Well, 27 weeks of blogging and counting! Some friends even placed odds that these blogs wouldn’t last beyond a few weeks (basically the first turn on a track); I would not have bet against them (if I were a betting man). Yet, this week I asked myself, thinking of my college days long ago in the storied realm of Shakespeare, “to blog or not to blog?” Well, unlike Hamlet, who considered his mortality in his line of questioning, I answered, “Hey, why not!”
Therefore, although most of what I’ve written during these weeks focuses on topics meaningful to me (some due to the times), and usually including aspects of Christian Science nursing and working life at Wide Horizon, this one is about blogging.
There are hundreds of millions of blogs on the internet. (Apologies for adding to this incredible number.) The history of blogging dates back to 1994, which predates social media by a few years. The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997. “Open Diary” blogging was launched in 1998. And “weblog” was shortened to “blog” (not to be confused with “bog”) by Peter Morholz in 1999. Ten years later in 2009 the White House debuted its blog. This came after both YouTube launched and the Huffington Post was founded in 2005. Of course, AdSense by Google, WordPress, TypePad, Twitter, Tumblr and others all jumped on the blogging bandwagon in the “aughts” or “double ohs.”
https://online.ndm.edu/news/communication/history-of-blogging/
Definitions from Oxford Languages of “blog” (bläg) are:
noun
- a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.
verb
- add new material to or regularly update a blog. (It’s about a week since I last blogged.)
… and from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
noun
1 computers: a website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks, videos, and photographs provided by the writer; also: the contents of such a site
2 a regular feature appearing as part of an online publication that typically relates to a particular topic and consists of articles and personal commentary by one or more authors
verb blogged; blogging
1 intransitive : to write or have a blog
2 transitive : to write or write about (something) on a blog
Merriam-Webster evidently has become “America’s most-trusted online dictionary for English word definitions, meanings, and pronunciation.” Hey, Merriam said so!
Its long track-record dates back to 1828 when Noah Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language” first benefited mankind. So, although you won’t find “blog” in that original, I’d say this dictionary is a long-running winner!
And if you’re looking for a business twist: The purpose of a blog is to aid marketing to a point where the content you deliver is targeted specifically to the wants and needs of your audience. Provide answers to their most commonly asked questions or provide advice to areas within your niche that your business is an expert on. www.business2community.com
Although I may or may not be an expert, I appreciate a business twist, and many other types of twists now and then (Nutella or chocolate puff pastry twists, cinnamon twists, “The Twist,” hair twists, film twists, and most of all twisting in golf). Yet, you may ask with a twist, “Why did you decide to start a blog?” Well, the answer may be, “Norm begged me to begin a blog,” or maybe a voice behind me said, “Brian, better to blog.”
Regardless, my sincere thanks to all of you who read these blogs, which supports me blogging on to the next turn on the track!
D. Brian Boettiger
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