Archive for March, 2007

You’ve got your favourite blogs that you like to read and as you surf through the net, you may come across new blogs you want to come back to. How do you keep track of them all?

The basic way

Many people I’ve spoken to put the links to their favourite blogs as a Favourite on their toolbar. That works well enough. But there’s no way of knowing if the blog you are following has been updated and you have to move from blog to blog as you read since a click on the Favourite link takes you straight to the actual blog page. You can arrange them in folders by topic but the navigation of the folders and blog lists gets a bit clunky as your favourite blog collection grows.

The streamlined way

This is where blog or news “readers” (aka “aggregators”) come in. You sign up for an online account and it collects all the blogs that you like in one online space. It looks rather like an online email account (eg if you’ve ever had a Hotmail or Yahoo email account, the layout is similar). On the left hand pane, you will find a list of your favourite blogs while the larger right hand pane is the reading pane where you can read the posts.

The advantage is that you have all your favourite blogs in one space and you can read them via the one window without having to jump about in and out of different blogs. You can also sort your blogs into different folders or topics rather like having different folders for your emails. Mine are sorted into “writing”, “malaysia”, “technology” etc. You can also add newspapers to your reader. And some readers will show you clearly which blogs / news sites have been updated since you last read them - again like your email programme that shows unread items in bold.

There are various blog reader/ aggegator services including Yahoo, Bloglines and Google Reader. Yahoo Mail Beta adds a blog reader folder into your online email account if you’re already signed up to their email service. Bloglines has a good folder management system. Google Reader uses “tags” instead of folders and has the function that can show only those blogs that have updated since the last visit.

All you then have to do is add the blog reader to your favourites in your toolbar and click on that to go to the reader to read all the blogs you are following.

Once you’ve signed up for an account, you can “subscribe” to the blogs you like. There is usually a button you can drag onto your tool bar for one-click subscribing - when you are on any page of a blog, just click on that button and it automatically adds that blog to your reader. You can “unsubscribe” by deleting the blog from your reader.

Note that a reader works by detecting a feed from the site (see What is a Feed?). If the site does not have a feed, it won’t be able to add it to the reader. Most public blogs have feeds - those that don’t either have the feed switched off or they are private blogs. “Static” websites that do not update regularly like blogs do not have feeds.

The email notification way

Some blogs offer an email notification service whenever they are updated. This should be free and be sure to check that they won’t use your email address for any other purpose. You should also be able to unsubscribe anytime. Once you’ve signed up, an email will be sent to you whenever the blog is updated, with the full or partial text of the post(s).

The advantage is that you can access your favourite blogs via your email Inbox. The disadvantage is that if you subscribe to many blogs, you could get notification overload. But some blogs give a reward for signing up for email notification - like I do over on my other blog Fusion View (subcribers get a chance to win books from a prize draw) - so it may be worth choosing email subscription for a select few blogs.

Further Reading:

• Discovering Blogs - 1. How to find blogs to read
• Beginner’s Guide
• What is…? (Jargon Buster)

So you want to explore the world of blogs. Where do you start?

Blog Hopping

Well, a good place is to look in the Links section in the sidebar of most blogs. On ZenGuide, I put links there to other blogs that I like or visit frequently - or they may be blogs by friends or people I know. They are not necessarily about blogging or social media.

From one blog, you can blog-hop to a vast array of other blogs of all kinds by going from link to link.

Recommendations

Many newspapers and magazines have a section on blogs with a summary of what they’re about. These are often informative, useful and fun as they tend to pick them for newsworthiness or quirkiness.

The post you are reading on a blog (ie the “article” on the blog) may link to another blog. Links are shown in bold (and often in another colour) and if you hover your mouse of the link, the mouse arrow will change to hand icon. The address of the link will usually appear in the bottom left corner of your screen. Click on it and you’re off to another blog.

On ZenGuide, I have a Category called Blogs to Explore - see the far right sidebar. That will give you a list of posts where I give brief reviews of blogs that I find interesting: whether because of their design or content or style - or for no particular reason other than I like it!

