Blogging for Homework?...

Considering that we’re students in a social media class, sure, it makes sense for us to blog, but there’s more to it than that.  As you start to consider what exactly a class blog entails and the benefits of having one, it’s not long before you discover that there are more reasons to have a class blog far beyond the fact that we’re in a social media class.  

Blogging is becoming more and more popular, and while I don’t have the numbers to back it up, it is evident that blogging is much more common today than it was a few years ago; there are blogs about everything, you name it, there’s a blog for it. 

For the most part, as a class, we’re going to be graduating within the next year or two, and with the increasing popularity of blogging and value placed on it, learning to blog (or learning to become more effective bloggers) now is a skill that will definitely come to our advantage. 

While some of us may already be familiar with blogging, others, like myself, have NO experience with blogging (beyond reading a few, I have never had an interest in blogging..I guess that will be changing).  Thankfully, with this class blog, we will have the chance to gain firsthand experience in blogging while receiving constructive criticism. 

Beyond gaining a better understanding of blogging, having a class blog will let us interact with each other outside of the classroom. Almost every semester, there are those classes where you may know a few people the first day of class, and at the end of the semester, after sitting in class for months, those are still the only people you know…the other twenty or so people that were in the class…well, all you know about them is that they were in your class.

Having this blog will allow us to get to know each other a bit more, we’ll be able to read each other’s posts, gain new understandings, and be exposed to new ideas. 

How will I build my personal brand through this blog?...

Considering that I’m still trying to figure out what my personal brand is, I don’t have an answer just yet.  For the past six years I’ve been working at a pre-school, the past two years I’ve been interning at a Christian radio station, and most recently I’ve started to volunteer with a missions based non-profit and for an elections campaign. Somewhere in between all that is my personal brand.  

Before I can develop my personal brand though, I first need to determine what it is.  Hopefully, by using this blog, I’ll be able to realize what it should be and develop it from there.

Currently, I follow three blogs:

• Mocha Club: an awesome non-profit based out of Nashville, Tennessee. They partner with musicians and everyday people, just like you and I, to create an online community of people giving up the cost of a few mochas a month ($9) to fund relief and development projects in Africa.


• A21: the blog for the A21 Campaign, an international organization that works to prevent human trafficking through awareness and education.
  
  
• 2 Seconds or Less: another remarkable and inspiring non-profit.  Based out of Pennsylvania, they focus on sustainable agriculture initiatives in Zimbabwe. The organization was founded and is run by a group of twenty-somethings..they are proof that age does NOT matter when wanting to make a difference!
  (Ask me about them and Mocha Club...I LOVE sharing about the work they're doing!)

I’ve been following these blogs based on personal interests, and honestly, never paid much attention to the writing styles used; well, that’s all about to change now.  As I continue to follow these blogs, no longer will I be just reading them, now I’ll also be looking for ways to apply aspects of their blogging to my own, and hopefully, improve.