What is a blog?

We knew that "blog" was short for "weblog," so we searched on "history of weblogs" to answer your question.
A weblog is usually defined as a personal or noncommercial web site that uses a dated log format (usually with the most recent addition at the top of the page) and contains links to other web sites along with commentary about those sites. A weblog is updated frequently and sometimes groups links by specific subjects, such as politics, news, pop culture, or computer issues.
Some people are of the opinion that Mosaic's What's New page in 1993 was the first weblog. It was essentially a list of links that a few people thought were worth passing along to others. However, it wasn't until December 1997 that Jorn Barger coined the term "weblog" in his Robot Wisdom Weblog.
In 1998, only a handful of blogs existed, and many of the bloggers knew each other and linked to each other's sites. Rebecca Blood, author of The Weblog Handbook, notes that one preeminent site listed only 23 blogs in existence at the beginning of 1999. The media started noticing blogs later in 1999 and drew attention to the phenomenon. But it was the proliferation of free weblog-creation programs in 1999 that made blogging into a hugely popular pastime. Before this software was widely available, most weblogs were hand-coded by web developers and others who taught themselves HTML. The new programs made it easy for anyone to create their own weblog.
Blogger was released in August 1999 and was an immediate hit. This simple weblog application allows users to create any kind of weblog they desire. By October 2000, Blogger users were creating 300 new blogs a day, and the Blogger directory had over 5,500 blogs listed. In November of the same year, the 10,000th Blogger weblog was created. As of 2002, Blogger claimed over 750,000 users.
The rise of tools like Blogger also changed the content of weblogs. While they had begun as link-driven sites offering alternative viewpoints on news and other subjects, weblogs began to collide with online journals. Blogger-style tools allowed links and commentary to quickly grow into longer essays and diaries on the Web. Online journals had existed before this, but weblog applications made journals easier to manage for those who didn't know HTML.
Weblogs and online journals are often confused, and they can frequently overlap in content and style. But purists point out that a person writing in an online journal or diary is logging their life, not the Web. Weblogs still exist to log what's going on around the World Wide Web.

I'm In Debt by MTV Networks

It may be hard to believe, but because of the availability of easy credit, and the record high cost of college, young Americans today are carrying more debt than any generation in history. On this episode of True Life we meet three young people who are struggling desperately to clear their credit, just so they can get their lives off the ground.
Twenty-two-year-old Amy is an insatiable shopper, who's accumulated at least $14,000 in credit card debt alone. With creditors calling her everyday, she finally has to learn to control her spending. Amy works at an up-and-coming modeling agency/recording studio called Lifestyle, as the assistant to the owner. Amy swears that she will put money towards her bills as soon as she gets paid, but has failed to receive any checks. Skeptical that she'll be able to pay off her debt working for Lifestyle alone, Amy is persuaded by her father to look into city job openings as a second income source. After not receiving any payments from Lifestyle for six weeks, Amy decides to cut her ties and is back to being unemployed on her parents couch. Bored quickly with unemployed life, Amy enlists her mother for help on creating a resume, only to give up minutes after she starts. Weeks later, Amy begins to go on job interviews, and looks forward to working full time to begin to battle her debt.
Daniel, 25, bought a condo when financial times were good, but after loosing her job she now finds it difficult to pay her mortgage. With only a week left till she has to make a minimum payment of $900 on her mortgage, Daniel hustles at her bartending job to try and make more tips than normal to avoid being evicted. When she doesn't even break three-hundred dollars on a Saturday night, she begins to worry about how she's going to make her payments. In order to maintain her restrictive budget, Daniel begins to shop smarter for her groceries, spending as little money on food and other necessities as possible. Eventually Daniel decides to ask her boss for more shifts, and after a few months is making more money. With a full week's worth of shifts under he belt Daniel can now afford to pay her mortgage on time, reduce her credit card debt, and even attend dance classes in her spare time.
After twenty-one-year-old Ashley was laid off, she began paying for her expenses using her credit cards, and now owes over $20,000. Forced to move back in with her mom and dad, Ashley has to make a very difficult decision: will she decide to declare bankruptcy to settle what she owes, even if it means her credit rating will be ruined for years. When Ashley visits her attorney to get more info about filing bankruptcy, he informs her that not only will it ruin her credit; it could prevent her from being hired for any jobs in the future. In order to declare bankruptcy, Ashley must meet with a credit councilor who tells her she may have other options besides filling for Chapter 7. Over the course of their meeting Ashley and her councilor come up with a long term payment plan that would eliminate her credit in just over three years. After weighing her options, Ashley decides that declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy is in her best interest. Weeks after her bankruptcy trial Ashley admits to having more control over her spending and can save up to $400 a month. She plans to move out of her parent's house after a year's time has passed.

