The word ‘blog’ is the abbreviated form of ‘web log’. What you do here is that you write or post about absolutely anything you like; it’s like an online journal. Starting from your pesky next door neighbor to Bush’s recent shoe fetish – anything which strikes your fancy.
Blogs help you upload photos, videos and stream links along with allowing comment-setting options for visitors; all of these you can control through settings. Privacy options help you in going public; or not.
If you are blessed with some knowledge of HTML, then you can make a few changes to your page the way you want to, if not, that’s okay since all blogging communities offer you a variety of designs and layouts.
Now another aspect of blogging one should consider is that it is the honcho of all tools when it comes to citizen journalism. So if you are planning to start a blog to create awareness or make it remotely political, you will need a lot of traffic – the number of hits your blog receives, i.e., the number of pople who view your blog.
To do this effectively subscribe for RSS feeds from news agencies and register your blog at communities such as Technorati, Global Voices, Desi Blogs, Bloglines, Blog Catalog, etc.
To keep track of your traffic score you can use a petite map available at Feedjit.
A few places to start blogging in could be:
How a blog is NOT like a diary:
– You do not have to shuffle through pages to go to previous entries; just look at vthe archive.
– Your blog can play your favorite tunes whereas your diary only cherishes the tune ‘The Sound of Silence’ by Simon and Garfunkel.
And before I forget, there are places that will pay you to get you to blog such as this one!