Debbie Weil takes a crack at defining a blog.  Must get my mum to read this - she's always wondering what on earth i'm saying when i tell her i'm busy blogging.  Nothing very new here - just Keeping It Simple Silly! 

"Well, I decided to take a crack at it. Here are my top 20 definitions of a blog. Take them with a grain of salt. Take them as a starting point to think about how you might use a blog as part of your Web site or communications strategy.

But donít write Weblogs off as a passing fad, even if you (or your company) are not blogging yet.

Blogging Is...

1. A form of unedited, authentic self-expression
2. An instant publishing tool
3. An online journal with freshly updated content
4. Amateur journalism
5. Something that will revolutionize the Web (think RSS feeds)
6. A way to create community with your voters, er... readers (think 2,200 comments posted to the Dean for America blog in one day)
7. An alternative to mainstream media (think InstaPundit by Glenn Reynolds and TalkingPointsMemo by Joshua Micah Marshall)
8. A tool to teach students how to write
9. A new way to communicate with customers (think Ray Ozzie, CEO of Groove Networks)
10. A new form of knowledge management inside big companies
11. A way for a bunch of navel-gazers to communicate with one another
12. Something to keep you occupied when youíre unemployed (more people than care to admit fit into this categoryÖ have you noticed?)
13. A way to think and write in short paragraphs instead of a long essay (which no one has time to read anyway)
14. Your email to everyone, as A-list blogger Doc Searls puts it (i.e., a way to stay in touch with family and friends)
15. A silly word thatís fun to say (ìGotta go blog nowÖ.î)
16. A way of writing with a distinct voice and personality (think Halley Suitt)
17. Something to talk about at cocktail parties (ìI blogged Seth Godin and he blogged me back...î)
18. A URL to add to your resume (as in TokyoTim, my 23-year-old son, whoís working as an English teacher in Japan for a year)
19. Something else to do with your mobile phone... think audio blogging and moblogging
20. Something you donít want your mother to read: what my mother says about blogging"

Whats your definition ?

5:40:58 PM    comment []  trackback []

The PS Magazine has an article on blogging - Blog'n Culture.  Talks of blogging as a form of meditation, a discipline that allows you to discover your creative self and find a voice, the power of one when you communicate through your blog, and its relevance in developing global communities.  Also has some interesting stats - Phil have you seen this ?    

Thanks Avi for the link - Avi's just risen to the top of the ranks on Ryze as the person with the most guestbook entries - he's promised to 'tell' his networking story to me - am waiting !

Some excerpts :

"You only have to look around you to see that things are changing fast, and that new words are being included in the dictionary to go along with them. And so ìBloggingî has entered the language. What started in 1994, as little more than inspired writing of online diaries, has now become an online subculture encompassing tech blogs, teenage blogs, corporate blogs etc.; and you had better catch up."

Some statistics :

Blogcount estimates that there are roughly 2.4 million to 2.9 million active Weblogs as of June 2003. 1,579,653 Weblogs are Indexed, and 1,042,570 are Estimated to be Active. Nearly 1 millions blogs are created and abandoned after an average of 129 days by owners (commitment issues- I wonder?).

Some blogging guruisms from a claimed Psychic :

"Because it is an easy, instant and gentle way to start a bit of your ëhomeworkí, and to realise there is a creative side to your mind- you just have to acknowledge it, and not judge it. To learn that by your commitment to maintain a blog you will be conditioning yourself, on a daily basis, to see that anything is possible, and that there is no limit to what you can develop. Effectively you will, in fact, be affirming all that to yourself. The daily blogging act could be your commitment to your own development."

"In my view, blogging is about finding your voice, allowing your soul a creative outlet; expressing yourself and getting heard. Itís about discovering that ëyou are not aloneí, others want to know what you have you say. Itís about communicating, intuitive stream of consciousness writing, not judging yourself or what you are capable of, building communities of like-minded people and about bridging barriers. It is about individual drops of rain that run into an ocean, the single dots which make up the Matrix. The power of One.

I believe that it is important to create communities online, where people can support each other and share experiences. We should use every means possible to assist people to link together. We live in a global village, often far from family and old friends, the Internet has the power to create virtual places where we can meet."

12:13:03 PM    comment []  trackback []