I Want the Perfect Body II by MTV Networks

Rebecca is 24 years old and is pursuing her Ph. D in Neuroscience at Harvard--a self-described "lab geek." To prepare for a fitness competition, she needs to build serious muscle tone and decrease body fat, while still maintaining her femininity for the swimsuit round. Things are coming along with her fitness training until she pulls her hamstring. In order to rest her injury, Rebecca pulls out of the South Beach show, but two months afterward competes and places 7th of 10 competitors at the show in Chicago. She graduated from Harvard with a Masters and plans to compete again.
Ryan is 23 years old, five-feet-three-inches tall, and weighs 105lbs. His goal is to become not only the leading jockey in Maryland again, but also one of the top five jockeys in the nation. By achieving that, he hopes to earn a mount at this year's Preakness, one of the biggest days in horseracing. To accomplish these goals, Ryan needs to gain weight. However, if jockeys weigh more than 112lbs they're not allowed to ride. By working out and trying to eat more than two small meals a day to gain weight, he runs the risk of getting too big and not being able to ride. Ryan's agent suggests that Ryan gain five pounds of muscle because it's equivalent to a "normal-sized" person adding 20-25lbs. Just as Ryan gains a pound and feels stronger, he suffers a bad fall during a race. The fall is a setback, but he's riding again and just started getting back into the gym. He is currently third in the standings for Maryland jockeys and is still hoping for a Preakness mount.
Kevin is 19 years old. In 2002 he was named the strongest teenager in the United States. Since then his goal has been to become a Professional Heavyweight Strongman. Most don't peak until their early 30's, when muscle becomes more developed--but Kevin has always been strong for his age. Kevin is 6'3 and weighs 245lbs. The majority of competitors he'll face weigh anywhere from 300-350lbs. To gain weight, he is supposed to consume an average of 7,000 calories a day. Despite eating non-stop over the course of two months, he fails to gain any weight, but he's gotten stronger. He attributes it to the intensity of his workouts. Kevin trains for the competition events performing things like a car-dead-lift hold, lifting Atlas stones, and pushing log over his head. He goes into the competition feeling pretty drained, worrying that he over-trained. Amazingly, he is in first place going into the final event in the competition, but ends up dropping an Atlas stone and loses by three seconds. Two months later, Kevin placed first and is now a professional Strongman.

I'm A Staten Island Girl by MTV Networks

They may technically live in New York City, but they don't feel like it. But like most in other Big Apple boroughs, they're part of a tight-knit community bonded by thick accents and common ethnic backgrounds. They're residents of Staten Island, and they have big dreams of better lives that are only possible off the island.
Twenty-one-year-old Danielle aspires to be an actress, but needs to drop her accent to be taken seriously. A self proclaimed "daddy's girl," Danielle lives a sheltered life with parents who have given her everything she has ever wanted, until now. When she realizes she hasn't been challenged at home, she takes acting classes in Manhattan in hopes they will eventually lead to her big break.
After working as an extra, and getting help from a specialist to improve her diction, Danielle feels she is finally ready for her first audition. When she doesn't land the TV role, she doesn't give up hope and makes plans to move to Los Angeles immediately after college to pursue an acting career -- and drop the S.I. accent for good.
Angela fears that, at age 25, she's getting too old to find someone to marry. She's always been attracted to "typical Staten Island guys" with spiky hair, muscles and fake tans, but her parents tell her to look elsewhere. Angela occasionally dates her longtime friend, Anthony, but when he
repeatedly doesn't call after seeing her, she realizes he's just like the other Staten Island guys who aren't ready to settle down. She goes on dates and even heads into Manhattan to search for Mr. Right, but can't seem to find men who interest her. Unfortunately, she realizes that she's not looking for a nice guy --- she isn't attracted to that type. For now, Angela is pursuing a second Master's degree and waiting for a man to realize and appreciate her Staten Island greatness.
Lauren, 22, says Staten Island will always be her home, but she needs something else, and that something is the diversity of Manhattan. After going away to college and amassing huge amounts of debt, Lauren is forced to move back home to save money. After quickly becoming impatient at home Lauren feels she needs to move to Manhattan as soon as possible, but first has to find a way to consolidate her loans and her bills.
To make some quick cash, she gets a job as a cocktail waitress in Manhattan, but can't seem to earn money fast enough to keep the banks off her back. In the mean time Lauren also volunteers for a PR firm in Manhattan, which gets her foot in the door for a job. Eventually Lauren is able to work off the majority of her debt and is waiting for the day when she can move on, a day she can shake being a Staten Island Girl to become a City Girl.