There are many blog services out there, some better than others. So how do you know which one to choose? How do you know which one is right for you? Let me go over the various blogging services out there and what they offer.
Blogger:
There’s no installation necessary and you won’t have to purchase any software. Unless you want to add some additional features, there’s nothing to upload or download at all. It’s as simple as registering for a free account, choosing a template, writing or pasting some text and clicking “publish.” While you will have to upload images, this too couldn’t be simpler. Even adding links takes only seconds. Everything you need from an RSS feed address to an Adsense account is easily accesible via the Blogger dashboard. Sure, there are bells and whistles, but those come in time.The weblog novice and those who aren’t technically adept will especially appreciate Blogger’s simplicity. The template choices are basic but appealing. Those who are more advanced can seek out different template options from one of the many free template sites across the web. Since you have access to the template’s code, you’ll be able to play around with colors, images and fonts and add some neat features to make the blog more aesthetically pleasing.
Hosting
Those who choose Blogger don’t necessarily have to blog from Blogger’s “blogspot” domain. You’re perfectly welcome to host a Blogger blog on your own. The easy to follow instructions for doing this are located with the publishing tools. If you should change your mind, you can switch back to the “blogspot” domain any time you wish. Keep in mind however, that your blog’s admin page will still be hosted on Blogger’s servers. If Blogger is having an outage you won’t be able to post no matter who handles the hosting.
Down Time
As with anything, there are downsides to this platform. It can be slow at times and there’s nothing more frustrating than typing a 1,000 word manifesto and not being able to publish because Blogger is going through maintenance. There are also mysterious outages now and then, but for the most part these are short lived.
As with any platform, Blogger has its pros and cons. For the millions of bloggers currently using this platform, the benefits far outweigh the risks.
AOL Journals:
America Online, Inc. has jumped on the growing blogging and online journaling trend with the launch of AOL Journals. The service aims to make it easy for AOL members to share thoughts, photos and much more online with friends, family and others on the Internet.Members can choose an existing template or design their own to create a journal, blog, an online column, a travelogue and more. AOL Journals are integrated with AOL’s Picture Finder service so that members can embed photos and picture albums along with text entries. Members can set up their own personal journal at AOL Keyword: AOL Journals. AOL Journals can also be searched from AOL’s Hometown website.By sending an instant message to the Screen Name: AOL Journals, members can enter updates to their journal anytime online or while on the go via text messages from a cell phone with access to the AOL Instant Messenger service. Additionally, members who subscribe to the AOL by Phone service can also update their AOL Journal over the phone and record an MP3 sound file that will be inserted into their journal.
Members can create an AOL Journal based on their particular interests, hobbies or needs, and can be anything members want, including a baby book, a family picture album, a fan site for sports or music. For example, families may design a journal to keep in touch with relatives while travelers can set up journals to post descriptions of their journeys. Business professionals will be able to create journals devoted to industry trends while music and entertainment fans can publish personal observations about the celebrities that fascinate them the most. News journals will allow amateur and aspiring journalists to provide their take on current events while others can choose to set up personal journals to post commentary and links on areas of interest or eclectic hobbies.
“AOL Journals is the simplest, most elegant way for our members to instantly express ideas online,” said Rick Robinson, vice president, Community Products, America Online. “Now anyone with something to say can be an author, keep a diary, express an opinion, or be a blogger. In fact, interest in blogs among AOL members has increased dramatically this year, with thousands of members becoming avid journalers and hundreds of thousands regular readers. And members who just want to publish vacation stories with pictures or a weekend trek with the kids can now share that with family and friends with ease.”
Wordpress:
*Wordpress has millions of themes.
Your blog will undoubtedly have something great and unique to bring to the table, why not have a great theme to help you get a even more unique image. Best of all, you can get a theme from a collection hosted by Wordpress. Even better, don’t like any themes you have seen or you see one but want to change a few things around? With a little coding knowledge you can edit your theme seamlessly in the Wordpress Administration Control Panel(WP-ADMIN).
*Wordpress also has a large database of plugins.