Search for Blogs

You can search for blogs using Google or any other search engine. Type in a keyword or topic that interests you and “blog”. Alternatively, Google Blog Search searches blogs only - just type in a keyword and see what comes up.

Keeping track of the blogs you like

Coming up in the next post in the Discovering Blogs series, I’ll talk about how you keep track of the blogs you’ve found and want to follow.

Further reading

See also:

• What is … A Blog?
• Jargon Buster
• Beginners Guide

Photo: thanks to badattitudes.com

All blogs have feeds (also known as RSS feeds - or Really Simple Syndication feeds). These are, in essence, “signals” sent out to say when the blog has been updated. The signal “pings” (notifies) feed aggregators (sites that collect - or aggregate - feeds) when the blog owner posts something on the blog. As the blog owner, you can turn your feed off eg if you don’t want public sites to be notified of your update. The feed for a given site usually looks something like this: http://www.nameofblogsite.com/feed. The link to a blog’s feed is usually identified by a feed “chicklet” ie a small square-ish button with a stylised radio signal on it.

Subscribe in a reader

As a reader or visitor to a blog, you can grab the feed so that you can receive notifications of future updates on that blog. You can do this by “susbscribing” via a news or blog reader - I will talk about to use these “readers” in more detail in another post. Briefly, it is a site where you can read the blogs that you have subscribed to in one place. It looks similar to your email programme and you can usually arrange your subscriptions into folders under topics of your choice. You can also subscribe to feeds from newspapers or other news providers eg Reuters so you can read the news from the same place. I will be writing more about how to use a blog “reader” in another post.

As a blog owner, you can use your feed to offer email notifications to your visitors. You activate your feed in an email notification programme that generates a subscription form that you can put onto your blog. There are various email notification programmes, the most notable of which are Feedblitz and Feedburner and they offer free services as well as premium services (which have greater user flexibility). Your visitor can enter their email address into the form to receive an update in their Inbox whenever you update your blog. Feedburner also offers other useful tools for blog owners that can help publicise their blog, using the blog feed eg you can incorporate rolling headlines from your blog onto an email or onto other sites you own.

The feed can also be activated in various other ways to give the blog owner information about how many other blogs/ websites are linking to your blog. The more other blogs link to your blog, the greater your blog is deemed to be an authority. The principle grew out of the way that academics identify who among them is a great authority on a subject, reflecting the academic roots of the people who created the internet. The more an academic paper is cited by other academics, the greater it - and its writer - is held in esteem. A key site that helps bloggers identify who is linking to their blog and how many links they have is Technorati. As a blog owner, you should go to Technorati and “claim” your feed there.

Pic: thanks to joenickp.com

This is a great example of viral marketing.

Thresher, in association with South African wine Stormhoek, are offering a coupon via the internet that gives you 40% off all wine in Thresher - between 22 March and 1st April 2007.

I got this news via drewb on Twitter at about 9am today 22 March and I’m writing this now about 9.30am.

Drewb got it off Sam Sethi who posted it on his blog yesterday 21 March. Sam got it off Hugh Macleod, the marketing/ blogging guru who works with Stormhoek and within moments he had blogged about it.

This is Threshers second viral campaign, the first one being at Christmas awhile back - it was so successful it made the national news and generated £15 million in sales for Thresher (according to Sam Sethi).

You can download the coupon here on ZenGuide.

Did I download the coupon? Sure I did. And I’ll be heading to a Threshers near me later on.

Twitter is the new mobile-blogging social network using SMS (or texting) as a base for updating. People are working out diverse ways to use it to communicate, network and carry on up to the minute dialogue locally and across the world.

It’s perfect for up to the minute blow by blow accounts of events which can be received by subscribers on their mobile phones. The newest innovation is a Twitter page that is offering a blow by blow account of the UK Budget 2007. See www.twitter.com/budget.

Live coverage is expected at 12.30pm GMT today, 21 March.

Thanks to Nick Wilson for flagging this link.

