Anyone who has ever had access to a computer and heard that cute little tagline from AOL saying..."You've Got Mail"...knows what a webpage is. A webpage is a destination, a place, where individuals go to seek information. Webpages make up the internet. You open your favorite, trusted internet browser and you go somewhere...it may be to Yahoo, AOL, or Comcast to check your email. It may be to ESPN.com to check out the latest scores and sports news. Maybe you go and visit FOXNews, CNN, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times to catch the latest headlines. You may enjoy going to Amazon.com, Target, Wal-Mart, or EBay to do a little shopping. You may visit the webpage of a family member, a friend, or an organization. The point is...once you log onto the internet...you go somewhere and you do something...you go to a webpage. Webpages are like stores...you get in your car and drive to the store just like you go onto the internet and surf the net to a webpage. Webpages are the places of business and information on the internet.
So, what is a "Blog" and how is it different from a webpage? Well, if a "Webpage" is a destination...then a "Blog" is a conversation. A Blog is someone's, or a group of "someone's," online journal. It is a place of ideas, of thought, and of communication. A Blog is a conversation among friends over a nice cup of coffee in a small mom-n-pop restaurant on a brisk fall weekend morning...it is a discussion of ideas among colleagues and co-workers around the water cooler...it is a collaboration of ideas from all types of people, from all areas of the world, sharing their vision and their opinion with one another via the internet. A blog gives each individual a venue to post their ideas, views, opinions, or comments on the internet and allow a chosen few or the entire world to join them for a conversation or healthy debate. It is a place where people share who they are and what they feel. It is an opportunity for individuals to communicate with one another in a new and interesting way...not constrained by time or distance. Blogs are the face-to-face chats that we long for, only they are held over the internet from all corners of the globe.
The point, as I see it, is that webpages and blogs are very different; yet, both are necessary and powerful tools of the internet. Webpages drive the internet…they are our cyber-destinations. Blogs fuel our minds…they are our cyber-conversations. When we utilize both to the best of our abilities we begin to realize the true power and potential of the internet!
