They say “a week can be a long time in politics” but I reckon a couple of weeks is a long time in the blogosphere too! My learning has been exponential -the more you get involved, the more you realise how much there is to learn and some of it sticks.
I have been blogging for only 6-7 weeks (as many readers will know as part of a learning journey where we are developing a Personal Learning Network) and the experience has proved fascinating.
If you want a positive and collaborative experience from blogging I have learned the following simple things to extend your audience
- tweeting your blog posts – announces new material
- commenting on other people’s blogs
- tags seem to help (but I am not yet sure how)
- bookmarking your blog on Delicious or Diigo and using tags (haven’t tried this but read that it works)
This assumes that you are blogging for an audience beyond yourself – if you blog purely for personal reflective experience then, none of this matters. Personally, I enjoy the comments – it helps and I learn from them too. It makes you realise that you are not writing into a void. I read somewhere that 1% of people who read a blog will comment. I have played with Traffic feeds and enjoyed watching the stats. It certainly makes the world feel small when a teacher from Melbourne can write material that is read in many corners of the world. It does put on pressure to find something worthwhile to add .

My interest has been contagious within my household and my 17 year old daughter has joined this world as well. She is interested in writing and sees a potential in this sphere as well. Have a look at her first post if you have the time. Like me she is still considering her purpose and audience. Motzie’s Blog (not her real name) 🙂
Thank you for the link to Motzie’s Blog. A great read. At least you are using tags. They are something I haven’t started yet.
Thanks Karen, she was ‘tickled pink’ that she had an audience.
Motzie has made a great start to her blog. To see that you have an audience when blogging is really motivating. I enjoy reading your blog .
Great stuff Celia
You write so well-very inspiring. You need to run the next elluminate session!
[…] here to read the rest: Blogs and how they work ? (Part 2) | PLN 2010 Celia's reflections 2010-project-, journal-for, reflection, […]
For years we have tried to teach students about audience when there really wasn’t one. Now we have access to a real audience, it can make such a difference to the way students approach writing.