Apr 05 10
BradBlogging and Social Media blog carnival, northwest indiana
The April 5th Edition of the Northwest Indiana Blog Carnival is posted. Here I was worried that we would not get any submissions and instead we got 9 articles. That means 8 good articles plus the one I wrote. 
I have been hunting for Northwest Indiana blogs over the past week, but hunting is different from actually sitting down and reading. These are some really good articles from right here in NWI! Who’d a thunk it?
I’m adding all these blogs to my RSS reader. You can find all the featured articles here. Enjoy.
Mar 30 10
BradBlogging and Social Media blogging
Northwest Indiana bloggers will have a place to showcase their writing and gain readers by participating in the Northwest Indiana Blog Carnival. Don’t know what a blog carnival is? Neither did I, but you can find an explanation and instructions at BlogNWI – Northwest Indiana Blog Carnival
Mar 26 10
BradBlogging and Social Media, WordPress
I just imported about 150 old posts from two blogs, ePublishing Blog and eBooks on Web Index, I used to publish starting back in 2004. They were still archived at Blogger.com although the domains they were published on are long gone. Anyway all went smoothly using the WordPress import tool which imported both the posts and the comments. Very cool.
If you are looking to upgrade your blogging platform to WordPress you can import very easily from Blogger.
Mar 23 10
BradBlogging and Social Media, Tweets twitter
A couple of people have asked me why am I archiving all my Tweets from Twitter on this blog so I thought I would address the issue.
- First, Twitter is “micro-blogging”, this is a personal blog, a record of my thoughts on subjects in a longer form, so those Tweets and Re-tweets combined with my blog posts here represent what I found interesting at that moment in time and by archiving my tweets and my blog posts all at the same location I am giving a more complete representation of what I was thinking about. (I don’t post Tweets or Re-tweet for no reason, if you missed them on Twitter the first time, click on the links in those Tweets, you will find interesting things!)
- Second, Twitter is like a stream, the Tweet is made and then it is gone, Twitter cannot be expected to keep your Tweets forever. Whereas a web page is more permanent – more like the printed word, it can sit on a shelf, be indexed, searched for, referenced and re-referenced, time and time again. (To put it another way, Tweeting is like mentioning something in a passing conversation – you say it and it fades. Blogs and websites are “writing it down” for later reference.
- Third: He who owns the printing press controls the news. “Control your platform.” This is why you should never abandon your blogs and static websites for Twitter, Facebook and Linkdin – they may not be around forever, or their rules or business plans may change and cut you out. Lisa Barone tells why you should control your own platform better than I can, you should read her post. Do not rely on just one medium to build your brand.
- Forth, my memory – sucks. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone on a “Scud hunt” looking for the link to something neat in one of my old Tweets. I need an archive for my own personal use, I’m just nice enough to share it with you.
Don’t think I’m belittling Twitter in this post, if those Tweets had no value (at least to me), I would not bother archiving them!
Mar 13 10
BradBlogging and Social Media, WordPress blogging
I am liking WordPress more and more as a blogging script. One thing you can do is customize WordPress by adding plugins from the admin panel. The process is very simple, but there are so many plugins it is hard for a beginner to know where to start.
You want to add some plugins to make WordPress more secure against intruders, protect against comment spammers, increase search engine rank, increase human usability, for a start.
Fortunately I found some really good guides that have lists of many good WP plugins for any new blog.
Here is a great thread at Cre8asite forums: “must” WordPress Plugins;
Another list at Wolf Howl: SEO Plugins WordPress;
DevelopedTraffic had this post for a new captcha plugin which I liked.
You won’t use all of the plugins listed but if you read through the lists you will see several mentioned by most everyone, if they suit your needs, then those are good ones to start with. One tip from me: you want the Akismet plugin!
Have fun blogging.
Mar 11 10
BradBlogging and Social Media, iPhone blogging
A blog is a great platform for publishing serialized fiction (novels or stories) and even short stories on the web. (Here are some examples in the science fiction and fantasy genre.)
This got me thinking that it is better to use a blog platform that will display the story blog in a smartphone friendly format. If I was riding the train into work I would much prefer to read a story blog on my iPhone if it was actually formated for my phone. There is a lot less pinching, swipe-scrolling and resizing on a swaying train that way.
Here is a good example of what I mean: check out this link on your iPhone, Android OS phone or Blackberry touchscreen: Aboveground. See the difference? What would be easier for you to read?
Of course I think this applies to all blogs fiction or nonfiction, it is to your benefit to present your content in a manner that eliminates as many barriers to consumption of that content as possible.
As far as I know, right now, only the WordPress blog platform really supports a mobile friendly template so if you are going to consider starting a story blog.
Free WordPress hosts supporting smartphone formats: Blogetery, WordPress.com
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