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It's almost that easy to start a blog.
According to the Pew Research Center, 12 million American adults blog, publishing on the Internet everything from the meals they eat to the lives of pet cats, to reports on terrorist plots, media sins and celebrity DUIs.
Authorities estimate that at least 50 million blogs have been created worldwide and say that number could double by spring.
Blogging is the product of relatively new technology and a primitive urge to communicate. All it requires is a computer and a line to the Internet. With those two conditions met, blogging, at its cheapest, costs nothing more than the blogger's time.
The reward for that time is connection, whether your target audience is a few family members, a handful of friends or the entire world.
Washington-based blogger La Shawn Barber was writing a biweekly column for online publications when she discovered blogging about three years ago. As her blog gained readers, Barber dropped her column to concentrate on her blog. Her site, La Shawn Barber's Corner, in which she comments on political and current issues, averages about 3,000 unique visits a day.
"My blog has done so much for me personally and professionally and not only that, but I love to do it. It's a labor of love," says Barber, adding that she's been invited to speak at conferences, worked briefly as a blog reporter for MSNBC and had her blog featured on CNN's Reliable Sources. She's also found it easier to market her nonblog writing. Leveraging her blog savvy and new media credentials, she launched a business that offers help to companies looking to build and market blogs.
The term "blog" is a foreshortening of Web log. "Log" suggests a record, typically cast in words or images. The log is published, or posted, on the World Wide Web. But unlike other media, publication isn't the end of the story; it's the beginning.
Once published, if the blogger allows it, readers can comment on the posts, creating a dialogue impossible in other media. Some blog services offer trackback, an option that enables bloggers to send links or referrals to fellow bloggers' sites. Bloggers can also use comments and trackbacks to increase readership of their own sites.
