There are many different ways as to how one can classify blogs, classifying blogs can help you understand their targeted audience. Technorati (2008) provides a very general way of classifying blogs: Personal blogs, corporate blogs and professional blogs.
However an article by Rowse (2005) listed more than 20 different types of blogs:
1. Instructional
2. Informational
3. Reviews
4. Lists
5. Interviews
6. Case Studies
7. Profiles
8. Link Posts
9. Problem Posts
10. Rant
11. Contrasting Two Options
12. Inspirational
13. Research
14. Collation Posts
15. Predictions and Review Posts
16. Critique Posts
17. Debate
18. Hypothetical Posts
19. Satirical
20. Memes and Projects
In an interview with media analyst Margerett Simons (Funnell 2008) also attempted to classify blogs, she introduced us to the following classifications.
1. Pamphleteering Blog- Written to argue a point or to express a strong point of view, often political in nature and includes views on current events.
2. Digest Blog- A summary or collection of materials on the same topic. Often taken from mainstream media or other blogs and may include commentaries.
3. Advocacy Blog- Which pushes a particular point of view on an issue, often by companies or government in a dictatorial manner.
4. Popular Mechanics Blog- How-to blogs done by enthusiasts on any topic, from photography to gardening.
5. Exhibition Blog- Maintained by Artists, Photographers and Poets as a form of exhibiting their works.
6. Gate Watcher Blog- Where media has gatekeepers, people who control what gets published, these are the gate watchers, people who critique, analyze and inform how and why the gatekeepers make the decisions they do.
7. The Diary- Basically a self-expression blog, where people treat the blog as they would a personal diary.
8. Advertisements- Made by commercial companies trying to sell a product.
9. News Blog- Due to technological advances, many blogs now actually break news.
Comparing the different classification of blogs, I see some that overlap with each other as in the case of the Instructional blog and the Popular Mechanics blog and the Debate and Critique posts bear similarities to Pamphleteering Blogs. Blogs are ambiguous and hard to classify, most use a combination of classifications. These are why most blog posts are separated by tags which makes searching for a particular topic easier.
References:
White, D 2008, “Who are the bloggers?”, Technorati.com, accessed 18th September 2010, http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-1-who-are-the-bloggers/>
Rowse, D 2005, “20 types of blog posts- battling bloggers block”, Problogger.com, accessed 18th September 2010, http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/11/29/20-types-of-blog-posts-battling-bloggers-block/>
Funnell, A & Davies, A 2008, A taxanomy of blogs, The Media Report, access on 18th September 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>
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