As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs retain the highest profile (and are the most read), other types of blogs are gaining strength and visibility. This book - a follow-up to Barlow's "Rise of the Blogosphere", which examined the historical context for the modern blog - provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between.The areas covered include the personal blog; the political blog; the use of blogs by various religious communities both for discussion within communities and for outreach; the growth of blogs dedicated to specific geographic communities and their relations with older local media; blogs dedicated to technical subjects, particularly relating to computers; blogs and business; blogs sparked by video games, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment; and more.