For more about Twitter, see the posts on my other blog, Fusion View:

Twittering Away

Mind Map

Photo: thanks to guardian.co.uk

A podcast is an audio recording you can listen to on a portable MP3 player or iPod. It is usually in MP3 format and you can either listen to it online through your PC or download it onto your portable device and take it on the road with you.

It is relatively cheap and easy to create a podcast at home and many people are creating their own “radio” shows for podcasting over the internet. The major broadcast corporations such as the BBC and Radio Australia are also producing podcast versions of their usual broadcast programmes. (I will write about how to produce a podcast in a separate post)

I occasionally podcast interviews and discussions with a writing or cross-cultural theme on my blog, Fusion View. You can check them out by going to www.fusionview.co.uk and clicking on the category “Podcasts” in the sidebar. You can listen to them online via the embedded audio players on the relevant posts or you can download the audio file to listen to later.

A great way to explore podcasts is to download some podcast receiving software and then browse through their directories or search by keyword via their user panel. The software is free. The following are some providers:

• Juice
• iTunes
• Doppler

To start you off, the following are some interesting podcasts:

• All in the Mind, Radio National Australia - in depth discussions and interviews about psychology, mental health and consciousness
• Documentary Archive, BBC World Service - a wide range of documentaries about issues around the world.
• Flying Startups Podcast, from Steve Parks, author of How To Be an Entrepreneur - great tips for small businesses, whether you are just starting out or well on your way.
• Coffee Break Spanish - a fun series teaching Spanish in bite-sized chunks.

You can also explore podcast directories like Jellycast, Britcaster and PodcastAlley.

Photo: thanks to hawaii on flickr.com

“Blog” is short for “web-log” and started as a way to write a journal online. It looks like a website but uses a software platform that lets you upload your entries very easily. Publishing what you’ve written online is instantaneous and happens at the push of a button - literally.

Entries are called “posts” and they appear on the blog in reverse date order ie the newest post is at the top.

These days, many people use blogs to engage online with their friends or others who share their interests. Businesses engage with their customers by writing about what’s happening in their company or in their area of expertise. Visitors to the blog can add comments to a particular post or email the person blogging, the “blogger”. Other visitors may see the comments and add what they have to say as well.

The best way to find out what the world of blogging is all about is to visit some.

Here are a few to start you off with.

A Saville Row tailor uses his blog to talk about his passion for bespoke tailoring and to share some unique insights into the world of cuffs and lapels and hems. He also uses his blog to share his travel schedule so that his international clients know when he is visiting their part of the world and can book an appointment. His blog has been featured on the BBC and other traditional media. See http://www.englishcut.com/

A creative writing teacher and writer, Sharon Bakar, based in Malaysia, shares her book addiction and writes about the latest books and book news from Asia, the UK and US. Her readership is primarily Malaysian but she has been featured in the UK’s national paper, The Guardian. See http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/

A photographer has been taking a photo at 11.47am every day since 2000. See http://eleven47.com/. It’s fab!

You can also visit my blog, of course, Fusion View, a cross-cultural view on writing, culture and the arts at http://www.fusionview.co.uk.

I will also be blogging about blogs that strike me as interesting, thought-provoking, fun, unusual, well-designed or has something that makes me want to say to my friends, “Hey, take a look at this!” - go to the category Blogs to Explore in the sidebar on the far right.

Or you can go to Google Blog Search at http://blogsearch.google.com/ - type in any topic or keyword and it will throw up all the blogs you can read on that subject.

Pic: thanks to beth.typepad.com

GENERAL

What is a Blog?

A blog is short for “weblog”, which is an online journal. (As in Star Trek, when William Shatner says “Captain’s Log, star date XXXX….”). However, the ZenGuide blog is really more like an online magazine.

How often will you be updating this blog/ online magazine?

I aim update the ZenGuide blog with articles at least twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays by 7am GMT and from time to time, there will be additional articles during the rest of the week

SUBSCRIPTION POLICY

What is your privacy policy if I subscribe to this blog?

