Glossary of Blogging Terms

A

Audioblog: A blog where the posts consist mainly of voice recordings.

Aggregator: A program or webpage which enables users to read the content of blogs using RSS or Atom Feeds.

AJAX: An acronym (Asynchronous Java Script and XML) representing a way to create real-time Web applications.

Anonoblog: A blog site authored by a person or persons who don’t publish their name.

Archives: Most often an index page, often organizing posts or entries by either category or date.

Atom: A feed format used for syndicating content.

Avatar: A graphical image or likeness that replaces a photo of the author of the content on a blog.

B

Blego: a combination of the words Blog and Ego, used to describe the actions of bloggers who write as to their own self worth.

Blog: short for Web log, a blog is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; (verb) to write a Web log.

Blogger: a person who owns or writes for a Web log.

Blogiday: you get fed up and take a holiday from blogging.

Blogosphere: the world of blogs.

Blogroll: a list of links in the sidebar of a blog, often linking to other blogs.

Blogware: commonly used in reference to the tools used to write blogs, such as WordPress.

Blog Feed: a page, written in XML, that is read using Aggregators, that provide an alternative means in which to read blogs. There are two competing standards, Atom and RSS.

Blogstar: blogger running a popular blog.

Blurker: one who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of himself such as comments behind.

C

Comment Spam: when someone posts off-topic commercial remarks with links in a blog’s comment section.

CoComment: Tracks your comments across different platforms and follow conversations.

Corporate Blogs: blogs that are created and sponsored by corporate entities. These blogs provide postings from employees of the organization delivering information and insight relating to the company, their products, and issues that impact the company. Most will allow users to post comments as this provides valuable feedback and a means for open discussion between the company and its consumers.

CSS: Cascading Style Sheets, script that may define the attributes on a web page or a blog, including color, layout, font type etc. CSS is not required to write a web page but is commonly used with blogs.

D

Digital Influencers: online consumers, journalists and analysts who are able to sway public opinion or change consumer behavior in a positive or negative manner.

E

EFF: short for Electronic Frontier Foundation. A nonprofit group working to protect blogger rights.

F

Feedburner: a professional feed management system.

Flame: to make a hostile, intemperate remark, usually of a personal nature.

G

Group blog: a blog with more than one regular contributing writer.

H

Hat Tip: acknowledgment of the source that tipped you the news.

J

Journalist & Media Blogs: blog sites published by professional journalists. These sites may be independent or they may be associated with the media outlet that the journalist is employed by. They provide a higher level of writing and provide true journalistic research and insight in the postings they provide. These blogs may focus on particular subjects, issues, or industries and often provide valuable analysis of issues.

M

Meme: an idea, project, statement or even a question that is posted by one blog and responded to by other blogs. Although the term encompasses much of the natural flow of communication in the Blogosphere, there are active bloggers and blog sites that are dedicated to the creation of memes on a regular basis.

MSM: acronym for mainstream media.

Moblog: a blog maintained via mobile hardware, typically a mobile phone with a built-in digital camera. Moblogs are usually photo journals rather than text intensive (though this varies).

MP3 Blog: a blog that hosts downloadable music in the MP3 audio file format.

P

Personal Blogs: blogs created by individuals often as personal diaries. Many provide personal reviews and opinions of products, companies and issues.

Podcast/ Podcasting: a form of audio blogging created by Adam Curry, a former MTV Host, and Dave Winer, the founder of Userland Software. Its name comes from the targeting of audio posts to Apples iPod audio player, although podcasts can be listened to on competing players and on computers.

Post: the term used to refer to an individual story or article on a blog, literally to post to a blog is to write an article or contribution, and a blog consists of multiple posts.

Public Voice: the collective voice of indivual consumers over the Internet, often influencing consumer behavior.

R

RSS: acronym for really simple syndication. It allows users to get free, automatic feeds to a single Web page from such sources as blogs and news services.

T

TrackBack/ PingBack: A system that allows a blogger to see which other bloggers have referenced or written about a particular post. The system works by sending a ‘ping’ between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert.

V

Vlog: video blog. A blog used to display various forms of video.