Poll: Has The Meaning Of The Word “Blog” Changed?

When I started blogging in 2008, the difference between a blog and a post was pretty clear. A blog was your dynamic website. A post was the article you’d publish on your blog.

Then in recent years I’ve noticed something strange. People have been calling posts, “blogs”.

At first I found this confusing,

“What do you mean you wrote a blog today? You made a whole website? Do you mean you wrote a post?”

Now every time I hear someone say they’re “writing a blog” or they “published a blog” when they mean post I still bristle a little inside. It just doesn’t sound right. 🤷‍♀️

To me a blog is the container and a post is the contents. Calling a blog (post) a blog is like saying you “wrote a book” every time you write a page or a chapter.

Today I had to look up the definition of the noun “blog” in the dictionary for something and I noticed this on Merriam-Webster.

We know the word blog can also be a verb, it always has been. But in terms of nouns, does blog now mean “the contents of such a site (a blog)” as the dictionary advised me today?

I know language does evolve and maybe the noun blog has evolved to have a dual meaning.

Interestingly, I didn’t see the same definition on the Cambridge dictionary or Macmillan.

So, it’s time to ask for your input. What do you call the entry or article that you publish on your blog?

Please take the quick poll below and share your thoughts in a comment. Do you call articles on your blog “posts” or “blogs”? I’d also love to know where you’re from (perhaps it’s a regional thing?) and when you started blogging (perhaps it’s a new thing?).

Scroll down to find the comment box!

12 thoughts on “Poll: Has The Meaning Of The Word “Blog” Changed?

  1. I think there can be a lot of confusion to a blog now that social media is so big. Every time someone posts to a social media cite, they may think they are “blogging.” This explained the difference between a blog and a blog post!

  2. I normally say “I’ve been blogging” or “I updated my blog” because I think post or entry can be a bit vague.

    Though interestingly enough I know lots of people who use blogs like a website. Last year I asked a colleague for the URL for the workplace blog and she had to Google what blog was before she told me they didn’t have one. (They did have a blog but they mostly used static pages in the navigation and the blogging feature was known to them as a newsfeed – which they rarely updated).

    Every academic workplace I am connected to has some sort of blog. And I wonder if the fact many places use them professionally means they just think of blogging platforms as another content management system? I know I still think of a blog as a personal space rather than a corporate one. The blogs I enjoy reading are mostly diary-like. That’s not to say I don’t value other types of blogs, but rather that the ones I read are often more set out like a magazine.

    1. Hey Nina, these are really interesting thoughts. The nature of blogs and the language does seem to be evolving and it’s different in different spaces, as you pointed out. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Hi I started blogging about 2002 (in Brazilian portuguese). I use Blog to website and posts to articles.

    In my opinion, different things have different names, simple like that!

  4. Thank you for writing this, Kathleen!

    I have always taught my students the difference between their blogs (their sites) and the posts that populate that site.  You choose a name for your blog, and that is the entire site. Each post then has its own title, and its own permalink. I taught students there was a difference between the link to the blog itself and the link to the individual post. As more posts are added, the original post moves down the page. If they want someone to find a particular entry (post) then they must provide the permalink because the post may no longer appear on the first page of the blog.  

    I quickly grabbed a site that supports this idea: https://www.writerscookbook.com/how-structure-blog-post/
    The writer, Kristina Adams, says there are 10 million POSTS published every day. That would be articles, not 10 million new blog sites. It actually is a good article filled with tips, and at the bottom the reader is referred to related “posts” by the author, and not related”blogs” by other writers.( I think the part of the definition you highlighted still refers to the contents as a whole and not each individual post.)

    So there you have my opinion. Just don’t ask me about pronouncing GIF!

    1. Hi Patti,

      You’ve certainly shared some excellent words of wisdom with your students! I know for a lot of students (and adults), they don’t seem to realise the difference between a URL to a site and a particular post. Even for people who don’t blog themselves, in a culture of social media and sharing online, I think this is an important thing for everyone to know about.

      Thanks for the link to the article about structuring posts too. Agree, it would not sound right if there were related “blogs” at the bottom. Overall, I think using the word blog for a site and blog for a post is just confusing! I like clarity.

      LOL that’s a funny one a GIF. For the record, I think I’m a soft G 😉

  5. Hi Kathleen,
    I started blogging about 2007 and the blog is the website and posts are the articles I write which allow readers to comment. I am from Australia.

    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sue. I have a feeling most bloggers from our “era” are sticking with the word post. It’s an interesting one!

    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kevin. So far the poll seems to say most people are sticking with the word “post”, however, I ageee with you that language is always evolving.

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