is More than just an Online Diary

Blog Appreciation Talk Specially for RSVP

by Peggy hya.sky@gmail.com

Overview

What??Who??

Where??

Why??

How??

Where are You?

Inactive

Spectator

Joiner

Collector

Critic

Creator

What’s a Blog?

•A website where articles / posts are posted regularly and displayed in reverse chronological order

•Web Log

•Individual articles on a blog are called blog posts, posts or entries

What’s a Blog?

•Adding or Maintaining an article / post in an existing blog is called

blogging

•A person who posts these entries is

called a blogger

•Made up of text, hypertext, images, audio, video and widgets

What’s a Blog?

•Writing Style:

Conversational

•Contents: – Focus on a specific “Area of Interest” – Personal experience– Feelings– Controversial

What’s a Blog?

• Characteristics of a Blog– Empowers You

• Moderation (SPAMS / Comments / Blacklist / Block IP Address…)

• Ease of Blogging (Post-date articles, draft, Categorize by Month or Tags…)

• RSS Feeds• Changing Skins• View Site Statistics• Add fun stuff (call widgets)

What’s a Blog?

• Characteristics of a Blog (Cont’)– Brings like-minded people

together• Share experience and learn• Widget like MyBlogLog.com

– Interactive• Blog Comments• Pingbacks / trackbacks

What’s Blogging?

• Still confused?• Watch this video on Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Who Blogs?

Celebrity – e.g. MC King

(http://mcking13.spaces.live.com )

Who Blogs?

Business –e.g. Aston Specialities

(http://astonsspecialties.blogspot.com/ )

Who Blogs?

Government -E.g. NHB’s Yesterday.SG

(http://yesterday.sg/ )

Who can Blog?

Everyone can and so can

You!

Why Blog?

• Personal– Share experience– Need support / attention– Keep in touch– Personal address– Earn money

• Examples– Xiaxue: http://xiaxue.blogspot.com – Miyagi: http://miyagi.sg – Laokokok:

http://timesofmylife.wordpress.com

Why Blog?

• Business ( Corporate / Organisation )– Market Share– Easy to maintain and update– Media Shift

• Examples– Food Blogs– IT Products & Services Blog– STOMP / OMY– …

Where to find Blogs?

• Blog Search Engines– Google: http://blogsearch.google.com – Microsoft: http://blogs.msdn.com/search

• Join Blog Communities e.g. http://Mybloglog.com , http://bloggerschoiceawards.com

Where to find Blogs?

• Blog Aggregators– International

• http://Technorati.com • http://www.digg.com • http://buzz.stumbleupon.com/blogs/• And more…

– Local• http://MyHomeTown.sg • http://ping.sg• http://tomorrow.sg • http://www.sgblog.com • http://www.bloggersg.com

How to Blog?

• Goal– Earn Money? Ad-free?

• Subject Matter– Expert? Personal Experience?

• Target readers?– Age-group? Interest?

• Resources– Time? Budget? Technical Expertise?– Do you want a domain name?

How to Blog?

• Types of Blogging Methods– Using a Browser and Internet– Using a multimedia handphone and 3G/GPRS Data

line (Moblogging)

• Types of Blogging Platforms– Paid

• Typepad.com, livingdot.com, Godaddy.com, Expressionengine, www.siteground.com/blog-hosting.htm, other hosting sites etc

• S$10 per month and above– Free

• Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Microsoft Spaces

How to Blog?

• Paid Platforms– Pros

• No restriction on use of Javascript• No advertisements• Customise your blog interface• Your own domain name!

– Cons• Recurrent cost• Need expertise to setup / design

How to Blog?

• Free Platforms– Pros

• No cost• Easy to start• Available templates / skins to use

– Cons• Limited customisation allowed

(unless you pay for extras!)• Advertisements• Restriction on bandwidth

How to Blog?

• Recommendation for non-profit Hobbyists– http://MyHomeTown.SG (16 Jan 08 onwards)– http://wordpress.com– http://blogger.com– http://movabletype.com – http://home.services.spaces.live.com

• Before Signing Up– Internet Access– Email Account– Start reading blogs to learn more about blogging!

Q&A

Questions?

Thank You!

See you Soon!

Blog Glossary

• Post: Every time you put an update on your blog, you create a post. Posts are also known as entries.

• Comments: Blogs are often seen as conversations because your readers are able to leave comments on each post that you make to your blog. Comments are usually time-stamped and identified by the reader’s name and perhaps a link to their Web site or blog. On some blogs, comments are threaded so that readers can comment on other comments. But, most blog comments are simply displayed chronologically.

• Categories: Categories group related posts together to help readers find only what they are most interested in. Good feature for those scanning a blog's archives.

• Trackbacks: It helps bloggers link back to other posts on related subjects. If you're posting about something you've seen on another blog, look for the Trackback URL. Paste that URL into the allotted spot in your own blogging software, and the two pieces of blog software will communicate, building a link from the original post to yours

Blog Glossary

• Comment spam: Comment spam is left in the comments of a blog. It usually includes a few words and link(s) to web site(s). The purpose is to get as many links as possible to their web sites, giving it higher search engine rankings.

• Bookmarklets: A bookmarklet is a link directly to the new post page of your blog software. If you add this small Javascript to your browser toolbar, it's a shortcut to posting quickly.

• Pings: There are several blogging tracking Web sites where you can search for other blogs and look for recent posts. If your blog software allows you to ping those sites when you post, that post gets included in the ping site's index, potentially increasing your traffic.

• Post scheduling: Some blog software allows you to write posts and schedule them to be published at some point in the future.

Blog Glossary

• RSS/Atom feeds: In the blogosphere, syndication is a big deal. With millions of blogs to read, many consumers use news aggregators, or readers, to pull in posts and read them, rather than visiting 150 blogs every day. RSS and Atom are two flavors of blog syndication.

• Blogroll: A list of the blogs read by the blogger whose site you are on.

• Blacklist: Blacklists are usually lists of URLs that have been identified as spams, and that are therefore eliminated from comments and trackbacks on your blog. Most blog software build and maintain a blacklist for all users to contribute.

• Captchas: Security feature for commenting and user registration. By providing an image that includes letters and numbers, and by requiring the user to type in those letters and numbers, blog software can eliminate some of the comment and Trackback spam produced by robot programs.

Blog Glossary

• News aggregation: Many blog software packages allow you to pull in and display the RSS or Atom feed of another blog. This is useful if you want to create a site with constantly updated content fed by blogs. For example, a blogger who posts about politics could pull in the feeds of other political blogs.

• Moblogging: Short form of "mobile blogging." Lots of blog software lets you post by e-mail from your phone, PDA, or anything else that allows you to send e-mails.

• URL Redirection: In an effort to render comment and Trackback spam ineffective, links included in comments and Trackbacks are tagged with the NOFOLLOW tag, which indicates to search engines that it shouldn't be counted when tallying search engine rankings for a Web site.

• Skins: Most blog software includes a set of pre-designed templates that give the blog a certain look and feel. These are called skins.