blogUT vs UpbeaT, ROUND 2, GO!

Happy Thursday! Contrary to the title, we’re not actually going Rambo behind the scenes.  Today in installment 2, we talk about the wonders of blogs and social media.

Yulya:
how are the faeries doing?

Me:
The fairies are placated by chocolates

Yulya:
who wouldn’t be

Me:
Mmmhmm.

Yulya:
Have you guys found that certain subject matter is more suited to blogging than to other media, and vice versa?

Lori:
Hmm

Me:
There are some things that just can’t be explained into words, you know? That’s why blogging is so great. I can link to youtube videos or add pictures or videos. I am hoping to experiment with video blogging. v-blogging?

Lori:
Yeah embedding videos is awesome. You can’t achieve that on paper

Yulya:
Also linking to other articles

Yulya:
it continues conversations

Lori:
You can also put links and people will more likely go to them, because when they’re on paper, people have to actually type it into the computer

Lori:
if they even remember to do that

Me:
yeah. that’s why I sometimes wonder if the radio/tv/poster ads with big links to unmemorable website links will get hits

Lori:
lol

Me:
who’s going to sit at their computer and type an obscure link?

Lori:
I often see urls in ads and want to look them up but I always forget to do it

Yulya:
it’s easier to click a link than type it, it’s also easier to write a blog about an issue you saw than to act on it in any other way

Yulya:
I think that immediacy goes for everything, really

Me:
like this interview.

Me:
I LOVE THE INTERNET.

Yulya:
and to respond quickly to issues that come up

Me:
Yeah. Maybe that’s why Twitter is so popular.

Me:
Instantaneous news.

Me:
Even blogs have trouble jumping on news instantly.

Lori:
It’s also instantaneous opinions

Yulya:
which goes for blogs as well…

Yulya:
it’s also very digested

Me:
Yes. I tend to ramble on and on and on. One thing I keep having to do is to trim down my posts.

Me:
It’s because we’re conditioned to write 2000+ words essays.

Yulya:
the founder of BlogTO commented at WordCamp on how the posts that get the most readership are the ones that are short and to the point, and i’ve found that as well

Yulya:
but then again shorter posts/articles may have a greater tendency to ignore details or other sides of the issue

Yulya:
what do you think?

Yulya:
(yeah, clearly I have this issue too )

Lori:
It depends, but I think that most subjects can be written about sufficiently briefly

Lori:
if not briefly, then in an easy-to-read, organized way

Me:
Yes. Succinct is good. And the posts that have a stance. It’s impossible to cater to everyone, and when you try, it’s obvious. I find that bloggers who are unafraid of their opinions and ideas get the most readers

Yulya:
definitely

Lori:
strong opinions stir up conversation too

Me:
Blogs are great, because you write as if you’re talking.

Me:
None of the academic, up-turned nose tone of voice.

Me:
The companies that go for that type of tone turns off readers.

Me:
…I think I was making a point in response to blogs being easy-to-read.

Me:
I think I lost track. 

Yulya:
speaking of companies, i think it’s really cool how almost every group and company has a blog now

Me:
Yes, but is that a bad thing?

Lori:
lol

Yulya:
i think it’s great

Me:
I mean, sometimes companies have social media that doesn’t serve a purpose and isn’t managed properly.

Lori:
It’s good for people who are interested in the company, and it’s good for marketing

Me:
True.

Yulya:
and it lets you understand the company’s inner workings

Yulya:
and, dare I say it, feel a part of it just a little

Me:
Not only companies, but universities too, have been joining the social media ship

Me:
Most now have some sort of blog, twitter, facebook.

Me:
What do you think?

Yulya:
and also different parts of university communities

Yulya:
the university itself usally has blogs and (maybe) twitter, facebook is more for student groups

Lori:
Yeah it;s a good way to keep everyone connected

Me:
But does it really? Doesn’t it just feel like there are so many things out there and nothings really connected?

Lori:
although I wouldn’t say that Facebook is necessarily a good tool for anything other than maybe creating events

Lori:
well, you gotta sort through it yourself and determine what’s valuable to you

Yulya:
well I know Facebook was a good way to generate a large response against the recent Star article on Trinity college… it’s a good way to organize people quickly

Me:
Yes – because the majority of students are on facebook.

Lori:
That’s true, but I hate getting invited to groups called “If this group reaches some number of people, xyz will happen!”

Me:
YES, ZOMG YES. Join Us and be part of the Guiness Book Record!

Lori:
lol

Me:
what has blogUT’s experience with twitter been?

Me:
are a lot of people there?

Lori:
We just joined Twitter recently, so we don’t have many followers atm

Me:
Do you see Twitter becoming more prominent in communicating with your readers in the future?

Yulya:
maybe.

Yulya:
the problem is that twitter is, after all, a microblogging site, which doesn’t really work if you’re already a blog

Yulya:
but it’s a good way to spread the word about updates, articles and events

Lori:
Yeah, because some people don’t subscribe to news feeds, and they also probably don’t want to check the website everyday for new posts

Me:
True. There’s an article that says that the majority of Twitter users are over 35

Me:
most “kids” don’t use twitter, and it’s popular because of the intense media hype.

Lori:
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that

Me:
yeah.

Me:
It’s interesting actually – people assume our generation automatically are computer literate, but I’ve met a lot of people who aren’t, and don’t know about RSS or even Twitter or whatever.

Lori:
There are also people who refuse to use them

Me:
Yes, there are those.

Yulya:
There are some great ways to use these technologies, but they can also suck you in and waste your time, and I think that’s whta people are afraid of

Lori:
I’m a sucker for these things, lol. Not to boast but I was on Twitter before it became so popular

Me:
Ahaha. Uhm, well, I’m on Twitter out of contractual obligation.

Lori:
I guess you just have to make sure you get the most out of it

Me:
I’m starting to warm up to it though.

Me:
I was put off, originally by a few friends who tweeted about their breakfast.

Lori:
Yeah those are the kinds of things that irritate me

Yulya:
I think people are moving away from that now though

Me:
Like they are myspace?

Me:
(I wish, actually)

Yulya:
well myspace has evolved too… it’s turning into a really useful tool for up-and-coming artists

Lori:
I noticed that

Me:
You’re right – it is. All these sites are great for their own purpose, and when used properly, is really useful.

Yulya:
cloudid.com is one of David Usher’s blogs, and he’s written a lot about social media nad it’s evolution

Me:
Cool. I’ll have to check it out.