By subscribing, you will only be asked for your email address and no other personal details. We will not use your email address for any other purpose than notifying you of blog updates nor will we sell the subscription list.

What delivery options are available if I subscribe to this blog?

When you subscribe via Feedblitz, you can choose to be notified by email, Skype, AOL Instant Messenger or Twitter. Email notifications offer an audio link so you can listen to an audio version of the blog.

You can also subscribe via Talkr to receive an audio feed version.

Rasasa and Zaptext gives you the option to receive updates via SMS, Instant Message and Email.

How often will I receive notifications of blog updates from you?

By the end of September 2007, notifications to subscribers will be streamlined to go out once a week on a Thursday using Feedblitz. Current email subscribers need not do anything - you will receive an email notifying you that the email delivery system will be changing, with some useful information about the new service and afterwards, the new weekly delivery will start.

If you subscribe via the other applications other than Feedblitz (see above), you will receive notifications whenever the blog is updated.

SITE POLICIES

What is your relationship with the third party sites linked to this site?

I do not have any control over third party sites to which this blog is linked, including Feedburner (which maintains the email notification service). If you have any concerns or complaints about any third party sites, please see their terms & conditions and policies on their sites and contact them direct.

What is your policy on visitor comments?

All visitors to the blog can submit comments relating to any post, provided the comments are appropriate and relevant . I would encourage you to sign your posts with at least a first name - anonymous posts encourage incivility and irresponsible commenting.

When commenting, please be civil and respect the views and feelings of all participants on this site. I reserve the right not to publish comments that I consider rude, offensive, objectionable, irrelevant or unsuitable. I also reserve the right - without explanation - not to publish any comment whatsoever.

The views expressed in any comment are those of the person making the comment and do not represent my views.

Can I use the content on your site or copy and paste it into another site/ document?

All the content of my posts is copyrighted - copyright belongs to ZenGuide unless otherwise stated.

You may use portions of a post or copy and paste portions of a post into another site or document provided you put that portion inside quotation marks and you acknowledge clearly on that site/ document that it is taken from ZenGuide and also that you credit ZenGuide clearly with it. A portion for these purposes would be up to one third of the text from the relevant post. This broadly reflects the UK law on copyright.

What is your policy on photographs and pictures used on this site?

My aim is to use photos from third parties licensed under the Creative Commons Licence on ZenGuide and, in any event, to include an acknowledgement to the source website and also a link to that website in return for being able to show that photo on this site. I do not earn any revenue from this site and so do not profit from such photos. Any copyright owner to a photo shown on this site who would like to discuss changing such arrangements may contact me via the Contact link in the far right sidebar and I will happily take down any photos on the request of the copyright owner.

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Site policies may be updated from time to time. Please check back for updates.

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When you subscribe to Zenguide blog, you will receive free email notification whenever we update the blog with new articles, reviews and announcements. Subscription is free.

If you prefer to subscribe via a blog reader, please see below.

What details do I have to give you when I subscribe?

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You will receive an email at least once a week and, sometimes at more frequent intervals.

If you prefer to subscribe via a blog reader, see below.

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To subscribe, go to the “Subscribe” section of the sidebar on the right of the page and enter your email address. Then, click “Subscribe”, OR click here to go straight to the subscription form. You will be sent a verification email to confirm that you are subscribed.

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To unsubscribe, click on the link in any of the notification emails marked “Stop receiving posts” and follow the instructions. You can re-subscribe at any time.

Can I subscribe via a blog reader?

You can also subscribe by clicking on the “feed” icon (small orange square with radio signal sign) in the “Subscribe” section of the side bar. ZenGuide will be added to your news/ blog reader.

If you do not already have a blog reader, choose one of the ones offered on the form eg. Yahoo, GoogleReader, Bloglines etc. The Yahoo reader adds a folder for your blog feeds in your Yahoo email account. For GoogleReader and Bloglines, you access your blog subscriptions from an online page, laid out like an email inbox. Once you’ve got a blog reader, you can add other blogs and also news sites to it and read all their latest updates from one window.

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