Slate’s Farhad Manjoo (easily one of the best tech/culture writers out there) recently wrote a column evaluating the differences between online magazines and blogs. This is relevant because Smile Politely, C-U’s online arts and culture magazine that is not a blog, is often referred to by third parties as a blog. (But the splog is a blog, right?)
So what does Mr Manjoo think? The short answer is that these differences are becoming more and more irrelevant:
So what’s the difference—what’s a blog post, what’s an article, and does it make any difference vis-à-vis how you navigate the Web? “I say this with all possible deference: Who cares?” wrote Joel Johnson, the Gizmodo blogger, when I approached him with such questions. Scott Rosenberg, author of Say Everything, a history of blogging, echoes this point: “Just as journalists think readers have a deep awareness of distinctions like ‘hard news piece’ vs. ‘feature’ vs. ‘news analysis,’ we think they understand or care about the line between ‘article’ and ‘blog post.’ But they’re just reading what we’re writing for them and responding. It’s our hang-up, not theirs.”
The longer answer can be read here.