Start your own person Blog!

Use your own blog to share your resources!

The blog is a web based database program that is structured to help organize online forums or communities. It comes in a variety of designs, all of which are setup to publish or discuss anything under the sun online. Well run blogs, have played a major role in the recent elections, as well as being used as an organizing tool to pressure the corporate media. It can be used as a family scrapbook, post your favorite pictures, news stories or as a diverse political community working together, on hundreds of blogs, all linked together. There are now over 80 million blogs being used as online communities. Some of the most influential liberal blogs like The Daily Kos or The Democratic Underground are monitored by a huge community and are major players within the democratic party and progressive circles. For an online definition of blogs go here.

The most popular growth of the blogosphere is with Rupert Murdock's Myspace.com where the fastest growing segment of bloggers have organized themselves into online friends-networks. The blogosphere is at its essence a way for online users to organize themselves into interactive communities, whether the community be for a few people or millions! Blogs are designed to simplify the process of organizing and publishing content of any kind. Probably the most important role blogs have played recently, is as a networking base to counter the mainstream media's corporate agenda.

Many activist communities have yet to understand or take advantage of the blogosphere. For example, the anti-nuclear community has yet to start any kind of online use of blogs. For example, Greenpeace has an online, blog, just as Amory Lovins does. However, both of these important environmental groups are using their blog to produce news content. They also have Myspace blogs where the built in structure of Myspace allows you to quickly create an extended community of other groups, friends or allies.

Meanwhile the nuclear industry has developed an extensive network of blogs, being led by the Nuclear Energy Institute. Their paid blogging team can be seen promoting nuclear power online across the country. In the recent attempt to open California up to new nuclear development, California republican Chuck De Vore used an online blog that was crosslinked directly to a conservative Orange County Newspaper, to promote his bill, which failed in mid April 2007.

Whether you want to create your own online scrapbook for your own poetry, artwork, music, photography, writings, opinions, or interesting links you want to share with friends or the world, putting it on a blog is easy to do. Really easy! This presentation will help you take the steps to use blogs as an online organizing resource. For this purpose, I urge you to consider starting your own blog. You don't have to, but having your own blog when entering the blogosphere is kind of like going to school with a notebook to take notes home from school.

Setting up a blog can take as little as a couple of minutes and can be done for free. All you need is a valid email address to set up a blog at blogger.com, Myspace.com, or the Democratic Underground. Go to one of the above links and follow their online instructions. Each of the above online blogging services is easy to do. Starting a blog for yourself, whether it is for a hobby or to become involved in a online community. If you are a beginner and not very computer savy, I suggest you start with Myspace.

Or, rather than starting your own blog, can get involved in any of the larger national blogs like the Daily Grist, or Kos... Whether you want to setup your own blog or become an active member of other blogs, doing so as an activist means learning how to network with others who are also using the blogosphere.

When you start looking around you will start to notice blogrolls at each blog you go to, or on Myspace, you will see friend's networks, where little icons or images are grouped that link you to other online blogs. This blogroll, or friend's network is the most important part the blogosphere. The blogroll is how extended communities start to find and link to each other.

If you are reading this to help expand your group or your own online activist skills. Then please, consider starting a blog. You can spend a few minutes or an weekend afternoon learning how to organize it. There are other several other free online places where you can set up blogs like wordpress.com, but I suggest you start with Myspace as it is easy to start. It is a bit trickier to add things like themes and figure out how to configure, but once you get the hang of it, it has the most potential to reach out to others due to its size. (The primary downside to Myspace is all the advertising you have to suffer through). All you need to do is go to their site, and follow their graphical directions. If you don't like your results you can just as easily close down your blog. It can take as little as two or three minutes to set up the blog. Yes, that's it. Just go do it, or move onto the other critical steps in working with the blogosphere.

Note, part of the goal of this presentation is to get antinuclear activists, or any other group that has yet to understand the blogosphere to start using this important new resource. There has been a recent number of attacks upon blogs. Most are concerned about the potential dangers to individuals by criminals, or even concerns that the online public is splintering into tiny groups that are no longer connected to reality. These are certainly real issues that will evolve as this new way to form online communities evolves. Please, don't let these issues stop you from getting involved!

• During your initial setup you will need the following:

1. Your email address is required to setup a Myspace blog;
2. A picture of yourself or Icon you want to represent yourself or your group;
3. Then log onto Myspace and click on "sign up" in the very upper right.

• Learn how to use your private home page

1. Your home page contains all of your main tools to add posts, email other people or edit your blog;
2. Getting comfortable with this page is the key to organizing your own Myspace blog.

• Learn how to link to other Myspace blogs, called friends;

1. Look around on Myspace, using their search engine or other blogs to locate blogs you like;
2. Each Myspace blog has a "Friends" button, usually on the left side;
3. Click on the button to add them as a friend.
4. This will send a message to them that you want to be a friend! If they Respond, their Icon will show up in your Friends Box;
5. While you are at their blog, you can also add them as a favorite!