Thanks to the explosive growth of the digital world, blogs have become an integral part of online culture. Whether you’re interested in web development, fashion, beauty or cats (yes, cats!), you’re likely to find a blog about it.
The first known blog is believed to have been launched in 1994 by College student Justin Hall (links.net). Programmer Peter Merholz shortened the term weblog to blog in 1999, at which point there were a reported 23 blogs online.
2001 saw the arrival of ‘meta blogs’, which provide ‘how to’ guides around the set- up and management of a successful blog. In 2002, bloggers broke the story of a war of words between two U.S Senators before the mainstream media, earning bloggers a wealth of respect within the online community. It was after this that blogs reporting on current news in more depth than mainstream media started to appear online.
Technorati, the first major blog search engine, was launched in 2002 followed by WordPress, TypePad, Audioblogger and AdSense. AdSense was the first ad network, matching ads to blog content and enabling bloggers to earn a small income based on their level of website traffic.
In 2006, Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere report identified a staggering 50 million blogs online. By 2010, this number had risen to 152 million and is still growing. Mainstream media sites soon began to launch their own blogs or to collaborate with bloggers to provide additional insight around high- interest topics as a result of the traffic popular blogs were receiving.
Today, bloggers tend to make use of a wide variety of social networking channels to communicate with their followers and engage online. Blogging is no longer about simply posting an article and watching the comments appear. YouTube has been key in facilitating the rise of the vlogger (video logger) and now host events, connecting vloggers with their fans, and run programmes such as ‘Next Vlogger’ to find new talent.
Power Blogger, YouTube sensation and author, Zoe Sugg, is a prime example of how blogging full-time can launch a celebrity style career. Zoe has successfully launched a cosmetic brand sold at Boots and Superdrug and recently bought her first house - a five bedroom mansion worth £1million.
Lily Melrose has also seen huge success from her blog, LLYMLRS.com. Launched in 2008 while she studied Graphic Design at college, the blog was intended to be a creative space for Lily to share her work, but later flourished as a beauty and fashion blog. Lily was invited to Google headquarters in London recently to discuss the future of YouTube for vloggers and works as a freelance social media consultant, alongside maintaining her blog and vlog channel.
If you are interested in blogging, be sure to choose a topic that is relatively unsaturated online. There seems to be no slowing of the growth of blogs which, unfortunately, has led to many bloggers trying but failing to attract a significant audience.
Img: Zoe Sugg, The Independent.
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