Although its first signs of life go back to 2005 (and five years are an eternity in digital time), microblogging has reached a critical mass in recent times, taking on so many different forms that it’s difficult to speak of a tool or a specific genre.

The most popular microblogging service is Tumblr, which with just a couple of clicks allows us to post anything interesting that we stumble upon on the web (videos, links, images) or simply upload our own personal impressions and gather them all together on our personal page. Its use is very similar to that of del.cio.us (the system of online favourites that lets you store all your links, organize them using tags, share them with friends and access them from any computer that’s connected to Internet) but the result is more attractive and (dare we say it?) much more 2.0. 

Other applications that are similar to Tumblr are Jaiku or Plurk but both have an added dimension that make them something rather different: they provide the opportunity to create a community of friends, just like on a social network, diluting the differences between traditional blogging, even if only in brief format, and the latest generation of social media. The king of microblogging is obviously Twitter, not forgetting the status update system used by Facebook. In both cases the logic is similar: to publish any type of content in brief format and initiate something similar to a conversation. 

The most interesting thing about microblogging is that it completely shatters the limits of the blogosphere as we knew it, dissolving it in a meta-narrative tide of links, comments, thumbs up and down, twits and re-twits which palpitate with a collective tide of online hyperactivity which, it seems clear, has arrived to stay.

http://www.tumblr.com

The following is neither a joke nor a wisecrack dressed up in appropriationist clothing.  It’s an example of something that I had already started to name genuine blogging culture in this section, although I’m aware that the expression is slightly clumsy. GBC is like porn: extremely difficult to define but recognizable at first sight. As you can see, GBC is fragmentary, metanarrative, disorientating and amazingly fruitful. So much so, that it’s already started to mutate in other fields, including that dandruff-ridden, old-school undertaking of essay-writing. To follow, we have a (sampled) extract from the last Eloy Fernández Carries book, "Homo Sampler. Time and consumption in the post-pop era", which goes: 

"Discovered in Atapuerca the oldest remaining fossil of a blogger. 

REUTERS/RORSCHACH.  A bone found in Atapuerca on June 27th, and unveiled to the public today by the co-directors of the site, confirms the oldest presence of bloggers in Europe, dating back over 1,200,000 years. This find exceeds by some 400,000 years the remains which, up to now, were the oldest in Europe, belonging to the Homo Amstrad species, also located in Atapuerca (...). 

As opposed to other more active members of their community, who confronted wild bison in their bare chests or asked hominids of the opposite sex for a light or invested in Treasury Bonds, the blogger only left his cave to visit the Mac settlement or to pick up four cheese flavoured Cheetos.  Although by that stage of the Lower Neolithic the quadruped style was already out of date, and the biped fashion was all the rage, the blogger had adopted a nerdy bent-over position. For that reason the bony remainders caused confusion among scholars.  "It seemed impossible", clarifies Childish, "that a hominid with a constitution so similar to a monkey’s could be a contemporary of the Homo Surfer and of a rugby central defender. Up to now we imagined him to be an ancestor of theirs, according to some hypothesis, the symptom of a regrettable decline" (...).

The blogger’s favorite tools were a stone flint with a crayon tip and a tube of instant glue, extracted from the roots of the Sacred Tree. With this stone he worked upon the walls of his cave, which he decorated with laborious inscriptions, called postum. In most cases the times the postum took up just a few lines, but on inspired days the blogger would often devote an entire day to a single inscription, which would take up an entire wall, much to the consternation of their cave-mates, who would scream abuse at him and give him a vicious thrashing that left him rather the worse for wear. In those occasions the blogger consoled himself by carrying out his second favourite activity: collecting leaves, flora and other vegetables and hitting them against the wall, in an effort to decorate or illustrate other texts. Aesthetic historians have called this pseudo-artistic practice " Anal Preschool Era", and believe that it represents a mystical, rather cheesy mentality, the consequence of a diet that was low in sodium and rich in Cheetos (...).

