Classification of Blogs

Different people blog for different reasons. In general, the three main reasons why people blog is to speak their mind, share expertise, share experiences with family and friends as well as make money or do business (Sussman 2009). Hence, bloggers create their blog based on the most effective method which they feel that it can communicate the intended message to the readers. In fact, the term "blog" itself carries different meanings and so far, there is no any standard reference to distinguish the types of blog. 

To my knowledge, blogs can be classified as below:

• Personal blog
• Politics blog
• Fashion blog
• Photography blog
• Moblog
• Vlog
• Linklog
• Sketchlog
• Tumblelog
• Microblog
• Business blog
• Corporate blog

On the other hand, Margaret Simons (2008) has come up with her own lists of blog classification:

• Pamphleteering Blog
• Digest Blog 
• Advocacy Blog
• Popular Mechanics Blog
• Exhibition Blog
• Gatewatcher Blog
• Diary Blog
• Advertisement Blog
• Newsblog

Many blogs are combinations of styles. Bloggers do not use merely one type of style to blog. They usually incorporate photos, videos, audios, and links related to their topics in order to enhance the readers' experience. This method of blogging has made identifying unique types difficult.

For instance, let us take a look at the famous Vietnamese-American makeup artist, Michelle Phan:

A blog entry consisting pictures, text and video.

Screenshots of Michelle Phan's how-to fashion blog.

In one of her blog entries, she is explaining on how to make a tomato scrub. Besides using text and photos, she also includes a self-made video in her blog for the readers to have a better understanding on the whole procedure. So basically, her blog can be referred as a combination of how-to, diary and fashion blog. 

In my opinion, the line between each category is so near to each other that it is hard to define a clear fine line to separate the types of blog. It is difficult for us to classify blogs into a certain category as the content of a blog is always a combination of different elements. 

Reference

Simons, M 2008, 'Towards a Taxonomy of Blogs', Australian Policy Online, viewed 10 April 2010, < http://www.apo.org.au/commentary/towards-taxonomy-blogs-0 >.

Sussman, M 2009, 'Day 2: The What and Why of Blogging - SOTB 2009', Technorati, viewed 9 April 2010,  < http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-2-the-what-and-why2/page-2 >.