Blog Nosh Magazine

Month One: Just Write, Dammit.

Blog Nosh Magazine has been live for exactly one month today.  One month!  Look at all that we've accomplished in one month.  All the blogs we've introduced to new readers, all the new genres we've explored.  It has been a spectacularly satisfying launch and I have no one to thank but you.

Thank you to our readers.
Thank you to our bloggers.
Thank you to our editors.

The way Blog Nosh Magazine works is that our channel editors scour the blogs in their genre and choose the most moving or entertaining or enlightening posts in the archives of those blogs.  The hardest part is learning to click beyond the front page of a blog.  That is, perhaps, the hardest part of reading blogs for all of us.  Taking the great leap into the archives.

Then again, as a blogger, one of the hardest things is to convince our readers that we are more than our front page.  That perhaps those posts we wrote in the first week of our blog's existence are just as valuable as the posts we write today.  More interestingly, perhaps those old posts are also the most true.  You never know.

We change as writers with every post we publish.  It is, at the very least, interesting to shed light on our archives from time to time.  Whether we do it through the "favorite posts" sections of our sidebars, the self-backlinks within the context of our posts, or by allowing publications such as Blog Nosh Magazine to focus the spotlight for you.

Thank you to the 44 bloggers that have allowed us to shine the spotlight on their work in this, our first month of Blog Nosh Magazine.

Although we only published her yesterday, allow me to share with you the story behind the process of spotlighting just one of those 44 bloggers... 

The 5 Levels of Competitiveness in Social Media

Originally published on Social Impressions

As you become increasingly active in social media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar. Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is non-existent.

50 Timeless Blogging Tips

Originally posted on Blogging Sueblimely

Words of wisdom from the world’s greatest thinkers are timeless providing advice which is as relevant now as when first spoken. All of these quotes could easily be applied to blogging:

Advice for Bloggers

1. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Carl W. Buechner
2. When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. Dale Carnegie
3. Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. The ability to speak eloquently is not to be confused  with having something to say. Michael P. Hart
5. My opponent can compress the most words into the fewest ideas of anyone I’ve ever known. Abraham Lincoln
6. Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling
7. You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. Albert Einstein
8. I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand. Louis Armstrong

Research Tips

9. First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. Epictetus
10. Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. Buddha

Writing Tips

11. What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. Samuel Johnson
12. Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. Joseph Pulitzer

Do Moms Need Social Networks?

Originally Published on Sally Walker

With all the fuss these days about social media, social networking, twitter this and plurk that, are all these ‘ways of communication’ actually needed by Mums?

There are a host of social media and networking sites these days, ranging from simple ideas like Twitter to full on website making profile page ideas such as Facebook or MySpace.

However, as a Mum, do you need them? Will they benefit you?

As Mum’s we have enough on our plate with housework, being a taxi for our children, cooking, cleaning, working out the weekly menu, doing the shopping, washing etc.  We might also have a full or part time job on top of all that, so do we really need endless websites to try and keep track of too? Well maybe…