Key elements of blogs:

1. Immediate access to readers

2. Highly interactive
3. No set deadline or publishing schedule
4. No fixed length
5. Relies on comments (The blogger has or
should have a conversation with
commenters in the comments. Many
columnists use reader comments
(probably more from letters and email
than web comments) as column fodder,
rather than joining the conversation.​)
6. More casual in tone
7. Continuous conversation ​(conversation is
more robust in the blog)
8. immediately interactive with polls,
comments, links and other elements that
allow the user to add content or
personalize the experience.
9. Blogs may contain photos or videos.
They can be a mix/interspersed with
photos throughout.
10.A blog provides links for depth, context
and attribution. A blog can be a ​list​. ​So
can a column, ​but ​you see more variety in
approach and format in a blog. ​The
variety in columns (which is extensive
and amazing) tends to be by writing style
and voice, rather than format.
11.Both blogs and columns can be very
opinionated or pretty straight

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Blog vs column The lines do blur, one major difference, would be the
storytelling factor. If you’re not telling a story, if you
don’t have a beginning, middle and end, if you’re not at
least attempting to make a larger point … then you’re
not writing a​ ​column.

-The fact that a ​column has been edited; most ​blogs

don’t have copy editors. The writer is forced to be his
own editor.

-​Columns benefit from an additional reader’s input (i.e.

an editor or proofreader for the print or online section
that the column is destined for) as part of the publishing
process, whereas when one ​blogs, s/he serves as the
editor.

-​Columns ​are published by a branded, respected source

of journalism. (Some ​bloggers ​may also have this
advantage if the ​blogging platform is hosted by the
media company).The brand is a factor (both positive
and negative) in ​columns. The brand affects the voice,
dictates a framework and adds a layer of quality control.
A ​blog that is independent of the brand can be bolder,
more imaginative and more aggressive than a brand.
The individuality of independent ​blogs allows for

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experimentation that will lead to brands surpassing the
respect of newspapers (think Mashable, Talking Points
Memo, TechCrunch) but also allows for quality ​blogs
about narrow-interest topics a newspaper might disdain
and allows for low-quality blogs. Blogger knows the
traffic to his/her blog doesn’t come anywhere near the
numbers of potential readers.