Blogging

I won't be able to blog much this week since I will be leaving for a mission trip, so I thought I would blog today about, well, blogging!

History of Blogging

Blogs, or "web logs", started around 1999. For me, anyway. 

That's when I began to surf the internet. The first blog I read? George Lucas' blog about STAR WARS: The Phantom Menace, of course. 

On his blog, he posted journal entries from the set and daily videos about what was filmed that day. I thought it was the best thing ever!

Still do.  Now days, most directors of big film projects have a blog where fans can keep up with filming.

But I truly feel blogging took on a whole different role back in 1997 when the news blog, The Drudge Report, broke the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton affair. No other news station or big time magazine broke the story. 

Nope, Matt Drudge broke the story on his blog. After that, the liberal news media was forced to break the story. Now his blog receives over 1 billion hits a year. Yep, you read that right....1 billion hits. 

He has the most visited news blog ever.

Perhaps the news story that change blogging forever occurred on September 11, 2001.

I remember well logging onto the computer and visiting many blogs that day to read the response of people all over the world. 

Another big news blog, Instapundit, had posts about the attacks on our country. This blog is written by University of Tennessee Law Professor, Glenn Reynolds. I found it to be most helpful to me since I was new to the internet at that time. Instapundit provides links to other blogs all over the world where I read posts from people displaying their condolences for America. I saw posts from Hong Kong where people lit candles for us, Australia where people posted photographs of their reactions to the attacks, and Great Britain where people held the American flag and wept. 

I was moved.

Now I read Instapundit daily for news and interesting articles. Professor Reynolds has even written a book, An Army of Davids,  about the blogging phenomenon and how bloggers have influenced news media unlike anything else in recent history.

Military Blogs

I feel one of the most important phenomenon in blogging happened during the Iraq War. 

Thousands of our young soldiers and Marines in harm's way did something that no other military were able to do in any other war:

Record instantly their feelings and experiences in combat.

I began to read Milblogs (short for Military blogs) in 2004 right after the Fallujah incident that changed the war completely. After that, milbloggers blogged regularly about their combat experiences, the heat, how they missed home, and what it was like to be in war. 

I was able to communicate with many of these milbloggers and thank them for their service. Some of them were killed. Others went on to write books about their blog posts. All of us were left changed by these blogs. 

I remember thinking that writing down their feelings in war time and posting them for the world to read must be therapeutic in some ways. 

One thing is for certain, Milblogs are a powerful way for Americans to read about the horrors of war and what it does to our soldiers and Marines. Some milblogs lean Left while others lean Right, but both are fascinating reads. 

Pajamas Media

Back during the 2004 Presidential election, blogs played an important part in the coverage of the election. Many bloggers, both Left & Right leaning, took to the internet to post their facts and opinions about each Presidential candidate. I enjoyed reading all their posts.

Some blogs were written by former newspaper journalists who left professional journalism because of the Liberal bent. Still, these blogs contained news editorials with quality research.

These bloggers were made fun of by "real" journalists who insisted bloggers were just men sitting at the computer in their pajamas writing editorials. 

This comment started the news/pop culture blog Pajamas Media. 

This blog provides well written articles about news and other interesting topics of the day. I subscribe to the blog (it's free...) and receive email notifications about their posts daily. I highly recommend it!

Now pretty much everyone and everything has a blog. From movie stars, to writers, to cooks, to school teachers, to dogs & cats. Everyone blogs!

*************

Well, that's blogging in a nutshell. 

Why blog? It's a great way to get your name out there especially if you are trying to sell something...anything!

I blog because I am a writer and posting provides me a way to practice writing, a chance to help others with writing tips, and a chance for me to sell my product:

My book!

I suggest you try blogging if you haven't. You will meet some wonderful bloggers out there who have something to say...and sell!

Give it a try!

You never know. You might hit onto something BIG and be the next Matt Drudge or Glenn Reynolds!

But most importantly...just write!

Your turn: When did you first start reading blogs and why? How have blogs made a difference in how you perceive media?

Blessings,

Ruth