A very striking aspect of the blogger mentality was its eschatology, both in the sense of the "spiritual and religious use of our remains" and also of "what you are thinking". The routine of the hominid, who to our eyes may appear quite absurd, was maintained by a superstitious belief in the magical properties of glue. In fact, the blogger was convinced that a mysterious force, at the very core of the glue itself, put him in touch with the caves of all the remaining bloggers. This was called "virtual cohesion". Interpreters tell us that this hazy concept makes up the underlying theme of the majority of the preserved postum (...).

Certain archaeologists maintain that the worship of glue made some believe that their inscriptions could be read, decoded and discussed by other bloggers, in neighbouring or even very distant caves, thus creating a kind of universal landscape where cavemen shared one single cause (...).

These bloggers (...) were well aware of their destiny: busying themselves with a unrewarding and deceptive business, thrown to the cold corners of the cave, in the darkest of times, all in the hope that some archaeologist, carrying out an academic study would take notice of them (...). This scene illustrates the phenomenon which cyber-critics of holoculture call "media implosion" and which can be defined as the tendency to read the lines of a newspaper with the same willingness as those who scrutinize the Palaeolithic sky looking for emblems, or clouds arranged in allegory, or forecasts at the start of the second sales, along with a clear and terrible certainty: the Rain Gods speak through the mouth of Paco Montesdeoca.”

Eloy Fernández Porta, “Homo Sampler. Tiempo y consumo en la era after-pop”

There are tons of blogs on the world of comics. Be they personal, written with the passion of a collector (and we already know how much those cartoon fans are willing to spend) and commercial, the kind that are used by publishing houses to promote their latest titles, authors or news. That’s not even counting the anonymous links that redirect you to those wonderful illegal download websites full of scanned titles that will quickly fill up your HD. That’s all very well. But blogcomics, also known as webcomics, are another thing entirely. 
 
Blogcomics are not blogs about comics, rather blogs that are comics, that is to say, that instead of posts they have vignettes. Most of them are updated daily or weekly, allow comments and complete their publication in blog format by using social networks like facebook or twitter pretty intensively. Their main characteristic is that they take the relationship between the Internet and comic culture one step further, experimenting with all possible forms of exchange between one and the other. Blogcomics are a good example of how the culture of paper and that of bits can coexist without any problem and even help improve one another, something that’s hardly surprising if we bear in mind that both are closely connected to DIY and the purely underground adventure of self-publishing. 


The local hero of webcomics is, as everyone knows, Mauro Entrialgo who since about 2007 has been (literally) churning out a daily strip in digital format, whether in the El Pais newspaper’s blog community (its "Interneteo and aparatuquis" is a brilliant graphic look at the lifestyle of technological man) or in the Público newspaper, which he is currently collaborating under the name " Plétora de piñatas". And after that later, it’s a question of taste. My favourite: “Conocer a alguien”, the blogcomic by Pernan Goñi and Alicia Vive Aquí on the many ways people have of finding and then losing themselves again; the very original “Aros de cebolla”; and the unmatchable “Caída y auge de Antxón Amorrortu” by La Leoparda de Rekalda aka Mery Cuesta, which was distributed on facebook and myspace.  One last reference: the webcomic section of the Subculture portal, a social networking piece for lovers of cartoons and, strangely enough: in Spanish.

http://www.conoceraalguien.com/

They’re classics of the blogosphere and every blogger who’s in the least bit curious (i.e. every blogger) has come upon them at some time or other. Has read them, has followed them or perhaps not, or has even created his own. I refer to the lists of do's and don’ts which list the indispensable golden rules on blogging practices, the magic recipe which, they claim, will make any blog turn into the chicken that lays the golden eggs and any blogger become a star of cyberspace. Rankings on the most popular lists change very quickly depending on which applications are in fashion at the time and on the prevailing trends: whether photo blogs are in at the moment; whether you should turn all your posts into podcasts; whether you should include a page "about me"; or perhaps not right now, it being better to maintain anonymity, thus adding more morbid curiosity; whether to link your facebook or linkedin profile; whether to... 

Here is a selection of the advice taken from some of the obligatory reference blogs (although this doesn’t assure that they themselves know what the recipe for success is). I’ve avoided those that refer to widgets, gadgets and technical gimmicks because -and this is the first and more important of all rules- blogging doesn’t involve just using technology but communicating. 

