Lessons from Professional Bloggers

This week, I read Chapter Seven of Paul Gillin's The New Influencers. The section that really stuck out to me was entitled, "PR pro as blogger." I am new to the blogging world and probably would never have created a blog had I not taken social media at ONU. I thought if I had a blog, no one would read my posts anyways and I would be wasting my time. However, as I enter the real world in two short weeks, I realize my blog could be more important than I think. 

Andy Abramson is a PR professional who understands the blogosphere well. Abramson sees four basic benefits in blogs for his business: being quoted in the media, making new contacts, generating speaking engagements and bringing in business. Each blogger requires a custom pitch and vigorous follow-up. Since I am applying for various public relations and public outreach positions, I realize that keeping my blog will be beneficial to my professional and social world. 

Renee Blodgett is another top blogger in her profession. Blodgett's blog, Down the Avenue, is a smart, savvy, hip and very in tune with the culture of the Silicon Valley. She writes about her professional and personal experiences, and fiction. Blodgett's advice is that bloggers still need to have a message, blogs can't just be conversations. I took time to check out her blog and I was very impressed. I loved how she wrote about a wide range of topics, such as bin Laden's death, the ultimate women's expo, book releases, the galaxy, etc. Blodgett included many pictures, videos, slideshows and her favorite quotes, which I really enjoyed. Blodgett's blog can definitely serve as my 'mentor' blog when I enter the professional world. 

Reading this section in Paul Gillin's book inspired me to keep up with my blog after my social media course is over and I am no longer required to write three times a day. I hope I can find a job where I can utilize my blog to better the company. 

Social Media Royalty

I was not up at 4:30 this morning watching the Royal Wedding, but I did see a recap of the grand event on E! News.  During this show, they had a live count of how many times Prince William or Kate Middleton were mentioned on Facebook or Twitter. As I was watching, about two million people from all over the world tweeted about the newlyweds. The number was increasing by roughly 30 people every second.

Even before the wedding began, the online buzz surrounding the Royal Wedding exceeded the talk and discussions of the Japan earthquake. As of two hours before the ceremony and in the last 30 days, 911,000 tweets were recorded, which is equal to more than 30,000 tweets per day, according to Webtrends. This web analytics company also discovered there were approximately 217,000 Facebook status updates and 145,000 blog posts about William and Kate’s wedding day. Well, make that at least 145,001 blog posts now.

An article by Ben Parr entitled, “The Social Media Buzz Behind the Royal Wedding,” has some great statistics. About 65% of the social buzz is coming from the U.S., while only 20% of tweets, blog posts and Facebook updates are from the U.K. Canada is in third place with 2.6%. Twitter is where most of the online community is chatting about the Royal Wedding at 71%. Facebook has 16.9% and blogs take up 11.3%.

All these tweets, blogs and status updates are only expected to increase because people are now wanting to discuss the aftermath of the wedding – what Kate’s dress was like, where’s the honeymoon, how was the party, etc.

The social media world is being dominating by Royal Wedding news today and days to come.