The World View of Blogging

The world of blogging is spreading around the world and is having an impact everywhere. For those of us who like to sit in our home offices and work to create our own future in front of a computer screen, there is opportunity aplenty in a new cyber world created by limitless information transmitted in global broadband communications.

Blogs at the basic level are just another form of web site that now populates the web in the many millions. But the concept of blogging goes well beyond the traditional commerce driven website and instead responds to a very basic urge of individuals to express themselves. The attraction of blogging is that it offers the opportunity to create a sense of community amongst like minded or even disparate peoples. To create a feeling of community, there are many different features that allow blogging to grow such as showing photos, making a journal, expounding on political views and so forth. Underpinning these features is the hard benefit that with advertising, Adsense and so forth there is a way to create a revenue stream. All together, with these features and benefits, bloggers have produced a movement that is literally reshaping the world.

Prior to the creation of the World Wide Web, political scientists and others saw ‘the real world’ mostly in terms of nations, states, corporations and churches. Information technology is changing that view and today plays a very large role in the accelerating rate of change societal change. Perhaps the most famous single incident was in 1991 in Tiananmen Square in China in 1991 where the use of the fax machine by the student organizers was instrumental in generating the needed buzz. Their efforts were so successful that over 10,000 appeared on that Sunday afternoon in the square. And they did so under the noses of the Chinese Army.

Today technology again is creating societal change via the blogging movement and is expanding the scope of the people’s involvement in world affairs. Blogs such as Drudge Report, Daily Kos, Red State, and others, all operated by a small band of information entrepreneurs, present facts, semi-facts, opinions and just plain information to millions around the globe at virtually no cost to the recipients and remarkably little expense to the bloggers. As broadband and blogging software and services continue to improve, the implications of the blogging movement are the subject of many magazine articles and books. We live in a world where the rate of speed in the introduction of new technologies is increasing all the time, so it hard to predict just where the future lies but it is easy to see that the web and blogging is a good place to invest one’s creative energy.

If the thought of being active on the web appeals to you, why is blogging for you? Simply because it is very rare when an opportunity arises that requires little start up cost and, in most cases, virtually no cost of goods sold with a global market at your finger tips. Best of all, blogging allows us as individuals to rely on what we have in great supply - the grey matter of our brains - and with that we can create, from seemingly out of nowhere, ideas for fun and/or profit that may never have occurred to corporate America.

And like those Chinese students, if you are really lucky, as you sit at your keyboard in your home office, you may just end up helping to change the world.

Bill Ames is a home based information entrepreneur in the Boston, MA area. His web site is Blog-For-Freedom.com where he offers for sale his e-book “Building A Blog Empire for Profit.”

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How Blogging Can Help Your Business - Ways to Use Your Blog

As a business owner who likes to stay up-to-date on the latest marketing methods and technology, you probably already know how blogging can help your business. There are many benefits of having a company blog, and a great many business owners have already discovered the advantages that are to be had. But if you aren’t sure how to use your blog for your business, here are some ways that your blog can be used.

Customer relations are one use for a company blog. Opening up the lines of communication with your customers is the first step to excellent customer service - and you can learn a great deal from your customers. Print the URL for your blog on receipts, business cards, and brochures to build interest. You can also use your company blog to get customer feedback about your products or services. Again, you can learn a lot from your customers, and use the feedback to improve your products or services and give customers more of what they want in the future.

Company blogs are great research and development tools. You can ask your customers questions about what they want or need. Tell them what you have in development, and what it will do, and ask them how you can make it better. You can even run contests for your customers through your blog, offering the product in development as a prize to the person who comes up with the best idea.

Once you have developed new products or services, you can use a company blog to introduce your new product lines. Keep your customers up-to-date on what is developing or changing at your company. Past customers should be your first customers for your new products and services - and this will happen if they have had a positive experience with you in the past. A blog adds to that positive experience.

You can also use your company blog to teach customers how to use products or services. You can use the blog to answer technical support issues as well. Many companies turn their blogs into a series of how-to articles that are to be used primarily by their current customers. This method has also been found to increase interest - and sales - for products as well. People always want to know how to improve something in their lives, and you should use this need to your advantage!

You can drastically improve employee relations with a company blog. Your employees have private lives, and often, they have happy news that they want to tell the world. Allow them to tell their fellow co-workers their happy news on the blog. Some companies hire a person to maintain and up-date the company blog. People within the company contact the blogger with their news, and the blogger blogs it. This is a great way to boost moral at your place of employment. You can also use the company blog to keep employees up to date on projects, new products, training sessions, or company policy.

If you will be allowing your employees to add entries to the company blog, it is a good idea to implement a blogging policy. There is a great deal of controversy today about company censorship of blogs, so even if you don’t have a company blog, you might want to implement a policy concerning any mention of your company in personal blogs as well.

Get your company blog set up and operating today.

Jason frequently gives tips like this to the subscribers to his newsletter. Visit his blog at Adventures In Internet Marketing and subscribe to his newsletter today!

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Avoid “Bad” Manners While Blogging

Blogging, the hottest trend in online publishing right now,
is currently spreading like wildfire across the Internet.

A cross between an online journal and a bulletin board,
everyone from rock starts, politicians, business leaders
and your average “Joe” or “Jane” can instantly become a
center of influence online using blogs.

But, as with any social interaction, certain rules apply
(my grandma calls them manners) in order to be viewed as
behaving “properly.”

One of the things that gives blogging such strong appeal as
an online publishing method revolves around “comments.”

Blogs that allow “comments” enable readers to respond and
elaborate on the information posted by the blog owner.

These comments and the free exchange of information,
opinions, links, and new ideas creates the dynamic and
growing content that makes blogging such a popular online
activity for both publishers and readers.

However, rules and unwritten customs about the proper use
of “comments” on a specific blog are also where most of the
problems and controversy will arise.

Since a successful blog eventually becomes a community of
people (albeit in cyberspace), proper social behavior is
critical to be an effective and accepted member of the
community.

Keep these basic rules in mind when approaching a new blog
that allows commenting by readers so you won’t find
yourself on the wrong end of a scolding by people who
operate with a different set of rules than you.

As with any social circle, violating the group’s rules and
customs will instantly cause a negative backlash.

** Keep It Relevant **

Stay on topic with the post you’re commenting about in a
blog.

Nothing will earn you the wrath and disdain of your
fellow posters and the blog owner faster than posting an
off-topic comment.

** Watch What Others Do **

Different blogs operate under different rules. What rates
acceptable in one blog would earn you a verbal thrashing in
another.

Before posting (especially if you have not posted to a
specific blog before), look to see the types and quality of
posts others make regularly.

Are they long or short?

Do they contain a link to the person’s website?

Is there a “signature” under their name?

** Be Polite **

It’s fine to disagree with people when making a comment,
whether it’s the blog’s author or a comment made by another
reader.

It is not, however, acceptable to launch a personal attack
on anyone or make nasty comments in someone else’s blog.

If you feel the need to do so, do it in your own blog.

It’s the same principle of you can say whatever you want in
your own house, but when you’re in someone else’s house,
you act right (and better than you do at home).

** You Can’t Respond To Everyone **

If you operate a blog and someone asks a question, try to
respond, but both sides should understand that you can’t
respond 100% of the time.

We all get busy and a blog, unless it maintains a paid
membership, is often supported as a labor of love.

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com/blog/

About the Author:

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to
use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links…

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