Have something to say.
This may seem obvious but, looking at how everyone is incessantly encouraged to start a blog nowadays (teachers, politicians, those in a process of losing weight, those writing their doctoral thesis, company directors, self-employed and company employees, those who have just got divorced and even footballers... to sum up, everyone), it’s not a bad thing to remember. Having a blog is neither compulsory nor in any way recommended. You should only start writing a blog if you’re really dying to. 
 
Your blog doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be yours. 
This is the by-product of the previous rule. Having something to say doesn’t mean that this something has to be interesting, popular, sensitive to the mood of the times, that it’s going to cause a revolution or to change the history of communication. But it should definitely be yours. That is to say, personal. Transmitting a way of seeing the world that is both unique and individual. Because as the jazz musician said: "Finding your own voice is half the work".

Blogging is an obsessive vice. 
In 43 folders, the Bible of the DIY aficionado, they say things clearly: the best blogs are written by people obsessed by a theme. Or with two, or with several, but so obsessed that they can’t stop reading and writing on it. It’s a kind of infatuation: impassioned, irrational and compulsive. If you can’t stop updating your blog, even though you want to, if you feel chills, queasiness and migraine when too many days pass without doing so, you’re on the right path. 

But like in love, it’s all about cadence. 
Finding the tone is important, but hitting upon the right rhythm too. That’s why they say that writing a blog is the most similar thing there is to flirting without leaving home: because at heart, what it’s all about is seduction, and in order to seduce you should never cross the barrier that distinguishes the devoted lover from the masses. A lot has been written on the optimum reach of a post, the frequency it should be published in order to keep the readers interested... But there are no universal rules.  Each blog has its tempo. 

Good blogs follow neither rules nor advice.
And this I dare say really is a golden rule. Because why do you want a blog if it isn’t to do just what you feel like with it?  Your blog is your blog, full stop!

http://thisblogmayneedfirstaid.blogspot.com/

The Bitácora Awards ceremony is being held yet again this year to reward the best Spanish-language blogs of the season. And yet again, the romantics of blogism put our hands on our heads and remember, nostalgically, those good old days when blogging was a selfless act and digital culture, a form of subculture. Don’t be fooled. I’d also like to be among the winners of the supporting statuette and the ultraportable computer, which are awarded to the best blogs and, especially, to receive the public acknowledgement that an award always implies, whatever it may be and wherever it may come from.

I don’t want to cast doubt on the worthiness of the contesting blogs, nor the merit of those receiving awards, nor the effort of all the bloggers who, post by post, are building up a blogosphere that gives us so much satisfaction. What I do cast doubt upon is that the objective of a contest like this should be to promote the blogosphere. Let’s be serious please. The Bitácora Awards are a marketing exercise for the businesses and institutions that sponsor them (because, is there any better way to appear in the media that to award prizes to the media itself?). An event that, surely for very little money, allows them to associate their brand image to a communication tool which, for the moment, continues to be surrounded by the glamour of all things cool (or, as my hairdresser would say, all things "tendentious"). 

Among the sponsors of the Bitácora Awards there’s a bit of everything. There are initiatives that are openly committed to the blogosphere such as blog-creating communities like OboLogs or Nireblogs (the latter being one of those exciting projects that is kept by a team of programmers who not only love what they do but also blog). There are leading applications, some already firmly established like 11870.com, and other more recent ones that have opened a niche like the killer app Spotify. There are, of course, social projects in the financial sector like the CAMON platform organised by the Caja Mediterráneo’s Acto Social cultural iniatiative or Comunitae’s network of interpersonal loans. There are firms specializing in one of the most promising areas of business on the current web, like advertising on social networks (also known as "social media advertising"): there you’ll find Adoor, BuzzParadise® and the eBay advertising department. There are even some consumer electronics manufacturers like Toshiba and perhaps even the odd free electron like the satirical magazine El Jueves.

