Again - a question I get often and a good one. Most of what I do online with these channels (email, web development, blog outreach, social media is for work). I'm not a power Facebook user by any means and find it almost annoying when I have to log in for client work only to find the SAME PEOPLE posting yet again...literally an hour after the last status update...as if I want to read step by step what is happening in your life. Take a break, people. My father put it aptly, when he asked me "why are there so many narcissistic people out there who think everyone else really wants to know what you had for breakfast?"
Facebook to me is a business tool. I spoke at a meeting recently at UVA, Women in Leadership Conference on a Personal Marketing and Social Media in the world of social media and I think it's an important topic to consider. My first instinct, just by knowing the sheer volume of people on these channels - Facebook with over 500 million registered users - is to look people up on Facebook. Our new neighbors when we moved into our new house, I Facebooked them...my daughter's nursery school teacher who just graduated from TCU, I Facebooked her. Why would I not want to know what these people are posting out there for others to see so I can get the "real picture" of their personal brand?
In any event, I'm digressing and realizing there is a whole other post about Facebook and user types to come.
For this - why blog and where do I start, a good place to consider content. For me - this is a personal endeavor. I'm working with these tools all day for work - I should be a more proficient (read: daily) user of them. So blogging, yes, dad, no one cares to read this, but for me, I want a place to house all these random thoughts and ideas I keep gathering so I figure I'll start a blog for my own archive. Just for me. The anti-social media blog.
The age of the blog has leveled the playing field of editorial. Anyone can be "published". Scary, yes? It's just a matter of who will want to read all the jumpble out there and though that following, who will be deemed an "authority" on their conversation topics. Very scary.
No technical skill required. Visit blogger.com (owned by Google) or WordPress.org to start today. Both are free and here is a great blog post listing the comparative features of the two if you are a more savvy enthusiast who may really compare the platforms before jumping in.
What makes a good blog?
CONTENT - someone who has unique and valuable information to share with a wider audience. That's always been the rule of thumb as the online space has exploded. Content is King - once you have content and distribute (publish) it in an easy to digest format on a decent platform (meaning an easy to navigate website or frequently updated blog) you can develop FOLLOWERS and there you go.
It comes down to your goals. For me - it's just to get this info down for myself as I'm going more and more senile each day and at least I can find this url. For others, the key step after FOLLOWERS is cashing that in for media dollars by publishing ads on your blog.
That's a hole other conversation for later.
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