The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets - Principles of Information Systems - page 289

or share too much. People have been fired for blogging about work, and the daughter of a
politician embarrassed her father when she made personal confessions on a blog.
Blog sites, such as www.blogger.com and www.blogcatalog.com , can include information
and tools to help people create and use Web logs. To set up a blog, you can go to the Web
site of a blog service provider, such as www.livejournal.com , create a username and password,
select a theme, choose a URL, follow any other instructions, and start making your first
entry. Blog search engines include Technorati and Blogdigger. You can also use Google to
locate a blog.
A corporate blog can be useful for communicating with customers, partners, and em-
ployees. However, companies and their employees need to be cautious about the legal risks
of blogging. 21 Blogging can expose a corporation and its employees to charges of defamation,
copyright and trademark infringement, invasion of privacy, and revealing corporate secrets.
A podcast is an audio broadcast over the Internet. The name podcast comes from the word
iPod , Apple's portable music player, and the word broadcasting . A podcast is an audio blog,
like a personal radio station on the Internet, and extends blogging by adding audio messages.
Using PCs, recording software, and microphones, you can record audio messages and place
them on the Internet. You can then listen to the podcasts on your PC or download the audio
material to a digital audio player, such as Apple's iPod. You can also use podcasting to listen
to TV programs, your favorite radio personalities, music, and messages from your friends
and family at any time and place. Finding good podcasts, however, can be challenging.
Apple's iTunes provides free access to tens of thousands of podcasts sorted by topic and
searchable by keyword. After you find a podcast, you can download it to a PC (Windows or
Mac) and to an MP3 music player such as the iPod for future listening.
Figure 7.12
iTunes Podcasts
iTunes provides free access to tens
of thousands of podcasts.
People and corporations can use podcasts to listen to audio material, increase revenues,
or advertise products and services. You can listen to podcasts of radio programs, including
some programs from National Public Radio (NPR), while you are driving, walking, making
a meal, or most other activities. Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting cor-
poration, sells memberships to podcasts of popular radio shows and personalities, including
Rush Limbaugh, NPR programs, and others. ABC News uses podcasts to allow people to