What Is the Definition of a “Blog”?
posted by Daniel Solove
The other day, I posted about the New York Times blogs that weren’t free and asked: “A blog you have to pay for? Huh?” In the comments, several commenters wrote that being free is not a necessary element of being a blog. So how, precisely, is a “blog” to be defined? Blogs are typically free, online, created in the style of chronological entries, written in a distinctive voice, interactive (comments and trackbacks), and connected to others (links, blogrolls, etc.). Of these elements, perhaps the only necessary requirement is that a blog be online. The rest are optional, although without at least some of these elements, a blog would be no different from a website. What, then, makes a blog a blog?
April 11, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Posted in: Blogging
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Responses (9)
Fingerprint File - April 11, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Someone has to say it first: I know it when I see it.
RCinProv - April 11, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Just to expand on the idea of specialized blogs: I’ll add my favorite specialized blog form, the course blog. All the features you mentioned but also, and quite importantly, limited in duration and with a specific commonality in audience.
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/pubs/teachingExchange/jan2006/02_cheit.shtml
Joe Patent - April 11, 2006 at 11:20 pm
All you need to ask is WWJSD*?
Start with the plain meaning of the text. From where does the word “blog” come? My recollection (and I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong) is the “blog” is a condensed form of “web log.” Thus, a blog is merely any log (e.g., the Captian’s log, Stardate 2159.34) posted on the web.
There is nothing in the word itself that suggests that a blog must be free.
And you can argue, if you like, that, perhaps at this late stage in the history of the internet, the term is now understood as something that is free. But we all know, save Justice Breyer, that relevant time period of ascertaining the true meaning of the term “blog” is when 1995, when Al Gore and the other founders created the internet.
And don’t you even dare try to argue that someone in Zimbabwe determined that a blog must be free!
* What Would Justice Scalia Do?
MR - April 11, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Blog derives from WebLog. So, it seems to me that so long as (a) it is on the web and (b) is a log of someone’s life, work, activities, interests, whatever, then it’s a blog. The rest is just fluff.
Andrew - April 12, 2006 at 8:53 am
There are two common elements to being a blog:
1. Postings in reverse chronological order (the fresh stuff is at the top.)
2. Accessible through a web browser (but need not be publicly accessible– it can be on an intranet or password-protected.)
Comments/trackback, RSS feeds, and an informal tone are more often than not also features of a blog, but don’t define the form.
Simon - April 12, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Re Joe’s comment -
“WWJSD?”
[simon@linux1 simon]$ whois wwjsd.org
[Querying whois.publicinterestregistry.net]
[whois.publicinterestregistry.net]
NOT FOUND
Genuius! If I wasn’t already so far behind with projects, that would be the next one. When I think of a blog, I tend to think of them as being a blog about something rather than being about the author; in other words, your average Livejournal wouldn’t count. But to impose such a limitation is really to ignore the meaning and history of the term, and probably isn’t valid.
RCinProv - April 12, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Update: Steven Brill was speaking on our campus today. In his remarks, he mentioned that he had just encouraged Tina Brown to start a subscriber-only blog! I am not convinced that enough poeple would be willing to pay for Tina Brown’s daily musings. But then again, it might not take all that many for the idea to make oney. More broadly, Brill was adamant that the Web will be moving ever more to paid content. I think he’s right.
Eh Nonymous - April 13, 2006 at 4:24 pm
I disagree that because many blogs – particularly the most popular ones – are not pay-for-access, that means Blogs Are Free.
Charging restricts entry, thus requires that people value the product enough to pay to access it.
Blogs – particularly personal ones – may draw so little interest, or require so little input, that there’s no need to charge.
Or they may be self-supporting through advertising revenue, by drawing sufficient eyeballs (or clickthroughs) that there’s no need to charge the reader.
Or they could subsist on donations.
I rather view the assumption that blogs must be free as akin to the one that newspapers must be printed black-and-white paper, and sold to home subscribers.
On the other hand, a subscriber-only (or fee-requiring) blog which doesn’t sustain readership, or pay for itself, quickly becomes a non-blog, by ceasing publication.
Web2earn - April 21, 2006 at 8:45 am
Not only blogs are percevied by web surfers as something free, but they are also turning into a source of profit, because of contectual ad programs such as Adsense.
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