THE JOY OF BLOG

Artist's impression of Toppy's 61 year old mother.

Blogs are everywhere and it seems like everyman and his dog has one (I'm currently running about six, mostly for school, and even my 61 year old mother has one). Why do people want them? Apart from them being geeky and all shiny and that?

A blog is basically a personal website which you can use to communicate with the world. The cool thing is that it's really easy to use. Actual websites require all sorts of stuff - a HTML editor, FTP program, Hosting, DNS... the list goes on and the money can mount up. A blog is not only free (huzzah!) but it does all the tricky stuff for you! All you need to do is use a simple online control panel to add your content. So if you've ever wanted to reach a wide audience with your opinions, ideas and creativity, then a blog is a really cool way to do it. They are, in the parlance of my youth, rad.

Many people see all of this and think "I want some of that!" but fail to also think "I have nothing to say, and am a boring individual with nothing going for me." These people start up blogs, and either post twice and then go quiet (but keep the blog registered so other people cannot take the name - I'm looking at YOU Top Dog Games!) or just post a series of meaningless drivel posts about what they've just eaten or the cute thing their cat did. Like face book status updates, but more annoying. No really.
YOUR blog is not going to be like that! You have interesting things to say! Or you have work which I want you to post to your blog anyway. So it will have actual stuff happening.

Some people take this WAY too seriously...

All excited now? Want to know how to make a blog and get things running?
Okay, first off go here.
There are other posts on that blog which will help you - including Blogging: The Movie!
And we'll go through the process on the TV as well. You will need a Google account of some sort - Gmail, Google+, Blogger, I think even Facebook these days can be used to get a blog running.
When you have your blog nicely set up and looking freakin' awesome, there's a short task about convergence to go up on it.