Welcome to the BBC Blog Network
This is the home of BBC Blogs. From this page you can get to a range of Blogs that talk about all sorts of subjects from across the entire BBC output. There are Blogs about Radio and TV programmes, local and international communities, Sport, News, and from editors, DJs and BBC bosses.
So what is a blog?
The word blog is a shortened form of weblog (web log). It is a ‘log’ of someone’s thoughts and opinions. They have in the past mostly been text based but increasingly they display pictures, video and sound.
Blogging is the term used to describe the act of adding entries to the blog. When someone writes something on a blog the article they write is called a "post", "blog post," or "entry".
Someone who keeps a blog going and posts these entries is called a "blogger".
Entries tend to be written in a more conversational tone than normal articles you will read elsewhere and can be both short and long. You may find that entries are date and time stamped at odd hours. This is precisely because Blogs are more conversational and so bloggers often post when they are out and about, travelling or even at night, in short when they have something relevant to say they make an entry. Bloggers can also make entries from their mobile phones, computers or PDA’s and so they post when they have something to say and don’t have to wait.
Blogs also allow anyone to post a reply to an entry and to link entries to their own or other sites so that everyone has the chance to make their opinion known in a way that was unheard of just a few years ago.
Normal websites change very slowly Blogs are very dynamic and constantly changing. They may have different entries posted many times a day or might only change once a week. Either way the reader needs to keep reading in order to find the latest entry. They also encourage readers to link to them, share the inks with friends and to comment on entries.
What features does a blog have?
As you look around the Blogs on this site you will see that the entries have a number of fixed common features.
These are;
Title This is the title or main headline of a post or entry.
Permalink A Permalink allows you to see the actual URL (web address) of an individual entry which you can bookmark or link to from your website or you can post them onto another website so that other people elsewhere on the web can link to the comment.
Post Date This is the time and date that an entry is posted.
Comments These are comments added by readers about the entry. Comments are attached to entries and so users only comment on the individual entry not on the whole service or about general points.
Trackback A Trackback is a link to other sites that refer to the entry across the Web
Calendar This allows you to find all entries posted on any date. The date is in bold if there is an entry. Find the date you want and click on it to find all post on that date.
Blogroll A list of links, of other Blogs that the blog author reads or affiliates with. You can find these on the right hand side of each BBC blog.
What are RSS Feeds? Web Feeds help you subscribe to the blogs that you like whenever they are updated.There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but the majority plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. Have a look at Feed Factory for an introduction to the RSS feeds that are available from bbc.co.uk and how to use them.