Blogs

Who?

In November 2004, it was estimated that there were 4 million blogs in existence. This number is rising rapidly and experts report that a new weblog is created every 5.8 seconds. Most of these blogs are not active.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates that approximately 50 million Internet users are regular blog readers. However, this does not mean that you are guaranteed an audience. There are only 200 blogs with monthly traffic of 1 million pageviews per month. Only 20 of those receive over 10 million pageviews per month. (See 'The Blogosphere By the Numbers' by Rob McGann for many more stats on blogs).

How?

Blogging software can be maintained on a variety of web servers. It is possible to maintain a blog on your server, on a hosted website or use a blogging service such as blogger.com or typepad.com (If you are interested in setting up your own blog you might like to look at Setting up a web log: Simple as falling off a blog on the Guardian Unlimited Website). Blogs are typically updated using templating software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain their text using a conventional web browser such as Internet Explorer 6.

Why?

A number of writers have used blogs (the shortened form of 'weblog' - a preformatted on-line diary) to create an audience for their work. Some blogs have been so successful that they have led to their previously unknown author signing lucrative publication deals.

• Belle de Jour:Diary of a London Call Girl

Of course, not all blogs are really diaries and a number of writers have poked fun at the genre by creating fake blogs. For example: -

• The dullest blog in the world
• Small White and Fluffy
• Dog Blog

The flexibility of the medium and of the RSS feed in particular mean that you can have further fun by joining blogs together into personalized news pages!

My Blog is at http://betwixtandbetween.blogspot.com/

The flexibility of the medium and of the RSS also mean that a text does not have to have just one author. You can have fun by blogging with other writers!

Blogs that I read include:-

• grandtextauto
• playing golf on the moon
• silliman's blog
• writing and the digital life

I also take in a number of news sites as well:-

• Economist.com
• FT.com
• Guardian Unlimited
• The Independent
• The New York Times
• The Times Online
• The Sun Newspaper Online
• Telegraph online newspaper

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