THE INFLUENCE OF BLOGS
I have written a post for a blog and you are now reading what I have posted. You may think blogs are not really that big of a deal or a waste of time. As the writer for a blog, I have to ask myself on regular basis how serious I am taking it. What do I want to accomplish with the blog? Today I came across two stories that made me take another look at blogs and blogging and I hope they may challenge your current thoughts about blogs.
The following is from NPR
Time magazine last week named its picks for the 100 most influential people in the world. Raul Castro made the cut in 2007 as Cuba's acting president. This year, there's a different Cuban on the list. Yoani Sanchez, 32, has gained a worldwide following for the independent blog she writes from Havana.
You may need to read that again, a blogger was named one of the most influential people in the WORLD!
You can check out her blog at this link:
blog
You can also read and listen to the NPR story about the blog at this link:
Story
The next story is about the Sharper Iron blog.
The following is from the SI blog:
The long-awaited day has finally come. I am stepping out of SI and handing it over. One year ago, I was sent out by my home church to plant a new church in downtown Denver. It soon became obvious to me that my time at SI was coming to an end. The demands of starting a church and the challenge of reaching a secular city would take much of my time and creative energy. So I had to make a decision: pull the plug or hand the site over to new leadership. Nine months ago, I decided to pursue the latter option, but it proved to be difficult. It was not until last month that I felt comfortable with finding a person to take over the ownership of the site. Tomorrow I will introduce him to you.
Now was interesting about the story is that the writer gives a detailed history of the blog.
Here are some of the details:
from the SI blog
This journey began back in 2004 when I wrote an article about where I saw younger fundamentalists heading. The article drew a lot of attention and controversy at the time. If the average SI reader would read the article now, it would not seem shocking to most. But at the time, it was upsetting to a large group of traditional fundamentalists. A couple of people wrote critiques of the article, insinuating that I did not know what I was talking about
As a result of the article the write decided to do a survey of young fundamentalist. That survey challenged Fundamentalist and really shook strongly held opinions about fundamentalism all up!
You can read the survey for yourself:
Young Fundamentalists Survey
The author decided he needed a place to post his results and to allow fundamentalist discuss the findings, The Si blog was born!
The blog and the survey has had a major impact on the world of Fundamentalism.
You can read the entire history of the SI blog at this link:
SI
The story of two blogs and how influential they can be.
Many people still have no idea what a blog is and many people still don't see why anyone should waste their time blogging.
These stories challenge those kinds of opinions and they should challenge those of us who blog. We should work to create the best and most informative blogs possible.
Blogs should challenge people and the way they think
Blogs should expose error and lies.
Blogs should strive to be places people can get accurate and true information.
To accomplish these things blogger's must work hard and dedicate much time and effort to the task.
I would like to end by asking a few questions and I hope people will take the time to post their answers.
To the men who help write articles for the Preaching Today blog:
What do you want to accomplish with the Preaching Today blog?
What can we do as a team to improve the blog?
To those who read blogs:
What do you want from a blog?
What do you look for in a blog?
What makes you return to a blog?
Why are certain blogs your favorites?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and who knows, maybe one day someone from the Preaching Today blog can be named of the Most Influential People in the World!
The following is from NPR
Time magazine last week named its picks for the 100 most influential people in the world. Raul Castro made the cut in 2007 as Cuba's acting president. This year, there's a different Cuban on the list. Yoani Sanchez, 32, has gained a worldwide following for the independent blog she writes from Havana.
You may need to read that again, a blogger was named one of the most influential people in the WORLD!
You can check out her blog at this link:
blog
You can also read and listen to the NPR story about the blog at this link:
Story
The next story is about the Sharper Iron blog.
The following is from the SI blog:
The long-awaited day has finally come. I am stepping out of SI and handing it over. One year ago, I was sent out by my home church to plant a new church in downtown Denver. It soon became obvious to me that my time at SI was coming to an end. The demands of starting a church and the challenge of reaching a secular city would take much of my time and creative energy. So I had to make a decision: pull the plug or hand the site over to new leadership. Nine months ago, I decided to pursue the latter option, but it proved to be difficult. It was not until last month that I felt comfortable with finding a person to take over the ownership of the site. Tomorrow I will introduce him to you.
Now was interesting about the story is that the writer gives a detailed history of the blog.
Here are some of the details:
from the SI blog
This journey began back in 2004 when I wrote an article about where I saw younger fundamentalists heading. The article drew a lot of attention and controversy at the time. If the average SI reader would read the article now, it would not seem shocking to most. But at the time, it was upsetting to a large group of traditional fundamentalists. A couple of people wrote critiques of the article, insinuating that I did not know what I was talking about
As a result of the article the write decided to do a survey of young fundamentalist. That survey challenged Fundamentalist and really shook strongly held opinions about fundamentalism all up!
You can read the survey for yourself:
Young Fundamentalists Survey
The author decided he needed a place to post his results and to allow fundamentalist discuss the findings, The Si blog was born!
The blog and the survey has had a major impact on the world of Fundamentalism.
You can read the entire history of the SI blog at this link:
SI
The story of two blogs and how influential they can be.
Many people still have no idea what a blog is and many people still don't see why anyone should waste their time blogging.
These stories challenge those kinds of opinions and they should challenge those of us who blog. We should work to create the best and most informative blogs possible.
Blogs should challenge people and the way they think
Blogs should expose error and lies.
Blogs should strive to be places people can get accurate and true information.
To accomplish these things blogger's must work hard and dedicate much time and effort to the task.
I would like to end by asking a few questions and I hope people will take the time to post their answers.
To the men who help write articles for the Preaching Today blog:
What do you want to accomplish with the Preaching Today blog?
What can we do as a team to improve the blog?
To those who read blogs:
What do you want from a blog?
What do you look for in a blog?
What makes you return to a blog?
Why are certain blogs your favorites?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and who knows, maybe one day someone from the Preaching Today blog can be named of the Most Influential People in the World!
1 Comments:
Hmmm. 7 members of the blog. What if we each had a given day to post, once a week, but that as a minimum. So, if I had Monday, I'd have to make sure I had a post every Monday at least but could post on any other day too. This might ensure at least one post every single day.
More thoughts later...
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