Tim Flight

A question I’m frequently asked these days is “What is the difference between a blog and a website?” I’m having an increasingly difficult time answering that question. Not because I don’t have some semblance of an answer, but rather I’m making a personal push to get away from using the word blog.

I don’t like the word blog. It sounds too much like blob. Blog is actually short for weblog; I like the word weblog much better. It is more descriptive of what is actually going on … a website written in a log fashion.

So now I suppose I must tackle “what is a webblog”.

A weblog is a website which has dated entries (often called posts) which are presented in reverse chronological order.

This definition somewhat fits, however there are an increasingly number of weblogs out there that do not present there information in a linear, chronological manner.

A weblog is a type of website where people can leave direct comments on each article or trackbacks from other weblogs.

There are many weblogs out there which do not have comments turned on and/or do not accept trackbacks. So does this mean they are not a weblog? Probably not.

A weblog offers an XML, RSS, or Atom feed of their posts for people to browse the site for updates using a feed reader.

Yes, virtually all weblogs offer some sort of a feed, however there are lots of websites out there I would not classify as weblogs which do offer feeds.

A weblog uses software installed on the webserver such as WordPress to manage the content.

Most weblogs do use such software. However there are an increasing number of CMS (content management system) features being implemented in weblog software. I’ve recently seen many creative new ways people are presenting their website using weblog software but even bloggers might not recognize the site was built using weblog software.

I’ve been asking people I know what they think the difference between a weblog and other types of websites are. Believe it or not, two people actually told me that weblogs have their menus on the right while other websites have their menu on the left. I had other people say that weblogs are websites where people discuss their political opinion.

So at the end of the day, a weblog is nothing more than a website which may or may not have some of the features listed above. Sometimes the weblog is just a portion of the overall website, while other times the entire website is a weblog.

I think the distinction between what is just a plain website and what websites are weblogs will blur in the future. More websites will develop weblog features while weblogs will find more ways to present themselves and build more and more CMS features making them look less and less like a traditional weblog.

The question of “who is a blogger versus who is a journalist” will likely outlast the question of “is that website a weblog”.

So what does it matter, anyway? In most cases, it probably doesn’t matter. But if your website (weblog or not) becomes something of significant personal value or a business, your representation of the website could impact how people view the site. Some people might decide they don’t like weblogs in general, and then dismiss your site if it is too “blog-like”. While if you are looking to build relationships with other bloggers you might want your website to be recognizable as a weblog.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 8:27 am and is filed under General. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.