Plugins are another great part of Wordpress that give you more control over your blog. You can have plugins that help you post podcasts on Wordpress, plugins that deal with AdSense, there are even plugins to add bulletin boards to your Wordpress installation! Again, Wordpress makes it easy for you to find plugins you might need with their Wordpress Plugin Directory.
*Wordpress news is delivered straight to your Administration Panel.
With seven years in the real world equaling one online, it is always important to stay on top of things. Wordpress makes this easy by posting select top bloggers posts into your administration panel. These include plugin and theme releases for the day as well as information about upgrades of Wordpress.
*Wordpress is used the world over.
Wordpress is used quite often. People from professional base ball players to soccer moms blog everyday about their lives and they can do it easily thanks to Wordpress. Wordpress is not just for the technologically elite either. According to Weblogtoolscollection.com, 0.8% of the internet is run by Wordpress, within a few years that number could be 2-2.5%.
*Famous bloggers use Wordpress.. Everyone from John Chow to I use Wordpress. Being flexible is the only way to survive today in the business world. You have to be ready to focus your blogging on a specific issue in a short amount of time if you want to be productive.
Live Journal:
Each journal entry has its own web page, which includes the comments left by other users. In addition, each user has a journal page, which shows all of his or her most recent journal entries, along with links to the comment pages.
The most distinctive feature of LiveJournal is the “friends list,” which gives the site a strong social aspect in addition to the blog services. The friends list provides various syndication and privacy services as described below. Each user has a friends page, which collects the most recent journal entries of the people on his or her friends list.
LiveJournal allows users to customize their accounts in several ways. The S2 programming language allows journal templates to be modified by members. Users may upload graphical avatars, or “userpics,” which appear next to the username in prominent areas as it would on an Internet forum. Paid account holders are given full access to S2 management and more userpics, as well as other features.
Each user also has a “User Info” page, which contains a variety of data including contact information, a biography, images (linked from off-site sources) and lists of friends, interests, communities and even schools which the user has attended in the past or is currently attending.
LiveJournal also allows “voice posts” to their paid and sponsored users, where one can call into the system and record an entry.
Currently LiveJournal has five account levels: free (comprising approximately 95% of the network); sponsored with advertising; “early adopters” who were registered prior to 2000; paid and permanent. Permanent accounts are normally not available to the “average user;” there have been occasional sale days or special offers, but such sales are not guaranteed in the future.
“Sponsored with Advertising” accounts, whose status may be turned on or off at any given time by the (free) user, do not cost anything extra (the costs being supplemented by allowing advertising) and allow for some of the features normally reserved for paid and permanent accounts. These include more user icons (up to fifteen, as opposed to six for free accounts) and space on LiveJournal’s own image-hosting site (one free gigabyte per user). The official name of the status was originally “Sponsored+,” but was changed to “Plus.”
MySpace:
MySpace has been a HUGE growing phenomenon over the past 5 years. Competetors such as Facebook and Freindster have tried to compete with their success and have yet to come close. Myspace is used by people of all ages. Despite some of the Negitive things said about Myspace…they still are running strong and are as popular as ever.Just like any internet site or service, you have to be smart about what you use it for and the information you release on it. Your page is a reflection of you, but always keep Private Personal information off the internet.
I personally use mine as a reflection of who I am and an outlet for my creativity, as i love creating and designing MySpace layouts and keeping in contact with my friends and family. With Myspace you have the option of making your page Private as well. Only those on your friends list can see your page if you choose this option. Always be safe in what you do on the Internet…MySpace is not a bad thing, like everything else…it’s what you make it. Myspace is a social network to keep in touch with friends and family but they also offer a Blog service. The wonderful thing about MySpace blogs is that all the people on your Friends list can subscribe to your blog and get updated when you post an entry. or you can make your entries 100% private and the only one that can read them is you. For me, my page is private and i only have people on my friends list that i really know…No strangers, which gives me the privacy and freedom to write what i please, knowing only those who i want to read can.
MySpace blogs are also very customizable as is thier service. One thing I love about Myspace is how they allow you to do anything you wish with your blog look and feel and with your MySpace page as well. The options are forever endless.
