Some might think the term “blogging” has only come into being in recent years however the concept of blogging has been traced back to 1997, originally named the “weblog”. The term began when John Barger came up with the genius idea of collating his favourite web content and creating commentary solely based around these interests. This idea was seen less as a job and more as a hobby to log your web experience, hence the “weblog”. Come 1999, Peter Merholz entered the “blogosphere” and the idea of the “blog” was finally born.

Over the years blogging has become increasingly popular, using all forms of media. Today so many influencers solely create a job around their “Vlogs” and “Blogs”. Digital media is constantly innovating and society has really bought into the idea of influencers and well-curated content, ultimately giving bloggers the platform they have today.

In the beginning, the majority of the small blogging community hand-coded their sites using a new HTML page each time they posted a new entry. However, with the rise in popularity, blogging quickly helped bring about new tools to help ease the process. The first tool was Pitas, created in 1999, a tool for first-time bloggers, adding links with a space to comment. Over time more personal blogs became increasingly popular, by this time the links were being dropped, and more personal, relatable commentary was taking over. Rather than using blogs to highlight web journeys, people were using the platform to curate more personal content journeys, creating discussions and giving people a chance to express themselves digitally. This idea was likened to a digital journal or diary entry. Blogger was created in August 1999, software that helped create URL’s for entry posts, instead of endlessly scrolling through blog pages to find a blog, a permalink brought the users directly to the desired content.

Today anyone can create a blog. There are endless websites and software to create a blog and upload any content. Some people create for their job, some use it to log key life events, some use this platform to create a discussion or highlight issues and many simply choose to blog as a hobby. Open source platforms such as WordPress and WIX etc allow anyone to blog, helping to meet the rise in demand.

A lot of software designers and web creators saw this demand and attempted to charge for this new modern blogging however, they saw enormous amounts of backlash and so quickly people had got used to the freedom of blogging and believed this took away from the openness of the web. Still today some platforms and software are free however charge for more intense and high-quality packages, used by most bloggers to create a more seamless, quality blog.

The blogging community continues to redefine the web and blog concept, constantly innovating, and creating new content. Mena Trott, a well-known early blogger on the scene, suggested that a blog “is more than just text on a page, it could be one of a kind”.