Blogging began in the late 1990s and exploded in popularity in the early 2000s. John Barger coined the term "weblog" in 1997 to describe the growing collection of personal websites. By 1999, there were only a few blogs in existence. That year, the term was shortened to "blog". In 1999 and 2000, free blog-building software and sites like Pitas.com, Blogger.com, and Groksoup.com launched and the number of blogs grew into the thousands. Blogs range from informal personal diaries to more professionally written discussions of current events, and they typically display posts in reverse chronological order.

1. A Brief History of Blogging
Mark Tremayne
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin

2. What is a Blog?
According to blog veteran Rebecca Blood:
John Barger coined the term weblog in December,
1997
As of 1998 there were only a few in existence
In 1999 Weblogger Peter Merholz decided to call
the growing collection of sites wee-blogs
This caught on and was shortened to “blogs”

3. Blog Explosion
In 1999 pitas.com began offering a free
“build-your-own-blog” software
Pyra.com, blogger.com, and groksoup.com
followed later that year
By 2000 there were thousands of blogs

4. What do they look like?
They typically appear as a long column of date
entries in reverse chronology.
Some are personal in nature and are written in a
very informal style.
Others engaged in discussion of current events &
writing is often more professional
Links to source material and stories on traditional
media web sites are common
Some blogs allow readers to post their own
responses to the blogger’s entries

5. Questions raised by this phenomena
Is blogging journalism?
Do traditional journalists and amateur bloggers go
about their work in similar ways?
Can a news employee run his or her own personal
blog (and not get fired)?
Should traditional media outlets use the blog style
and what are the ramifications of this if they do?

6. Questions raised by this phenomena
Is blogging journalism?
Do traditional journalists and amateur bloggers go
about their work in similar ways?
Can a news employee run his or her own personal
blog (and not get fired)?
Should traditional media outlets use the blog style
and what are the ramifications of this if they do?