Same difference?

A friend has just asked me what's the difference between a blog and a website. Until today I never had a problem answering. A new Blogger feature has thrown a spanner in the works. But more of that later.
There are probably three things that distinguish a blog from a website:
1. Personality - blogs are personal. They can be instructive, educational, entertaining, useful, annoying or (often) pointless, they belong to somebody and are a reflection of who they are. Perez Hilton's celebrity blog is a case in point.
2. Interactivity - some blogs are conversational. Some are controversial. Some are funny or sad, and some, like The Pencil Sharpener are a source of information, expertise, entertainment and discussion. Even The Drudge report which at first glance looks like a random collection of links, relies heavily on involvement from visitors who suggest relevant articles for posting on the site.
3. Navigation - Blog posts are displayed chronologically, with the newest item first. Until recently this, the use of tags or labels, and an archive feature were usually all the tools you were offered to find your way around.
Peter Sands, fellow Pencil Sharpener blogger, has brought to my attention the new 'pages' gadget on Blogger. We can (and will) now add some extra navigation to specific pages or themes. Is this the beginning of the end of the static, stand alone website as we know it?
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It's all out there

For journalists wanting to find out more about social networks, it may seem obvious, but the best place to start is, predictably, on social networks. Here are a couple of really interesting things we've found. We dug them up a few months ago just by following people on Twitter who know their stuff.
Over the coming months we'll collect all we find and post it here so you can keep dipping in and find out the latest developments. We'll do all the work and let you know on Twitter what's new on the blog. How easy is that?
Here are two good places to start. The first is from 'Mashable' a blog/website that monitors social media trends. Some of it is a bit too whacky for the working hack, but other stuff is really useful such as 10 ways newspapers are using social media to save the industry.
There are plenty of cool videos illustrating just how powerful social media has become - most of them made by smart Americans - this is one of the most viewed and the stats it contains are impressive.
We'll be back with more on social media soon.
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