B**g as a dirty word

The word "blog" really has taken on something of an unsavory, undesirable air, hasn't it? Even gossip columnists think so, as Wired News columnist Adam Penenberg notes in a piece about "gossip aggregator" David Hauslaib's Jossip:

Don't call Jossip a blog, even though, well, it is. Hauslaib prefers "online magazine." It's much simpler to sell Jossip to advertisers as a webzine than a blog because even today many advertisers can't grasp the nature of the blogosphere. They don't recognize its marketing power, or are afraid to run ad campaigns on blogs due to their risqué reputation.

"It comes down to not wanting to implicitly identify Jossip with the amateur reputation the word blog carries with it, from the horror stories of teenage bullies using blogs to torment classmates or the possibility of a negative meme spreading via blogs," he said.

So, it looks like you can build a business out of your blog ... as long as you don't call it that.

Previously: A blog by any other name.