Blogging

Blogging?? A term I’ve heard about, but really have no prior experience working with, or carefully scrutinizing. Wikipedia states that it is a “type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.” Blogging is much more dynamic than a traditional website and has become a quick and fascinating way to share information from all sorts of venues. Last night, saddened by hearing the news of the death of Patrick Swayze, I visited the Yahoo website and within minutes, people from all walks of life, and from all over the world, were posting blogs expressing their condolences. Where else would we be able to communicate instantaneously with one another regarding news that had just occurred within minutes?

Blogs are also used frequently by businesses of all sizes as a publishing platform. Blogs can be categorized by many different genres including political, travel or music blogs. Once a company establishes a website, it is extremely important that they continue to develop and promote aggressive public relations with potential customers and/or buyers which will, hopefully, result in increased revenue and market share. Blogs jog your memory to return to websites and continue a conversation, which in turn makes an audience become more knowledgeable based on feedback received. The cost, investment, and obligation on the companies behalf is minimal in comparison to the benefits achieved. When a company decides to use an internal blog, they automatically reduce the amount of effort required to keep their employees current with new information but, also replace the need for constant e-mails being sent, we all know how much we love to get e-mails at work! The company also has the advantage of maintaining a controlled atmosphere by limiting postings to designated staff. All comments and information created in a blog can be stored permanently so that they may be referenced for future use.

In an attempt to further delve into this subject, enhance my experience with blogging, and seek depth of information, I decided to locate and attach a Youtube video to my blog. The following is a Youtube video addressing “What is a blog?”


There are numerous websites outlining several unique features when using blogs. Whether you are technically savvy or technically challenged, changing the output and design of your published pages is apparently a fairly simple process. There are so many helpful websites available online to help users become more proficient in the blogging process and also to take advantage of the many different ways to communicate with your audience.
One thing I am definitely interested in learning more about is publishing XML feeds. I’ve done a little research pertaining to this topic. Feeds create the ultimate flexibility for reaching your audience. Feeds can be read or displayed on many mobile devices such as iPods, PDAs or phones and on a number of consumer electronics devices such as Tivo. Feeds reach a wide array of audiences, wherever they are and with whatever information you choose to share . The following link will provide more information on XML feeds.