By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

IT was not until two years ago that I got hooked into blogging.

Before that, I found it absurd that people would post their thoughts and their daily activities for all the world to see. I found it even more absurd that people would post on their blogs yet change the preferences to private so other people will not read the entries. I thought, “Why create an online diary if you are not going to make it public anyway?”

So I shunned the idea of creating my own blog, even as my friends maintained either a personal website or an account with a blog site. But everything changed two years ago. My friend sent me a link to her blog, and I decided to check it out. Within minutes, I found myself absorbed in reading her blog and was amused at how many people gave their inputs to her entries. It was more like an online community where you can share your thoughts with your friends and they get to share their points of view as well.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

A-LIST blogger Robert Scoble posed this question recently, as he weighed on the impact of social networking service and other innovations like Twitter on top bloggers.

I theorized that was due to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce’s rise. Most of the non-A-list bloggers have been showing up on those places in droves. After all, if you are only writing a blog to tell your family what your new kid is doing then something like Facebook is a lot better for that.

A-list bloggers are the celebrities in blogosphere. They’re today’s newspaper columnists who write about almost anything.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

I HAVE recently experienced a phenomenon over at my personal blog, where I had casually invited a few photographer friends to a cosplay shoot with Jerry Polence over at the Intramuros Golf Club on a Sunday afternoon. Where I had estimated that about five or six people would come (we were around that number at 1:45 p.m.), we ended up with a total of over forty five photographers from different photo organizations.

For a few minutes I was greatly overwhelmed and panicked over the situation but then, after gaining some composure, realized that this is a proof of concept of how viral marketing works in the Philippines: from blog post to forum thread to an SMS campaign. At least for this case.

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out how such a thing could happen. Either (1) the post was made at the right time when no other photo events were occuring (2) nobody ever shot cosplay before so this was something different. Then I started to analyze the posting patterns.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

CHECK out this article by Cathy S. Babao-Guballa, who writes about moms who blog.

Excerpt:

There was a time in my recent past when I was so burnt out I thought I had lost the gift to write. Blogging has helped me find myself again.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

LOTS of people are blogging nowadays, but not everyone is able to consistently update their blogs.

Sometimes it’s a case of ningas cogon, where we’re all fired up when we start blogging for the first time, but then lose interest or can’t find the time to add new entries. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and before you know it, your blog has joined the growing ranks of the dead and dormant.

As a disclaimer, I have to admit I haven’t been able to update my personal blog for almost two months, though I hope to start blogging there again pretty soon, otherwise people might think I no longer have a life outside INQUIRER.net, heh. I’m not making excuses, but in my defense I’ve been building the INQUIRER.net Blogs network, among other things, as our company’s gaming and multimedia editor.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

YOU’VE probably experienced it at one time or another. Days when you just can’t seem to blog about anything.

We know about writer’s block, but since blogging is becoming a way of life for many people, I think we should make a separate category for blogger’s block, heh.

What do you do when blogger’s block strikes? How do you keep blogging even when you’re not in the mood — particularly if you’re a pro blogger? Are there days when you feel as if you’ve lost your passion for blogging? Share what works for you, and help others cope with blogger’s block.

And gee, looks like I was able to post an entry even when I’m kinda suffering from blogger’s block right now, heh. I guess that’s one way to deal with it: just blog it.

IT’S been, what, nine days since I subscribed to Twitter, a relatively new twist in the so-called micro-blogging and social networking. Think of this: how much can you say in 140 characters? That sounds like a writing exercise in my creative writing class. But that’s how Twitter is. Because it requires you to blog in one-liners. It’s short and sweet. The most interesting (well for most users and fans) aspect of this new service is it can be done via SMS, and not just through the Web. Yes, folks, SMS. But you have to be ready to pay for extra SMS charges when sending an entry from your phone into your Twitter account.

Twitter can also be updated via popular instant messaging clients. In my case, I’m using Google Talk. And since this is also a social networking tool, Twitter will allow you to connect to friends (including virtual ones) and discover what they are doing at a certain moment in a given day. But that’s just one of the benefits you could derive from this innovation.

Now, if you’re ready to let the world know what you’re eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then go Twitter. But I caution you, never ever blog anything you won’t disclose in person.

YOU’VE probably asked this question many times: How personal should your blog get? Well, I found this interesting blog that suggested several things to consider.

Excerpt:

As a blogger, you may have asked yourself just how personal you want to get when it comes to your blog. Do you want people to know a little or a lot about you? Do you want to disclose personal information to the readers who visit your blog?

All of these questions are important to ask if you are a blog owner; in determining just how personal you want to get on your blog, consider two critical points.

To summarize the blog’s points, you should keep the following tips in mind:

• Determine the purpose of your blog.
• People want to know how you feel. But remember, write things that you think you can be comfortable enough to reveal.
• Never insult or offend your readers.

WHOA. That looks like a serious topic there. But I think this is past overdue. The title is inspired by Mong Palatino who is “27 years old, addicted to activism, aspiring educator, son of migrant workers, president of kabataan partylist” and contributor to Global Voices, a global network of bloggers. (Now I wonder what I was doing when I was 27).

In a post sometime in December 2006, he made interesting observations about the power of blogging, albeit admitting it is still mostly seen as an “elitist activity.” He picked some ideas from the Global Voices yearly conference, which he attended last year. His ideas remain relevant, so I’m highlighting some of them for all you bloggers out there. I hope this inspires you to blog and make a difference.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

OF LATE, I’ve met (not in the literal sense) more people through blogs. Yes, blogs are now part of an emerging digital lifestyle. As one friend-writer who now lives in the US puts it: “I treat it more as a sounding board for my thoughts and predilections.” (Thanks Arvin for the quote.)

I’ve been blogging for over two years. I’ve met musicians, writers, journalists, animators, photographers, politicians, and interesting people I never imagined meeting in a more traditional setting. Of course, I’m also a journalist so that’s an added bonus. Bloggers like journalists document life. Bloggers are sometimes called citizen journalists.

Social networking services like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook, among others, have incorporated blogs. This is because people who want to connect to you also want to find out what you’re thinking. And for some people, blogging is one way of “thinking out loud” in cyberspace. Sometimes though expect off-the-cuff remarks from a wiseguy. So yes, if you blog, you’ll end up knowing more people. What a neat way to make friends (sometimes enemies, too).

[Read the rest of this entry »]