Blog Posts: An Introduction

Blogs, now called posts, have been around for over ten years. In 2004, they were at their peak. That’s how they met you. That does not mean that if you have not started a blog you are a lost cause. If you’re just starting out, you may be wondering: What is a blog? You can go to Wikipedia and find out the history and what a blog is, more or less, but it doesn’t really define in specific terms what goes into a blog and that’s because there are different types of blogs. Here, I hope to tell you what blogs are and the difference between them.

There are blogs that are just streams of consciousness. They are just made up of random spur of the moment thoughts and don’t really have a beginning, middle, and end as you see in essays. It can be random things about what you did and your thoughts about that day. It takes creativity and a bit of self-disclosure. It could be random ridiculous things, mistakes made, or a mishap that turned into a relatively good turnout. It is not a teachable moment. It’s for entertainment.

There are blogs that focus on a single topic, such as those published by publishers who write about writing itself. They are short lip-smacking quips to encourage you to read more about their site and what their writers post in terms of articles. There is a trick. They take you to a product they are selling. They give you free newsletters that are a mini blog. This is all for you to invest in their product, i.e. self-publishing, publishing services, etc. If you know what they are in advance, you can get good information from the articles.

There are blogs that are informational blogs that deal with a variety of topics particular to a certain population of people. These are more difficult blogs, because you have to have a large enough audience that is interested in what you have to say on the topics they want to know more about. For example, my blog is designed for therapist-psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, counseling practitioners, or social work. This is a limited field, but parents may also be interested. I’m toying with making it for a wider audience. These blogs are technical in nature and either focus on one specific topic at a time or are written in a series of blogs/posts on the same topic.

Some people do not consider the latter category of blogs. What I have found is that a blog is anything you want it to be. Try different types of blogs and see which one suits your voice. My voice is telling my experiences that I hope can help others. A blog is written better if it is short. People who write long blogs probably won’t get read unless they are outstanding. With all the reading material on the web, people want to be hit with a flavor that they can run around with and investigate further. They may just want to know a little bit about something to be aware of it, but they’re not in the full scene or they want something that’s a short entertainment shot for them.

You can write a blog just for you. Maybe you just want to write in a stream of consciousness for your own entertainment. That’s fine. There is no right or wrong way to blog and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Go with your gut. You could be saying that I don’t want to write a blog, I’m happy just reading them. Good for you! Show us your support by reading our blogs/posts. The above is an introduction to blogging and illustrates three types of blogs. There are many more types out there. Go and investigate and see what you find. Blogs in some aspects are now called blog posts. Go out and find blogs that capture your interest. Eat your heart out and have fun doing it.