This course consists of two modules. The first is a two hours introductory overview of social media, its impact on society and how its power can be harnessed by business. The second is an optional four hour session, the first part of which looks at business blogging in greater detail. It is followed by a workshop where participants create their own blog on a specially developed system and learn to use the technologies employed.
Topics covered include the following and are explained using case studies and examples of existing blogs and demonstrations of the software used where applicable:
An introduction to blogs, blogging and web 2.0
- Web 2.0 and Social Media explained
- How blogging fits in
- A brief history of blogging
- Terminology-posts, comments, feeds, plug-ins/add-ons
Blogs versus other online communication methods
- “Talking with, not talking at”
- Email, websites, traditional content management systems, forums, wikis etc
Genres of blogs
- Hobby, personal, pro-blog, charity, political etc
How business blogging differs
- And how it’s the same
Uses and benefits of a business blog
- Search engines love blogs – why?
- Research and feedback – crowd sourcing
- Cheap, fast and effective publishing
What and when to write
- The target audience
- The eavesdroppers
- Content and style
- Your first blog post(s)
The Pitfalls
- Being one-way
- Unhelpful feedback, spam, trolls etc. and how react
- Plagiarism of you (and by you)
- Spelling, punctuation and grammar.
RSS and other Feeds
- What they are and how they work
- Why they are a blogger’s best friend
Technical aspects
- Selecting the platform/software
- Free services versus self-hosted
- Website integration
- Technical support
Questions to ask yourself before beginning
- Do I really want to do it?
- Will I have time?
- Am I committed?
Beyond standard blogging
- Podcasting
- Videocasting
- Microblogging (Twitter)
The future
- Mobile web
- Web 3.0
- GGG
