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What is a Blog? (My Attempt at a Definition)

May 9, 2005 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 3 COMMENTS

Has anyone actually come up with a sufficient answer to this question yet? Seriously, we all use the word "blog" all the time, but we can't define it. Is it a website that's updated consistently? (If that's the definition don't we have to define consistently? I may post one thing a day, while someone like Scoble posts 15.) Is it a website whose updates appear in reverse-chronological order? (What about sites that only include the most recent update on the front page?) Is it a website that is run by "blog" software (say Movable Type or WordPress)? (What about sites that only use MT as a content manager. I built a high school website entirely with MT and would hardly call it a blog.)

Where does that leave us? Well, I think it leaves us with the components of a blog. Mainly RSS, permalinks, date-stamps, trackbacks and comments.

Well, first off, I agree with Tom Coates who says trackbacks are dead, so we can knock that off the list. That leaves us with four components.

Today I read a great entry over at BlogTyme on this very topic. The argument there is that it's comments that make blogs different.

If a “blog� doesn’t have comments then it’s not a blog, it’s a web site. Interaction not only with the author(s) but amongst each other is what makes it different from a web site . . .
I agree 100%, comments make blogs different. But you can't just say a blog is a website with comments. There's got to be more to the definition. So here's my attempt at something a little bit more well-rounded:
Blog: A website written by an individual or a group that includes permanent links for each dated entry, the ability for readers to comment on a per-entry basis and is syndicated via RSS or a similar technology.
I think that covers the four basics: permalinks, date-stamp, comments and RSS. What does everyone think? (I know there are those that disagree with the RSS thing, but I think it's an integral part.)

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1Tyme

Most content management systems have permalinks, date-stamp, comments and RSS built in. It's become a standard. My point is that all MovableType, WordPress, PHP/PostNuke etc. sites aren't blogs. They are only blogs if they have comments turned on. They become a static web site if they turn them off.


Of course I'm taking heat about this because some people turned off comments because of comment spam. All bloggers feel the pain of comment spam but if the blogger makes the choice of staying with software where they can't combat the spam properly and decide to turn comments off, then there is nothing to distinguish their "blog" from a normal web site...IMO.

May 10, 2005

2Noah Brier

I agree with you. But I am expanding your definition. I actually think it's only a blog if it not only has comments turned on, but it also has RSS, date-stamping and permalinks turned on.

May 10, 2005

3kathleen

I agree with all your components, Noah. But I really think blogs need links. To me they are integral in that they help build community and they increase the likelihood of that dialog the comments feature allows.

I know many will disagree and point to all the journal- type blogs out there as examples. Not to be exclusive or anything; I just think that as blogs evolve they'll come to be defined by linkage as much as any other feature.

Oh. And don't forget blogrolls as a feature, too!

May 11, 2005