Ashley McCall-WashingtonOnline and Social Media Division
Office of the Chief of Public Affairs
Blogs: WhatBlogs: WhatA blog (AKA “weblog”) is a website on which someone writes about personal opinions, activities, and experiences .
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.
Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
While there is no concise method of tracking blogs, BlogPulse indexed over 126 million blogs on the Internet as of November 2009.
There are over 32 million WordPress publishers as of December 2010.
According to Quantcast, over 260 million people worldwide visit one or more WordPress.com blogs every month, and they view over 2.3 billion pages on those blogs each month.
Types of BlogsTypes of Blogs• Photo blogs• Video blogs (Vlogs)• Audio blogs (Podcasting)• Music blogs (MP3)• Micro-blogging (Twitter)
Blogs: Who Blogs: Who
OOPS, Forgot One!!OOPS, Forgot One!!
Why Blog?Why Blog?Allows you to present your messages in a more personal manner.
Allows you to interact with your audience through the comments section.
Provides you with honest, unscripted feedback.
Before:Before: After:After:
Before you start:Before you start:• Do I have enough content to
stand up my own blog?• Purpose of my blog?• How often will I post?• What type of content will I
post?• Will I allow comments to be
posted to my blog?
Blog Writing Tips:Blog Writing Tips:• Maintain “personal” approach to word choice and voice.• While anything you write is official, avoid using the same official
tone you’d write professional correspondence with.• If you want your audience to engage your post (write comments)
pose a question or spark a conversation.• Most blog posts are between 100-300 words in length.• Be consistent. • If you are writing on behalf of an official organization or military
service, all posts must adhere to the same guidelines as if you were writing for a traditional media outlet.
So you’re blogging for yourself, but So you’re blogging for yourself, but how do you get others to blog ABOUT how do you get others to blog ABOUT you?you?
Bloggers RoundtableBloggers Roundtable• The Department of
Defense (DoD) Bloggers' Roundtable connects bloggers and online journalists with DoD civilian and military leaders and subject matter experts. The Roundtable provides source material where available, including audio, photo, video, transcripts, biographies and related fact sheets.
Bloggers RoundtableBloggers RoundtableOften held in tandem with traditional media roundtables.
Previous topics include: “Apps for the Army” contest, Medal of Honor teammates and PTSD.
In addition to hot topics, blogger’s roundtables are also an excellent way to highlight human interest stories that are difficult to get into the traditional news outlets.
Getting started:Getting started:• Research.• Build relationships.• Put a different “spin” on your
subject.• Ask bloggers what they would
like to learn more about.• Constantly update and build your
blogger list.• Show bloggers some love, too.
QuestionsQuestions
Contact Info:Contact Info:Ashley [email protected]