How To Write A Great Blog

Writing a blog can be tricky. Writing a great blog can be even trickier.

The point of writing a blog is to get people to read your posts. If you are writing about boring topics then there is no way anyone will subscribe to your blog.

One important thing to remember is to write about what you know. It doesn't matter if it's a hobby you enjoy or a news story that you have kept up-to-date on. The important thing to remember is to research and report the subject well.

Using a first person voice is always a good plan. It keeps your audience engaged. They will also tend to feel like they are reading something more personal as if the blog is meant for them.

The worst thing you can do as a blogger is lie. Don't act like you know everything about your subject. You don't want to get caught up in a lie and have your readers distrust you.

If you are unsure about something look it up. If you are unable to find the answer admit that you don't know it. Your audience will respect you much more if you admit that you don't know everything then if you lie about it.

Another thing you should try to develop is a voice. Creating your own personal spin on things can make your blogs more unique and distinguishable.

By using these tips in your next blog you are bound to write your way to a large following base.

Photo Credit: Shiva Chettri via Creative Commons

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Reasons to Blog

So as most of you all know midterms are happening right now. This of course means we have hit the half way mark. In our BNR class we have been blogging because it is an assignment and most of us probably don't want to fail so we just suck it up and write about something every week. Would any of us actually use this blog site if we were not forced to do it? Maybe yes, or maybe no, but there are reasons on why you should blog.

1. One reason to blog is that you can express yourself through your blog. Did you just watch a great movie and want to let others know about how fantastic it is? (Sanctum 3-D) Or maybe you want to rant about how outrageously high gas prices are. (Seriously, have you looked at them lately?) Whatever you want to say you can say it on your blog. This can help you stay connected with your friends or family who read your blog.

2. You can use your blog to market or promote something. I just promoted the movie Sanctum above. I also am promoting our BNR class by contributing to The News About The News.

3. Many blogs are written to be informative. This can range from helpful tips for interviews, how to take good pictures, or why to blog. By blogging about topics that are important to you, you can connect with people with similar views. Also, you can stay active or knowledeable about a variety of things.

4. The last reason I am going to give, is that by blogging you can get your name out there. It shows that you are "hip" with technology, and when somebody googles your name it will bring up your blog and show them what you are all about. By blogging about topics that are important to you, you will show them what matters to you. By blogging about your interests, it will show them what you find interesting or entertaining. Your blog will show them a better insight on you then perhaps your Facebook.

I hope that you will consider blogging after our BNR class is over.

Photo Credit: Via Creative Commons

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Why Should We Blog?

At the beginning of enrollment in BNR class, a majority of Simpson College students had never contributed to a blog in their life.

Many students pondered about this whole blogging business at the beginning of this course. Why would we need blogs? What are we going to write about for our blogs? How are we going to know what we're blogging about is useful? How do people even use blogs?

Traditionally, blogs started out as being a sort of online diary for people across the world. However, as blogging became more popular, many businesses and journalists decided to contribute to the blogging world to gain publicly.

Blogging has helped the journalist world in all different aspects. Once writers have exposed their work online, they are easily able to catch reader's attention. In result, they can receive feedback and gain subscribers to read their daily postings.

As you continue to blog, you will notice an improvement in your writing skills. For those who have previously blogged, think back to the very first blog you wrote. Now snap back to the present. Your writing portfolio and skills have improved tremendously because of your frequent interaction with writing.

What if you aren't interested in blogging for journalist purposes and promoting business? There are still many different reasons you can post your blogs online.

One last pro of becoming a blogger is you can even make profit from blogging. A lot of people blogging have not found themselves becoming a blogger to make money, but find out later that will end up doing so.

An unknown author once said, "Blogging is the new poetry."

If you have never blogged before reading this article, please consider the benefits of blogging. Go ahead and give starting your own blog a shot.

Photo Credit: Tutor2U @ Creative Commons

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Deciding What to Blog About

This week, I had a hard time deciding what I would blog about.

I decided that I would write about myself trying to decided what to blog about.

As a journalist, I did some research.

First, I did a Google search for what to blog about.

I clicked the first link that came up called "Starting a blog? 12 ideas for blog posts".

Paul Bradshaw wrote the article and had some pretty decent ideas. The following are some of those ideas.

1. Bradshaw said one of the best ways to start blogging is to respond to something else that's already on the web.

2. Suggest an idea and invite reactions.  It's easy to sit and wait for the people to come to you, but you have to have perseverance and reach out to them.

3. Another suggestion by Bradshaw was to interview somebody and blog about it. He added that audio or video would be an added bonus.

4. Blogging about a relevant event could also be another way to start a blog. Just attend an event and write about it.

5. Asking questions would also be beneficial to starting a blog. SurveyMonkey is a free online polling tool available.

6. Picking a fight may also be helpful and not just being controversial to be controversial. You need to have a constructive argument.

