Last month, The Observer printed a list of, in its opinion, the world’s most powerful blogs. Just to clarify for any blog virgins out there, blog is short for web log and official definitions seem to vary wildly but it generally refers to an online journal, with posts displayed according to date entered.
Blogs can be on any subject and range from big corporates blowing their own trumpets to individuals describing the minutiae of their everyday lives. Blogs have been around in some form or other for as long as the World Wide Web but it is in the last few years, with the rise of social media, that blogging has become a truly powerful tool.
Technorati (generally recognised as the global authority on blogging), track 112.8 million blogs and their data shows that approximately 175,000 new ones are created every day. Yes, you did read that right, 175,000 new blogs a day!
With that much information available you would be right in thinking that much of it is uninformed, uninteresting, unsuitable and generally unreadable but there is also an awful lot to be learned and earned from blogging.
The Observer has highlighted 50 of the best for us to peruse and they’re a motley crew. At number one is The Huffington Post, a liberal online newspaper brought to you by millionaire Arianna Huffington. Huffpost pulls in 3.7 million unique visitors a day in the US alone and has been cited as the first real mainstream blog. www.huffingtonpost.com
By contrast Dooce (www.dooce.com) is the personal musings, rantings and observations of Heather B. Armstrong, whose website shot to fame after the author was fired for writing about her job. She pulls no punches and is funny and honest, which is probably why her blog has been rated as the fifth most powerful blog on the web by The Observer.
Starting a blog certainly won’t make you powerful overnight, if at all, but it could just bring a new edge to your business communications, showing your customers that you’re up to date with the zeitgeist as well as keeping your website fresh and interesting.