Blogs v. Journals

Oh, look, what's this? I'm posting again in this blog. I like writing too much it seems. My foray into anime blogging is going well, and I don't foresee giving it up any time soon. In addition to that, I've decided to be an idiot and try out this NaBloPoMo thing on top of my annual NaNoWriMo; for that purpose, I've set up yet another blog! But I do have good news for this blog, I think. Lately, I've been thinking too much about random things again that don't belong in anything else I write. This means that this blog might be seeing a bit more action, in spite of everything. No promises though. No promises.

Anyway!

I was thinking some about the distinction between blogs and journals online and how, in general, the terms are lumped together. I don't agree with this synonym thing though. When I think "journal," I think about Livejournal, which for the most part is filled with teen angst and personal things -- things that you might have found in traditional journals. Private thoughts for a limited audience, generally friends, however broadly one may use that term. Of course, Livejournal has its exceptions -- I utilize my own Livejournal both for personal things and for semi-professional things. It is not impossible to use the site for blogging just because "journal" is in the name, but then those individual accounts would be deemed blogs, not journals.

Blogs are intended for a mass audience. They are intended to be read by both friends and strangers. They should be geared towards general topics and not focus on the daily going-ons of an individual's life. That isn't to say that personal things won't leak through -- they will -- and really, that's what makes blogs interesting. They are full of opinions, but they are accessible. The typical stranger likely won't care about the fact that your girlfriend just broke up with you after cheating on you with your brother, but if it's just a passing mention on a blog that is otherwise filled with intelligent discussions of, say, animal rights, then it's still a blog.

The ironic part is that I tend to view blogs as being more journalistic in the newspaper sense. They feel more professional, like the co-op an editorial columns of a paper (okay, okay, so those are debateably "professional," but you know what I mean). So maybe I meant that journals are more diary-like and blogs are more journalistic.

Wow, is the English language confusing or what? Why do I love this language so much?

And I suppose that's all I really wanted to say. This is a blog. Here, I discuss things.