Bloggers' Vocabulary Explained

Thursday, December 20, 2007

This Blogging 101 is mostly about the blogging vocabulary, though for the sake of those who are real beginners I threw in a few tips as well.

Before going out and starting blogging, you don't really need to know what is hidden behind the terms blog, platform, domain, and web host, but it's nice to have at least an idea...because once you have mastered these key elements of blogging, you can enter any conversation about blogging with confidence.

After you know what exactly a blog is, and some of its pertaining vocabulary, you will be on your way to passing the final exam of blogging 101 and to blogging with the best of them.

Blog is short for weblog, which simply means a series of online posts presented in reverse chronological order which means that you see the newest on top). That's all! Most blogs are text, but there are also photo blogs and video blogs.

The rest of blogging 101 has to do with the technical side of things. If you are setting up a blog, you will need a platform, a web host, and a domain.

* Blogging platform is a computer software program that allows you to write posts and to update your blog. Your platform is also what you use to design the look of your blog, from color scheme to font size.
* Web host is an outside server who gives space for bloggers either free or for a certain monthly or annual amount, sort of like the virtual file cabinet where your blog is stored. Your computer communicates with the host when you upload or edit a post.
* Domain is the online address of your blog, and usually ends in 'dot com', but today there are a lot more possibilities.

A shortcut to blogging is Blogger.com supported by Google (platform and host in one -- free). All you need is access to Internet (a friend's access is just as good) and a personal email address which becomes your ID for Google purposes.

Step 1 -- type blogger.com in your browser window, press 'go'.
Step 2 -- open an account on Blogger. Choose a name (domain -- free).
Step 3 -- choose the page elements you would like.
Step 4 -- start blogging!

To read your blog, use 'view blog' while in Blogger.com, or enter in your browser the name.blogspot.com and there you are.

The advantage of Blogger is that being sponsored by Google, you can obtain a Google ID for placing ads on your sites much faster than with a normal website.

Now that you know what a blog is, what a platform is, and what domains and hosts are, we can go on to visit some of the more frequently used of the blogger's terms

* Blogger - a person who blogs
* Blogging - the act of posting on blogs
* Blogosphere or Blogoverse - The Internet blogging community
* Comments - enabling readers to leave their remarks
* Captcha - short for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" -- those word and letter verification images you need to type in to show you are human and not a bot. Helpful to block automated spam comments. Makes the "Automated Blog links" software useless -- don't spend money to get one.
* Ping - Short for Packet Internet Grouper. Blog and ping helps to notify other blog tracking tools for updates, changes and trackbacks.
* Post, Entry- individual articles that make up a blog
* Photoblogging - a blog predominantly using and focusing on photographs and images. Photoblogs are created by photobloggers
* Vlogging - Also called video blogging. Shortened to vlog. Posted by vlogger. A variant on the regular blogging, using video instead of text.
* Audioblogging - Also called audioblog, MP3 blog or musicblogs. a variant on the blogging using audio instead of text. Created by audioblogger.
* Moblogging - Also called moblogs. A blog posted and maintained via mobile phone. Moblogs are created by mobloggers.
* Tags - labelling or attaching keywords to be grouped with similar posts
* Blogroll - list of links to other blogs in your sidebar. Also see blogrolling.com
* Movidblog - sure to come in the future -- instannt sending of your video to your blog, like a live repoting for TV, only it is for your blog.

And now, for some tips, mostly for your own security:

* You need a name, but it does not have to be your real one. In any case, do not offer your family name, unless you are posting on a professional blog.
* Never assume that the person you just met on the internet is who he/she says -- especially for very young correspondents -- they may be really 13, but they may be sex predators, or even internet police out to find those fiends.
* Never, ever give your financial information unless you are sure the site is truly what they say they are. There are out there ruthless thieves who build web sites meant to lul your vigilence and steal your hard earned money.
* Remember, you are writing on an open site, for the blogoverse to survey and read. Do not post text or pictures you'll be sorry you did!
* If you do not know how to protect your domain, set it up only for receiving mail, not for sending. (you may check with your host's helpdesk and they will do it for you). If you leave your email address unattended, spammers will use it (identity theft) and one sunny day, your host may inform you that your website is closed down due to spam complaints for email you never even thought to send.
* Most important -- Do Not Spam!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a deep breath and congratulate yourself! You have passed blogging 101.

Rocsanne Shield - Author of reality articles and fantasy novels

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