I feel giddy over the thought of me being a blogger. Hihi. Although this isn’t my first venture into the blogging world, the other one being an anonymous blog for emo crap and moving on shiz, (DO NOT JUDGE ME HAHA) the idea of me being part of the blogging community still seems like a joke.
Excluding this entry, I already have 16 blog posts to be ashamed proud of. But the question to ask is, do these earn me the right to be called an effective blogger? Or a real one at least.
Have I been LISTENING?
Well, technically it should be reading instead of listening since I’m talking about blogs here. But have I been listening because I believe it should always be my first move. Every one’s first move. We should all be listening not only to what people have to say about us, but also to what others have to say about things we want to talk about. In short, research.
Have I been CONNECTING?
Social media wasn’t called social media for nothing. We’re all supposed to be getting S-O-C-I-A-L, creating conversations, and joining communities. Have I been linking to and commenting on other people’s blogs?
Have I been SHARING?
Whether I shared a blog entry, a photo, a video or an audio clip, was it actually something useful to the community? Did I make sense in my posts or were they all gibberish? Well I certainly hope not. :p
I can blog all I want but in the end, I should be thinking whether I’ve been doing it the right way. SURPRISE SURPRISE!!! I should be listening, connecting, and sharing, because after all, social media is not all about my blog.
How about you? Do you think you deserve to be called a blogger? :)
Kits at Work 
I think I deserve to be called a blogger. Because for the past few months I’ve been trying to listen, connect, and share content that I think will be useful (and interesting) for the online community. Though I am not sure if my attempts were successful, one thing I’m sure of is that I have unconsciously developed a side of me which shares, connects, and listens online because of maintaining my blogs. :)
wah. i’ve never actually thought of it that way, because i never really cared to “push”, despite blogging ‘pull information’ by nature. i haven’t really put a lot of effort into promoting, but pageviews, comments, discussions and some more back-and-forth interactions between other netizens ensued still.
come to think of it, there was never any conscious effort for listening, connecting, and sharing – but oh did the net save me – and unconsciously, i believe i have become a ‘Blogger’. ohwell. haha
p.s. I’m quite curious to this *anonymous* blog of yersss! Hrmpf!
it will remain anonymous!!! HAHAHAHA
Kits! YES! Listening SHOULD be everyone’s first move. Wouldn’t want to enter a conversation where I’m using a completely different language from the other people. :)
With sharing and connecting, I believe it’s not just making sense and creating conversations. It’s making sense to the people you are talking to and creating relevant conversations. It might be that you are making sense but the people you want to talk don’t give a care. Or you’re creating conversations but people just don’t get it. That’s why you need to listen, so you’ll know you’re move, you’ll know what to say and who to talk to. :)
listen. share. connect. Maybe I have done these with our blogging requirement but I think I wasn’t really able to listen, share and connect well.
Maybe I’ll do better next time. If it’s not a requirement any more, hihi :D
in truth, i didn’t really like the idea that we needed to blog each week. i find it difficult to let down my guard and let anyone in-my thoughts, feelings, MY SELF. i was uncomfortable at first but it is now that i realize how much of this blogging had made me quite better. writing seems easy now, brainstorming is like cake, and integrating concepts is much like seating on a couch. blogging made me write, made us all, but it was unquestionable what it did in return. i realized it while doing chapter 1 of my thesis. orcom isn’t about talking and talking alone as writing is equally a much required skill.
Now that you’ve mentioned these three things on the blogging checklist (ergh) I hear blogger niccy questioning herself, “am I then a complete failure?”
She is relieved that she’s not a complete failure but almost a failure in the making if she had not started joining the s0-called community. I share the same sentiment with GJ that when I started blogging, what I had in mind was to push content (that’s all).
I almost forgot that there’s more to blogging than just actually writing blogs.
Listen, connect, share. Truly those are 3 of the essentials of being a blogger. On a deeper level, you might want to see if you listen to everyone or a select few, if you connect to specific people only, and if your share what should or shouldn’t be shared. For a communication blog, certain things should be kept formal. For, a personal blog, you have no limit. But we should also look at the quality of how we engage our readers. You said it, “social media is not all about my blog”. But how do you actually get readers to share your posts with while competing with other blogs? A blogger must have a unique attraction to be able to get his/her blog read. Because what good does information do when it’s just static right?
I think I have the makings of being a blogger but I’m just not blogger material. For me, the most important thing about being a blogger is that you are passionate in what you are doing. Bloggers are consistent. They update their sites all the time. They have interesting posts that people read. And most of all, they love what they are doing. Yes, writing skills are important but you need to be passionate about blogging to be able to maintain a blog. :)
You’re one of the best bloggers I know, Khits! Haha. (And the best blogger who feels giddy about the thought that she’s one). The questions you posed encapsulate the essence of blogging. Indeed, for one to be able to unleash the full potential of blogging, listening, connecting, and sharing should be practiced altogether.
For one, blogs just don’t exist in a vacuum. A blog lives and thrives in a community. Just like any social animal, bloggers feel supported when they belong in a family that specializes on a field. And at that, they feel even more empowered when they actively participate and contribute relevant content to the community. As much as blogs are extensions of our personal takes on different issues, we must not forget that blogs are also significant pieces of a larger social world online.
happy new year