Introduction to Blogging

What is a blog?

“Blog” is short for “Web log.” They originated back in the mid-1990s as a way for people who surfed the Web to share links to interesting sites.

Brief History

Over time, those logs of Web activity began to take on characteristics of online diaries, and people began writing longer posts on them. Over the past decade, the “blogosphere” has evolved to contain a mix of content — anything from one-sentence posts to photos, video and audio recordings.

The subject matter on blogs has expanded too. In addition to sharing links and personal information, blogs are now seen as influential sources of news and opinion on all subjects under the sun.

Basic Characteristics

Many different types of Web sites can be considered blogs. At their most general, blogs are Web sites that are updated with regular postings, which are displayed in reverse-chronological order so that the newest entries are at the top. Another common characteristic is that blogs allow readers to append comments to the blogger’s postings.

Terminology

Writers own and maintain a blog. Maintaining that blog means writing blog posts. This act is generally referred to as blogging.

When you sit down to type something to put on your blog, you are writing a blog post or entry. You are not “writing a blog,” as some people refer to it. That’s like saying that what you do every afternoon is sit down to “write a newspaper” instead of writing an article for the newspaper.

Parts of a Blog

Blogs normally have a homepage, individual post pages and one or more sidebars. Often, they have a footer and a header too, to display copyright information and maybe a logo.

Keep in mind that blogs can be designed to look any way you want, meaning that this list of components is a loose one. If you feel like breaking the mold with your design, do it, so long as it works.

Homepage

All sites on the Internet have homepages; blogs are no different. The homepage is the “top” page on your site, the one that people visit when they type in your Web address (or URL).

Homepages of blogs typically show several posts, maybe the last five or 10 posts. Sometimes they are displayed in their entirety; sometimes they are excerpted, meaning that the reader has to click on the title of the post or a “read more” link to see the full post.

Posts

In addition to being displayed on the homepage, posts exist as their own pages too. These individual post pages are typically where readers can leave comments on the post.

Posts typically express one idea or concept. They can state facts or ask questions. In general, keep them as short as you can. Just because the Web allows you unlimited column space doesn’t mean you have to use it — or that people want to read your 5,000-word opus.

Sidebar

Most blogs have at least one sidebar that’s displayed on every page, whether it’s the homepage or an individual post page or some other page.

Sidebars contain myriad information. They can have links to other blog that the site’s owner likes (a list usually called a blogroll), information about the blogger, a list of recent comments, a list of recent posts, ads or basically anything else you can imagine. It just depends on the blogger’s need and the layout of the site.

What do you need to start a blog?

A topic. Blogs are generally about a specific subject. For reporters, this could be as simple as making your beat the subject of your blog. Local education news can be the subject or maybe city government.
Something to say. If you’re going to write about a subject, make sure you know enough about it (or have access to enough information) to keep the topic interesting for readers. For reporters writing about their beats, this should not be a problem.
A willingness to be wrong. You will be eventually. Don’t be afraid of it. Admit your mistake and move on.

Where do you get a blog?

There are a number of places to get free blogs online. I’ll run through the most common.

The first list contains blogging services. These blogs are hosted on servers by someone else, meaning they’re easy to set up but you sacrifice some control for convenience.

The second list contains blogging platforms, which you can download and install onto your own server or Web host (if you have one). You get full control over your blog, but it’s more complicated to set up and administer.

Services

WordPress.com — WordPress is one of the most powerful blogging platforms online. It’s what I use. It’s fairly full-featured out of the gate; more features cost money, though.
Typepad — Typepad is the chief competitor to WordPress. It’s a powerful and full-featured blogging platform, but it costs money (a subscription fee). It has a free version that offers fewer features.
Blogger — Blogger is owned by Google. It’s been around for ages and is a bit less complicated than WordPress. It also has fewer features.
Tumblr — Tumblr is a new kid on the block. It’s meant to be a lightweight blogging platform that makes it easy to post different kinds of content, such as audio files, videos, images and quotations.
Posterous — Posterous is a lightweight blogging platform, like Tumblr, but it really shines when it comes to its post-by-e-mail functionality. You can e-mail your posts to the service, and your text, along with attachments to the e-mail, will be published to your Posterous blog.
Twitter — Twitter is a microblogging service. Posts are added to it in 140-character chunks. It’s good for immediacy, but not really for archiving or longer pieces.

