Blog Entry 1:

First, A little history:
Blogs. A simple concept, but it has taken so long for it to reach us. The first known ‘Weblog’ (aka ‘blog’) was recorded in 1997, belonging to man by the name of Jorn Barger. He was the creator of ‘Robot Wisdom’ The first recognised blog out there. It wasn’t until 1999, however, that Peter Merholz coined the phrase ‘Blog’. (Not nearly as important as Jorn, in my opinion, as I’m sure at least one other person thought of ‘Blog’ before him.)
Mr Barger had brought something outstanding into the modern world. Up until then, the media was for professionals, to give a one way say on the matter. The introduction of blogs handed a pen to everyone and said “Go ahead and tell them”. It gave everyone with an internet connection and a mild to intense interest in matters (any matters, for that matter) the chance to share their views and feeling on themselves or the world.

Wait, what is a blog?
You may question why this is down here and not up at the top, and there’s a good reason for that (*)...

A blog is your dock to the world, your high and proud political soapbox, or just your simple personal journal. Blogs are composed of blog posts, individual entries to the composition of your works. As one new blog post is entered, the previous one is pushed down, to bring your new voice to attention at the top.

(*) Much like the history of blogs pushed down this!

I mentioned opening the one-way media, and this is where it gets interesting. The author of a particular blog may be lucky enough to stumble across an enthusiastic reader. This reader may have something to say about the authors blog post(s) and decide to leave a comment. Comments let readers give feedback (Both positive and negative, of course). And that neatly ties me into the moral alignment of the Bloggers world.

Like everything in life, advantages harbour nasty disadvantages. Being unfiltered, uncensored and unmonitored, a blog community can forge a Bloggers Heaven or a Bloggers Nemesis. On one hand, a Blog is easy to establish and easy to maintain. With the aid of step by step instructions, even a gerbil can become a world wide renowned blogger (With a bit of luck and perseverance, naturally). Not only is it easy, it is dynamic. Always changing, upgrading, and growing, blogs give freedom to its users and let them voice out to the world. Not exactly something you can do with a pen and paper, is it? However, more important than shaping the world and its news, is personal progression (In my education opinion, at the least). Blogs can give social confidence, a mind that lets its thoughts through. Who knows, blogs could give birth to writers powerful enough to bring reading back into popularity.

Sadly, I have to carry on to a darker note. Blogs aren’t all cookies and flowers, Imagine a country with no laws. No bindings to what can be said, and what can’t. Now put a big neon ‘BLOG’ above it, and you’re more or less there. Propaganda, Finicial corruption, deformation of character, even danger from the government, if you’re unlucky enough, spreads through the blogs of the world. Opinion is easily mistaken for fact, and opinions aren’t always beneficial. One good example would be the stock control incidents. One blog post shouts out to the world ‘Sell your shares in (Insert whatever company you want to dream up) It’s about to go downhill’ then the sneaky blogger swoops in to buy at an ultra low cost. On a relatively smaller scale, blogs can uncover yourself to the torment of the world. There are a lot of malicious and vindictive people in the world that can, and will go out of their way to put someone down.

To end on a neutral level, blogs are easily accessible through search engines such as ‘Technorati’ or ‘Blogsearch’. So even if you’re on a fairly lonely blog provider, people can always find you if they want to.

And that, as they say, is that!