Helpful Tips
Blogs as incredibly useful tool for businesses.

What is a Blog anyway?

Just when you think you are finally in tune with the internet and adept at browsing, out comes the Web Blog which manages to appear on every imaginable topics and sites on the internet. Everybody seems to be doing it that you are just left scratching your head and will not even dare ask what a Blog really is.

You are not alone. I know a lot of people, even those in high-tech companies, who are still confused with the concept of Blogging. Actually, I will let you in my little secret. Yes, “Web Blog” had been out there for a while before I finally caught up with it.

I am not going into the technical aspect of it (no need to get more confused), but will discuss its core concept and what makes it different from the older and more familiar "Discussion Forums".

The Concept
A Web Blog (Blog in short) is like an “online journal”. You are called the “Blogger” if you own and write on that “online journal”. Like any other journal, you can talk about any topics that interest you. Writing or adding an article to an existing Blog is called “Blogging”. Individual articles on a Blog are called “Blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. Blogs are updated regularly (typically daily), and postings are arranged in chronological order.

The beauty of the Blog is that anybody can do it easily, without any technical knowledge. There are many software that you can use to set up your own “Blog” very quickly.

What’s the difference between Blogs and Forums?
If we already have Forums (or newsgroups, chat groups, discussion threads), why bother with Blogs?

The Similarity
There is only one similarity between Blogs and Forums, and that is the ability to post a comment, and comment on another comment which eventually develops into a discussion.

The Difference
Forums are highly structured and require you to login or register before posting or commenting on any discussion. This is not the case for most Blogs. Commenting is the main purpose of Forums, where comments are organized under topics or categories (not required for Blogs). If you want, you can receive email notification whenever new comments are posted on a discussion you're interested in. In addition, you can communicate directly with other Forum members online through private messaging.

On the other hand, commenting is not the primary focus of Blogs, but rather the entries written by the owner of the Blog.  You can write about any subject in your Blog and so entries do not need to be categorized by topics. You can syndicate you Blog entries to anyone who wants to receive it as well as connect your entries to the other entries of other Blogs.  How cool is that!

One thing I should note is that you can read Blogs or post entries on the content of the Blog using your standard browser. Alternatively, you can also read Blogs by using a RSS reader program, where you simply subscribe to whichever Blogs that you want and they are available immediately in the reader. The reader is very convenient because you have all of the Blogs that you are interested in one place and you don't have to surf all over the Internet to read them.

Conclusion
Blogs, indeed, have unique dynamic features.  It is valuable and impressive in regards to inter-relating, creating online conversation, and building loyal groups of follower. This definitely makes Blogs an extremely effective tool for businesses.

If you have any topics that want to discuss in our newsletter, please let us know.

Spring is almost Here!

• Helpful Tips: What is a Blog Anyway?
• What's New - Racquel Joins Vianet
• Promotion: "2008" FREE Website
• Great Tool From Our Client

"2008" FREE Website Annual Promo is Here

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Welcome Racquel!

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