Using an RSS Reader
Most people will read your blog using an RSS reader. RSS (Really Simple Syndication), also called feeds, is a way of reading a number of blog feeds from one webpage. RSS automatically updated the latest blogs feeds straight to your desktop. You can also monitor news and job listings easily using RSS. More and more sites now offer feeds, which you can identify by a small button usually orange, like this:
It usually says next to it either RSS or XML. To read the feed you need an RSS reader. Internet Explorer has a built in RSS reader and Google Reader is the version for Gmail which are two of the easiest to use. Here’s a review of some other popular RSS readers. The advantage of using RSS to read blogs and other news feeds is it allows you to take in a greater volume of information and search through that information far more quickly and efficiently than by email.
RSS feeds allow you to create web mashups – you can add feeds to your own website or Google Homepage, websites like Channel 4’s Who Needs The Sea links in content from Media Guardian and other sources. Yahoo Pipes is a service that allows you to create websites just made up of links from other sources.
Platforms for blogging
There are five technical options worth consideration for your first blog which are described in more detail below. To decide which one to use will depend mainly on your level of technical skill and what the main content is of your blog. Here are five options, described in more detail below:
1. Free online blog services
Various free services exist to help you start blogging by using nothing more complex than a computer keyboard and a web browser, like Blogger.com or WordPress.com.
2. Self-hosted blog software
Blogger, WordPress and other blogging tools are available as a free open-source download which you can host in your own web space. Be aware that setting this up requires a small amount of web know-how but the development and design options are far more versatile.
3. Vlog – a video blog
A vlog is a video diary; vlogging is video blogging. Your video could be shot on a mobile phone or mini DV camera and uploaded and hosted on a video hosting website like vimeo.com or youtube.com. Due to the issues of streaming and hosting video, I recommend a hosted service over a self-hosted option.
4. Photo blog
If you’d rather tell your story in pictures instead of words, a photo blog is a great way to do it. You could use a regular blog platform like Blogger.com or WordPress.com to upload photos, but a photo sharing service is a may better way to do this. Flickr.com is the daddy of photo-sharing services – you can add pictures, categorise them and add captions that can be several hundred words long.
5. Micro-blogging
Services like Facebook updates or Twitter are ‘micro-blogging’ – Twitter allows you to send short updates up to 140 character – that’s the same length as one mobile SMS message - to your friends and network and is good for having conversations and sharing links.
How to use Blogger and WordPress
The two most popular blog platforms are Blogger.com and WordPress.com. Both offer an advert-free hosted online service which you can set up in a matter of minutes. Both also offer a version of their software to download and host on your own site, which you can tweak it if you know a bit about web development. See WordPress.org’s famous five minute installation guide.
Generally, Blogger.com (owned by Google) is thought to be easier to use than WordPress.com, although WordPress has a number of plugins (free and charge-for) which can enhance the functionality of your blog. In fact, WordPress is so advanced that many commercial and non-profit companies use it in preference for building websites as the Content Management System (CMS) is more powerful than those developed by many web agencies. Here’s one I helped to set up for the social enterprise Ecoworks in just a few hours.
You can use WordPress for creating a regularly website too with pages instead of posts which form static pages like a normal website. You can also mix both static pages with posts in your own blog. I’ve used both Blogger and WordPress and actually find WordPress easier and way more versatile, with prettier templates. It’s the more ‘serious’ one bloggers use, but you can’t install adverts on the hosted version whereas you can with Blogger.
The free hosted versions of both have a limited number of templates called ‘themes’, which you can easily change when you want; the version you host yourself can give you unlimited options for design and functionality.
Video blogging
Vlogs (video blogs) often range from slick produced commercial video shorts to to crude, unedited clips of someone talking directly into the camera and expressing their opinions which you’ll see referenced in interactive dramas like KateModern and LonelyGirl15 (originally created for YouTube). Video can be used to enhance your text blog, or you can set up a channel on a major hosted video platform like YouTube (the big one) or Vimeo (generally a bit quieter and more serious). See how to create a YouTube channel.
To create a channel, you just create an account and start uploading videos which can be in any of the major digital video formats. You may want to compress the video yourself to get a better version, but the website will heavily compress your video to enable it to be streamed. Note: there are limitations on copyright material, nudity and some videos have even been taken down for featuring copyright music in the background. With free platforms, you have to play by their rules (and sometimes their unfathomable whims).
If you intend to create a video diary, the key is to focus less on quality and, like text blogs, more on compelling but brief content. An optimum length for an ‘episode’ is two to five minutes the length of a pop video promo; interviews can work in longer form but people tend to ‘scan’ (fast-forward) online video much like they do text.
Vlogs to check out:
Rocketboom is a three-minute daily video weblog based in New York City covering information and commentary ranging from top news stories to quirky Internet culture with a heavy emphasis on international arts, technology and weblog drama. It is created on a shoe-string budget but can engage with large audiences. Unlikely the ‘uni-directional’ TV news, the web platforms allows for deeper engagement and conversations with an international audience.
My secret indulgence on YouTube – TDKnuckle – a 16 year old comedian who makes funny and very professional little videos and has thousands of fans. If I was a teenager today I’d never want to watch children’s TV again once you’ve explored YouTube – TV made by young people for young people – as an old sketch in The Young Ones once predicted!
Two other vlogging services to check out:
Qik live video broadcasting from your mobile to the web – this is generally best for ‘live broadcast’ stuff, you could have a Qik session and invite your peers and friends.
Blip.tv – entertainment website with user generated content (better quality that YouTube) offering with an advertising revenue share – one to watch for video producers.
Flickr for photo diaries
Firstly, check out photographer Kirsty Hall’s guide to using Flickr and the Flickr FAQs
Flickr is owned by Yahoo so you’ll need a Yahoo login (which is free) to access the service. When you upload your photos add good captions and tags, this is part of the Flickr community to allow others to find your images (although you can select that only your Flickr friends can see you pictures if you want). You may also wish to consider releasing your images under a Creative Commons license – this allows you to let others use your images under conditions you set – like non-commercial but attributable. Many photographers have found Flickr and the Creative Commons license a great way to get noticed and sell pictures to magazines and websites.
Twitter and micro-blogging
Twitter started out as a phenomena amongst teenagers who used SMS style updates through their mobiles and the Twitter.com website to inform what they were up to and co-ordinate meet-ups. It’s become popular amongst web geeks and now brands, CEOs and other early adopters are getting in on the action. Read Tim O’Reilly’s blog on Why I love Twitter.
It’s also become something of a medium for self-promoting celebrities, brands and businesses too – both those seeking to connect with local as well as global audiences. There’s even services like Yammer – known as ‘enterprise micro-blogging’ – a sort of internal Twitter service for businesses which helps team members stay in touch with each other using short-form messaging.
All you do is send a message, of a maximum of 140 characters, answering the question ‘what are you doing?’. Twitter is less about telling a story and more about communication – making connections, friends – and customers. It allows you to practically tell people what you’re working on, listening to, where you’re going or post links to items of interest (like a new post on your blog). For people who love to chat but like writing less, it’s proved to be a powerful medium with Tweets (Twitter posts) frequently cited as a means for disseminating ideas rapidly, getting rapid answers to question or solve problems from your Twitter network, and getting to know people (online or ‘real world’) a little bit better.
Why not check me out and follow me on Twitter? I’m @susioneill.
Read part 5: blogging resources
A Beginner’s Guide to Blogging: Index