For the last six ideas, check out Bradshaw's article as linked to above.

These ideas will surely be of help now or sometime in the future if you choose to start your own blog.

As I'm starting my own blog, I will take these ideas into consideration while I try to build the traffic that sees it.

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Bloggers' jailed for controversial content

Bloggers around the world have been imprisoned for controversial content of their blogs within the last few years.

Many of the bloggers have simply state their opinions in their blogs.

Believed to be the longest imprisoned bloggers, Egyptian Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman withthe blogger name Kareem Amer, for ridiculing religion and the leadership of Egypt, was released recently.

Because of the political importance behind his case, international support was given to Amer regarding the freedom of the people.

Many

bloggers around the world have experienced similar situations. According to a report released by Reporters Sans Frontières the number of bloggers arrested went from 59 to 151 between 2008 and 2009.

On top of the the 151 percent increase of imprisoned bloggers, one blogger died and 61 were phy

sically assaulted.

Omid Riza Misayafi is understood to be the one blogger to lose his life while imprisoned. His death is still a mystery.

Below is a video about just one of the many corrupt areas that are struggling to incorporate the new social media with traditional values.

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.

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RockMelt, the social browser

RockMelt is an intricate social browser that organizes social media with your browser better than browsers currently available internet users.

As users of the internet in the digital age, many are looking for new browsers that will meet specific needs.

The RockMelt is ultimately a social media enhanced Google Chrome. The RockMelt browser is almost an exact replica of Google Chrome other than the two vertical columns.

A visual for the browser is in the video displayed below.

Although there are many extensions that give social media components to other browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox, RockMelt operates if and only if you put in your Facebook login.

As it can be anticipated, making it a requirement to put in your Facebook credentials in order to even just use the browser, will be a huge drawback.

I guess in the end it will all depend on what you want out of your browser.

Many people that will enjoy this browser will be the people that are wanting to naturally incorporate social media with their browser.

Since it is in the early beta stages of development and you have to sign up in order to get the browser, an alternative for a social browser right now is the Flock browser.

Just from the looks of it, it seems as if the RockMelt will be the simplified version of Flock making it a little less intrusive, and that much more appealing to users wanting a compatible social media browser.

Find out more about RockMelt's blog here.

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Make Way for Data Visualization

Journalist Anthony Calabrese- who specializes in data visualization and digital storytelling- said in his article "Six Stunning Projects that Show the Power of Digital Visualization," that "data visualization is taking the web by storm and, with a little luck, it might be the next big thing in online journalism."

Your question then, of course, must be "What is data visualization?"

According to Calabrese, a data visualization is a visual representation of information that comes in the form of a motion chart, an interactive dashboard, a timeline, and many other things.

Journalist can use data visualization to tell stories or present information in a way that will draw viewers in and, in some cases, awe them. Statistics become more interesting; ideas become easier to understand.

For example, Journalist Latoya Egwuekwe wanted to show how the Recession has affected employment in the United States. Her choice to use data visualization in The Geography of a Recession put her in national headlines.

If you didn't understand the country's unemployment rate before viewing her visualization, you will after.

Furthermore, data visualization has the ability to make figures that may be confusing- such as the nation's spending- easier to comprehend.

In his visualization entitled The Billion Dollar-O-Gram, David McCandless provides an easy-to-understand visualization that shows viewers where the United States is spending it's money.

One visualization I found intriguing was from Randall Munroe- who is the author of a "XKCD," "A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language."

Munroe's data visualization called Online Communities 2 shows social media sites in the form of land masses: Facebook takes up most of Asia and includes the "Northern Wasteland of Unread Updates."

As bloggers, we must remember that presenting our information in the fastest and easiest way is of the utmost importance. We want our readings to enjoy what they are viewing.

Data visualization takes confusing statistics and shows them in a new light and morphs fun facts into amazing visuals.

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Coping with Younger Generation Ignoring the News

Newspapers gone, journalists fired and education changed to cope with the digital age uprising.

The younger generation of the digital age has left the newspapers, and have moved to online

news. Unfortunately the question is still asked does this generation even pay attention to the online material?

The answer is no, they don't. The younger generation doesn't pay attention to news when they don't understand how it directly affects them.

Even with the news right online with quick and easy access, if the information isn't comprehended as having an affect on them, then there is no need to pay attention to the material.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So how do we help the younger generation grasp the fact that news is important? Start by making it important to them specifically when they are younger.

As shown in the video above, George Washington elementary has a third grade class that is being taught the importance ofblogging at a young age.

It can specifically be seen when the students are talking about blogging most of them post comments, and look at others comments.

Explained by some of these students, it helps them choose other books that they may potentially like to read because of others comments.

These students saw that the information 'posted by others' can benefit them and their choices of, in this case, books.

