Jordan Hardy

Blogs and forums are both good platforms to generate content centrally online. Posts are easily sorted by category and date as well as searched. These can be used as part of your website or instead of your website. Read more to learn all about blogs, forums, and when to use each one.

Blogs

A Blog (also known as web log) is usually either an often updated online journal or platform to provide news or commentary on a subject. Blogs are usually hosted by a third party. Entries are displayed by date, and can contain images, text, and links to other websites. Many blogs allow comments to be added to entries by readers. Types of blogs include textual, photoblogs, sketchblogs, vlogs, MP3 blogs, and micro-blogs.

Spam can be a problem on blogs. Anonymous users will post comments just to get links back to their websites. Those links are not relevant to the blog. Comments can be set up to be approved only by the blog owner. You’ll only see comments approved on this blog which are not spam, and are relevant.

An example of a blog is this website you are on now.

Another example is here:
http://orchidcaretips.imagine123.com/orchidsblog/

Forums

A forum is a web application usually set up for discussion of topic/s on a website. Forums are for posting user generated information. They allow groups or individuals to communicate online easily. Usually no extra software is needed other than a web browser. Information is stored centrally. They have much in common with mailing lists, message boards, discussion boards, discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, and newsgroups. Posts can be replied to and easily searched. Messages in forums are displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions. Often a pleasant sense of virtual community develops on forums. Many forums have regular users. A discussion board is built of forums.

Spam can be annoying on forums. There is usually a moderator or group of moderators who pull spam posts from the forum. Members of forums often look out for spammers and can help get their posts removed, or call them on their actions.

Here is an example of a forum:
http://orchidcare.imagine123.com/discussion-forum/

When to use a Blog vs. When to Use a Forum

Use a blog when you want your message conveyed. You can choose on a blog if you want people to be able to comment to posts. Use a forum or message board when you want community members to chat on various topics. You will not need to spend as much time as you would on a blog since most content can be generated by users.