The Blogosphere and Creating Your Own Blog

Best Blogs
If you would like to get a taste of blogging and look at some of the best blogs out there, the easiest way is to find a "best of the blogs" list and surf around to a few real blogs. Here are several "best of" lists to get you started:

  • Forbes.com: Blogs That Matter
  • Guardian Unlimited: The Weblog Guide
  • Globe of Blogs
  • Webby Awards: Best Blog & Nominees

    • One thing about blogs that is so fascinating is the interlinking. There are millions of people keeping active blogs, and bloggers often tend to look at other people's blogs. When they see something they like in their favorite blogs, bloggers will often link to and comment on it.

    All of this tight interlinking has created a phenomenon known as the blogosphere. The blogosphere consists of all the cross-linked blogs. Once you arrive at one blog in the blogosphere, it will often have links that connect you to many of the other sites in the blogosphere. You can bounce around in the blogosphere for years if you like that sort of thing.

    Many blog readers enter the blogosphere and find one (or a few) bloggers they really like. For example, you might have a blog you use to keep up to date on the latest technology, and another to keep up to date on the latest news. The blogger is acting a lot like a DJ on a radio show, choosing stories, links and/or snippets just like the DJ chooses songs. People who like what the blogger focuses on each day come back and read that blogger every day or so. Celebrities have also gotten into the act, creating blogs as a way to interact with their fans.

    Creating Your Own Blog

    Open Source Code
    LiveJournal is built on open source software. This means that most of the software used to create and maintain LiveJournal is available for anyone to modify and use. There are several blog toolsets that use LiveJournal's source code, including GreatestJournal and DeadJournal.
    Creating your own blog is now easy because there are Web-based toolsets that make the management of your blog incredibly simple -- Blogger, Xanga, TypePad, and LiveJournal are just a few of the services available. You can create basic blogs for free, and most of these toolsets have additional features available for a price. There is also software (such as Movable Type) to help you create and self-publish your blog with even more customization.

    I created Marshall Brain's Blog using Blogger. Creating a simple blog is free and only takes about five minutes. You enter your name, e-mail address and a few other pieces of information. You select "the look" (template) for your blog from a set of standard templates. Click a few buttons and you're done.

    Now you can add new entries to your blog. Basically, all you do is type in the entry and push the "post" button to post it. You can edit the entry as much as you like by clicking the "edit" button. When you are happy with the new entry, you push the "publish" button to make your new entry visible on your public blog.

    One of the best Web sites I have found recently is called ExploreMarsNow.com. I added a short entry about it to my blog in about 10 seconds. The entry says simply:

    That's it. A blog entry can be that simple. Or it can be an entire story. It's all up to you.

    With Blogger, you have two options for where your blog can live:

    • Your blog can live on the Blogger.com blog site, called Blogspot.com. You create a custom URL for your blog and Blogspot.com does all the work of hosting your blog. For example, Marshall Brain's Blog can be found at http://MarshallBrain.Blogspot.com.

    • You can host your blog yourself on another Web site. Every time you "publish" your blog, Blogger uses FTP to send the latest HTML code for your blog to the chosen location.
    The incredible simplicity of blogging is one of the things that makes blogging so popular. But if text isn't enough for you, many blogging toolsets also allow you to post photos, video, and audio files. You can even post via your cell phone.

    If you would like to learn more about blogs and blogging, take a look at the links on the following page.