Blogging Terms Glossary

n.  A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test that is often used in blogging to determine whether the response provided in a contact or comment form is not generated by a computer.  The process involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple process, such as identifying numbers or letters, which the computer is able to generate and grade.  Any end user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human.  

History: The term originated in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper (all of Carnegie Mellon University), and John Langford (then of IBM).  The term is an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”, trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University.

[More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha]

n.  A type of weblog started to promote affiliated websites or to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites.  Also called a splog.  Other purposes include to increase the Google PageRank or backlink portfolio of associated websites, to artificially inflate paid ad impressions from visitors and/or use the blog as a link outlet to increase the number of new sites indexed.

Methods for generating “content” on these sites ranges from using inauthentic text from other sites, “scraping” the content, stealing others’ work, or containing a high number of links or advertisements ot the site associated with the splog creator - often useless or disreputable in nature.  Feeds have also been abused, with splogs generating content from the RSS feeds of blogs.

Difference between “splog” and “spam in blogs”: Splogs are blogs where the articles are fake, only created for search engine spamming.  Spam in blogs refers to random comments generated by spammers to take advantage of a blog’s comment feature.

History of term splog: Mark Cuban began popularizing the term splog in mid-August 2005, although it was used a few times before, to at least 2003.  

Problems: Google’s Blogger service was infiltrated with spam blogs, with as many as 1 in 5 being spam blogs on the network.  Spam blogs use up valuable disk space and bandwidth, and cause search engine results to be lower quality for people looking for information.

Solving the Problem:  Several services, such as SplogSpot, Captcha, and Feed Copyrighter plugins have been introduced to help curb the amount of spam found on blogs, although spam is still a rampant problem.

[More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_blog]

n.  The collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections; the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities), a social network.  

Brief History: The term was first coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke.  William Quick then re-coined the term in 2002, at which time it was quickly adopted and propagated by the warblog community.  Since then, it has been accepted, and used, although somewhat incorrectly, by national media outlets, and has been cited in academic and non-academic work.

Derived From: logosphere (from Greek logos, meaning word, and sphere, interpreted as world), and the term noosphere (Greek nous meaning mind)

[More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogosphere]

n.  A type of blog event, similar to a magazine, dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule - typically weekly or monthly.  A blog article that contains permalinks to other blog articles on the particular topic are included in each edition of a blog carnival.

Variations: Typical blog carnivals begin with someone who organizes the carnival, and outlines the details of the topic, requesting readers to submit articles for inclusion in an upcoming edition.  After editing and annotating the posts, the host of the carnival publishes the round-up to his or her blog.

[More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog_carnival]

n. A blog in which the posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone.  This type of blog sometimes contains short text messages added for metadata purposes.  Also called an MP3 blog.

n.  A blog publishing system launched in 1999 by Pyra Labs, later bought in 2003 by Google.  Blogger’s main purpose is to allow anyone to blog, with a simple interface and drag-and-drop template editing.  (Currently the leading blog publishing platform by monthly traffic and visitors).

Unlike traditional blog services and websites, blogs using Blogger are updated dynamically opposed to rewriting HTML files.

Blogger is completely free unless you purchase extra space for storing images.  Bloggers receive a *.blogspot.com domain hosted on Google’s servers or on externally on the user’s own server through FTP or SFTP.

Several other services, including Google Blog Search, Google Toolbar, Blogger for Word, and AdSense formed programs or additional features that integrated with the service.

[More Information: http://www.answers.com/blogger?cat=technology]

v.  To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.

Blogging is the verb that refers to the action of posting entries or posts on a blog.  While active, or “probloggers” tend to post more frequently than people who are not serious about blogging, each example is considered blogging.

n.  A weblog, a website that displays in chronological order the postings, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.  

Blog can also be used as a verb.  

Typical blogs contain text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic and the ability for others to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.  There are several types of blogs/bloggers, however the most common type is textual.

As of May 2008, Technorati tracks 112.8 million blogs.