Monday, July 19, 2010

To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question!

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asked, "Why a blog?" and "What is a blog, anyway?" and "What can you do on a blog that you can't do on Facebook?"  That got me to thinking and researching so I could give more than a "deer-in-the-headlights" look the next time someone asks one of these questions.

"A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web."  On my blog I am able to share favorite websites, blogs I visit, recipes, craft ideas, random thoughts, etc.  The blog has a template where I can update specific areas, move sections of the template around, change the background, etc.  Facebook has a 420 character limit per post whereas Blogger has a 1 GB limit per post--huge difference!  Those of you who know me personally know that I can't begin to get started in 420 characters!!!  One Gigabyte--now you're talkin'!

"Well, first of all, it depends on the type of communication.  When I post here, it's not intended as private, one-to-one communication, as it is in email.  It's one-to many (publishing, I think they used to call it).  Face book is not intended to be a fully open and public communication medium -- it's one-to-not-so-many." quoted from Scott Karp in the web article, Web Communication Experiment: Blog vs. Facebook vs. Twitter.  Scott's paragraph pretty well explains the "Why not Facebook" question for me.  I would love you to share my blog site with all your friends but I most likely will not accept your friends as my Facebook "friends".

The questions were good for me because I hadn't thought about "Why a blog?"  I simply knew I had thoughts and ideas I wanted to share and a blog seemed a good way to do it.  Now I know a blog is the perfect medium for my thoughts and ideas because of it's versatility and flexibility.

For more information on Blogging:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/02/05/what-is-a-blog/
http://publishing2.com/2007/07/28/web-communication-experiment-blog-vs-facebook-vs-twitter/

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