Blogging for the Non-Blogger

Blogging has become the new popular way of expressing an opinion to world from the very comfort of your own home. Until I entered Creative Communications at Red River College, I had never even considered becoming a blogger, partially because I had no interest and partially because I didn't really know what it was.



I guess you could say I have been forced into doing it, but secretly, I'm kind of enjoying it.
I'm not really an opinionated person. My opinion is have your own opinion. It's this weird curse I've had my whole life where I'm always in the middle of everything. Every time I think of the pro-side of something, the con automatically jumps into my head.



I find a lot of blogs are a lot like journalism, dealing with topics in the news and hot events and issues that everyone is talking about. They uncover facts and stories and display them from a certain perspective or point of view. People are starting to find out the information they are seeking from blogs alone.



I have chosen to take a different approach to blogging. I don't really have a direction, or particular interest that I share with other people. I'm also not the greatest journalist on the planet, so uncovering government slip-ups is not something that I can devote a public part of my life to. I just write about the silly things that may not be relavent or related to current events, but people may find them funny or entertaining. That's what interests me. When I have a topic I'm more passionate about, I'll guide my blog in that direction.



In the mean time, here are a few things I have learned about blogging:
1. Make it interesting to people other than yourself. People don't want to hear about your weekend.
2. Don't write long, wordy entries that use a vocabulary that a dictionary wouldn't understand. Use words that everyone understands.
3. Include visual things like videos, pictures and links to other websites or blogs that you like or are related to the topic. Interaction = interesting.
4. Strive to get recognition. The idea is to share your mind with the rest of the world. There are people that can make a living blogging. Any recognition from others is a crucial part to a good blog. For example, get noticed on a Citytv segment. Just for example. (Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge)
5. Update as much as possible. People are only going to continue to come back if you stay up to date and present fresh, new stuff as often as possible.
6. Check out the blogs of others. You can learn some new things. I've always had an addiction to cartoons and comics, so one of my new favourite blogs to check out is by Dan Piraro and it features his strip called Bizarro http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/search/label/contest. His blog and his comics easily get the attention of any passer-byer.
7. The "Automatic Save" function is probably the greatest thing to ever be invented! Every part of life should ahve this option

There are some downsides to blogging though. If you don't want everyone to see what you have to say, than blogging is not for you. It is also having an impact on media as a whole. People seem to be wanting their news from someone other than the TV or newspaper. Journalists who aim to get the facts and the truth are not as interesting as the people that can say it with passion and style. That may be why many journalists are turning to blogging as an alternative outlet for their writing.

Although my blog may be rediculous to many because of it's lack of current event content, I will continue to post the wierd and wacky stuff that I find in hopes that it will be interesting to at least a couple of people. Even if it's just me and my mom.

Happy Blogging!!!



Here's as close as I can get to knowing anything about current events. Who better to go to than Anderson Cooper for your important GNN News (that's right, I said GNN).