The Bitácora Awards 2009 held its opening event on September 7th at the Auditorium in Madrid’s Casa Encendida with a grand gala: lots of press, lots of big and small screen names, lots of Twitter and many major names of the internet’s business community. Starting that date, and continuing until October 30th, it’s the turn of users to vote for their favourite blogs in some of the 23 categories, each of which is supported by one of the sponsor companies. After that first phase of voting, Bitácoras.com will select three finalists from each category. The final winners will be chosen by a Jury and announced during another soirée of the same type, Evento Blog España (EBE), on the 14th of November at a well-known prestigious hotel in Seville.

http://bitacoras.com/premios09

In technical language, Planetaki is what’s known as a blog administrator or a feedreader or RSS. In other words, it’s simply a web page where you can see at a glimpse the latest entries published on your favorite blogs. In the Planetaki world the said web page is given the name of a planet and it can be private, if you just want to see it yourself, or public, if you decide to share your favourite binnacles with others. It also lets you link your planet – that is, your list of favourite blogs, with the corresponding latest entries- to your own blog or to another web by simply pasting in the HTML code provided by Planetaki itself. 

The major contribution of this tool is that, since its launch in March 2008, it has slowly but surely, benefiting from word of mouth, become the most accessible administrator for inexperienced users, which means practically everyone. Unlike Google Reader or Bloglines -the most popular but also the most complicated, not to mention their being quite ugly as well- Planetaki features very clean design and minimum usabilty. So minimum that it doesn’t allow us to order blogs by theme, nor show unread posts. In Planetaki all blogs appear together and only show the latest posts and their title, image and the first lines of text. Nothing else. This is also what makes it less interesting for information-addicted users, who suffer unbearable pain if they haven’t digested each and every piece of news from their favourite blogs, even if it’s just the title. But for tastes, there are colours and Planetaki can definitely respond very well to the needs of the mainstream user, who despite being the main reason for doing business online, continues to be ignored by many of the most useful applications (like the wonderful and extremely efficient del.icio.us, still only used by a minority). 

With all its advantages and its disadvantages, it’s quite obvious that Planetaki has all the ingredients to be become an application that we’ll be hearing lots about. It’s no coincidence that its creator is one of the major figures in the world of Spanish start-ups, Javier Cañada, a consultant at The Cocktail and co-founder of the famous 11870, a kind of geolocalized yellow pages, compiled by its own users. Surely thanks to his experience, with Planetaki, Cañada hasn't made the typical mistakes of online business visionaries: no big teams, costly applications nor expensive offices. In their place: a good idea, a generous investor, an programming wizard named Sam Lown and a general headquarters in a cheap area on the outskirts of a big city. In Cañada’s own words, the origin of Planetaki is just like Planetaki itself: light, simple and exciting. "In five years it’ll be an effective administration service, with a team of six people, nice offices and enjoying life".  A plan for the future that can only get better if one of the web’s big fish buys it, which usually happens every killer app that’s worth its salt.

http://www.planetaki.com

The story of Gapingvoid is one of those that increase the mythical status of the blogosphere, as if it were the digital incarnation of the American dream, that immense fertile land where anyone who is daring and hard-working can make his dreams come true. Its author, Hugh MacLeod, arrived in New York in 1997, having booked into a hostel, with a  10-day contract as a copywriter at an advertising agency. In his blog he tells us how the first weeks were spent travelling through the city fascinated by the "incandescent brightness" and murmur of New York streets, which several times a day made him want to laugh, cry and sing, all at the same time, and so as to beat the solitude after work, he began to doodle, drawing rag dolls and all kinds of ideas on business cards. "At times like that, there’s a lot to be said for the kind of art that fits easily into your jacket pocket".  

MacLeod’s cartoons, published on his blog since 2004 and now reproduced all over the Internet, are always very tongue-in-cheek, half-way between the pathetic verbosity of a successful publicist and the caustic wisdom of a loser who doesn’t mince his words because he knows what he’s speaking about: about the recession and our high-speed lifestyle, about the myths of creativity, about stress, solitude and pathological dissatisfaction, about emotional precariousness and the misery of occasional sex, about Google, Microsoft and Diet Coke. Apart from cartoons, his blog contains some of the most brilliant posts on the economy of talent, innovation and 2.0 culture to be found on the web.

