What is it with popularity of blogs?
 

What is the difference between a blog and a website journal?

It just seems like an online journal has been give a new name 'blog' (short for weblog) and now the impression is that it's something new and revolutionary. Is there something I'm missing?

Anybody know the story behind blogging? Was it originally part of some type of hyped up marketing thing?

Journals/blogs are definitely useful for marketing. They'll be used like email, bots, webrings, and yahoo goups to market products. I'm just curious as to what all the fuss is. It's not something I'm overly familiar with. It just seems like one of the latest catchphrases for something that we've been doing ever since being online.