Category: Article Marketing

The Documentary Quality of Personal Blogging


Blogs as documentaries

There are plenty of blogs on the Web dealing with a wide variety of topics and vastly diverse functions; but many blogs primarily catalog of the life experiences of their owners; so from this perspective it can be said that personal blogging, when discussed in terms of genre, probably falls more frequently in the category of documentary than any other genre. And even though there are quite a number of blogs that focus on the collection of poetry and other forms of creative writing, the vast majority of personal blogs are most likely to be categorized as documentaries.

When you think about it over the span of many years, making a documentary was meant to be an objective act of reporting the sights and sounds that the filmmaker, writer or photographer encountered. However, in contemporary times there was movement towards embracing that degree of subjectivity inherent in the documentary form. This means that modern documentaries often reflected the distinctive voice and sensibility of their creators, making today’s documentaries to revolve around personality, thereby – more often than not – blurring the lines between documentary and memoir.

Blogs fall somewhere between these two genres, muddying the distinctions even further, an indication that the personal blog, documentary and memoir are now irrevocably intertwined for better or for worse. Although few bloggers think of themselves as making documentaries in any formal sense, every time someone sits down in front of a computer and types up a record of their day, s/he is documenting a personal historical moment. Examples of this kind of blogging are those things we take for granted in our daily lives.

Fascination-driven

Things like the way we use specific modes of transportation, or the kinds of products we buy, which may seem quite fascinating to people who live outside our environments, and are therefore fascinated with our lot is at the heart of many documentary projects. When people think about blogging, documentary is not very likely to be the first description they envision, but a few decades down the road it is very likely that todays blogs will be seen primarily as very subjective documentaries of our era. People of tomorrow will almost certainly look to the blogs of today for insight into our historical moment.

Documentary may not be the aim of most people who spend time posting their thoughts and ideas on the Web; but in some ways, the documentary aspect of blogging is more of a side effect than a primary goal. However, the fact that so many people are interested in publishing these public Web diaries shows that personal blogs are about more than just rumination. The fact that bloggers are so stimulated by, and interested in, sharing their ideas with each other reinforces the idea that personal blogs are – in some ways – documentaries meant for public consumption.

A perspective-based niche

An undeniable truism is that documentaries appeal to people who are curious about alternate ways of life, and many people who regularly read personal blogs written by others are looking for this same kind of new perspective. However, this is not to say that vocations such as poetry and other forms of creative writing are deemed less appealing to blogging audiences worldwide; but rather, that each niche commands the attention of a specific section of the marketplace, with documentaries occupying the single largest share.

Software and Hosting for the Topical Blogger


Blogging: The adaptable medium

The Internet has certainly made great strides since those heady days of the “dot com boom;” so much so that today anyone who has writing ability, or aspirations of being a writer has probably already written a blog on the Web. This is because there are various types of blog software are simple to learn and easy to use; and this means that both the individual who is technically proficient, as well as the one who is technically challenged, can easily regularly.

For some individuals, blogs serve as projects about every day living, as they talk about their daily activities and make tributes to friends and family. Furthermore, blogs assume a profound meaning when written to compose and assemble political statements, endorse a product, provide information on research, and even offer tutorials. Chances are that any subject which is of interest to you has already been written about in a blog.

Modern-day blogs are now being written by musicians, politicians, sports figures, novelists, newscasters and actors, as well as other known figures. However, (fever?) that existed at the onset of this newfound vocation has also raised its share of controversy. The fact that anyone can compose a blog post regarding any subject matter under the sun invites complaints about certain write-ups that are at issue. In many blogs people’s names have been mentioned in not-so-flattering ways, and this is often the source of such consternation and threats of legal action.

It is therefore important to keep in mind that, although an individual may have the freedom and tools to write anything that interests him/her in a blog, it doesn’t mean that s/he should not be responsible for the manner in which s/he put content in the public domain, especially when that content includes information about others. In other words, bloggers should avoid making statements which can become controversial, unless those statements are fully sourced by other reputable media. So be prepared, and be very careful about the content provided in .

Why people blog

Some folks blog for personal reasons which might include their acquaintances and relationships, while others blog as a hobby. An individual can write a blog about his/her daily activities, and about things related to his/her life as a way of telling family and friends certain things that s/he might not have been able to express verbally (in a face-to-face talk). Likewise, an individual may also just so s/he can express certain feelings about self, or about a certain subject matter that is of interest to him/her.

Other bloggers prefer to be more topical, in the sense that the blogs they maintain are committed to a specific topic, which could be as broad in range as it is different; and might be about computer hardware, religion or politics like magazines, and similar to print media they have a regular and devoted following.

Then there are those who by using their blogsite as a marketing tool. This category of bloggers might also include corporations, which also into blogging; and when these blogs are well written and implemented, they can be powerful instruments for business communications, thereby creating eagerness and anticipation about the their products and services they offer. The corporate blog have also been used as tool within the company to keep employees well informed about company issues and news.

The choice of software

A typical Web designer or software developer might get a chuckle at the notion of utilizing software developed by someone else. This is because most software developers, while knowledgeable in the field of digital technology and computer science, often adhere to the architecture and fundamentals of their own software platforms, especially when software features and platforms that a client may have differ greatly from that of the developer’s. When it comes to a Weblog software, however, there is no reason for concern when using a package that is pre-written, as most packages were developed through years of study; not just shuffled together over a couple of days.

In addition, one may study a platform’s feature set; but for a developer, it would take a lot of time and effort to write and compose from scratch, every single feature in the of today. For most people, a blog is there for one main reason, and that is to publish or make known his/her literature and content that exist on the Web, which means that the blogger can spend more of his/her time creating and writing content, instead of coding, if s/he has the ability to code.

Hosted services

Finding a Web hosting service for a blog is perhaps one of the easiest and most affordable (many are free) of all the tasks a blogger might do when s/he decides to start broadcasting on the Web; so not having web host to provide space for your blog should not be a deterrent to blogging. In fact some of the services that s/he might consider looking into, are Web hosts that include Blogger, TypePad, Live Journal, and WordPress (the hosted version) in their hosting packages.

These services are operated or handled for an individual, so there is no need for a new blogger to concern him/herself one about ; instead, s/he can concentrate on the blog’s appearance and content. In just minutes, after signing up for a hosting account, the blogger can actually start his/her own blog. Many of those services, such as blogger, are offered free, except TypePad, which charges a minimal amount for monthly service fee.

Self-hosted services

When a blogger has Web hosting on hand, or is eager to buy hosting, in which s/he feels that the advantage will prevail over the problems of keeping up his/her own blog connection and installation, then s/he may want to consider a package that is self-hosted. These platforms include Movable Type, Text-pattern and WordPress (“5 minute installation”).

Other hosting companies did construct processes of making installation easier, by permitting installation with just a click from a control panel that is browser-based. It is important that a blogger checks with the hosting company so that s/he can determine whether or not this function is offered. Similar to hosted services, some self hosted packages are made available either for free or for a small fee which is dependent on the type of , as well as the basis upon which s/he is using it.