An Introduction to Blogging

In Chapter 5 of Journalism 2.0, we read about how to blog and the fundamentals of blogging. One of the most important notes about blogging I think that this reading highlighted is that blog posts should be SHORT. It is very true that people have short attention spans and one way to catch someone's attention and to have your ideas read or listened to is to not have your blog be too long. My favorite online blog is Anderson Cooper's AC360 blog. I think that it is formatted in a way that it is easy to read, the posts aren't too long, and the photos and videos provided really complement the writing. For me, the page looks really clean and is easy to navigate because there is no clutter and it is very simple to understand. This is key because if the reader cannot simply understand how to navigate the page or there is too much on the page and it becomes overwhelming, they will simply continue on to another blog. You can check this blog out at http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/blog/. The New York Times also has a blog for my hometown which is formatted very similarly to Anderson Cooper's blog. You can see it at http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/.

Something else interesting I found in the reading was how they mentioned that bloggers should post everyday. I think if you can post something everyday, then by all means, go ahead, but I do not think it is necessary for a personal blog. A professional blog has a responsibility to post everyday, but something that you do on your own time should be flexible and you should not be bound by restrictions to get a post in. If you are creating a personal blog, you should be able to post something as you feel necessary. If there is something you want to get off your chest, blog about it. The point I'm really trying to make is that it shouldn't be as scheduled as the reading makes it sound.

If anyone has any other comments about what you look for in a blog or what you like about any blogs in particular let me know in the comments section.