MediaJoltz

So how did it go? Did you do the assignment I gave on Friday? What did you find? So what is a blog?

-Blog- found from Wikipedia: A blog is a website where someone publishes entries on topics of interest. The topics vary as there are more than 70 million blogs out there being tracked by technorati.

Where did the term blog come from? A blog is a short term for web log. Basically an online journal or log of life, thoughts, business and ideas. There were a lot of stuff that could be the “beginning of blogs” such as websites with a “whats new page” but today blogging has become more mainstream and right now carries the controversial question: “Can bloggers be considered journalists?”

Terms to know:
Blog- we defined

Blogosphere-the connected community of all blogs together. The Blogoshpere can be defined into smaller niches such as a group of blogs on one topic-business or marketing

Blogger (the company and the term itself) a free website that allows the creation and maintenance of a blog. The term blogger is also a description of one who blogs.

Column- a column on a blog defines the space on the website. In my website the place where I post is one column, the place where I list my blogroll and podcast list is another column, I have a two column blog. Here is an example of a 3 column blog: http://www.davidlaplante.com/
You can find a one column blog template here: http://www.geckoandfly.com/2006/04/27/one-column-blogspot-template/

Tags-what the post is about. It can also be described as a Category-the pre determined topic the post falls under and is grouped with all other posts on that topic

MetaTags-these are used in the code of your blog for your pages that help with Search Engine Optimization

Trackbacks-a trackback is when someone writes on their blog about the post you have written. This is done by clicking on the link of the other person’s actual post and including the link in your post.

Pings-a ping is an alert sent to an author of a post letting them know that their post is being referred to elsewhere.

Permalink-this is the URL of an actual post. Instead of linking to www.mediajoltz.com when you like a post, you click on the title of the post and it takes you to a page with only that post on it. The URL of this page is a permalink.

Post-the body of a text blog.

Blogroll-list of blogs one enjoys or recommends, usually found on the side column of a blog

URL-uniform resource locator, or the address of a website

Domain Name-what is your website called? Mine is mediajoltz

Hosting-when you are writing and putting pictures and video on your website, it takes up space-or storage. Someone has to handle all that space, or host it.

Links- a hyperlink in your post to a reference that supports or further explains your topic

Linking-you can do this with other blogs by referring to them in a post and attaching a hyper link to the word in your post.

Yesterday I had a friend come up to me at a seminar we were both attending and asked me what it was that I now did. I started to explain Mediajoltz to him

“I have a blog that I post on that talks about different ways to use online communication in your company. I tried and do a podcast every 2 weeks with someone who is using some type of online communication in their company and I do consulting if someone wants deeper information…”

He stopped me short and said, that’s all fine with blogs and podcasts, but what about instant messaging?

Instant Messaging? Well I had never thought about that before. I mean, who doesn’t use AIM or Yahoo or Windows Live Messenger? Skype might be too new, but the others I have always taken advantage of using pretty much since I started on computers way back when. You can contact me on AIM with screen name utahcamsboss, Yahoo with than_randle and MSN with Lorri_Randle@hotmail.com. I even have a program for my Mac called Adium which groups all of these programs into one, so I only have one window open on my computer that lists all my buddies so I don’t have to have 3 separate windows open for each program. Windows users can use a program called Trillian to do the same thing.

THE MISSION

This got me thinking harder than ever about NOT knowing anything about online applications. It had never occurred to me that while I feel like I am being simple in my explanation of how and why to use things, maybe to someone who has not a clue about even Instant Messaging and the uses for that, their head spins when i talk about all the other new media stuff that I think is pretty basic.

So while I gather all the information I can and create tutorial videos on how to download, install and use instant messaging to my friend’s advantage, I’m also going to start simple here on this blog.

So this is what my goal and mission is to do. I am going to start from the very beginning of the online world. I am going to give assignments and lessons. There might be some who are more advanced than what this blog can give at this moment. I hope you’ll stick with me, share your views and opinions and help everyone else to catch up to your expertise. I plan on helping each and every one of you who read this blog to have a rocking online presence and a grasp of what that means to your company/personal branding.

HERE WE GO:
I want you to do some research on blogging. Don’t worry about trying to write a blog or subscribe or anything, just learn what people are saying about blogging.

-What is a blog?
-Where did the term come from?

Basic Terms to know:

Blog
Blogosphere
Blogger (the company and the term itself)
Column
Tags
MetaTags
Trackbacks
Pings
Permalink
Post
Blogroll
URL
Domain Name
Hosting
Links
Linking

(Those more advanced, please feel free to post in the comments any other important BASIC terms for those interested in blogging.)

These phrases should get you started. Here are some URLS (websites) that should help you research what exactly blogs are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blogging_terms

Knowing the terms will help you to communicate better and give you the confidence that you can participate in this exciting online community.

CORPORATE BLOGGING

For further reading you can check out: Corporate Blogging

You can also read these blogs to get an idea on how large companies are using their blog:
Marriott on the Move

Jonathan’s Blog (from Sun Micro systems)

The Apple Blog

STUDY WHAT YOU LIKE

Now visit Technorati and in the upper right hand you see a search function. Go ahead and search on a topic you are interested in. Investigate the blogs that come up. See what you like about them, write down what you do like. Is there something that you don’t like about any of them? Write that down too. What features and colors did you like? What attributes caught your attention? Did you notice that some blogs have one, two OR three columns? Take note of the details that make certain blogs stand out.

I hope that this weekend you get excited about what you see. Blogging is something that, while I don’t enjoy writing, I very much enjoy feeling like I’ve helped someone learn a little something today. Thanks for sticking with me as I evolve this blog into something I hope is truly valuable for the business owner in all of us.