Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
or an extended commentary. Some blogs are similar to personal diaries, but
others are run by users with specialist knowledge of a topic they want to
share with other people. A blog owner is likely to engage directly with read-
ers who comment on the topic and follow the blog.
Popular blogs with lots of followers and comments can be highly influ-
ential in their sphere of expertise. Social media tools such as Twitter and
Facebook (
www.facebook.com
) are used to promote posts and get
more people to contribute to the commentary.
Companies often use blogs to share news about forthcoming prod-
uct launches and ideas they are working on. A blog of this type may
be part of a company's website. For example, Microsoft hosts several
official blogs written by employees in various departments to let the
public know informally about what its teams are working on for future
products and services. Figure 9.4 shows the Extreme Windows blog,
for example, found at
http://blogs.windows.com
, which high-
lights advanced-level technologies for Windows.
Figure.9 4
Although blogs are best known for containing individual writers' personal stories
and opinions, some blogs are corporate-sponsored, like this one.
Many individual bloggers use a
blog platform
, which is a free or low-
cost blog-hosting website. Some of the most widely used blog platforms
are WordPress, Typepad, and Blogger. These platforms act as the web
host and offer customizable design templates as part of the blog. For a
small additional fee, extra features are available, such as the capability to
use your own domain name.
blog platform
A web server that hosts the blogs
of individuals, either free or for a small fee.
Microblogging
is a form of blogging that allows users to post brief text
commentary or post photos and audio clips. On Twitter (the best-known
microblogging platform), each post (called a “tweet”) can be no longer
than 140 characters. This restriction is intended to keep updates interest-
ing and make people think about the essence of what they're trying to
say. Some updates are used to link to blog posts the users have written or
microblog
A service that allows the posting of
short messages.
