• Mainstream popularity

By 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services, and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Blogging was established by politicians and political candidates to express opinions on war and other issues and cemented blogs' role as a news source. (SeeHoward DeanandWesley Clark.) Even politicians not actively campaigning, such as theUK's Labour Party'sMPTom Watson, began to blog to bond with constituents.

In January 2005,Fortunemagazine listed eight bloggers whom business people "could not ignore":Peter Rojas,Xeni Jardin,Ben Trott,Mena Trott,Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman,Robert Scoble, andJason Calacanis.[25]

Israelwas among the first national governments to set up an official blog.[26]UnderDavid Saranga, theIsraeli Ministry of Foreign Affairsbecame active in adoptingWeb 2.0initiatives, including an officialvideo blog[26]and apolitical blog.[27]The Foreign Ministry also held amicrobloggingpress conference viaTwitterabout itswar with Hamas, with Saranga answering questions from the public in common text-messaging abbreviations during a live worldwidepress conference.[28]The questions and answers were later posted onIsraelPolitik, the country's official political blog.[29]

The impact of blogging upon the mainstream media has also been acknowledged by governments. In 2009, the presence of the American journalism industry had declined to the point that several newspaper corporations were filing for bankruptcy, resulting in less direct competition between newspapers within the same circulation area. Discussion emerged as to whether the newspaper industry would benefit from a stimulus package by the federal government. U.S. PresidentBarack Obamaacknowledged the emerging influence of blogging upon society by saying "if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, then what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding”.[30]

• Types

There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written.

Personal blogs

The personal blog is an ongoing diary or commentary written by an individual.

Microblogging

Microblogging is the practice of posting small pieces of digital content—which could be text, pictures, links, short videos, or other media—on the Internet. Microblogging offers a portable communication mode that feels organic and spontaneous to many and has captured the public imagination. Friends use it to keep in touch, business associates use it to coordinate meetings or share useful resources, and celebrities and politicians (or their publicists) microblog about concert dates, lectures, book releases, or tour schedules. A wide and growing range of add-on tools enables sophisticated updates and interaction with other applications, and the resulting profusion of functionality is helping to define new possibilities for this type of communication.[31]Examples of these includeTwitter,FacebookandTumblr.

Corporate and organizational blogs

A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for businesspurposes. Blogs used internally to enhance the communication and culture in acorporationor externally formarketing,brandingorpublic relationspurposes are calledcorporate blogs. Similar blogs for clubs and societies are called club blogs, group blogs, or by similar names; typical use is to inform members and other interested parties of club and member activities.

By genre

Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such aspolitical blogs,health blogs,travel blogs(also known astravelogs), gardening blogs, house blogs,[32][33]fashion blogs,project blogs,education blogs,niche blogs,classical music blogs, quizzing blogs andlegal blogs(often referred to as a blawgs) ordreamlogs. Two common types of genre blogs areart blogsandmusic blogs. A blog featuring discussions especially abouthomeandfamilyis not uncommonly called amom blogand one made popular is byErica Diamondwho created Womenonthefence.com which is syndicated to over two million readers monthly.[34][35][36][37][38][39]While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as aSplog.

By media type

A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called alinklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called asketchblogor one comprising photos is called aphotoblog. Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are calledtumblelogs. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs; seetypecasting (blogging).

A rare type of blog hosted on the Gopher Protocolis known as aPhlog.

By device

Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by amobile devicelike amobile phoneorPDAcould be called amoblog.[40]One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer andEyeTapdevice to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to assousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.[citation needed]

Reverse blog

A Reverse Blog is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of a blog, and the writing of several authors. These can be written by several contributing authors on a topic, or opened up for anyone to write. There is typically some limit to the number of entries to keep it from operating like a Web Forum.