Archive for December 8th, 2009

This is part of the the book BLOGTASTIC! Growing and Making a Difference Through Blogging. You can read the table of contents and follow the book on this page:

See the table of contents for the book here: BLOGTASTIC project

Previous article: You can’t get rich just by blogging…

BLOGTASTIC: There are few short-term benefits

Most people have to pay their dues before they see significant results from their blogging initiatives. Chances are that you will likely make a significant time investment in blogging before you see any reasonable return.

If you are just starting your blog, think about these questions (actually ask these questions even if you have existing blog):

1.  Can you imagine your blog having at least 1,000 high-quality posts?

2. How long do you think it would take to reach that goal?
[ For a quick calculation, if you write five blog posts every week day, it will take you five years to get to 1,000 blog posts]

3. Would you be willing to wait that long to receive serious returns from your blogging initiative?

Celebrity bloggers (actors, athletes, politicians, and other public figures) can instantly achieve a positive return from their blog.

Why?

Simple. These notable individuals have already paid their price through their offline careers.

Your blog can be a great amplifier of what you do outside the blog.

1. Do you care about a non-profit? You can use your blog to spread the word about it.

2. Do you care about environment? You can use your blog to increase awareness about this cause.

3. Are you a consultant helping people with their sales and marketing? You can use your blog to educate your customers and prospects.

Rather than thinking that “blog” is THE thing (a mouthpiece), consider your blog as an extension of your offline world (amplifier.)

Your approach has to be to “give first” (it can be through your blog or elsewhere) than to “get first.”

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Blogging Tip: To get the prize, you have to pay the price

This is true within the blogging world, and it’s also true within your career and life in general. In reality, you have to pay the price. You can do that now, or you can pay the price later. It’s your choice.

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Rajesh Setty is an entrepreneur, author and speaker based in Silicon Valley. He maintains another blog called Life Beyond Code and tweets as @UpbeatNow

Tagged as: BLOGTASTIC!, ROI

I was recently in China and got to see the majestic ‘Great Wall of China‘ and the magnificent ‘Forbidden city‘. I took a lot of pictures and when I returned to my hotel, I went online to share my pictures with my family and friends – and suddenly I was surprised that I was not able to access Facebook. For some time, I thought that it was my internet connection and kept kicking my laptop for poor wireless connectivity. While I was fretting over this, I realized that I was able to access some sites like Google and Yahoo! but was not able to Facebook and Twitter.

Well! that meant that I was not able to share my pictures on Facebook and tweet about them to my friends and family. So, I went around inquiring about this ban.

A recent article on ReadWriteWeb states that while China’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the government employs a “subversion of state power” clause to punish those who are critical of it. This is why some social networking sites like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and Bing are blocked. Nevertheless, censorship in China is not new. I was confused because I was not convinced that all the Chinese internet users had stopped using these site. When I spoke to some people they said that inspite of the ban they knew how to go around it.

So, how are Chinese leveraging social media:

1. In China the adoption of social media has more to do with the career development, with the development of opinions of professional ideas, of sharing with others more than just a social engagement that we find in the U.S, said Josh Crandall, president of Netpop.

2. The social media landscape in China is vital. 253 million use the internet, over 107 million have a personal blog. Since blogging is so powerful. Often information from blogs gets picked up by mainstream media. Many companies share information on their blogs.

3. Tencent QQ, generally referred to as QQ, is the most popular free instant messaging computer program in Mainland China, and the world’s third most popular IM service. Even the hotel staff were surprised to see the icon on my computer. Since its entrance into Chinese households QQ quickly emerged as a modern cultural phenomenon, now being portrayed in popular culture. Aside from the chat program, QQ has also developed many subfeatures including games, pets, ringtone downloads, etc. Needless to say, it is a billion dollar industry in China.

And you thought, that social media only meant social engagement. I learnt it can also be used to share information.

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Contributed by Deepika Bajaj, President and Founder, Invincibelle, LLC. Invincibelle helps women who live and work in a multicultural world to accelerate their professional growth. Deepika is also the author of the book DiversityTweet: Embracing the growing diversity in our world. You can follow Deepika on Twitter at invincibelle

Tagged as: bing, china, computer program, deepika bajaj, forbidden city, free instant messaging, great wall of china, invincibelle, popular culture, Social Media, tencent QQ