Why Blog? Part II

Why start a blog?

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2013/04/12/why-grad-schools-should-require-students-to-blog/
somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of students will quit their doctoral programs
1/3 of that attrition will happen at the dissertation-writing stage
if you write regularly, it will be less overwhelming when you get to that point

Riley Elliott TEDxAuckland

1.8 million scientific articles are published every year
50% of them are read only by the author and the editor
90% of them are never cited and shared
Nowadays people gather information from social media, television, and the internet
http://youtu.be/GA8RsnezFIg
people in academia these days are promoting their journal articles on social media and blogs to increase traffic and citations

Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c7/c7h.htm.
The Internet is the main source of information for learning about specific scientific issues such as global climate change and biotechnology. Americans are now about equally likely to rely on the Internet as on television as their primary source of general science and technology (S&T) information.
Many Americans continue to give multiple incorrect answers to questions about basic factual knowledge of science or the scientific inquiry process. In the United States, levels of factual knowledge of science have been stable for more than a decade.

Identify your audience

The average reading level of Americans is between eighth and ninth grade. NPR’s story was written at an 8.2 grade level. http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/21/153024432/sophomoric-members-of-congress-talk-like-10th-graders-analysis-shows
it is important if you are writing a blog on a scientific topic to keep the blog readable and relatable

Some of my writing

Going Green Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.69
The Inagural Blog Post Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 5.92
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.92
Fountain of Youth Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.27
A scientific abstract Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 14.79
http://sarahktyler.com/code/sample.php

BLOGGING is all about creativity.

Your original ideas can take center stage, uncensored. Here are some best practices:

• Use Categories (tags)
• Create an engaging Meta-description (first 160 characters) = your thesis statement
• Focus on having an Eye-catching title 
• Include In-text links (hyperlinks) which will increase traffic to your blog
• Embed Social sharing buttons such as "tweet this"
• Use Hootsuite to promote repeatedly, also use Editorial calendar to Schedule Posts
• Learn how to use Headings (H1) in html code to improve readability
• Include Images (convey emotion, illustrate a metaphor, evoke curiosity, complement your title)
• Include factual content (with sources) and write professionally (edit and proofread)
• Create a careful bio that established credibility and a way for readers to contact you

Review web analytics for the kinds of questions people type into search engines like Google or Bing that deliver visitors (this was also part of the ACS Reactions talk in San Francisco and the CalBikeSummit)

How long should each post be?

Your word count per post may vary between 100-1000 and that’s OK. Link to longer content.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/

Link your social media (or don’t).

Consider connecting your blog to your facebook or twitter feed.
Content first = write what you know
Adopt a publishing schedule = one post per month or one post per week, for example
Let your content be driven by a theme = goes together with identifying your audience
Keep it professional = blogs are public and your identity may or not be anonymous
http://chrisguillebeau.com/how-to-start-a-blog/

Does my blog matter?

Hundreds of millions of blogs are online today. Thousands more are started every day. Anyone can start a blog in 5 minutes, but very few will start blogs that matter.
http://fizzle.co/start-a-blog-that-matters
If the purpose of your blog is for yourself only, then you don't have to worry about number of visitors. I prefer to keep my blog ad-free, which compromises the amount of traffic that google will direct to my site. However, I feel it makes my page more readable so that the audience is organic and focused on my content. Also, I use it to uncover themes in my life and to track events and items that I have recycled so that I can manage my tendency to hoard physical objects that I have attached sentimental value to but that are really arcane pieces of junk.

How to engage effectively

Blogger has a feature where you can follow other blogs like yours. Alternative is RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary
Another idea is to create a “Follow this blog via email” listserv.
Use the 411 formula to manage your engagement
4 retweets, 1 response back, 1 original posting = 30 minutes per day
People following you for one reason don’t want to hear about stuff in your hobby area
Blogging is such a great way to get expertise out.
When you read/follow a blog, make sure to comment to get your name out.
It is good to engage people. Start lively dialogue. Could be a link to a potential employer to connect you with a job. People within companies support blogging.
It brings people closer to customers, companies can build loyal following.
I learned this at the Virtual Networking for Grad Students event at University of California, Riverside
http://events.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?comp_id=33367:20101104153000

hosted by Jan McCorkle, UCR Career Services

Blogging by the numbers

43% of bloggers use Wordpress
35% of bloggers use Blogger
16% of bloggers use Tumblr + TypePad + Posterous
6% use other platforms
31 million bloggers in the US
81% never make $100 from blogging
Wordpress has 42 million blogs
329 million people view a blog
25 billion pages are viewed each month
500,000 new posts a day
400,000 daily comments
35% actively blog at least one time per month
65% haven’t updated their blog in one year or more
60% of businesses have a business or company blog
http://www.jeffbullas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/State-of-Blogging-in-2012.jpg

Between 2007 (launch) and the end of 2011, Tumblr hosted over 39 million blogs
Based on the 19-digit ID for Blogger, there are at least 38 million Blogspots (June 2009)
http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-many-blogspot-blogs.html

Above all, don't be afraid

There are so many blogs out there, it's unlikely that you will garner a huge audience, so go ahead and write your heart out. You may just find a kindred spirit or two out there who really get a kick out of what's going on in your mind.