Thanks to everyone who participated in Week 4 of the BIP where we worked on blog basics. It was nice to take a little break and work on some things that I needed to do around here. I hope everyone else felt the same.
Because I love alliteration, March is going to be Social Media Month for the Blog Improvement Project. For the next 31 days, we’ll be focusing on using social media to improve your blog.
I’m no expert in social media, and there are a lot of social media options to think about. There’s Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Ning, and about a million other options I don’t even know about. In that spirit, Social Media Month is going to be about educating each other about social media. Our first project is the much-anticipated Social Media Carnival!
The task is simple: write a post about a social media tool that you currently use. If you don’t currently use any social media, pick one you’re interested in, do some research, and write a post about what you’ve learned. Posts should be as specific and experience based as possible. If you’re stuck on what to write, here are some ideas — how do you use this particular tool to improve your blog or relationship with other bloggers? How do you balance time between blogging and using social media? What are some specific things you wish you’d known before you started your chosen your new tool?
These are not the only questions to answer, in fact they aren’t even that great, but they are just a few ideas. If you have no idea how to start, check out this post about StumbleUpon by S. Krishna over at S. Krishna’s Books as a great example of what you could do.
Submit your post on Mr. Linky by Friday, March 13. Then, similar to the Bookworm Carnival, I’ll put together a wrap-up post about all the social media research we’ve done. We’re using our collective intelligence on this one friends, cool, right?
Also, I know reading about how cool different social media tools are is going to sound awesome and you’re going to want to go and join all of them right away. I caution you — don’t do that! Wait until BIP #6, coming your way March 16, where we’ll do a task about joining social media.
Questions, comments, concerns? Send an e-mail my way or leave a comment! And enjoy the Social Media Carnival! So many exclamation points!
P.S. If you haven’t yet, please grab the new BIP button from this post or the Button page because it has my new URL. Thanks!
UPDATE 3/2: I just realized that something like GoodReads or LibraryThing could also count as social media, I would say, if you use it to connect to other people or enhance your blog in some way. Thoughts?
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Hi Kim,
This is a really great idea. I did some searching of all the places you listed. I have mine posted. Have a great day!!
Sherrie
I’ll have my post up by the deadline 🙂
Thanks again, Kim, for all the direction you’re giving us … I’ve got your new button up now.
I think LibraryThing definitely helps promote my blog, and other people’s blogs. I honestly don’t do any of the others (like Twitter) but I do read LibraryThing reviews and link to mine. When I find someone’s reviews on LibraryThing and they link to their blog, I always browse their blog to see if it’s one I might want to read in the future.
I don’t write up posts about BIP (at least not this time), but I did participate last time. I redid my blog roll, I edited my reviews list, revisited my about page, and I added a comment policy, one of those things I should have done long, long ago.
Thanks so much for linking to my StumbleUpon post! Hopefully it was helpful!
I agree that Library Thing etc. is social media. What about blog rating sites like blogged, blog catalog?
I think this will be interesting. I don’t “get” a lot of these things and why they’d be interesting or useful to me.
I think I’ll snag Twitter. Not only do I use it, but it’s something I swore I’d never use. My post should be interesting! LOL
I enjoy goodreads.com and I just discovered that you can get to it from facebook – which I just joined. I am finding Facebook has a snowball effect… It’s hard to just get a feel for it until people start to find you. I had joined awhile ago and couldn’t find anyone and so opted out. But I was encouraged to join again and am now reconnecting with grade school friends and can see why it gets addictive. But I’m shy and hope to be low-key about it! I still prefer the blogging community. 🙂 oh – and Facebook doesn’t seem to have any explanation of how it works or I have yet to find it. The best idea is to have a true addict explain it all in person!! I’m still sending my neighbor ‘how does this work’ emails because I don’t want it on public view how confusing I think it is.
Another great idea Kim. Have I mentioned how wonderful this year-long challenge has been so far? Thanks for coming up with it.
I’m on Facebook but haven’t joined much else. I suppose I’ll join a few more with the Social Media Carnival. This is a good way to keep pushing us out of our comfort zones.
Just finished up BIP Assignment #5… here is the link. Here is the link to the BIP page.
I don’t see Mr. Linky, so I’m leaving the link to my response right here!
Here’s my post on Goodreads and Twitter. Hopefully yall will find something helpful!
http://www.ddubsreads.com/DDubsReads/Blog/Entries/2009/3/12_Blog_Improvement_Project_-_Week_Five%3A_Social_Media_Carnival.html
I put my link in Mr. Linky. I hope it is helpful to others. I might post later on twitter too!
I wasn’t real sure where to put my assignment. But it’s here.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language 😉
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo