1. Blogging
Blog is derived from the combination of the two words, web and log. Blogs are
virtual journals created by individuals and stored on the internet. Blogs generally
consist of text and images which appear in a reverse chronological format—with
the most recent entry on top.
While there are dedicated blogging services, such as Google’s Blogger, many
social networking services offer a blogging facility as part of their lineup.
A blog can follow a theme, for example ‘Brisbane—day by day’ or ‘My cat blog’,
or provide an alternate take on current news events. Blogs can be family affairs,
where relatives chronicle what they’re up to so they can stay in touch with people
they might not see very often.
Microblogging is a type of blog that allows users to publish short text updates
which are open to be viewed by anyone or available to a restricted group. This can
be done using instant messaging, email or microblogging services such as Twitter.
Some social networking sites also offer microblogging as an option on their sites.
Twitter is currently the most popular microblogging service. It is a website which
enables the user to subscribe to fragments of news from other users as well as
posting their own. These pieces of information, known as ‘tweets’, are no longer
than 140 characters long. When writing a tweet, users choose whether to share it
with the whole world, or just a list of friends who ’follow’ them.
Using Twitter on the internet is free, but if users choose to have tweets forwarded
to their mobile phone via SMS, there may be charges and these can mount up
quickly.
Blogging and microblogging safely
When signing up to some blogging and microblogging services, users sign a
statement that gives the service operator permission to keep personal information,
such as their telephone number, password and other information from their profile.
As this may be sold to third parties, it’s wise to spend some time reading the site’s
privacy policy before signing up.
As with most social networking services, many blogging and mircoblogging sites
state that users should be aged 13 years and over.