Blogging 101: Finding Your Blog Niche—Tracing the Evolution of Blogs on the Internet


Posted on Jan 22, 2019

Blogs have dominated the Internet for two decades now and have grown from humble personal pages into professional archives, effective marketing tools, and interactive resources. If you’re still feeling stuck on where you belong in the blogosphere, read on to find out more about the many kinds of blogs.


Blog

  1. Online Diaries

    Blogs originated in the ’90s as a way for people to log their experiences, reflections, and opinions. In fact, the word “blog” itself is a shortened version of “web logging.” Early blogs allowed people to create archives of memories, very much like how one keeps a diary. Another function of early blogs was to serve as an archive of links that one may find useful since search engines have not been created yet.


  2. Opinion Pages

    Once they gained popularity, early media outlets started using blogs as a way to provide commentary on certain events. One of the earliest blog articles on a media website was created by Jonathan Dube for the Charlotte Observer. Other than the media, individuals and even some politicians used blogs to share opinions and perspectives.


  3. Niche Topics

    The Internet boom of the 2000s also created a boom in blogging. Blogging platforms, such as WordPress and Blogger, were founded, allowing people with zero HTML knowledge to still create their own blogs. Blogs dedicated to certain topics became popular because they provided information that was easy to digest. Eventually, people who run successful niche blogs were considered experts of their chosen fields, and those who wanted to be called experts finally started their own blogs.


  4. Meta Blogs

    The popularity of niche blogging and blogging in general gave birth to another type of blog: blogs that teach people how to blog, also known as meta blogs. To date, meta blogs make up a large portion of blogs on the Internet.


  5. Vlogs

    Though video blogs have already existed before YouTube, the website, launched in 2004, made it a lot easier for bloggers to create and share videos to a large audience.


  6. Media Blogs

    Many print media, such as newspapers and magazines, started publishing their printed material online through blogs. Not only did these blogs improve distribution, blogs became a way for media to connect with their audiences directly. Blogs also made it easier for media outlets to invite readers to contribute for the website.


  7. Content Marketing Blogs

    Other than media outlets, major brands and corporations started using blogs for content marketing. Brands use blogs to share content relevant to their product/service, attracting readers who may purchase the product/service. Blogs also became the social arm of the corporation before social media websites became more popular.


  8. Microblogs

    Once blogging became a lot more serious, users started seeking for something more personalized and easier to use. Microblogs combine social-media networking with traditional blogging experience. Websites such as Twitter and Tumblr are best known for offering this type of service to its users. Through these, blogging once again turned into something more experiential for the creator rather than the reader, just like in the ’90s.



Sources:


Disclaimer: Image is not ours. Credit to the owner.


About 1-Hour Proofreading
1-Hour Proofreading is a growing start-up offering fast and efficient editing services at a reasonable price, with the assurance that the document is publication-ready the soonest you need it. Its team of highly competent professional editors is committed to helping those in need of quality editing services while facing tough deadlines.


Visit 1hourproofreading.com for more details.
Follow us:      

Back to Grammary


GRAMMARY
© 2016, 1-Hour Proofreading Ssl_seal_1