This week we will dive in-depth into one of my favorite areas of Web 2.0: Blogs.

Blogs have revolutionized the business world as well as the communications of individual businesses. Blogs are becoming essential on the local and national level. They also benefit the everyday individual looking to further their career, share their personal life, network with others in the same field, or just learn more about the web community.

As the third installment of a five article series, you are well on your way to becoming an expert in Web 2.0. For the purposes of this series, Web 2.0 is defined as websites that build on community or offer a service. Web 2.0 allows for interactive viewing of the net. (Refer to the last two weeks for more information.)

To continue to move you forward as an expert in Web 2.0, we will look at what blogs are, how blogs began, and the advantages of blogs for businesses and individuals.

What Are Blogs?

According to Wikipedia, the term “blog” is a contraction of “Web log.” A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

How did Blogs begin?

Blogs could be found in their earliest forms when individuals began keeping online personal diaries in the 1990s. Early weblogs were simple, manually updated components of common websites. Corporations and businesses jumped on the bandwagon by creating sections such as “In the News” and “What