what's new
add/edit information
join the conversation
identify needsBlogging
Blogging+context
A basic introduction to blogs by Common Craft:
+resources and best practices
Blogging+background
from Wikipedia.org(09/08):
The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[48] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May of 1999.[49][50][51] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.[52]
Blogging+definitions
A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual [1], with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.[2] With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something.
(from Wikipedia 09/08)
Blogging+where to start
Blogging+best practices
the Nonprofit Blog Carnival
a monthly collection of best advice for nonprofit organizations from leading consultants, support organizations and nonprofits themselves. Formerly known as the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_318.html
Blog Directories
It can be useful to add your blog to appropriate blog search engines. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines#Blog_search_engines for more information.
Twitter for Nonprofits
Beth Kanter's Twitter Primer: http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/twitter_primer
Blogging+issues
What are you covering live?
March 13, 2008 Amy Sample Ward
You don't need to be a reporter to be out covering a hot story live. CoverItLive is a new blogging tool that lets you do real live blogging. It works inside your current blog or website and lets readers follow along with you, play by play.
But, does live coverage seem like something you wouldn't actually use? Think about these options:
- Have a staff member live blog a community meeting you hold to learn what your constituents think about the current problems facing your field
- Have a play-by-play capture of a keynote speech or even an auction at your next big fundraiser
- Share the action from a walk-a-thon or other sporting event/fundraiser
- Provide live coverage of your public launch of a campaign, project, report, or initiative
- And much more...
Remember, CoverItLive isn't only accessible while you are typing. The whole entry is archived so readers can go back and follow along whenever it's convenient.
What really makes CoverItLive dynamic, is that those following along with you, can instantly connect with you to ask questions, contribute input, or participate in polls. Plus, it's free.
Next week, I will be attending NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference and will use CoverItLive to bring you into some conference sessions with me! Be sure to follow along!
Blogging+lessons learned
The ROI of Blogging
Marshall Kirkpatrick leads breakout session participants in a discussion and presentation of blogging.
Contact Marshall: Email: marshall@marshallk.com Phone: 503.703.1815
Resources from presentation
Marshall’s introduction to blogs: http://marshallk.com/introduction-to-blogs/
How to find good blogs on almost any topic: http://marshallk.com/how-to-find-good-blogs-on-almost-any-topic
Introduction to RSS: http://marshallk.com/introduction-to-rss-syndication/
Session Notes
Marshall hoped to spur ideas for 2 strategies in creating blogs: retaining stakeholders and driving new attention to the blog.
Generally blogs should be updated at least once a week.
In blogging for retention, Marshall suggested that the blog should be like organizational "talking points." There was also discussion about creating group blogs with multiple authors (vs individual blogs with one author).
Another idea that seemed useful is to be somewhat specific about what you want to focus on. In that way, one could become the expert, and the blog-to when there is a question or comment about your specific topic. Being too broad creates problems because the content is just too broad.
It is good to blog about something that you are passionate about.
Some ideas for generating content for blogs:
1) organizational updates 2) commentary about other stuff 3) using news feeds
In blogging for getting attention he suggested a variety of ideas on how to build a respected, useful blog:
- link to other blogs - comment on other blogs - use you blog posts to add to other people lives - be the first to report things - saying things best, uniquely - provide a particular tool - post "lists"
Blogging+standards in field
Live Blogging is the practice of streaming commentary to the web during an event while something is happening. Examples may be sharing information from a conference presentation as it happens or journalistic coverage of a newsworthy event like a congressional session. Coveritlive is an excellent live blogging tool that allows you to post everything as it happens, then edit and replay content later. it is used by many professional bloggers and journalists- including National Public Radio. http://www.coveritlive.com/
Blogging+Attached Documents
Web article on blogging for nonprofits: http://learn.netsquared.org/blogging
What is All This Tweeting About?
11/06/2008 a Meyer Memorial Trust New Media article about a foundation's use of twitter and a list of handy resources on the web
Blogging+other
See also
- Blog award
- Blog search engines
- Blogskin
- BROG - (We)blog Research on Genre project
- Citizen journalism
- Collaborative blog
- Customer engagement
- Dream blog
- Edublog
- Home and family blog
- List of blogging terms
- List of blogs
- List of social networking websites
- Massively distributed collaboration
- Microblogs
- Sideblog
- Social blogging
- User-generated content
- Weblog software
- Webmaster
Blogging without a blog!
July 1, 2008
I have talked about blogging and micro-blogging before, but what about blogging without a blog?
Posterous is a new tool that let's you do just that! All you need is email, and I'd put money on the fact that you all have email already! All you need to do is send an email to post@posterous.com and you've just posted to your blog!
The subject line of your email is the post title. The message body is the post content. You can even send pictures, audio or video attachments to be posted as well! "If you can use email, you can have your own website to share thoughts and media with friends, family and the world."
If you submit multiple photos, they'll automatically make a photo gallery for you. If you send in a link, they will make it an active link; unless it's a link to a video or photo or some other media, when they embed the video for you so readers don't have to click to see it. And much more!
I just did it myself. It REALLY is just as easy as it sounds. All I did was send an email. But, it was fun so I did it twice. :) You can see it here!
If you want to try it out, just send an email to post@posterous.com! You can check Posterous out on the web, too; here are the FAQs.
