I’ve never blogged before. I’ve read blogs. But I’ve never blogged personally. I’m unsure as to what to say and, more importantly, unsure of how to say it.
That’s what inspired me to read this lovely little post from the ironically named Anti-Social Media blog.
Considering I’ve never blogged before and, thus, nobody has read a blog of mine, I felt I needed to make my blogs more readable, which would inspire more people to read my blogs, which would inspire me to write a blog… if you follow my logic.
Lessons for a good blogger
Lame humor aside, this post was actually very helpful in getting my bearings as I take my first steps into the new world of blogs. Its main point is a well organized blog is a readable blog. The author of the above mentioned post, says that there are three strategies to constructing a well organized blog.
- use subheadings to grab attention
- use bullets to break down points quickly (that’s what I’m doing here!)
- use bold to draw the reader to the main point of a paragraph
These seem like useful tips. People aren’t stupid, they are perfectly capable of reading long paragraphs and complex sentences, but they do have limited amounts of time during a day. It’s unfair to expect them to read a long-winded, drawn out post without knowing whether or not it will be worth their time.
That’s where these tips come in. Structural tools like these let people easily skim a post and determine whether or not it’s worth their time.
How this relates to social media in a broad sense
To take this idea further, there are those who believe that social media sites and mobile technology have ruined people’s ability and desire to search deeper into topics and ideas. Twitter and facebook have created the false expectation that a complete, well-rounded opinion of a subject can be obtained or expressed in 140 characters. I admit I used to think this way as well. Not any more.
This manner of thinking underestimates the general intelligence of humanity. Call me an optimist but I think people are aware that, while social media is one way of obtaining information, it is not the most complete nor the only way. It is simply a quick way. Blogs, tweets and facebook posts may be brief and tailored for a quick read but they allow us to experience a ton of information in manageable portions. Social media allows us to skim a huge amount of information on a virtually limitless variety of topics and then make our own decisions as to what to investigate further. This seems like an incredibly useful affordance.
But, I digress. I started off talking about how to organize a blog and ended up talking about how social media allows us to experience information. I guess I still need improvement in the whole organization thing… oh well. Like I said, it’s my first time.
Further Reading
http://www.inc.com/ss/10-must-have-blog-techniques#9 – General tips on how to get your blog noticed
http://www.wpwebhost.com/30-techniques-to-create-an-effective-blog/ – Kind of a long list but the content is good
http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com/20120430-10-creative-blogging-techniques-to-smash-through-writers-block/ – A good site to help those of us searching for blogging ideas
The idea of keeping things simple was taken a step further by Tumblr which strikes a balance between the minimalist Twitter and a regular blog.