Essentially, these third graders are getting 'news' about books read by others. This could progress throughout their education to bigger news topics in the United States or throughout the World.

Whether it is print or online, as long as techniques like blogging show the younger generation how news affects them, there is a chance to grasp their attention.

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Blogging your Way to Success

Recently, I have been dabbling in the idea of starting my own blog outside of Beginning Newswriting and Reporting class. However, a few questions arise:

What in the world am I supposed to write about? Who would want to read what I have to say? Do I have the qualifications to write a “real” blog? And, what about my time? Do I have enough?

Luckily for my fellow, future bloggers, I have the answers.

According to Nathan T. Wright of Lava Row, you can write about anything at all. Wright presented "The Brand of You" at Simpson College tonight, in which he talked about making yourself a marketable brand. One area of branding Wright encouraged was blogging.

This means that if you're interested in writing a blog about sex and relationships like Glamour Magazine's blogger Erin Meanley- whose most recent article was entitled “Can We Please Discuss the Hotness That Was Last Night’s Dancing with the Stars?” -you can!

There are all types of readers around the world, so you shouldn’t ever worry about people not being interested in your blog.

And remember, anyone can write a blog. You just need to have the drive.

Don’t know how to get started? Here are some sites to help you out:

- Wordpress

- Tumblr

- And of course Blogger

Overall, they follow the same general set-up. You just have to find the one that is right for you.

As Wright said, “There is no barrier to entry.” You just need to have the will and the time (at least once a week) to get your blog going.

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Onaf's 13 Steps of Blogging

Blogging is the news reporting of the future and Ant Onaf has 13 tips that will help young journalists get their start online.

1.) Start Free

Onaf suggests that young journalists should start with a free blogging site. Going this route allows them to focus on the content of their stories and not have to worry about scripting, hosting or programming. This way, if your blog does not become successful, you are not out of any money either.

2.) Niche

Young bloggers need to decide on a product, topic or service to write about. Bloggers are trying to appeal to specific audiences and will come to your blog expecting to read about the specific topic you cover. The topic does not have to be extremely popular if it has an audience then it works.

3.) Update Daily

Consistency is important to keep brining readers back to your blog. They do not want to be stuck reading old things and the more frequently and consistently you post the more audience you get to follow what you are writing.

4.) Traffic

Young writers are going to need traffic to attract attention to their blogs. The distinct ways to spread word of you blog is through advertising, search engine marketing, viral marketing, RSS feeds and word of mouth. Even if they run over it by accident they may be interested by what they see.

5.) Track You Blog

Do not panic if none of your readers are commenting on your page. The majority of blog readers do not comment on articles you write and there are several ways to find out your traffic numbers differently. Onaf suggests a free page counter like StatCounter.com.

6.)Listen to Your Audience

You should check and see if readers are finding your blog through search engine searches. If this is the case then find out what word they use to find the blog and write your blog around that word or topic.

7.) Multiple Blogs

Once you really get into the grove of things you should use multiple accounts to blog. Having blogs on many different sites is a great way to increase reader turnout and a great way to create more traffic to the blogs you are writing.

8.) Short and Concise

Onaf feels that except for a weekly blog summing up your findings for the week your blogs need to be as short as possible. Readers have short attention spans and if they are reading novels every time they come to your page they will lose interest.

9.)Digital Aft

Include pictures and other forms of art on your blog entries. Graphics perk up your blog and can bring color and life to the stories you are pursuing and reporting.

10.) Keep It Personal

Include personal experiences that have to do with your blog topic. It is fine to write in the first person and use a more personal voice in a blog.

11.) Interact With Your Visitors

You now have a great following of loyal readers that go out of their way to see what you have to say. You owe it to them to put out the best product you can. Knowing that they will visit frequently Onaf suggests using daily tips and other devices to keep them intersted.

12.) Make Money

Once you have established your self in the big time you need to start trying to profit from the stories you are putting out. This means buying a page for yourself and checking its domain availability. Use advertising as a source of income and well as a way to create more traffic.

13.) You're a Professional

The last twelve sets have all led up to this point. Now you have a following, you have a specific niche, you are making money and life is good.

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Tumblr wants your money

The three year old company Tumblr wants your money.

What is Tumblr? It's a service that allows people to quickly and easily set up lightweight blogs. They currently have 4.5 million users.

What makes them stand out is they do not charge their users for their service. They also do not sell advertising on pages they generate.

In the past Tumblr has received millions of dollars from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Together they recently poured another $5 million making them the sole investors in Tumblr.

Now Tumblr wants to sell "digital stickers" to users at a dollar each. Users will buy these "stickers" to spruce up their pages, like bells and whistles.

Peter Kafka says this "strategy is a little more seat-of-the pants, but the bet is that it may be easier to coax money out of people a couple dollars at a time."