The best ones are compiled in the "How To be Creative" series and were published in the shape of a book in June 2009 under the very Gapingvoid title: " Ignore Everybody", in honor of the first rule of this original self-help book for contemporary creative executives. It also publishes limited series of his cartoons, has launched a line of personalized business cards that can be ordered on his blog and has just started a mailing list called CrazyDerangedFool on "the world of creativity, the meaning of things and life in the real world". Hugh MacLeod has left New York but hasn’t left his daily job behind and draws in the train on the way home. He works hard and he tries to carry on ignoring everybody despite his popularity because, as he says, the best way of gaining recognition is by not needing it. Rock on, Hugh, and keep blogging!

http://www.gapingvoid.com

Without doubt, one of the reasons of the success of internet is that the human being is lazy by nature, but also very curious. If you can travel the entire world and discover the wildest initiatives without leaving your computer, why do so?

Street art blogs are proof that, even arts that are purely associated with the streets, also have their niche on the web. And for two weighty reasons. First because street art is by definition an ephemeral practice and blogs are ideal for documenting it and broadcasting it.  Secondly, because although it may have jumped into our art galleries or lifestyle magazines (where you’ll find Bansky or Miss Van, the indisputable VIPs of the genre), urban art is still completely illegal. Graffiti, tagging, use of urban furniture and advertising placards, skateboarding or parkour, films and music, street art hacks everything that is put before it and doesn’t have any more limits than whatever city you’d like to imagine. And there aren’t just blogs. Galleries on Flickr, twitter accounts, YouTube channels, PhotoLogs and social networks that are all inter-related, form a labyrinth of highly accessible, high-impact visuals, by just making a few clicks. 

Let’s start with the pioneers:  Wooster Collective, a New York-based collective that since 2001 has been compiling all the most innovative events from cities around the world on its blog and that, because of its consistency and quality, has become a Bible of the styles and names synonymous with international street art. Meanwhile, Britain’s UK Street Art focuses on the most talked-about street art in the UK, the kind that has managed to make the jump from public spaces into the white spaces of the galleries, and follows the trail of numerous Flickr groups, which are divided by cities. But for a really comprehensive visual and geographical journey, there’s nothing better than Street Files, half way between the blog community and photo files, 100% done by the users.  And in Spain? Well, the local Spanish-language reference for urban culture online is the multifaceted Misha Canibal: blogger, DJ, skater and activist, involved in projects like Paraphernalia, the shop and gallery, Street Zinema film festival or the Perros Callejeros production company. And finally, the veteran, yet indispensable, Beautiful Crime who add a large dose of intelligence to all the others: theory and open discussions, in the name of what they themselves define as the post-graffiti revolution: "This is culture, it’s now, and it’s as exciting as a Mc Donald's on fire".

http://www.woostercollective.com

The LabforCulture web platform, funded by the European Union, have dedicated their latest dossier to cultural blogs written in Europe. OK, I’m aslo one of those who think that nothing good can come out of such an institutional initiative, but this time I have to think twice.

The published reports are highly rewarding and come accompanied by interviews with the hardworking writers of the blogs, who always have something interesting to say. So far, they’ve interviewed Alex Tarkowski of Kultura 2.0, who writes on new Polish media, Michelle Kasprzak, based in Scotland and the writer of Curating.info, an excellent collection of news items and resources for arts commissioners and Claire Welsby of Interventtech, a blog on art and technology in the United Kingdom. 
 
The interviews are carried out by Annette Wolfsberger, the projects director at the Dutch institute for electronic culture Virtueel Platform and they raise questions on the economic model and sustainability of blogging, its compatibility with other kinds of activities, what motivates and encourages writers to set up and keep a blog running, feed-back received from readers, relationships established with other bloggers, how they choose their themes or how the language in which they are written affects their diffusion. They’ll be published at a rhythm of one a week till June 2009. The dossier is completed by a dynamic interactive map on cultural blogs in Europe (still being prepared) and will culminate with a trial that compiles the results of the research. 

The Labforculture website also contains other research dossiers, as well as information on grants, scholarships, training and other resources available to professionals working in the cultural sector in Europe. All very politically correct (you know:  "Culture will set us free"), but definitely useful and very well documented.

http://www.labforculture.org/es

It’s not exactly a design blog, nor exactly one for new trends, nor underground art, nor jamming culture nor Do-It-Yourself. It’s all that and a lot more at the same time. Guerrilla Innovation compiles a whole range of initiatives that apply creativity to all kinds of situations: be they spectacular or secretive urban events, prototypes of odd, useless or revolutionary gadgets, design brought to everyday experiences, new lifestyles, advertising campaigns or social projects. 

