Blog Writing for College Students

Blogging is a platform that "democratiz[es] the means of production." Augusto Boal's revolutionary text pertaining to his participatory theatre project, The Theatre of the Oppressed, explores methods that are relevant to how the Internet provides the platform, or stage, for decentralized content. So in this vein, blog writing requires attention to focus, organization, and writing style in order for the college student to thrive in the new media realm.

Focus

The planning stage of creating a blog begins by developing a focus. Developing a focus involves narrowcasting. Important aspects of narrowcasting include choosing a topic, researching, setting participation standards, and identifying a target audience. By choosing a focused topic, researching to establish authority, developing relevant means of participation for the interactive needs of the audience, and knowing the targeted audience the college student will be prepared to create blog content within a platform that will be most engaging. The best blogs are highly specific. Devoting time to developing focus strengthens a blog's chance at thriving in the digital world.

Narrowcasting

Narrowcasting for blog writing involves aiming the focus of the blog to a highly specific audience. A blog's audience is inherently fragmented. To reach an audience effectively requires providing in-depth information and perspectives on very specific topics to attain and retain a niche audience. Understanding the importance of narrowcasting and how to implement these conventions will benefit the college blogger. By understanding the importance of structuring a blog around narrowcasting conventions, the college blogger will be well-prepared to succeed and reach their target audience within the the digital literary landscape.

Choosing Your Topic

Choosing a focused topic is essential to the success of the overall blog. A topic expresses one essential idea within writing and unifies each successive post. At first, a specific topic may seem to confine creativity, but focusing the topic actually provides endless creative possibilities. A focused topic encourages the audience to engage more actively and interact as a part of a blog community, ultimately enhancing the popularity of the blog.

Research Methods

Research is the process of gathering information, evaluating it, and applying it to a question or problem. When writing for digital media, research allows writers to narrow their focus. Having a narrow focus makes a blog more interesting and the writer an expert on the topic.

Participation

When starting a blog, it is important the blog author knows how to encourage participation with not only other bloggers, but the readers. Participation is more than just writing in a clean and concise manner. Blog authors must understand that a blog does not operate in a vacuum, but instead is a piece of a vast branching network. Blogrolls, share buttons, and enabling comments are a few ways to increase participation.

Audience

Before creating content for a blog, it is important, first, to identify the audience. The blog author should define the target audience, research the target audience, and understand the conventions expected in terms of language, design, and credibility before creating content. In this way, the author will be able to build toward an interactive community based on shared points of view and relevancy in order to engage the targeted reader with pertinent information and sources.

Organization

To maintain readership of a blog, a writer must create an organized space. Quality content can easily be overlooked on a cluttered, inconsistent page. Organization includes the overall structure of the site as well as the individual posts. There are several things that contribute to this consistency. Categories and tags aid in narrowing the focus of each post within the blog. Headers and sub-headers should give the reader a clear indication of what is contained in each section. By using lists, digital media writers can highlight important content, break up posts, and guide readers through a sequence of information. Links connect the page to other sites on the internet and offer access to other portions of the blog. All of these elements support the structure of an organized, consistent environment for content.

Themes

According to Digital Business Consultancy, "A theme will form a big part of how your blog looks, it’s important to get it right." Picking a theme is not just about what is seen on the surface. When picking a theme, bloggers should be aware of all their options. After choosing a theme that fits the focus and desired layout of your blog, there are several attributes to consider within the theme. After considering all the options and making an informed decision, the application process is simple and straight-forward.

Categorizing Posts

Categorizing a post is vital to the structure and organization of a blog. Categories help readers quickly identify the content of a blog. Tags provide specific information while grouping together like posts. Together categories and tags make it easier for readers to navigate the information within a blog.

Headers and Sub-headers

Headers and sub-headers are an important part of blogging used to organize content. Keeping in mind the goals and vision of the blog, headers and sub-headers help readers find specific information in a short amount of time.

Lists

While developing a blog, lists can be used to not only emphasize subjects, but highlight important texts. It is imperative that the blog remain focused on its subject and has clarity. Lists help a reader to navigate the posts successfully and easily. Lists can also be detrimental to a blog if overused or incorrectly formatted. In digital Media a mistake like that can costs readers and credibility.

Links

No page on the internet stands alone. The connection of sites on the internet is what makes the web interactive. Links play a vital role in maintaining this interactivity. By connecting to other areas of the internet, readers are given access to an unlimited pool of information.

Writing Style

After choosing a well-researched and focused topic and organizing the aesthetic and technical aspects of running a blog, blog writers must develop a consistent style for writing for digital media. It is crucial to keep in mind that online writing is an entirely different world separate from print. With the freedom digital media allows writers, there are also certain responsibilities that must be maintained in order for a blog to be effective at appealing to readers. Though writing for digital media encompasses writing techniques that are useful in print media (like following the Inverted Pyramid and proofreading your posts), there are also key differences. Blogs must be scannable, because digital readers do not like to have to read without direction. While writing for a blog, less is typically more and brevity is admired. Following these writing techniques will help lead to the development of a credible an appealing blog.

Foundational Writing Skills

Before students begin working on their writing for digital media, it is necessary that they have a complete understanding of basic writing skills. The qualities found on Dr. Gerald Lucas' foundational writing rubric outline all the requirements of an acceptable fundamental understanding of writing for digital or print media. College bloggers in NMAC 3108(Writing for Digital Media) must demonstrate these skills in every facet of their writing online.

Scan-ability

If digital writing is not scannable, many times it will not be read. Writers of digital media must pay special attention to scan-ability because readers of digital writing are known to be easily distracted, impatient, and unwilling to read huge blocks of text. Digital writers must understand and utilize different properties of text, visuals, multimedia, and linking to maximize scan-ability.

Brevity

Brevity is critical for meaningful writing. By forcing the writer to be intentional with their words and always being brief, precise, and direct a writer is less likely to ramble and lose the reader.

Inverted Pyramid

College student bloggers should familiarize themselves with the inverted pyramid. This design for news and information delivery via the web will help new bloggers quickly achieve brevity while communicating in a concise way. The inverted pyramid is important to the retention of a blog's audience.

Proofreading

Proofreading is essential for all writing. It requires reviewing and revising mistakes for a flawless and error free document. Proofreading for mistakes gives creditability to your document and will not distract readers with mistakes.

References

1. Boal, Augusto. (2005). Famed Brazilian Artist Augusto Boal on the "Theatre of the Oppressed". Democracy Now: A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
2. Carrol, Brian. (2010). Writing for Digital Media. New York: Routledge. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
3. What to Look For in a Wordpress Theme Digital Business Consultancy. 31 Jan. 2013 Web. 25 April 2013