Project 1 Module 5 Summation of My Blogging Experience

Through out this blogging experience, I can honestly say that there were times that I was confused and overwhelmed with looking things up. But overall, the experience was very informative and helpful. I learned that there multiple sources of intellectual information as well as practical information. I also realized that many of my friends and family members use blog sites quite often.

I appreciate the experience and now know a way to get valuable information on just about any topic. If left to my own devices, I certainly would not have pursued any such avenues.

I initially thought of blogs as a silly nuisance. I quickly realized that my opinion was not justified. Soon after viewing many sites, I came to appreciate this medium. So for the majority of this process, my continued research has stongly supported my revised original thesis.

Vanity Blobs vs Informative Blogs

Well at first I thought the idea of a vanity blog was ridiculous. But I started to remember a little thing called "pen pals." For some of you, this is dated info. In the olden days, children, teens and adults would get connected with people from foreign countries. My pen pals were in New Zealand. We sent different artifacts to each other and corresponded through old fashioned mail. It was fun to receive interesting information from a person living far away. My sister's pen pal lived in Japan. I have a neighbor who met his wife through being pen pals as teenagers!
So my point is; Vanity blogs remind me of pen pals and also seem to resemble diaries. I think it's nice for someone to correspond with another individual from just about anywhere in the world. It gives first hand information about different people and cultures. People could possibly develop friendships this way.

Information blogs are just what they say... Blogs consisting of information. I work as a massage therapist and researched massage therapy blogs. I was somewhat hesitant because there's of ten negative connotations associated with this field of work. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to find professional sites written by licensed therapists. I viewed the sites and discovered a lot of advertisement to do with massage schools, products, and conventions. There was also technical information being shared amongst therapist working in the field.

I am not sure that I would consider blogging something to compete with print journalism. Yes, I believe blogging is a terrific complement to journalism. There are very educated individuals with valid points. I just think I would lean towards print journalism first. Print journalism being on line as well as in a newspaper or magazine.

Over all, I have discovered things about the Internet that I did not know existed. I have a tendency to not want to spend too much time on line. I get antsy. But, this class has forced me to sit and do the research. There is an amazing amount of worthwhile information for anyone of any age. Blogging is a phenomenon that will surely be around for many years to come.

Newsprint vs online news and news blogs

The following is a list of sites I have gone to . I have also become a subscriber to the online news magazine " The Nation." I am really getting a lot of valuable information from all of these sites. I don't think there is so much rivalry between e-zines and news blogs. They seem to complement one another. I appreciated both versions. The news blogs seem to be very professional and the writers definitely appear to be well informed. I have enjoyed reading the articles. I have considered the credibility of these organizations and have come to a conclusion. Hacks and uneducated people are not going to take the time to participate in these news blogs. The majority of people contributing to these news blogs are intelligent, sincere individuals who genuinely seem to care about our world. I am always informed and pleasantly entertained by these sites. I wish I had more time to read all of the articles. I feel pressured sometimes because the information is interesting and I get side tracked when I need to be turning work in.

I have learned a great deal from reading "The Nation." I also subscribed to an online magazine and was impressed by the layout, graphics and the ability to turn pages.

I continue to see how my first opinion was narrow minded and not well thought out. I continue to see and learn the value of online news. I prefer it now over other formats. I once had an opinion based on little knowledge and first hand experience.

http://thefireside.wordpress.com/ http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/03/25/con_prep.html http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2005/01/blogs_as_journa.html http://www.thenation.com/ http://www.yearlykosconvention.org/about

Media & Society Module 2

I don't know how to link certain sites to my blog yet. I have done the assignment and researched several sites.

I read Jen Weiner's article. This was an actual interview conducted by Maria Schneider. The article asked Weiner a series of questions, some of which asked the effectiveness of blogging.
Weiner responded that blogging her readers between publications of her books keeps her connected with her audience.

The first site was called Young Entrepreneur.com Blog Entrepreneur Profile- Fraser Doherty.

This article wrote about a young teenager named Fraser Doherty, a student at Strathclyde University, who has had great success selling jams on line and uses his blog to promote his business. He has actually become a millionaire.

After reading about Young Entrepreneur I googled "Do Blogs work for small business?" My results were as follows:

Web Marketing for small business popped up. This was a series of examples of success stories and some guidance to small business owners. It encouraged entrepreneurs to be patient and wait for the reward after initial investment. The article also gave an example of how blogging can truly benefit businesses through word of mouth and communication with in the blogging community.

Finally, I researched small business. The Small Business Trends popped up. There were half a dozen articles promoting conventions around the country, business advice columns, articles from successful business people promoting the benefits of social media to promote one's business.

Other options entrepreneurs could use to promote themselves could include mass mailings from all of the blog sites. Traditionally, entrepreneurs would advertise locally. Blogging allows business to go global.

Blogging can help promote small business through many avenues. One thing the blogging community does is advertise educational seminars, group conferences, tips on money handling encouragement, advice and can get business owners of similar backgrounds in the same forum.

I think this is a fantastic way for small businesses to go global. The community of bloggers is beyond extensive. If I was to go into business for myself, I would take advantage of all possible promotional outlets, especially blogging and the internet.

My research on blogging continues to support my new opinion on blogging. It is a vital component to our society, communication and e-commerce.