenomena in many articles in 1998 and 1999, and "Blog Theory" completed in August 2002 was the first article in China to systematically and comprehensively elaborate on the blogging revolution.