Among its latest posts, for example, are an idea by the artist Thierry Geoffroy to debate political issues whilst jogging (you know, oxygenation helps the brain think more clearly). Also knitted street signs by Lauren Marsden, walls filled in with pieces of Lego by the artist Jan Vormann, grasfitti by Mikel Zall or the Museum of Broken Relationships, a nomadic online project featuring objects donated by participants, which represent the end of a relationship. 

The underlying inspiration is highly contemporary: creativity is everywhere and everything that exists can be conceptualized, prototyped and designed. The author, Sebastian Campion, is a consultant and designer based in Copenhagen, who besides publishing the blog, also exhibits, gives classes, workshops and conferences and, as stated on his own personal website, "helps businesses and organizations develop concepts, services and events that generate unique experiences, publicity, knowledge and innovation".  Welcome to the world of concept design.

http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com

The second edition of the Postopolis event for architecture blogs is already in motion, this time from March 31 to April 4 2009 in the city of Los Angeles.

Postopolis features five days of activities (debates, presentations, projections and the odd party) to encourage meetings between architecture, urban and landscape planning blogs. Another objective is to reflect on online architectural discussions and how these translate to physical reality and back to the web again.

This, the second edition, is organized by Régine Debatty, publisher of We Make Money Not Art. Among the guests confirmed so far are Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily, Mudd Up!, Subtopia, City of Sound and BLDGBLOG.

On We Make Money Not Art Debatty herself calls on us to gather up information on other blogs operating in this field, so as to complete the line-up. So now you know, if you happen to edit a blog on architecture or know any that could be of interest, any information you might be able to send in the shape of a comment would be greatly appreciated.

Entry to the event is free of charge and will feature extensive coverage, with texts and photos, on the organizer’s blog.

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/architecture

The blogosphere has not only made its mark on the traditional media market.  It’s also causing pornography, that giant of internet entertainment, to shiver.

With its mix of provocation, good taste and intelligence Sex and blogs has become a highly rated weblog in the digital erotic world. Alternative porn, vintage curiosities, sex toys, trendy erotic art, advertising cuts and excellent photos, all with the fresh, independent touch of the genuine culture blog.

Some of their most recent pearls include a pirated edition of SM version Lego, an interview with the erotic writer Violet Blue, a selection of the most misogynist ads in history of advertising or a photo of Debbie Harry on stage with her pubic hairs shaved. Their links section is also worth mentioning: a journey through the best blogs of this kind in English, Spanish, French, Swedish, Polish and Italian.

The erotic of the future will be cool, or it just won’t be.

http://sex-and-blogs.com

What happens when you press "publish" on your blog’s publishing interface?  Almost instantly the post you’ve just written enters a huge information network, where authors and regular readers are just a small part. Once the ping systems confirm the entry has been published a whole series of mechanisms are set in motion which lead to the post in question being reproduced and read, not only on the original blog, but in a host of other places as well.

Keywords trackers, spam blogs, feed readers (like Google Reader, Blog Lines or Netvibes), blog search engines (like Technorati) and contextual advertising systems (like Google Ad Sense) are some of the applications that automatically come into play. Add to this the actions of other bloggers and web users who index the blog in social bookmarking systems (like del.icio.us), add it to their RSS, link it, cite it, modify it or simply comment on it.  

Matthew Hurst, an Artificial Intelligence specialist, has published a very educational diagram with the different agents who shape part of the life of a blog, which can be consulted on the Wired Magazine website.  


http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2008/ff_secretlife_1602

We feel fine is an application that visually transmits the emotions expressed on the blogosphere. In other words: it searches the most recently-updated blogs that contain the words "I feel" or "I’m feeling", attempts to identify the feelings expressed (happy, sad, excited, lazy, distressed, happy, in love...) and turns them into visual maps.

Maps showing particles are the most popular.  Each particle represents a certain feeling expressed by a particular person, with colours indicating the type of feeling and size representing the length of the sentence. When a particle is selected, the sentence is shown and, when applicable, the image that goes with it.

