Blogs

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This page describes resources related Blogs, or the Blogosphere, the word some like to use to describe the world of blogs. To learn more about blogs and their history, take a look at the following from Technorati, a well-known blog and social media tracker:

Blog Search Engines

  • Technorati (home page) "Currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media"
Browse Technorati's Blog Directory
To search for blogs: Go to Advanced Search
  1. Enter search term(s)
  2. Choose the radio button to seach in "all blogs" or "blogs about"
  3. On the next page, click either the "posts" tab or the "blogs" tab to view your results
To search for blogs: use the Simple Search or for more control, the Advanced Search. Sorts by either most recent or most relevant

Blog Readers

A tool called a "reader" allows you to subscribe to multiple blogs (or any webpage with a "feed") and view them all at once. Whenever each blog or webpage is updated, the new content will automatically be sent to your reader. Feed readers can either be web-based or an application that you install on your computer. Some popular feed readers are listed here, and some of them also let you search for blogs as well.

  • Bloglines a popular reader and blog search tool. It is free, web-based and very easy to use.
  • Google Reader another very simple to use free web-based reader. If you have a Google account already, you can just log in and start using this tool immediately.


read more about using RSS feeds for library research check the Library Workshops page for upcoming workshops on Database Alert Services/RSS

Create Your Own Blog

There are a number of online hosts for blogs including:

  • Blogger: Blogger is owned by Google, and lets you create a number of different blogs if you have a Google account. You can use a template provided by Blogger or edit/create your own. See a full list of features for more information. This You Tube video describes how to start a blog in Blogger.
  • Wordpress.com or Wordpress software: Create a free blog hosted by wordpress.com or install their free software on your own server. Installing Wordpress on your own server gives you complete control over the look and feel of your site, but requires that you know how to install and manage the database software. A free wordpress.com blog comes with a variety of themes and other useful features including spam blocking software.

While these are two of the most popular blogging platforms (and the two most used by librarians at OU) you can see a number of other options at this Wikipedia page about blogging software programs.

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