Blogging - Nuances & Impacts

The text presents blogging as a Web journal that evolved from early weblogs into a widely used format. It distinguishes personal blogs from business blogs and argues that corporate blogs can share expertise, build traffic, and support promotion, but they only work when they are maintained regularly and kept organized.

Reading notes

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• Defines blog as a diary published on the Web, coming from “weblog”, with short entries updated in reverse order.
• Says the term was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997 and that growth accelerated in 1999 with easy-to-use tools.
• Divides blogs into personal and corporate, associating the former with diary and opinion, and the latter with communication with customers and employees.
• States that business blogs help share expertise, increase traffic, and promote products or services.
• Lists advantages for small businesses, such as ease of creation, lower cost than a website, quick updates, and no need to learn HTML or hire a designer.
• Notes that blogging can be laborious for small businesses because it requires regular updates and ongoing commitment.
• Says that, without internal time, hiring a writer may be the solution, although this is not always the most economical option.
• Warns that a poorly updated blog can do more harm than having no blog at all.
• Maintains that a blog only generates exposure and does not guarantee increased sales if the owner does not know how to promote it.
• Links blog success to social media skills for spreading posts after they are published.
• Lists basic requirements for small business blogs, such as a main content area, regular posts, categories, archive, comments, and related links.
• Recommends that options such as voting and subscription should not take up the entire main page.
• Encourages commenting on other blogs to make the practice more enjoyable.
• Concludes that a sloppy corporate blog, with errors and poor structure, affects the company’s goodwill, while a clean and organized blog encourages return visits and subscription.