1. Introduction

Blogging, short for Web Logging, is the term used for something as simple as maintaining a diary or journal online. For those not in the habit of maintaining a diary, a blog is a place to jot down thoughts. It can be a record of events that can make an interesting read a few years down the line. It can be something as mundane as a daily work schedule, or it can be something as interesting as a daily record of a journey through space: check out http://spaceblog.xprize.org/, the blog of Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist.

A Blog can be personal—a single person’s notes—or communal, where a group of individuals contribute, like members of an organisation. Blogs can offer a glimpse into the life of a person; they can be informative; they can be the ramblings of a like-minded soul;they can be all about what someone has found interesting online; in fact, they can be a lot of things, and there are as many reasons to read blogs as there are to maintain one.

Given the ease with which a blog can be created online—there are free tools to create and host them—it is easy to understand the popularity they have attained. Blogger is Google’s response to the popular need to blog. While Blogger is the tool used to create blogs, the blogs themselves are hosted at www.blogspot.com.