History of Blogs and Introduction to the Business of Blogging

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What is a Blog

Obviously a blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is just a Web site, usually maintained by an individual or network , with regular post of commentary, descriptions of events, or other media images or video. Most often than not a blog pertains to a specfic topic. eg: Nita writes on Issues in India, IndianHousemaker writes on everyday life, and Nikhil writes brilliant stories.

The First Blog

Someone, somewhere created the very first Web log. It’s just not quite clear who. But … Dave Winer says on scripting news “Who was The creator of the first blog. That would be Tim Berners-Lee, whose first website was, in every way, a blog” and Scripting news is the one who inspired them.

RSS Anyone

RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer’s ‘Really Simple Syndication’ technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape’s ‘Rich Site Summary’, which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows.” – Tim O’Reilly.

Technorati

Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google and Yahoo. As of Oct 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. The name Technorati is a blend, pointing to the technological version of literati or intellectuals. Technorati was founded by Dave Sifry and its headquarters are in San Francisco, California, USA. Tantek Çelik was the site’s Chief Technologist.

“If Google is the Web’s reference library, Technorati is becoming its coffee house.” – Time Magazine

Top 10 blogs on Technorati-By Authority

1. The Huffington Post
2. TechCrunch
3. Gizmodo
4. Engadget
5. Boing Boing
6. Lifehacker
7. Ars Technica
8. Official Google Blog
9. Daily Kos: State of the Nation
10. Travel Blog

Few of Largest Blog Networks

Techcrunch : TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, we profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space. TechCrunch is co-edited by Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld.

Revenue: US$200,000 monthly

Weblogs, Inc. is a network of around 90 weblogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming to the likes of food and independent film. Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained . Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003.

Parent :  AOL, Inc.

Gawker.com is a blog based in New York City that bills itself as “The source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip” and focuses on celebrities and the media industry. Founded in 2002, Gawker is the flagship blog for Nick Denton’s Gawker Media; They spawned other blogs including Gawker.com, Gizmodo, Valleywag, Fleshbot, Defamer, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Lifehacker.com, Deadspin, Jezebel, Consumerist, io9

b5media Inc. is a global new media network featuring a wide variety of topics ranging from entertainment and lifestyles to sports and technology. One of the largest blog networks in the world, b5media reaches nearly 10 million unique visitors and receives 30 million page views per month.

b5media Makes Top 10 in Canada’s PROFIT HOT 50 List

9rules is an online community of blogs and bloggers. In 2006 it took the award for Best Community Site of the Year at SXSWi in Austin, Texas. 9rules is currently made up of over 30 communities divided by topics such as Gaming, Apple, Web Design and Web 2.0. Each member is hand-picked out of thousands that apply to join, their blogs evaluated over an extended period of time with regard to quality. In 2006 it is estimated to have had more than 200 members.

Shiny Media is the UK’s leading commercial blog publisher. They now have 40 blogs which between them attract around 3.5 million visitors each month (August 2007 figures).
key blogs are TechDigest, ShinyShiny, Shoewawa, Catwalk Queen, The BagLady, Bridalwave, CorrieBlog.

Instablogs is a news ecosystem bringing bloggers, citizen journalists and traditional media together. It’s a place to discover, share, contribute and connect with the world and the people who are changing it.

Giga Omni Media’s network of sites provide one of the leading daily online news reads for the key influencers in the emerging technology market place. This had GigaOM GigaOM, WebWorkerDaily, NewTeeVee, Earth2Tech, OStatic,  jkOnTheRun, TheAppleBlog

The Huffington Post is a liberal news website and aggregated weblog founded by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, featuring various news sources and columnists. The site covers a wide range of topics, including sections devoted to politics, entertainment, media, living, business, and the green movement.

Seeking Alpha is the leading provider of stock market opinion and analysis from blogs, money managers and investment newsletters, and a provider of its own high-value, complementary financial content. (’Alpha’ is a finance term referring to a stock’s performance relative to the market; it’s used more loosely by fund managers to describe beating their index, so every stock picker is “seeking alpha”.)