February 27, 2008
by
Satya AdharAs I had discussed in my
last article, there are a lot of advantages to be gained from
virtual professional networking. There are a couple of Indians oriented website like
www.brijj.com and
www.eliteindian.com , which also follow a
linked in like model but in an Indian context.
Let's talk about another buzzword these days -
blogging. Simply put,
Blog is an online logbook or diary. (Blog = web + Log). In a Blog you may write or store whatever you want and invite your friends to read and comment on it OR you may just write it for yourself. As in a diary, the posts / entries will appear in a reverse chronological order. To understand it better, think of it as an
"instant website" which can be obtained free of cost. However, this website will have very little features as it has been made for a speific purpose - that of being a blog.
Who should Blog: People who like writing, penning down their thoughts, want to spread some message etc. should ideally write a blog as this will be an appropritae platform for them to exhibit their writing skills, thoughts and disseminate them to the entire world. People have become a lot more creative in writing Blogs with the passage of time.
Almost all the authors of books will have a blog, where they share with their readers about themselves, their personal life, their day-to-day observations etc. Then there are Business Executives, Consultants, corporates and even actors who blog. Their motivation is publicity, connecting to people and getting their customer's feedback.
The blog of Aamir Khan: http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm : If you read the blog entries you will find that Aamir Khan is directly connecitng to his fans and "customers" sharing information with them and taking their feedback. Apparently, Aamir Khan appears to be
the first one in Bollywood to have a blog of his own.
Even if you don't intend to write a Blog, they are great ways to keep in touch with a lot of things, which conventional media fails to report. Examples of some of the popular Indian Blogs are :
http://www.desipundit.com/,
www.youthcurry.blogspot.com,
http://labnol.blogspot.com,
http://indiauncut.blogspot.com ,
http://gauteg.blogspot.com /,
http://www.kiruba.com / etc.
There is a significant number of
Hindi bloggers also and interestingly they have a very close network. All new Hindi bloggers are welcomed, supported and connected.
It is something something very rare and exceptional. Check out
http://www.akshargram.com for more details.
How to start writing a Blog: A quick googling will show that a lot of articles are available on this subject. I'll approach this in a very simple and practical way:
1. Go to
www.blogger.com . If it appears in English, its fine. Otherwise change its language from Thai to English.
2. Click on the orange arrow " Create your Blog Now".
3. Sign in with your gmail account and follow the steps. Its basically all intuitive. Chose a name, a template and start writing and publishing. Writing was never so much a fun!
If you wish you may use wordpress.com or livejournal.com in place of blogger.com .
Enjoy!
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