No doubt you already belong to one of the social network sites the likes such as Myspace, Yuwie, Facebook, Direct Matches, or one of the dozen others that have sprung up like mushrooms. You will probably have received some sort of e-mail from a buddy or someone telling you to join one right away because it is the next big thing in marketing. Some savvy webmasters are also jumping on the bandwagon and starting new social networks and it can be rather disconcerting to be told to join a new one almost every day by some well meaning friend because they promise you it is going to be the next best thing. The every same people tell you that as a marketing tactic social networking is going to be huge and you believe them.
Social network and blogging overload is coming.
You will discover that almost all these social network sites have a blog that you can keep up as well. The majority of people only have enough time to efficiently manage two or maybe three social networking sites. This is even truer if they all have blogs that should be kept updated to some sort of regularity. From a marketing point of view, if you have any experience in internet marketing then you will know that the only real advantage a blog has as a marketing tool is when you keep it updated with fresh content all the time. If you are trying to manage 4 or 5 of these blogs or social network sites it is going to become more of a chore than a pleasure which is what these social network sites were originally all about.
The fine line between being a social networking site and a marketing tool
Already the well known social network sites are starting to restrict the amount of promotion and linking you can do on your blog or website. This is sensible otherwise a social network site will become no more than a classified advertising site and which was not the original plan. The most effective way of marketing your business is certainly through networking on social network sites but if you have joined one to tell your life story or for fun to share your thoughts with the World Wide Web, then you may want to be choosy to find one that is right for you. Otherwise your opinions will be lost amongst a bunch of adverts.
Social network blogs
As previously mentioned the majority of social network sites have blogs where you can add occasional but more preferable regular posts. These blogs may be monetized in such a way that 50% of the takings go to the webmaster/owner. I have noticed that this type of social network site is one of the better ones for personal pages because you will see that terms and conditions allow minimal promotion of websites. One such example is hub-pages and Squidoo. For people that prefer getting their business into the market place then blogs like Blogger from Google is perhaps a better choice; and social networks like Adlander Pro and Direct Matches which have become extremely commercialized are also more sensible options.
Blogs are everywhere. Not just everywhere but also in practically any form you can imagine! If you begin to explore what blogging is for the very first time you will likely find yourself barraged by a plethora of strange terms. You will soon begin to think that they are just inventing a type of blog by attaching a random letter in front of "log".
Which is probably not too far from the reality. There is no need to fear though. We have created a short and concise guide to the world of blogging to help you make sense of a type of media that seems to be taking over the Internet.
First of all the basics
What is a blog?
A blog is a form of communication written from a personal perspective for public consumption. The key is that a blog is not objective. It is completely subjective and that is part of the reason for the popularity of blogs. When you read one you almost feel like you "know" the person writing it. The blog typically communicates on a person-to-person level instead of addressing itself to a wider audience. So, if we can summarize it we would basically describe a blog as something communicated on a personal level to the general public. And yes that seems to be an oxymoron. However, it is probably the best one sentence description of what a blog is without describing the technology itself. And since we are going to be discussing the various types of blogs we need to understand it at its most basic level.
FORMS OF THE BLOG
A blog 'format' is nothing other than the type of media used to create the blog. In an ever-increasing digital world we are given a large variety of options, which we can use to communicate with other people. Naturally, most of these devices have been used to generate a blog. And if they not, they soon will be. So, with that in mind lets discuss some of the most prevalent variations on the traditional blog.
VLOG / VLOGGING / VIDEO BLOGGING
The 'vlog' is something that emerged relatively recently. Essentially it is exactly what its name describes. It is a video recording addressed on a personal basis to the general public. This form of the blog has been adopted primarily by the corporate world, which sees it as a new way to communicate with the end-user or consumer. This is not a media that the average user has adopted - yet. However, with time expect this form of the blog to gain wider acceptance and greater popularity.
A new and emerging type of "Vlog" is the Vodcast, which is nothing more than a "live" version of the vlog.
Some helpful links for Vlogs: Wikpedia entry for Vlog evideoshare offers the ability to share vlogs with others Vodcasts offers a comprehensive directory of vlogs on almost any subject
MOBLOGGING / MOBILE BLOGGING
Moblogging is a "style" of blogging. Essentially it means to blog on the go from a portable device of some type. Most of these types of blogs take the form of pictures with the picture of something serving the same purpose of words.
One good reason to consider a moblog is when you want to give someone else the experience of being at an event without being physically present. Of course this also applies to the aforementioned vlog. The "new baby" seems to be a popular reason to moblog. And the concept of 'babies' can be applied very loosely since corporations are also using it to introduce new products with just as much frequency. One could almost make the case for giving this type of blog entry (the photo) the moniker of "Phlog" but then again do we really need another term to keep track of? No, probably not.
The other form of a moblog is the blog entry made from a digital communication device such as a bluetooth or a pocket pc. Essentially, there is no difference between a traditional blog and this type of moblog other than the fact that you are doing it on the go.
Some helpful links for Moblogs: Flickrblog is a service that allow you to quickly post pictures to your blog
SnapNpost is another company that offers assistance with posting photos
FLOG (s) / FAKE BLOGS
As soon as a new technology emerges it is only shortly thereafter that it is adopted for nefarious purposes by the business world. Of course the purpose is only nefarious from the point of view of the consumer. For the corporation it is usually a pretty good idea. And of course this applies to the 'flog'. A flog is just what it says. It is a fake blog. It is a blog written from the perspective of a fictional individual for the purpose of hyping some product or service or in some cases for the sole purpose of deception.
Of course corporations aren't the only ones to do flogs. It is probably just as popular with individuals but most of them are able to keep it secret much better and for a longer period of time.
PODCASTING
Podcasting may seem to fall outside the scope of the blog but in most cases it does not. A podcast is nothing more than a personal radio show, which is broadcast from the individuals' own computer or other digital device. The only major difference in a podcast and a blog is that the podcast usually lasts for a certain period of time and is given "live" whereas the various types of blogs are usually a record of what happened in the past whether that past is a few minutes or several days.
Some helpful links for Podcasts:
Portable Media Expo 2005 - THE gathering for the Podcast community
Ipodder is a podcasting solution designed to make the podcast easy for anyone
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