Platforms

WordPress.org — Free and powerful.
MovableType.org — Powerful and mostly free. You can pay for advanced technical support.

How do you make it succeed?

There’s no sure-fire recipe for blog success, and it’s unlikely your blog for the Chronicle will be competing with the New York Times’ bloggers, TMZ or Perez Hilton.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make our blogs fun, informative places for our readers. The blog at 10,000 Words supplies a list of tips, which I have distilled here. I encourage you to read the 10,000 Words post in its entirety, though.

Write like yourself, provided that you are a polite, down-to-earth person who doesn’t scream and make fun of people.
Proofread your posts! This is the Internet, not a high school essay.
Stay on target. Your blog is about a subject. Stick to it.
Post regularly. If you don’t, then what’s the point in having a blog?
Link to other sites, rather than summarize everything they have to say on yours. This is a common courtesy. Plus, the whole point of the Internet is links.
Let readers comment on your posts.
Let readers subscribe to your site via RSS. Most blogging services and platforms already do this by default. Just don’t turn it off because it allows reader to get your posts on their schedule, not yours.

Also keep this in mind: The Web is not a dumping ground for drivel that wouldn’t stand up in print. Jennifer Peebles at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Net Worked blog reminds us:

Very few topics out there are truly worth an old-fashioned notebook dump, even when you’re writing for the Web. As journalists, it’s still our job to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff for our readers, and to tell them the stuff that’s interesting and important — which brings with it the responsibility of discerning what’s interesting and important, as well as having the courage to leave out all the rest. Our readers trust us to make those calls for them. And when we take them down the garden path to a destination that leaves them thinking, “Gee, that was a colossal waste of my time,” we’re going to lose that trust.

In other words, make sure the information you’re posting online is valuable, that people would actually want to read it. You are what you post.

What do you get out of it?

You connect with readers directly, which makes you seem like more of a human being rather than a faceless, soulless byline.
You build an audience that’s loyal to your name, rather than the newspaper’s name — while also bringing more readers to the paper.
You get story ideas from readers. All you have to do is ask for them. If you make it clear what it is that you write about, people will be able to give you better, more focused ideas.
You can get questions answered. All you have to do is ask, whether it’s on your blog or in the comments on your blog.
You can find new sources.

What do readers get out of it?

A way to connect readers to resources that didn’t fit into your print story. Think of it like the special features disc that accompanied the DVD you just bought. It’s full of stuff that didn’t make it into the movie, but people are still interested in seeing it.
Readers can connect with you directly, meaning that they can address things they think you did wrong and get their questioned answered in a timely fashion.
Readers can help you research. People like pitching in; they’ll even do it for free just because you gave them the opportunity.
Readers get a deeper understanding of the news by following you, who is following closely a beat.

Examples

Dallas City Hall Blog (Dallas Morning News)
The State Worker (Sacramento Bee)
Plano Blog (Dallas Morning News)
Class Notes (San Antonio Express-News)
Capitol Ideas (The Morning Call)
SciGuy (Houston Chronicle)
Dot Earth (New York Times)
Politifact (St. Petersburg Times)
Security Fix (Washington Post)
Digital Scrapbook (Billings Gazette)
Missoula Editor (Missoulian)

Resources

Beatblogging — BeatBlogging.Org examines how journalists can use social networks, blogs and other Web tools to improve beat reporting.
Wired Journalists — Wired Journalists calls itself the home of collaborative journalism on the Web, “powered by the most valuable asset news organizations have: You.”
Net Worked — a blog by the Society of Professional Journalists Digital Media Committee for professionals who want to learn more — in a hurry — about technology
10,000 Words — 10,000 Words gives journalists tips on incorporating multimedia into their work. The site also culls the web for up and coming or underused technologies that enhance journalism.