A customer asked about blogging

In our stores this week we hung signs telling people to check out the blog. Well it urns out many people do not know what a blog is. DO not feel bad! MANY MANY people do not.


Here is how I described it to my class:

What is a blog? A blog is nothing more than an easy to update website. This has taken the idea of a journal. (for example, :“A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently.”www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

What makes blogs so cool?Blogs are
1. easy to use.
2. often informal
3. can be read either online with a typical web browser or with special readers.
4. links can be saved (so rather than saving the whole newsletter, you can link just to the stories you want!)
5. are immune to spamblockers

For example, to read the FinanceProfessor.com blog with your browser, merely click through to it like you would any web site.http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/But it can also be read with a special reader. Why is this so valuable? Because the reader will go and “get articles” whenever the site is updated. This allows me to update the blog on an almost daily basis and you can select which stories you want. This is called syndication. Moreover, since your reader is getting the article, you have made it around the spam blocking software. I have provided links to sign up via ATOM, RSS, or through your “my Yahoo” page.

There are several free RSS readers and while I do not pretend to know which is best, I use RSSReader from RssReader.com and SharpReader (both are very easy to use!). http://www.rssreader.com/ http://www.sharpreader.net/

Here is the list from Google:http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=free+rss+readers