Blogging is something that is very much in transition, as the new technologies appear every day and redefine what blogging is, what a blog is capable of doing, and what a blog should be doing. Although, for many years, blogging was defined as text based websites that kept records of days, similar to a day log on a ship. However, this started to change as the group of people who kept blogs became more diverse. The more bloggers began to explore the limits of the medium and of the technology that made it possible, the more the boundaries of what could be called a "blog" expanded.

Joining an established blogging website, especially for the blog novice has plenty of advantages, live journal and blogger are just two of them. Webites that host a lot of different blogs often have very useful tutorials about building and updating your blog, and you are likely to encounter a very user friendly software interface at an established blogging website. In addition, these websites provide a kind of instant community of fellow bloggers who can provide advice, insight, and feedback. These established websites often keep directories of their members, which can be great news for your traffic logs because it means that other bloggers on the website will find out about your pages.

However, there are also some negatives to linking up with large blogging websites. Websites like blogger use established templates and when you post with them, your blog will have the look and feel like everybody else's on the blogger website. The blogging movement is very much about the creation of distinctive websites and the development of individual voices, so it makes plenty of sense that many bloggers would shy away from the cookie cutter look and feel that these blogging websites often promote. The blogging community feels the visual look of a blog should match the originality of the article writing. Although, there are lots of bloggers who think that content is king for the blog and that is what makes it distinctive, not the visual aspect of the blog.