A blog is a regularly updated online journal or diary. John Barger coined the term "weblog" in 1997, which was later shortened to "blog" by Peter Merholz in 1999. A blog can cover various topics and genres like art, music, photos, personal thoughts, and more. Importantly, blogs allow anyone to share their opinions on issues regardless of their social status, gender, or race. Photographic essays use a sequence of photos to convey an idea or tell a story in the same way a written essay does through paragraphs. They are not random photos but rather each photo serves a purpose as part of the overall narrative or theme.