Blogs

A BLOG is a weB LOG or journal.  Entries are made in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order.

Blogs are becoming more and more popular.  Especially in the world of politics.  You can regularly find references to blogs in the press.  Some blogs are written by professionals in their field, others are by common folks like you and I.  What you read in a blog may be only one persons opinion.

Sources of Blogs:
Many of the San Francisco Chronicle writers have blogs that can be found at www.sfgate.com/blogs
KPIX television personalities have blogs at http://cbs5.com/blogs
NBC11 blogs can be found at http://www.nbc11.com/blogs/index.html
Wall Street Journal blogs are at http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0019.html?mod=topnav_0_0012

Dale Gallinatti writes:  Interesting interactive Eurodam news blog: www.eurodamnews.com might be of interest to the group. 

Searching for Blogs:
It's hard to beat Google.  Go to http://blogsearch.google.com/ and search on any subject.  I searched for "Barack Obama" and got over 230 thousand hits.  (Try searching for xbsbill.)

Starting your own Blog: (From Kelly DiNardo in the USA Weekend of 5/27/7.)
1.  Know your motive.
2.  Pick a platform.  (see below)
3.  Just do it.
4.  Promote yourself.
5.  Play nice.

Platforms:
If you have a (free) Google account you can try www.blogger.com
Another possibility is WordPress at www.wordpress.org (also free)

For an interesting use for a blog take a look at http://mytripjournal.com/

Warning:
Beware of FLOGs!  A FLOG is a Fake bLOG.  There are companies that use legitimate looking blogs as advertisements.  They hype their product and give you the impression that it is an impartial outsider who is writing the blog.  Among those who have been caught are Sony, Wal-Mart, Coke and McDonald's.  There is presently no law against companies doing this.