"Weblogs: A History and Perspective"

             Thinking about the history of blogs, or 'weblogs', the first things that come to mind are LiveJournal and Xanga. These were, as far as I'm aware of, were among the first few online 'blog' type of websites I remember ever coming across. It's almost as if they were almost a foreshadowing of how big social media would blow up in the following years. These were some of the first online sites in which most of my friends joined and used as a place in cyber post to write whatever it was we felt. As the years continued and technology advanced greatly, as the article mentions, weblogs and other type sites blew up and grew immensely to create new online communities. 
            The concept of weblogs being link-driven I feel is still very popular today. Although as mentioned sites like Blogger have given bloggers more freedom to their blogs style, format and layout, top blogs I feel really still respect the practice of being link-driven. For example, newer sites like Pinterest allow its users to create their own profile with their own pictures and comments. However, the main concept behind the site is to link thinks you personally find interesting back to the original source giving them due credit. Also, it is common for blogs to have tabs or pages for 'other blogs we like', or some title along those lines. 
          While reading the section of this article about how these blog writers are experts at micro content, I immediately thought of Twitter. To me, blogs are meant for lengthier comments to express or convey some sort of opinion, information, story etc. The idea of micro content comes to mind for social networking in which you're only given a certain amount of character space to strategically get your word out. Blogger veterans who have mastered the art of micro content probably are doing well with the more recent online social networking sites where the length of your content is key. 
         It has been quite interesting to see how in just even the past ten years how much the blog world has began to take over the world wide web. There are new blogs being created every day giving people all over the chance to express themselves and become influencers in the community they are joining.