What Is A Blog And How Has The Term Changed

A blog used to be something resembling an online diary, a place where people would keep a record of their daily lives. The term itself is a shortening of the term 'weblog'.

But things have changed. The term blog has morphed and depending who you are talking to it means a lot of things or very little.

As someone who blogs I feel a definition is needed. If what I am doing right now is no longer defined specifically as a blog what is it?

Many blogs are online diaries, others are related to specific topics. Mine, it's a part of my business. It's a marketing tool. It's more like a magazine about digital marketing than a diary.

A couple of years ago I tried to re-define what a blog was. I wanted to be able to explain it to my students better. The definition I came up with was:

It's a website or part of a website that is updated with new pages on a regular basis. And allows commenting.'

It seemed like a good explanation to me at the time and it's one I've continued to use right up until this year. Now I'm not so sure.