What is a blog?

A type of website maintained by an individual or group. Blogs feature comments and other material that can include links, news, graphics and video. Posts are displayed in reverse-chronological order with the most recent at the top. The ability for users to leave comments is an important interactive aspect. Often referred to in relation to the blogosphere, which is the collective term for all blogs on the Internet.
_{Definition from "Winning Fans with Social Media, Version 1.0" from Sports Media Challenge in Charlotte, NC. www.sportsmediachallenge.com}

What Blogs Bring to the Game:

• can feed fan appetite for more information, more interaction, more behind-the-scenes content while still allowing the author of the posts to control the level of intimacy
• flexible format that allows for videos, links and photos
• The ability to ‘subscribe’ -- getting alerts via RSS every time the blog updates
• highly customizable and personal means of engaging your fans
• can be launched with little or no cost

How Blogs Can Go Wrong:

• requires a certain degree of writing ability to be effective
• behind every blog posting is a person, and there is always the risk of sharing too much, spilling a team secret or generally posting something one may come to regret later, particularly an issue with journal-style blogs
• difficult to monitor and regulate postings, especially fan-driven and journal-style; run the risk of being associated with something inflammatory or potentially libelous
• blogs, particularly the journal-style, can get personal; requires a certain comfort level with writing and sharing information to walk the line of behind-the-scenes and personal diary