Blogs, Vlogs, and Microblogs

Blogs, vlogs, and microblogs refer to categories of social media sites and their associated content that utilize such well-known platforms as Blogger, YouTube, and Twitter, respectively. These media share those characteristics that define social media (interactive, user-generated content, etc.) but also may be considered episodic and/or thematic in nature. In other words, content posted on these media tends to revolve around a specific topic or theme, for example cooking or comedy. Despite similarities, blogs, vlogs, and microblogs differ with respect to platforms and content.

Blogs (a contraction of “web logs”) are online, public journals maintained by individuals or organizations (often termed corporate blogs for the [Page 75]latter). Traditional blogs are text-based, and posts typically range from one to three paragraphs with new posts occurring weekly or bi-monthly. Multimedia posts occurring with more frequency have outweighed traditional text posts in recent years.

Blogs are hosted by one of many popular platforms (e.g., Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress) or via web applications where the platforms are applied to personal websites. Bloggers also include an RSS (really simple syndication) app on main pages so that users in the “blogosphere” can subscribe to updates.

Technorati, a blog search and indexing site, annually publishes a “State of the Blogosphere” study that reports blogger demographics, motivations/consequences of blogging, as well as brands in the blogosphere.

Vlogs (a contraction of “video logs”) use video content as the primary feature. The most popular video-hosting platform is YouTube with more than 800 million unique visitors each month. Other popular platforms include Blip.tv and Vimeo. As opposed to sporadically posted videos, vlogs are episodic in nature and are updated with some frequency, typically bi-monthly. Organizations create channels for followers to subscribe to, and individual videos are rated (like/dislike) and shared on other media (blogs, social networking sites, etc.) by users.

Microblogs differ from the other two because even though they are text-based, the text is limited by the number of characters. Twitter is the most popular of these platforms with more than 600 million users worldwide. The culture of Twitter allows for multiple (140-character or fewer) posts to be made each day. Twitter users can “follow” those people they wish to receive updates from. Most Twitter accounts are public (as opposed to private), which means users can follow other users without prior approval. For organizations, Twitter has become a major medium for handling customer service inquiries.

Public relations professionals may strategically incorporate such media and content into communication programs and campaigns via a direct-to-consumer approach. In using blogs, vlogs, and microblogs, professionals may want to consider the organizational purpose and desired outcomes of using the media, as well as familiarize themselves with the norms of each. Professionals may also want to ensure that appropriate resources (staff, time, finances, etc.) are dedicated to the use of these media that must be updated and maintained with regularity to be effective. And, analytics tools (Google Analytics for blogs, Channel Stats for YouTube, and TweetStats for Twitter, for examples) can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of programs and campaigns.