A blog is not a blog unless…

May 17, 2006 By

Dwight Silverman, of the Houston Chronicle, says shame on Microsoft for calling the publishing mechanism inside the new URGE music service and Windows Media Player 11 (which otherwise is getting good reviews around blogs this morning) "blogs."

I agree with Dwight.

What made blogging better than Web sites? Five things.

1) Ease of publishing.
2) Discoverability. (Pings weblogs.com or technorati or another ping server).
3) Conversationality. (Trackbacks or as-they-happen referer logs, or now being part of Technorati and other blog search engines).
4) Linkability. (All posts should have permalinks).
5) Syndicatability. (All content should be available in RSS feeds).

If you don't have those five, you shouldn't call your stuff a blog. Especially if I can't link to it from here.

Filed Under: 1
← Older Comments
  • http://skintwriter.com/ skint writer

    In my innoncence as a new blogger I’ve just started a similar topic about trying to define what a blog is.

    I don’t think a general definition of a blog can be reduced to a simple list like this. Although the term has been around a while, it’s only just beginning to mature. It’s in an inchoate state as l.lee.lowe put it.

    In other words the art and science of blogging is only now getting into its infancy, we can try and predict what it will look like when it grows up, but we can’t pin it down yet.

  • http://www.josheinstein.com/ Josh Einstein

    Please I was “blogging” before the word even existed. You can’t really define it with requirements. That’s like Microsoft saying an ultra-mobile PC isn’t a “UMPC” unless it does x, y, and z. :)

  • http://www.josheinstein.com Josh Einstein

    Please I was “blogging” before the word even existed. You can’t really define it with requirements. That’s like Microsoft saying an ultra-mobile PC isn’t a “UMPC” unless it does x, y, and z. :)

  • Pingback: The Winery Web Site Report

  • Joe

    Then blogger is not a hosting service for blogs.

  • Joe

    Then blogger is not a hosting service for blogs.

  • leona

    i understand what you mean, but there are sites that are generally considered blogs because they are updated frequently, have content displayed in reverse chronological order, but have no RSS, no permalinks, and no “leave a comment” spaces. Karen Cheng’s blog for example.

  • leona

    i understand what you mean, but there are sites that are generally considered blogs because they are updated frequently, have content displayed in reverse chronological order, but have no RSS, no permalinks, and no “leave a comment” spaces. Karen Cheng’s blog for example.

  • Pingback: Luis Rull · Scoble sienta cátedra y nos define los blogs

  • Pingback: The Applied Blogging Workshop » Five Plus One Conditions For Being a Blog

  • Pingback: www dot james mckay dot net » Apparently the in word is “blog”…

  • James

    I saw that you have a page that discusses patent-related resources at http://scobleizer.com/2006/05/17/a-blog-is-not-a-blog-unless/. I wanted to suggest adding http://www.freepatentsonline.com to the page. This web site has free PDF downloading (instead of having to page through TIFFs like at the US PTO). It is by far the best free patent searching site.

  • James

    I saw that you have a page that discusses patent-related resources at http://scobleizer.com/2006/05/17/a-blog-is-not-a-blog-unless/. I wanted to suggest adding http://www.freepatentsonline.com to the page. This web site has free PDF downloading (instead of having to page through TIFFs like at the US PTO). It is by far the best free patent searching site.

  • Pingback: Andy C :: identity crisis

  • Pingback: The Library Rebooted: Unwrapped » Blogging Jessamyn West’s talk on Blogs

  • http://apWZJoKX42.com/ apWZJoKX42

    Hi! Very nice site! Thanks you very much! n37WteApomoU9M

  • http://apWZJoKX42.com apWZJoKX42

    Hi! Very nice site! Thanks you very much! n37WteApomoU9M

  • http://loyno.edu/~elameire/de/spiel-3.html kostenloses online spiel raum

    I wish you the best of luck the site is really great and if there is anything my organization can do to help you make it even more informative please let me know.
    http://loyno.edu/~elameire/de/spiel-3.html |

  • http://loyno.edu/~elameire/de/spiel-3.html kostenloses online spiel raum

    I wish you the best of luck the site is really great and if there is anything my organization can do to help you make it even more informative please let me know.
    http://loyno.edu/~elameire/de/spiel-3.html |

  • Pingback: Emerging Earth - Blog Readership Report

  • Pingback: Post 1 « sociopolitikal semiotik

  • Pingback: Spice Girls “Blog” Not a Blog

  • http://www.shotguncity.co.uk/ Fazz

    Great site with very good look and perfect information

  • http://www.shotguncity.co.uk/ Fazz

    Great site with very good look and perfect information

← Older Comments