From Me to Nifty: A Plea to My Blog

Dear blog:

I've been thinking about you quite a bit lately. Actually, you and me and how we've been working together. I love you very much, and enjoy spending time with you, but don't feel we're as close as we can be.

I like writing about pop culture, social media, and life in general, but most of the time I don't feel like we really talk about things that are very significant or make a difference in people's lives. And this--ultimately--is what I want and expect from our relationship.

So through this post, I urge the both of us to ponder what direction we want to take moving forward, and be open and communicative with one another. Of course, our readers play an important part in this, so if they have any thoughts or opinions on this matter...we must listen to them.

Thank you for hearing my cry, blog, and I look forward to our growing relationship.

Love,

Social Citizen

It's my one-year-birthday! (Well, for this blog anyway.)

Tomorrow is my one year blogging birthday! Yup, I started this "Nifty Nation" blog exactly one year ago tomorrow, while I was in New York City for a conference. And while there have certainly been slumps, and what I would refer to as weak content, overall I feel I've provided something interesting and entertaining to the folks who've stopped by.

I will continue to do my best to create original, engaging content, and certainly always appreciate feedback and suggestions. After all...you're here reading what I'm producing, so I want to create content that's intriguing to you.

This is me.

I'm taking a tip from my friend V, who owns-and-manages Jetsetters and Globetrotters (a travel blog)...although I'm always ratting on her about updating more often. At the end of each post she includes a small photo of herself, and I think it adds an entertaining, personal touch.

So I'm going to start doing the same. I hope you--my readers--enjoy this little feature, and that it helps you be a little more connected to me and my blog (after all, isn't that what blogging is all about?).

Mommy bloggers determined to change the face of a nation.

Because of my job and my personal interest in blogging and social media, I somehow managed to get signed up for a newsletter distributed by the Chicago Moms Blog. A few days ago a newsletter dropped into my inbox, titled "Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates." I was immediately intrigued.

In a nutshell, this network of women bloggers (Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York, and DC Metro Moms Blogs) is pushing an open call for the Presidential candidates to meet with them, and discuss the issues they feel are important and relevant to them (the bloggers).

What a great testimony of the power of social media. I'll be watching closely to see if any of the candidates respond.

All's quiet on the blogging front....

I have been quiet for a while now -- much longer than I was hoping, or care to be -- but I've been very busy with work and other things. I apologize for my hiatus. I suppose working at the kind of job I do, it's like being an OBGYN: when you're around something specific all day the last thing you want to do when you get home is look at the same exact thing.

I'm hoping to resume my regular blog statis shortly.

Running with the A-List

Over the past few days I have really been thinking about blogging. It's such an interesting concept, and all Bloggers have a different motivation for blogging. For me, I recently started blogging as a creative outlet...and an opportunity to brush-up on my writing skills (I was always told growing up that I was a "good" writer). Since launching my blog back in March I've quickly realized managing a blog is not only tricky but also time-consuming.

Authoring a blog is really two-fold, in my opinion: the author is writing for himself, as an outlet for whatever platform he's representing, yet the author must keep in mind his readers. Obviously without readers there's not much point in maintaining a blog, unless the author is completely in it for the creative aspect. I suppose you could use the analogy of an artist painting but nobody ever seeing the masterpiece. Is it really art if it's never seen? *wink wink*

Just as I was having these thoughts and contemplating a blog post, an article made its way to me. Originally found on PureBlogging.com, the aforementioned article is titled Your List Versus the A-List. Originally authored by Chris Garrett from chrisg.com, the post raises some interesting points about whether it's more valuable to link to A-list blogs/bloggers, or if you should spend more time making your blog relevant and interesting to your readers. It's really a no-brainer, I think. Besides, like Chris mentions, just because a Blogger is labeled as "A-list" doesn't necessarily mean their content is quality...it just means they are well-known and recognized. Here's a great quote from Chris, that I think should resonate with Bloggers, and be something that is constantly top-of-mind:

"Your readers are your priority, they are who you write for, don’t let them down by linking to sub-par content!" If you create interesting content, readers will find you. It might take some time, but they will come. My blog has been up nearly five months, and both my readership and comments (I often gauge a blog's quality by the number of comments it has, although I know that's not a standard practice) are somewhat low. Sure, I know my blog is being seen, but I also understand it may take a really long time to establish my audience. They are out there -- they simply must find me! And they will....

Viral Marketing Engines Heat Up!

This post, please excuse me, is really two-fold: firstly, it's a shameless self-promotion for the company I work for and secondly it's a testimony that viral marketing WORKS!

I do Internet Marketing for a company called PayPerPost. I won't go into detail about the business model here (I'm sure that'll come later in the future) but I will talk about something awesome we're doing! Well, really two awesome things! There's the Blogger's Choice Awards, which soft-launched on April 2nd. It's a unique blog voting site, with somewhere around 34 or 35 distinct categories (we've added a couple since it went live so I can't recall how many). There are your standard categories, of course, like "Best Political Blog," "Best Corporate Blog," and "Best Sports Blog," but we're PayPerPost so you know we have to do some crazy stuff! A couple of the crazier blogs are "Hottest Mommy Blogger" and "Worst Blog of All Time." Ha ha!

And I have to tell you something very entertaining, with regard to the "Best Celebrity Blogger" category. Apparently "The Tonight Show" intern Ross had his blog nominated, and he is SO excited! I must commend him for really campaigning himself, and reaching out to his blog readers to help him get to first place. You go, Ross! (I'm secretly hoping Ross will win, and come to PostieCon, where the winning blogs will be recognized and awarded! Ooohhh, maybe he'll even bring "The Tonight Show" with him! How cool would that be?)

Oh, and before I leave this thought a few of my new favorite blogs have been nominated:

- Racialicious in "Best Pop Culture Blog"
- Geekbrief.tv in "Best Video Blogger"
- PerezHilton.com in "Best Gossip Blog"
- The Ross Blog in "Best Celebrity Blogger"

Since launching the site has rocketed in visitation! (Of course I'm not sharing the numbers with you!) And most of this is simply based on word-of-mouth (although I've been promoting it on MySpace and GoingOn).

If you have a chance, and have a few favorite blogs of your own, you should head on over to BloggersChoiceAwards.com and get to work!

Enjoy....

Maiden Post/Leaving NYC!

I've been blogging--quite infrequently--for several months now, over on MySpace. Check it out! Most of the posts have been about entertainment, pop culture, and the like, or simply just ramblings (which I'm known for). I only have a few readers but that's OK. I'm currently in New York City for a blog conference called BlogHer, and have been inspired by the creativity I've seen. Therefore, I've created a new blog on Blogger, and have been motivated to post on a more regular basis. In addition to the folks at BlogHer I've also been inspired by my colleague and friend, Veronique, who's got an awesome travel blog!

I'm sure as time goes on the blog will develop and mature into a defined voice, but for now I'm simply going to continue expressing myself and voice my opinions via this forum, and I hope to grow my readership base and engage with my readers often.

I'm about to hop on a plane back to Orlando, so 'til next time....

~ Peace ~