Blogging for Dummies - book review

With so many of my family and friends now blogging, this is probably a good time to review this book.

I didn't pick up Blogging for Dummies by Brad Hill because I felt I was a "dummie" about blogging, maybe a little insecure, but not a "dummie". And after reading the book I feel like I have no reason to feel insecure or dumb. For one thing, blogging is a fast moving activity that is being redefined even as you read this blog entry. Many of the references in this book are already out of date. Half of the resources mentioned in the last chapter were either "under construction" or 401 (not in service). In fact, I just noticed that a later version of this book by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley just came out Jan 10, 2008. If you buy the book, make sure you get the updated version.

Brad Hill would have had a better time with this book if he had clearly identified the different types of blog and tailored the book to let people know which kind the particular chapter spoke to. For example, the folksy, diary-like blog like mine doesn't really care about advertising or rss feeds or really much of what else is happening in the blogosphere. Newsy, updated-10-times-a day blogs need to know about design features, advertising and customer trapping. MySpace and their look-alikes want things to be fun, attractive, and Coooooool.

But I don't want to be hard on Brad. The first person who wrote Internet for Dummies must have felt the same way. Only now are most of us beginning to see some of the potential in the Internet that was there all along. I think blogging has the same potential.