Blogs are the No. 1 Technology trend, according to Fortune magazine. What's a 'blog'? Well, you're reading one! A weblog (or "blog" for short) is a simplified Web site focusing on a specific professional topic, news or series of events. They are easy to set up and use, and are updated frequently by a group or individual.

Many companies have adopted a 'blog' as a form of enforced discipline to stay up to date on their area of expertise (having said that - it is no mean feat adopting the discipline of posting every day; illustrating that - of 12,700 blogs nominated for a major marketing award last year only 27 made it past the hurdle of being able to demonstrate daily updates for a period of five months or more!).

Blogging has many advantages for the person writing it as it requires the individual to efficiently gather news and information and then digest the information and communicate it effectively according to the readers' needs - which effectively allows the author as well as the reader to become more knowledgeable. Blogs are great knowledge management tools. They are also great for raising a company's "value" on search engines and attracting clients due to constantly updated web pages.

Whilst blogs are catching on rapidly with a number of companies the commercial thoroughbred industry doesn't boast many. Athlone is the only thoroughbred-related marketing blog anywhere in the world (!) - but there are a few stud farms in Australia and America who run a blog as an easy way to update clients. There are also a few dedicated racing related blogs in the US (including Alison Doyle's Thoroughbred Visions blog [Horse Racing Views and News]; Jessica Chapel's RAILBIRD [a web site devoted to horseracing news and gossip, written by a racing enthusiast who is also the books editor of Flak Magazine]; there is also Thoroughbred Connection's podcasting [i.e. audio] blog in the US).

With 31.6 million blogs currently in operation (researchers predicting 53.4 million blogs worldwide by year's end) and the increasing use of RSS as a means of circumventing spam, weblogs seem a trend destined to continue.

For all those who are interested in the technology we will be looking at "blogging" in greater depth over the coming weeks.