Journaling Versus Blogging

Journaling and blogging may appear to be similar, at least measuring by external characteristics, but many bloggers would argue that they are very different in function and intent. Those writing personal journals consider themselves to be keeping an online diary, and have no interest in creating a more public blog like those that monitor politicians, keep track of sports figures or gossip about the stars. The two types of blogs are usually regarded as entirely different things.

One difficulty with definitions stems from the blurring of lines between a personal blog and one obviously geared toward public consumption. Some personal blogs that clearly wouldn’t count as journals would be those dealing with books, recipes or pets. There’s no denying that personal details of one’s life appear in such web-logs, but those simply augment the main topic. Even posts about one’s children might be less about family life than about sharing helpful experiences with other parents. One thinks of journaling as something done primarily for one’s personal growth. Others might be able to read the entry, but the emphasis is on the writer’s self-expression and reflection on their own life.

A journaling blog, then, will not only be used for different purposes than other blogs, but will need slightly different tools as well. For example, the writer may wish to keep certain blog entries private. The www.blogger.com site does not possess this feature, while hosts like www.wordpress and www.livejournal.com do. They, however, don’t allow the person to make money from their blogs, although this may not be a problem for one keeping a personal journal. Another consideration might be whether a site has the capacity for uploading and inserting photographs.

Someone who wants to do journaling will have different requirements and make different types of entries than someone who is blogging for public purposes. They may post on a system that allows their journal to be quite elaborate, like WordPress, or might be content with something that allows them to establish less complicated personal blogs, like Diaryland. In one sense, such journals are set up exactly the same as a Hollywood gossip site or a political investigation blog. But in function and purpose, these web-logs are at the complete opposite end of the blogging spectrum.

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