Web 2.0 & Blogging

One of the greatest features of Web 2.0 is the blogosphere which is the collective term used to describe the social network and interconnection of internet blogs. A blog is a website that is generally maintained and operated by an individual. The blog operator places regular on the site for visitors. The entries could be commentary, event descriptions, or other types of material like graphics and video. Some blogs also allow visitors to post responses and a bloghood is a group of local blogs.

Types of Blogs

Blogging has become a favorite pastime for many web users. Blogs can differ in the type of content, so this alone can give us an indication of the vast number of blogs on the internet. However, there are only a few ways that content is written and delivered. Here is a list of those ways.

Personal Blogs – These types of blogs can actually have a sentimental value for the blogger as many bloggers take pride in their blogs even when they might be read by visitors. Personal blogs are often similar to a diary and can become a way for the person on life. Many book authors, for example, use blogging to help their idea development. “Microblogging” is a personal blog that is very detailed and attempts specific moments in time.

Corporate Blogs – Although most blogs are private they can also be used for business. Business blogs can be used internally to enhance the corporate culture or externally to enhance marketing strategies, as well as company’s public relations.

Question Blogs – With these types of blogs questions can be submitted to the blog through a submittal from, email, and other types of communication such as VOIP. Many Qlogs use RSS feeds, which must be subscribed to, as the means to convey the answers to submitted questions.

Media Blogs – There are several types of blogs that fall under this blog category. Vlogs are made up of videos, linklogs are composed of links, sketchblog contain sketch portfolios, and photoblogs are made up of photos. There are also tumblelogs which are composed of shorter posts or mixed media.

By Device - Another way to define a blog is the type of device that was used to compose it. Mobile phones or PDA, for example, can be used to compose a blog, in which case the blog would be called a moblog. EyeTap is a Wearable Wireless Webcam that can capture both video and voice recording of a person life and transmitted live to a logged on audience and is referred to as sousveillence.

By Genre – There are blogs that focus on a specific topic or subject matter such as travel blogs, political blogs, dreamlogs, project blogs, writer’s blogs, etc. Blogs can exist for practically any conceivable subject or topic.

The Blogosphere

All these different types of blogs is what makes up the blogosphere. What interesting to note is that many of these blogs become interconnected over time and usage and this very fact is a headlining feature of Web 2.0.