This Common Craft video explains a blog and why people use blogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

This website provides their best practices for creating a successful blog.

http://www.echoditto.com/blogging

This website is maintained by the federal government. It summarizes how to use different technologies. This particular page discusses blogs.

http://www.howto.gov/social-media/blogs

This video explains how to incorporate a blog into a course. The video first defines a blog and aligns the tool with an appropriate instructional strategy. Then the three most popular blogging platforms according to the editors of PCWorld are presented: WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad. The video concludes by demonstrating how a blog can be used in a Defense Acquisition University course (ACQ201B).

You may follow several blogs whether for news or for personal interests such as gardening. Instead of visiting each website separately to see what’s new, you can use an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) aggregator. After you subscribe to each blog (like subscribing to a paper-based newspaper), the RSS aggregator will collect all new blog information into a single accessible page. Check out the HowTo.gov link to learn more about an RSS.

http://www.howto.gov/social-media/rss

Visit this site to learn more about an RSS aggregator and how the Microsoft aggregator works.

Add RSS by Microsoft

Many aggregators are available, some of which are free. Gizmo’s Freeware is a non-commercial blog helping people find the best freeware products available. One page is about free RSS aggregators.

Freeware for RSS Aggregators