The word “ Blog” is the short term of weblog. It is generally a type of online diary where people
write about their own feelings, experiences or about their personal views on a certain thing. Blogs
are usually very attractive in terms of their designs and appearance as every people wants to
decorate their blogs according to their own taste. Blogs mainly have text writings, which are known
as “ blog posts” but also have informative pictures and videos to provide utmost information on a
specific topic. People use their blogs as a medium of communication with the whole world where
they can share some thing, raise voice against something bad or simply remain connected to each
other’ s. Apart from personal blogs, there are also many commercial blogs that came into existence
now days. Many big brands presently maintain a blog where they share information about their
product, services in order to get more close to their customers. Blogs in today’ s world is some kind
of revolution where anyone has equal rights on the right of information and expressions.

Blogs can be either a website or a part of a website, so it needs to be hosted. You either can have
a self- hosted blogs or can use other free blogging platforms. If you opt for the second choice,
you have to search online for some good, reliable blog hosts. When it comes to free blog hosting
services, the two names – Blogger and Word press are leaders. Maximum percentage of total blogs
hosted on free platforms are belongs these two blog-giants. However, in fact there are also some
good free blog host exists that offer really very standard facilities. Let us discuss five top blogging
platforms apart from Blogger and Word press.

1. Live Journal – One of the good blog hosts available. You can have option to keep your
blog completely personal or you can share it with rest of the world. Entries can have
embedded pictures and videos and have some good option to include short bio, mood
emcotions, audio file and poll inside the post.

2. Type Pad – It is launched in 2003. This service is based on a “ Movable Type” weblog
publishing system that is developed by the company named Six Apart. This type have
several unique features like support for multiple author, MYSQL database support, static
page generation feature etc. Type pad is used by many big organizations and media
houses worldwide.

3. Blog drive – Another good option to host your personal or commercial weblog. It has
features that enable you to create a blog that looks like a website. It can be a good option
to host a photo blog in this platform.

4. Tripod – This service is created by Lycos, a not so much successful search engine. Yet
is a good option for your personal or professional weblog hosting as it gives several
unique features and 20GB of free space and a 1GB of monthly traffic transfer. Several
professional looking templates and customization facilities are available.

5. Textpattern – It is again one of the good blog hosts similar to Wordpress and Typepad.
This is built with MySQL and PHP so the content management facilities are excellent
in this platform. Being an open source platform, it offers various themes and upgradable
features that can be easily downloaded from open source communities.