Although I had never heard of Tumblr before, I think that it is a great starting place for new journalist to get a start blogging, and get the feel of blogging. Because there is no cost associated with their service, new journalist don't have a huge financial investment, but allows them to start a portfolio of work.

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Ethics in social media?

As Facebook, blogging, and Twitter have changed the way that news is delivered, many journalist are pushing to ensure that the same ethical principles are applied across the board for all journalist.

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) recently joined the efforts. "The guideline talk about truth and fairness, and how it's reflected in social media; how we Tweet or text, and how we use it in newsgathering. It looks at how we can better our transparency with our audience, so that they can see how we cover the news," Stacey Woelfel, chairman of the RTDNA said in regards to social medial guidelines.

These new guidelines will be good, as many orgainizations don't have ethical guidelines for dealing with the digital world.

Andy Schotz, chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee, also said that the SPJ would be looking into their Code of Ethics this year to see if changes are needed in light of increased social media usage.

There isn't a need to reinvent the wheel here, journalist have a Code of Ethics. If journalist want to use social media outlets, they should stand by that same code.

Whatever codes are decided on there needs to be consistancy between digital and traditional journalist.

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Can Bloggers be Credible Journalists?

We use blogs every day to find sources, story ideas and general news, but is all of this information accurate?

According to a study done by PRWeek and PRNewswire, 52 percent of bloggers think they are journalists, but Jeremy Porter disagrees with this idea.

His argument is that many bloggers just copy and paste what others have already said, making it harder to source information. The speed of the Internet itself becomes a problem when something that's not true goes viral.

What makes this information any less credible than that of the big media companies? Even they use blogs and other social media as sources in their articles.

Porter says, "It comes down to the quality, accuracy and authenticity of the content."

Major media companies have an advantage in this, but today many people trust their peers over what they see on television or read in newspapers.

Some of the people who answered yes to the question of if they are a journalists are definitely credible, but it all comes down to your own judgment to discern what is and isn't.

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Could Blogging Be Your Ticket to Success?

Sometimes it only takes one minor change to make some major changes in a persons life.

Ryan Sholin began blogging when he was a graduate student at San Jose State University in the field of Mass Communications. With his first amateur blog, entitled "Big Silver Robot," Sholin quickly learned that uses and importance of blogging.

"You don't get to act like someone who has ideas unless there's some evidence of your ideas out there in the world," Sholin said.

Although there may be a lot of truth to that statement, statistics are showing that young people today are not taking advantage of the technology available to get their ideas out into the world. According to cyberjournalist.net, blogging has dropped amount teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults since 2006.

Teenagers today may not realize the impact a simple blog can have on their future, but luckily for Sholin he discovered early on in life how beneficial they can be. In 2007, Sholin worked at a newspaper where he posted a blog that thousands of people read every day, including possible employers.

"This blog has been instrumental in getting every full-time job I've had in the news buisness," Sholin said.

And it's never too soon to start thinking about your future. Teens as young as high school and college ages can take advantage of the perks blogging has to offer by getting their names out into the world earlier rather than later. No matter what you're blogging about, the fact that you are blogging is what's important.

"Pointing out the obvious to an audience that might not have spotted it yet and then repeating myself over and over again has become, shall we say, my thing," Sholin said.

What is the point in all of this you might ask? Well, like Nike says, just do it! Whether it's getting your own personal website or just starting your own blog, a minor decision like that can have a big impact on your future. And even if you feel like you have nothing to say, you do, and you never know who else is going to be interested in it too.

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Which Comes First — Newspaper or Blog?

At Penn State, a group of students have beaten the school paper at informing the student body on their blog, Onward State. This blog, which was created just a mere 14 months before, is run by only 20 students compared to the school paper which is ran by 200 students. It does seem impressive that this group of students is able to report stories much faster than that of an average paper. They reported a story 4 days before the paper was able to. Chase Tralka has even admitted that the paper has stolen items from the blog to use for publication. This is easily setting an example for the possibility of the future of journalism.

People are wanting the news as soon as it happens and blogging seems to the way to make that possible. At NYU they also have a blog set up and this seems to be similar to Onward State. It is called NYU Local, and deals with issues involve the students. Another idea is that the closer the news, the more important it will be to those that it will affect.

The true question that this brings up is how this will affect the future of newspapers. Many have begun using online sources to access the articles that are online. This not only is convenient but helps reduce the amount of paper that needs to be produce. While almost all newspapers have gone to the web, there is still the transition from news articles to blog entries that could possibly replace the idea of journalism completely. The only negative thing that was said was the fact the blogger can post anything, which would mean that the traditional idea of named sources, unbiased opinions, and printing information that is inaccurate or false would not be necessary for the blogger to post. This would make the article riskier to believe, and ultimately make it harder to trust the media.

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