What is a blog?

NB: This is a fairly long and boring prose. Kindly do not read when feeling sleepy.

What is a blog? That is a very basic way to ask for the meaning or definition of a blog. I asked myself this question at exactly 09:41hrs +1:00 GMT/UT on the 25^th day of the month of June in the year 2011, with a tolerance of ±10mins depending on how accurate my PC time is. I asked this question not because I expected someone to give me the answer, but because I wanted to give myself the answer.

There are two of two ways I could possible answer this question. I will refer to the first ‘two ways’ as “length” and the second ‘two ways’ as “source”. 

Now putting this two together, I have:

1.a A short answer without research or reference

1.b A long answer without research or reference

I will not list 2.a and 2.b at this point, simply because I believe my reader is intelligent enough to figure out what they are.

Now to give my answers to the question:

1.a :

A blog is a writing of practically anything for whatever and any purpose posted on a web page or other e-media that can be shared

1.b :

A blog is an essay written by an author to express a feeling or desire within him or her. The style often times informal could also be formal. Most blogs I read are however informal as the authors cannot be bothered with transforming their informal ruminations into formal wordings.

Also, the style could be strict or laced with comical interjections. I often classify the strict blogs as “the newspaper refused to publish” or “I don’t believe I can get published”. I usually find such highly dissatisfying. If I want to read a comported bland article, I will pick up the daily Tribune or Aláròyé.

The very numerous authors of blogs, which ironically now includes me, write for varying reasons. Some write to pass on information about a subject or experience which they have researched to their readers. A few write as a form of advertisement for their business (Check out my blog on www.... is more like check out my products on www...). Some write out of provocation on certain issues in life, wishing the government would read and act on the ideas proposed in their blog. This type of blog is my favourite (my favourite authors Raimi, Gboyega and Farai), discussing critical issues such as Power, Politics and of course NYSC. A few bloggers, made up mostly of authors residing in Lagos, write as a means of anger management and madness control. After going through the rigours and dangers of the ‘mad’ drivers, ‘crazy’ conductors, ‘frustrating’ bosses, ‘slow’ maids and ‘over-demanding’ girlfriends, result to writing a journal, daily, weekly, monthly or just randomly to palliate the urge to go ‘gaga’ or ‘Gaga’. Some write plainly and simply for fun. These write about the fun and funny events of their life, their fantasies and dreams. A limited few write absolute and incomprehensible nonsense. You may say, “How can you call what someone else has thought and laboured to write nonsense”. Why can’t I, if the initial and sole intent of the author is to put gibberish into writing. I refer to these as the Terry G of blogging. Finally, a lot write for some form of acceptance or just so they can say “I also blog”. These are the sort that have just one posting, written over six months ago.

I am not certain of which of these categories I fall under. I think it is the fun and fantasies category, but I am certain some of you would think it is the madness control category.

The frequency of blogging varies by author. Some authors post blogs daily, others at random. Some blogs are written as a form of journal following a prescribed timeline or series of events, while others are purely unrelated writings of and on different and varying issues.

I do not know of a defined length for blogs. However, I am of the opinion that a blog should be between 200 and 2000 words. That is a fairly general standard which most text bloggers keep to. For those who say tweeting on ‘Twitter’ is blogging, this length definition kind of excludes tweeting since tweets are limited to just 140 characters (approximately 30 words).

Now, shifting slightly from writing about what I am writing or about me the writer to you the reader. Blog readers read blogs for varying reasons. Some read for the information, some for the entertainment. Some read because they have been asked to by friends, some just come across the blog incidentally. Some readers ‘follow’ particular bloggers, while others just read any blog. Some make definite time out to read blogs, while others just read at boring times of their life.

I read mostly for the purpose of encouraging the authors. I implore you to keep reading my blog, even if it’s merely for this same reason, and kindly post a comment. I hope I am not asking for too much.

I will not discuss 2.a and 2.b in this writing, simply because I believe my reader is intelligent enough to check a dictionary, encyclopaedia, wikipedia, about, google, bing, or whatever other references that could be useful for research. Also, this writing is about my thoughts and not that of some Mrs. Oxford, Miss WordWeb, Mr Encarta or Mr. Wikipedia.

Before I conclude, I must hereby fault my initial assertions which refer to blogs as writing. There are actually Image blogs, though they often go along with some text or writing to express the story being conveyed adequately.

To conclude, I feel I should inform you that this is the last sentence of this blog.