I have a 94-year-old uncle who is in a rest home and who I send hard copies of my blog posts. The other day he asked me “What is a blog?” and “Why is this called a blog?”

I have lived so long in this blogging world that I was surprised when he asked, though I shouldn’t have been. It hasn’t been around that long, and there are still elderly Americans who have never even used a computer.  My uncle retired before desktops were commonly used.

So here’s what I told him, but not without first googling it. I found millions of answers to the question “What is a blog?”, and I learned a little myself in the process.

The word blog can be used as both a noun and a verb

When used as a noun it means that it is a regularly updated website or web page, typically run by one person or a group of persons. When used as a verb, it means to add new material to or regularly update a blog. For example, “I blog about once a week on my blog.”   

 

Photo by Victor Hanacek and picjumbo

A blog is usually written in an informal or conversational style. This reminds me of PR school when we were instructed to write in a conversational style because people were more likely to read it.  

I told my uncle that a blog is somewhat like a web journal or diary, but that today some blogs are more like online journalism. Some blogs are so popular that company’s pay to advertise on their site.   

The word blog originally came from the word “weblog” or “web log”. Of course, the web is simply another name for the Internet. 

A blogger is someone who blogs or writes for a blog. Blogging is the act of writing a post for a blog. A post is an entry or story. Posts typically are posted in reverse chronological order, thus the most recent post appears first. Blogs are made up of many posts.

Blogs are updated when the blogger wishes to add a post, but if the posts are not added frequently enough, they are called a slow blogger. There seems to be no strict definition of what a slow blogger is, but I would probably be a slow blogger by some bloggers’ standards. I try to post about once a week. I know bloggers who post daily, but they wear me out trying to keep up with them.

  
Photo found on picjumbo

Most blogs offer a way for people to subscribe to new posts via email. It is a free service. 

This means they can receive new posts via email without having to visit the blog itself. The email has enough information so the reader can decide whether they want to read more or not. This gives the reader a way to never miss a post if they are interested enough.

  
Photo by Victor Hanacek and picjumbo

So there you have it! My uncle now understands a little more about the web world; and I do, too.   I had no idea that the name “blog” came from “web log”.