For those not down with internet slang (all three of you), a vlog is not some weird vampire diary…

For those not down with internet slang (all three of you), a vlog is not some weird vampire diary, it’s a video-based blog.

The world’s very first blog was back in January 2000 and is credited to Adam Kontras. Alongside a blog post on his personal website, Adam posted a video of him and his girlfriend smuggling a cat into a hotel. As you do.

Nowadays, vlogs are not generally accompanied by text on a personal website, but rather the videos alone are uploaded to a social media platform, such as YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat.

A pivotal point for the blogging world was the creation of YouTube in 2005. Most videos were recorded on people’s bedroom webcams and featured personal accounts of their day-to-day lives. Shay Carl was one of the first to talk to his camera directly and take it out and about with him – this is now a more common style of vlog. Shortly after Shay Carl became popular, the word ‘vlog’ was added to the dictionary.

Another pivotal moment for vloggers was in 2007, when Google announced their launch of the ‘Youtube Partner Program’. This meant that Youtube videos could now be monetised and well-known vloggers could turn their hobby into a career. This also meant that vloggers could invest more time and effort into their videos, and use better equipment, so the look of vlogs really transformed into much more professional videos.