The word "carnival" is used because the first Blog Carnival was written in 2002 and was called "Carnival of the Vanities.
" When blogs were first written, they were journals of the writer's personal thoughts and actions, written day by day, like a diary.
The word "vanities" sarcastically describes the parade of blogs as ego-driven.
What is a Blog Carnival? It is a regularly scheduled blog event about one theme.
One type is an article filled with links to other articles on blogs, written on the same subject.
A blog carnival can be a list of articles on similar subjects, submitted by readers.
The carnival is hosted, either by one host each time it is scheduled, or by a different host each time.
Internet communities grow up around blog carnivals.
Blogs have evolved to be less self-engrossed.
Members of a community post articles, that are about its theme, to a carnival.
How Can Being in a Blog Carnival Help you? You enter a blog carnival by submitting an article with a Resource Box at the end.
The Resource Box tells readers a little about you and your business.
It is like an introduction.
It contains a link to your blog.
Bloggers in your niche follow the link and comment on your blog.
You do the same thing on their blogs.
It is a little like getting to know your neighbors, who are in the same niche you are.
Visitors to any of the carnivals can follow your link to your blog.
Summary Blogs that were started as personal journals and listed together on sites, such as the Carnival of the Vanities, are now about themes and topics as diverse as pain and Yorkshire Terriers.
The Carnivals put the blogs into categories according to their themes.
You and I can post articles with our links to the carnivals and introduce ourselves to our niche neighbors.
This may lead to future joint ventures and traffic to your blog.