The first weblog, or blog for short, is widely considered to be Links.net, created by Justin Hall in 1994. Hall started Links.net as a personal website where he would share his interests and experiences, and he began using it to document his life online. He updated the site regularly with new content and links, and it quickly gained a following. Over time, Links.net became one of the most popular sites on the early web, and it is now recognized as a pioneering example of personal online publishing.
Dave Winer is also a key figure in the history of blogging. He is credited with developing some of the earliest blogging tools and platforms, including UserLand Frontier and Radio UserLand, which were popular in the early days of blogging. Winer is also known for co-authoring the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) specification, which allowed blog content to be easily syndicated and shared across the web.
In addition to his technical contributions, Winer is also a prolific blogger himself. He started his personal blog, Scripting News, in 1997, and it has been active ever since. Scripting News covers a wide range of topics, including technology, politics, and culture, and Winer is known for his strong opinions and provocative writing style.
Overall, both Justin Hall's Links.net and Dave Winer's contributions were instrumental in the early development and popularization of blogging as we know it today.
Jorn Barger is another important figure in the early history of blogging. In 1997, he created one of the first websites to be called a "weblog," which he named Robot Wisdom. Barger used Robot Wisdom to share links and commentary on a variety of topics, including technology, culture, and politics.
Barger is credited with popularizing the term "weblog" and establishing some of the early conventions of blogging, such as using reverse chronological order to display posts and providing links to other sites. He also coined the term "blogosphere" to describe the network of interconnected blogs that were emerging at the time.
While Barger's contributions to the early blogging scene were significant, he has also been a controversial figure in some circles. In recent years, he has been criticized for his association with far-right and conspiracy theory communities online. Nonetheless, his early work in developing and defining the concept of blogging helped pave the way for the explosion of online content creation and social media that we see today.