Why a blog?
Blogs (think public web diary or online journal) are a simple and convenient way to share news, events, photos, video and your own commentary. With your own blog, you don’t have to wait and hope for traditional media to cover issues and analysis that are important to you – you can make sure those things get out there by posting them yourself. With blogs you get more space and flexibility than from other social media such as Facebook or Twitter – and your content is there forever, searchable in Google.
Today’s blogging software makes it easy to customize, add text or multimedia, reblog other interesting content and publish online. The posts you write display most recent first, and can be shared with Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram … Users can click on subject “categories” or “tags” to quickly find all related posts, browse archives for previous posts, and subscribe to receive to receive new posts in their email.
Blogs may be just blogs – or be part of a website, as with Injuredworkersonline.org. (The next in this Social (Justice) Media series will look at these types of websites)
Easy, free blogging programs
Three of the most popular blogging platforms that offer free hosting and are simple to set up and use are Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress.com. Options they provide include:
- Public or private personal and group blogs
- Good integration with social media
- Pages for stuff like About Us or contact info
- Mobile apps for easy blog updating
Some guides to get you started:
- Peace & Collaborative Development Network, “Guide to Blogging for Peace and Social Change”
- GCF LearnFree.org, “Blog Basics”
- wikiHow. “How To Use Tumblr”
- Google, “Blogger Getting Started Guide”
And some examples:
- Bob Barnetson’s “Labour & Employment in Alberta” (on blogger)
- Mobilizing Ideas blog (on WordPress.com)
- Antony Singleton’s “Just Compensation: Roving Thoughts on Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice in Ontario and Beyond” (on WordPress.com)
(Click on the Category“Communication” below to find earlier blog posts in this series)