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KMD Digital Journalism 2010
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Assignment: Create an online identity
Hi everyone!
It's Lisa Katayama, editor at Boing Boing, founder of TokyoMango, and freelance print & radio journalist in SF. For this week's assignment, I'd like everybody to get a sense of what it's like to create an online identity. I started TokyoMango just for fun, but it gained a lot of traction and has been a huge catalyst for my professional career. Now, with tools like Facebook and Twitter, it's much easier to develop an online identity and to get your work noticed. I want you all to give it a try!
So here's what I'd like you to do:
1. Think of a theme or topic that you're going to blog about.
2. Sign up for the group blog (Joi has to approve your account) or start your own (try Wordpress). Or maybe you have one already that you can build on.
3. For the next week or two, write at least three blog posts a day--they can be short or long, silly or serious, or even just a photo. Whatever you're writing about, try to find a balance in keeping it professional, entertaining, and personal. People should read it and feel like they're getting to know you, even if you're writing about the economy.
4. Try to get your posts noticed! Link to them via your Twitter feed, suggest links to major blogs that might be interested in your topic, post them on your Facebook wall... be creative.
5. Keep track of the traffic that your posts get using Stat Counter, Site Meter, Google Analytics, etc. Notice which posts get more traffic, and where it comes from.
6. Read your classmates' blogs. Make comments, link to other people's posts that you like on each others' blogs and Twitter feeds, etc. You're creating a community that the larger Internet universe can tap into.
By Sunday July 4th, please post to the forum the name of your blog or theme, a link, and a tag line (catchy one-sentence description of your theme)
<ex>
Blog name: TokyoMango
URL: http://www.tokyomango.com
Tag line: Everything you ever wanted to know about the birth city of Godzilla, Gundam, all-you-can-eat shabu shabu, panty vending machines, and me.
Let's reconvene in a week, July 12, to talk about how the experience went.
Any questions, send me or Joi an email.
Have fun!
Lisa
Blog name: Moodlenews
URL: http://Moodlenews.com
Tag line: NEWS, INFORMATION AND RESOURCES FOR THE WORLD'S LEADING LMS
averaging about 3 posts a day since December 2009.
Impressed with your average of 3 posts a day. Trying to hit that mark and finding it's very, very tough.
Blog: New Journalists
URL: www.novosjornalistas.wordpress.com (english) www.paraentenderojornalismohoje.blogspot.com (24 posts in portuguese. But the page has Google Translate)
Tag line: New Media Models, SocialMedia, Mobile, new jounalists, modern journalists , digital journalism
Blog: e-Taalim
URL: www.e-taalim.com (English, Arabic and French)
Tag line: e-Magazine about e-learning and blended learning for executives, professionals and students in Africa and the Arab World
Hi! I visit usually your blog! :)
Blog: http://losupeencuantotevi.blogspot.com
Mmm... I am different, I write in Spanish, I have inserted the option of translating the blog to English (too), but I don´t know how good will be the google translater for my texts...
Tag line: Poetry, Web and Journalism, Future of the Humanity, and some of Technology.
I've been blogging regularly for some years now on http://de.creativecommons.org and http://www.netzpolitik.org (both Wordpress) and would, for this assignment, like to sign up for the group blog. The only question is: Where is that group blog and how do I get subscribed there?
Hi all,
Blog name: Global Vue
URL: http://globalvue.wordpress.com
Tag line: A place to learn about journalism practices, local news as a business, social media and freelancing. Occasionally, you'll find peaches and doughnuts there.
(Site was created for an earlier class through UNC's certificate in technology and communications, "Global Implications of New Communication Technologies," with Dr. Deb Aikat. So archives are deep, but infrequent.)
Blog name: The world in pieces
URL: http://worldpieces.tumblr.com/
Tag line: interesting encounters with art, design, architecture and crazy ideas while roaming around the world
I started this photoblog just for this assignment, so it's not working with full speed yet. Hope to improve it in the following days.
Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) users can co-create it so if you are a Tumblr user yourself or want to be, I'd be delighted if you try to post some of your own photos that would fit into the blog topic! Also for me to learn how it works and what the limitations are with this co-posting technique.
Thanks!
Blog name: Vostok
URL: http://blog.bueorgui.net
Tag line: East to West and back again
I was intending this to be a photographic exploration of Berlin when I started this blog after moving here, but it turns out I'm posting more and more about the relics of the Cold war that can be found here and there. Hitting three posts a day will be definitely difficult, but I'll give it a try!
Is your site down? I can't seem to access it...
Just a typo, I think: http://blog.gueorgui.net/
Ahh. Thanks.
