I wince every time someone refers to me as a "blogger". I am not a blogger. I am a writer. There's a difference between the two and it's not just the terminology. When I started writing on this particular blog, I was writing AND blogging at the same time. Of course, I didn't know the difference at the time. I'll explain what I mean as I start breaking it down for you.
Writing and Blogging
The confusion between blogging and writing is caused by the fact that both bloggers and writers use the same platforms. A blog (short for weblog) is a chronological record of blog posts. Blog software designed for this purpose can also serve as platforms for websites that look like blogs but aren't. Articles are not the same things as blog posts even if they're stored chronologically and displayed in the same way.
Blog posts can be anything from text to video and anything in between. Articles are mostly text with added media that enhances the content. The difference appears to be subtle, but you can tell a blog post from an article by the way it's presented. A blog post may only contain a video or an image and few lines of text to point out another website or something. An article has more than a few lines of text and usually a lot more.
Articles contain information about specific subjects. Blog posts may as well, but they're the exception and not the norm. Blog posts are frequently used to publish short thoughts, images, videos and other things that don't require concentration by visitors to enjoy.
Blog posts appear in places you wouldn't call blogs, but they are. If you post your thoughts on Twitter, it's a blog. When you post status updates or share something on your "wall" on Facebook, it's a blog. It doesn't matter if they call it micro-blogging or blogging, it's the same thing. There are thousands of websites on the net where "micro-blogging" takes place.
Articles do not appear in all those places. If they do, they're exceptions to the rules. Articles normally appear on dedicated websites designed for that purpose or on specific pages that aren't chronological in nature. The "pages" on Facebook are good examples of what I'm talking about. While some are complete garbage (yes, I've landed on those a few times), the majority are articles containing a lot of information.
All Things Blog
Bloggers tend to get caught up in all kinds of social silliness on the web. Stories get rehashed and copied, sometimes verbatim. They get caught up in memes that get other bloggers involved.
Bloggers get suckered into following along with whatever seems to be the popular fad or special interest story on any given day. Never underestimate the power of collective blogger involvement.
Why I'm a Writer and not a Blogger
I write articles about things I'm interested in even if they're not popular. I write articles that amuse or inform or both. I write articles that are complete nonsense. The key word is "write". I like to write. I do not like posting images, videos or things like that unless it goes along with what I'm writing about. This is why you won't find anything but pure text in a lot of my articles. Most of them, even if they have an image or two, still look like they're mostly text.
Writing is an art form. It takes talent to write something cohesive and focused enough to keep people reading whatever it is that you've written. Anyone can be a blogger but not everyone can be a writer.
Yes, I wince every time someone refers to me as a blogger. Writing this article about it doesn't help matters because now I'm "writing about blogging" which is almost as bad as "blogging about blogging". I avoid things that are aimed at "bloggers" because I don't want to waste time chasing ideas started by someone else. I like to develop my own ideas and go from there.
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This article is published as: Writing vs. Blogging
I kind of prefer the term publisher. I may write, use audio, video, or images. At this point, I am not even sure that is going to be the limit.
Although I do admit to referring to my sites as blogs on occasion, they are really dynamic websites that happen to use blogging software as a content management system. Of course, when I tell people that their eyes start to gloss over. So then I tell them I am a blogger and they say "Oh cool! I keep thinking I should start one."
Anyways, I try not to let what others say or think, put me in a box or define me.
James recently posted..Blogger VS WordPresscom – Which Is A Better Free Blog
I'm not so sure I'd want to be called a publisher because publishing tends to mean someone else's work. Trust me, relatives would not understand self-publishing. At least with writing, they know I'm doing the work.
yes writing is far much better than blogging
I’m most definitely a blogger. I personally hate to see blog posts without pictures, it detracts from the story if you ask me. It is the 21st century…get with it.
What do you call a blogger who also writes a "wlogger".
Venkat recently posted..Ways To Treat Shaving Cuts And Stop Bleeding
Okay, you got me. What's a "wlogger"?
A good writer has the ability to put words in a way that the reader can hear the writers voice just like he is speaking to them. The sentences just seem to flow from one to the next. Your mind doesn't stop, struggle and try to make sense of each sentence before moving on to the next.
Orchid Lights
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Hey RT,
Never really looked at it that way. I think I am a hybrid of Blogging and Writing. I know I have always been a pretty creative and effective writer since my early grade school years. I guess where the two got initially meshed together was when I got my first computer 12 years ago at the ripe age of 31 !! :) Subsequently, ten years after this I was formally introduced to the World of Blogging and Affiliate Marketing by none other than a burly old character named Grizz.
Robert
Columnist, writer, publisher, contributor… all much better terms!
Writing articles in my opinion is intended to communicate tangible value to the reader. For example, this article clearly identified the difference between a writer and blogger. Very useful…thank you!
Stillwater MN Homes recently posted..First Time Home Buyer Programs
Interesting. This sort of reminds me of the "running versus jogging" word rift in the 80's when there was a running boom took off.
blackdove recently posted..Homemade Deodorant for High Intensity Gym Workouts
But that was just silly. Jogging is just running slow.
I'd say i have a split writing personality, i also write and blog at the same time.
Depending on the context, if i'm working on promoting my main website i'll write articles, but if i'm working on promoting my main blog, then i'll write articles from a bloggers perspective, following fads and trends.