 |
| creating content and opinion – blogging and podcasting |
Everyone has an opinion, and the Internet allows for everyone to share their opinion.
Blogs and podcasts have emerged as social media that are being embraced across the Internet population.
blogging
A blog is a web site where entries (blog posts) are typically displayed in reverse chronological order. Technorati, a blog and social media tracking engine, defines a blog as a “regularly updated journal published on the web.” Blogs usually allow for comments on blog posts. A typical blog will feature text, images and links to other blogs and web sites related to the topic of the blog.
Blogs range from the personal to the political and everything in between. They can be written by one person or by a group of people. Some are aimed at the blogger’s immediate family and friends, and others rival leading newspapers in terms of reach and readership. Blogs are mostly textual, but can comprise solely of images, videos, audio or any combination of these.
According to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs created and over 1.6 million posts updated every day (over 18 updates a second). That’s a lot.
The power of blogs is that they allow anyone to publish and share ideas, and anyone can read and respond to these. They have given consumers and companies a voice and blogging has opened up a world of information sharing possibilities.
The basic elements of a blog post are:
Author – the person who wrote the blog post.
Blog post title – the title of the blog post, which is usually used to create a
unique URL, or permalink, for the blog post.
Tag – tags are the categories used to describe the blog post, and aid services such as Technorati in categorising blog posts.
Comment – comments left by readers of the blog are shown with the blog post.
TrackBack – a notification of other blogs linking to a post, often displayed below blog post.
Some other elements of a blog include:
RSS feed – an RSS feed allows for readers to subscribe easily to the blog.
Categories – blog posts can be allocated categories.
Blogroll – a collection of links to other blogs or web sites commonly read or used by the blogger.
Archives – previous posts remain available for visitors to search through.
Archives are usually categorised by date.
RSS readers can be integrated with an email client, can work offline or can be online only. Some are free, and some are not. Look at your email client to see if you can set one up there, or try www.bloglines.com, www.google.com/reader or www.feeddemon.com. Find the one with the features that suit your needs.
RSS readers are a useful way to keep up to date with blogs, as most supply an RSS feed of their posts. Still confused? Take a look at commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english.]
Whether blogging as an individual or a company, there is plenty to be gained from the process. You can:
Create an online identity.
Create a voice for yourself or your company.
Promote engagement with your audience
Create a community.
RSS readers are a useful way to keep up to date with blogs, as most supply an RSS feed of their posts. Still confused? Take a look at commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english.]
Whether blogging as an individual or a company, there is plenty to be gained from the process. You can:
Create an online identity.
Create a voice for yourself or your company.
Promote engagement with your audience
Create a community.
