According to Wikipedia, the term “blogosphere” was coined in 1999 by a man named Brad L. Graham. I take this with a grain of salt — dictionary.com lists its beginning in 1997 — but here is the full report for what it’s worth:

The term was coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke. It was re-coined in 2002 by William Quick, and was quickly adopted and propagated by the warblog community. The term resembles the older word logosphere (from Greek logos meaning word, and sphere, interpreted as world), the “the world of words”, the universe of discourse.

Despite the term’s humorous intent, CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio’s programs Morning Edition, Day To Day, and All Things Considered have used it several times to discuss public opinion. A number of media outlets in recent years have started treating the blogosphere as a gauge of public opinion, and it has been cited in both academic and non-academic work as evidence of rising or falling resistance to globalization, voter fatigue, and many other phenomena, and also in reference to identifying influential bloggers and “familiar strangers” in the blogosphere.

What are some other words we could use to refer to refer to the amoeba of blogdom? The blog pound? The blogocylinder? The blog jam? I’m all ears.