A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
Micro-blogging consists of a blog with very short posts (for example Twitter or on Facebook)
There are over a hundred million blogs online and the numbers are growing. Like Google, www.Technorati.net is a search engine to find blogs.
Good bloggers use top-audience building strategies such as listing their blog on Technorati, commenting or linking to other blogs and tagging blog posts so they are easier to find.
This hard work is crucial to a successful blog. Content matters but getting people to visit your blog and tag it, can ensure it’s part of the 50% of active blogs that attract more than 1000 monthly visitors.
Interesting facts and figures
- Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).
- Company information or gossip and everyday retail experiences are fodder for the majority of bloggers.
- Companies are reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates.
- Bloggers believe that blogs are being taken more seriously than ever before, as information sources. One in five bloggers don't think that newspapers will survive the next ten years. Half believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years.
- Bloggers are not a homogenous group, but they are an educated and affluent one: three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates. They skew male, and more than half have a household income over $75,000.
Blogs and Employment
In general, attempts at hiding the blogger's name and/or the place of employment in anonymity have proved ineffective at protecting the blogger. Employees who blog about elements of their place of employment raise the issue of employee branding, since their activities can begin to affect the brand recognition of their employer.
Blogs and Politics
By 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services, and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Even politicians not actively campaigning, such as the UK's Labour Party's MP Tom Watson, began to blog to bond with constituents.
Israel's was among the first national governments to set up an official blog. Under David Saranga, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs became active in adopting Web 2.0 initiatives, including an official video blog and a political blog. The Foreign Ministry also held a microblogging press conference via Twitter about its war with Hamas, with Saranga answering questions from the public in common text-messaging abbreviations during a live worldwide press conference. The questions and answers were later posted on Israelpolitik.org, the country's official political blog.
(ndlr: Largely inspired by Wikipedia.org information)
How do I start a Blog?
Setting up a blog is one of the easiest things to do on the web. Also, most sites offer free blogs so it shouldn’t cost you a cent.
If you want to set up a free blog on a union-owned platform, go to www.unionbook.org! This is the site UNI strongly recommends, especially in terms of data protection which is never guaranteed by commercial sites.
The most popular of “those” is: www.blogger.com which exists in about 50 languages.
Once you reach the site, click on “Create your blog now”.
If you already have a google account, type in your log in. If you don’t, follow the instructions to fill in the form.
Your blog will be set up in seconds. You can choose to give it a title which is close to the topics you expect you’ll be covering in your posts or you can make it more personal by giving it your own name. You will then be immediately able to start posting and making your blog address (URL) know to colleagues and friends.
Blogs work like websites in the sense that if they are not updated often and if there isn’t quality content, all the advertising in the world won’t get you regular visitors.
Unions using blogs?
A number of unions run blogs in parallel to their website. Union leaders, like Billy Hayes (http://www.billyhayes.co.uk/) have their own blogs which offers a more personal approach into the life of a General Secretary – the meetings he attends, his views on a number of topics, etc.
Unions use blogs for content one cannot really publish on an institutional website. It’s also a way of creating an open dialogue with members, allowing them to comment on your posts and start a conversation.
Blogs also equal a free website for unions who cannot afford a service provider. They are so easy to set up (at no costs) that in a way, there’s no excuse but time and dedication for all unions to have a voice to be heard on the web.
One of UNI’s affiliates in South Africa used to have a website but their corrupt service provider used their server space to place advertisements and news from other companies. The union immediately reacted by setting up a blog so they were able to keep web publishing.
In the UK, the www.Tigmoo.co.uk initiative (acronym for "this great movement of ours") groups all of Great Britain’s bloggers who are linked or members of the trade union movement. On one webpage, you have the “uncensored” voice of workers and union leaders which is another great way to see what members of the movement think rather than “what is the unions’ official statement on…” type of content.
Another TUC initiative is: www.touchstoneblog.org.uk which is a serious attempt at influencing the new policy debates going on, online – inspired by the engagement ideas of the AFL-CIOnow blog (http://blog.aflcio.org) which is aimed at activist communities and media.
Union blogs also worth checking:
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/blog/johninnit/read/1579/when-should-unions-blog
How does UNI use Blogs?
UNI’s tried blogging around conference events, for example in the Telecom sector. The idea was to create momentum for a meeting to happen and for participants to express their views during the conference using their wifi-connected laptops in the room during the speeches. The blog was projected on one of the screens which offered more interaction at the event, rather than simply speakers and listeners.
UNI also set up the www.unicommunicators.org blog where all union communicators are invited to join and post articles. The main topics are web 2.0 technologies and discussions on the agenda of the UNI Communicators’ Forums. We encourage participants during the Forums to post their views on issues covered at the Forum by speakers and to publish their photos and videos on the event at www.unicommunicators.org. We also project the blog on a screen during the conference and use the site to create a team network. Each blogger on the site has a personal profile and participants can contact eachother via the site. Finally, people who cannot attend the Forum itself can follow events online, written and commented by the actual participants.
More help:
Contact me: webmaster[a]uniglobalunion.org
Visit: http://www.commoncraft.com where web 2.0 tools are explained in quick and simple videos (in English) – really worth having a look!
Blogs