As well as maps with particles there are other visual representations showing the most repeated phrases, the images associated with a particular feeling or images relating emotions on the blogosphere to information on geographical location, climate, gender or age.

A gadget-app that allows you to spend hours in front of the screen. Its only failing: it’s only programmed to read the blogosphere in English. 

http://www.wefeelfine.org

Hernan Casciari is an Argentine writer and pioneer in blognovels, a narrative form that combines traditional literature with the new opportunities offered by digital media, like hypertextuality, interaction with readers and anonymity.  

Casciari became known on the Internet via his blog "More respect, I’m your mother”, when, playing the part of the Bertotti family mother, he described the clan’s incredible misfortunes on a daily basis. Later came "Leticia Ortiz’s diary", "Juan Dámaso, Clairvoyant " and "Me and my garotte".  In the latter he adopted the personality of someone suffering from mental illness, who wrote a blog as therapy (even making a deal with the newspaper that published it that, if someone discovered it was all a con, he wouldn’t charge a penny).  

At any rate, Casciari hides his true identity till the end of each experiment. He takes on the role of the blog author (a housewife, a princess, a madman) and interacts with its readers, just like any blogger. A new form of literature or an online happening?  It really doesn’t matter: his characters are hilarious and their stories highly addictive.

http://orsai.es

Although little-known in Spanish-speaking climes, Live Journal (better known as LJ) is a well established project in the world of blogging.

First of all, because it uses open source and is actively involved in the campaign for free software, and secondly, because it combines blogging with an efficient system for setting up and maintaining social networks. 

Each user has his own "Friends Page", allowing him to make contact with other bloggers and set up communities or discussion forums. And like other open source projects, part of the job of running LJ is done by volunteers from within the community. 

LJ isn’t just a web hosting software. It’s a highly interconnected weblog network, where the users’ feeling of community plays a vital role.

Even though its purchase by Six Apart in 2005 saw the community aspect lose some weight, LJ continues to be a remarkable phenomenon, thanks to its ability to successfully combine technology and social interplay.

http://www.livejournal.com

’Zero Comments. Blogging and Critical Internet Culture’ is a breath of fresh air in the midst of all the hype surrounding the blog phenomenon.

Its author is the ever cutting and cynical Geert Lovink, director of the Institute for Networked Cultures, who defines himself as a ‘pragmatic radical’.

Lovink comes up with a general blogging theory which delves into each of their common locations, one by one. The relationship between blogging and the mass media isn’t considered. Blogs are a form of nihilistic expression that strip structures of their meaning and create a new digital hierarchy based on ranking, tags and comments.

’Zero Comments’ also analyzes the globalisation of the web through blogs, the decreasing dominance of western digital culture and the emergence of new  players like China, India and Brazil. An essential read in order to understand the blogosphere in all its complexity.

http://networkcultures.org

You would like to create a blog portal? Or add updates of your favourite journals in your sidebar? Feevy is a very simple widget created by a Spanish team that is triumphing in the blogosphere, which allows us to convert the typical list of links into dynamic content.  

Its use is simple: open an account in Feevy, insert the url of the blog you want to add to your sidebar and Feevy gives you some lines of code. You go to your blog, enter them in your template and that’s it. Every time that blog is updated, the changes also appear on your blog. And so on, for any blog you want. That way, you can build up themed entries, blog communities, networks of friends’ journals, etc. It can also be used for Picasa albums, for del.icio.us and for Twiter. And of course, the service is free.

http://www.feevy.com/

Male, over-50, position of responsibility in a company and... a Blogger?  Well, yes! Once they got over the scare in 2001, when thousands of companies went out of business because of the dot-com crisis, the yuppies went back on the net and they are having a great time with the social web.

Blogbook. The future is yours. The social revolution of people is a good example of this phenomenon. This book was written jointly by 120 authors who responded to the call launched by the "energizer of new business trends " Dioni Nespral in his blog:  Do you want to write a book?  Several hundred comments, trackbacks, posts and twitters later sees the release of this work in which each participant has contributed a chapter and you will be able to download free in the coming days.

http://www.blogbook.es