Woops, yes, typo. Thanks for pointing that out.
Blog name: using the tools
URL: http://usingthetools.blogspot.com/
Tag line: a weblog for using the tools of digital journalism
It was created for this assignment, more posts to come. I'll use it to cover the developments in the British Sun's web forums about the soccer worldcup.
What are the main differences between using a wordpress or a blogspot blog?
The blogspot blogs have introduced some very pretty new templates. I'm completely seduced by them. They are also really easy to set up.
WordPress is almost a full-on CMS. Do I need that?
Are there issues regarding copyright, advertising, etc with Blogspot?
Someone sell me on WordPress? why has it become a standard?
Gary, I've used both. The main difference between the two sites is customization. With Wordpress (your own install) you can customize anything, you can modify code, etc. With Blogger everything you need for it to function is there, no modification necessary, but the only modification you can do anyway is really with the theme.
As far as copyright, I would check the terms, but I think you're free and clear to add any CC license to your content if you want (though I would be careful about uploading copyright protected content like videos and images without express permission from the original owner/creator).
That's pretty much the difference (levels of control). If you're just looking to blog, Blogger is great (Tumblr is similar in that respect I think) and it will do the trick. You can even set up static pages now I think.
Hope that helps,
Joe
Thanks Joe
I've had some mess around blogs but I never have used any analytics. Without analytics it must be really difficult to get any kind of advertising/sponsorship. Or know what readers want...
I'm learning about it now. Google have a whole bunch of lectures on the subject.
http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/static.py?hl=en&p...
Hey everyone, just checking in. Hope blogging is going well. Any questions, let me know.
Embraced this assignment, failed, but produced lots of content I normally wouldn't produce.
The numbers show the results (admittedly, these are all small numbers): http://bit.ly/c5CxZK
Worth more discussion: The pace of three posts a day changes the content and length of the posts. 600 words becomes dreadfully long, 250 words becomes just about right, a photo with a sentence or two becomes an absolute joy, if done well.
Is the rewarding of traffic making content on the web more shallow? Can one be smart and in depth while still being quick and short?
Would love to hear others' thoughts.
Andria, I find it very interesting that sometimes the shortest picture with a link or quotation can often be the post that gets the most traffic. So yes, 1. one can be smart and in depth while being quick and short and 2. I also think that you can never ever know what your audience will really get excited about (except for very generally) before you make post.
Joseph,
Respectfully disagree that you can never know, for the most part.
Huffington Post puts a ton of effort into analyzing which specific headline works. And they watch the analytics and change on the fly if a headline or words in a post aren't working. It's iterative learning.
For me, on a much smaller scale, I've been a little obsessive about watching the wording of headlines and copy, taking tips from search engine optimization techniques from organizations like Demand Studios.
SEO seems about 50% content, 50% coding and understanding of Google search rankings, and more and more experts keep returning to the "It's about the content" meme.
You can pay someone $400 for one day of SEO class, or you can pay attention to your analytics and every word you write in a headline and a post, as well as free SEO style guides from others.
But yes, sometimes it's timing, sometimes it's the world's attention turned to the #worldcup, sometimes it's the weather. In that respect, it's incredibly intriguing trying to figure out all factors.
And that leads to another question: Instead of posting say three times a day, should one post at a certain time and then give people a chance to see the work through linkage at places like Twitter and Facebook and specific forums? Instead of "stealing one's own thunder" by posting something new, should posts be given enough time to be digested by others?
For weekend postings, I think this might be a good technique. Traffic patterns for me show many more people are reading on weekdays.
Example, from the U.S. July 4 holiday: I put up 11 posts from July 2 to July 5. But the single day when I had the most readership from this experiment was Tuesday, July 6, when people returned to work from a three day weekend and I had *zero* live posts.
That's fair. From my experience my thought is that even the post or headline content that I find most interesting often doesn't solicit the same reaction from my audience (which is why I think you never know). Good point about the Huffington post, but that said I have neither the time, energy or money to put all efforts into maximizing hits. Until it's not a hobby I probably never will.
As for weekdays generating the most traffic, I agree: I actually don't post on weekends. It was a decision to give myself some space/time on weekends to recharge. Traffic dips nevertheless (about 80%) but since it was a cognizant decision I'm ok with it.
My blog is here: http://1rick.com/blog, though I've been trying to contribute to Richard's Tokyo Digital Journalism project of late. Good fun.
While we're on the topic of online identities, I think it's important to bring up the value of a solid samples page or portfolio. In my (somewhat limited) experience, it has been far more useful than my blog when looking for freelance work.
Perhaps a sign I need to blog about less obscure stuff? ;)