As we saw during our viewing of a clip of "Julie and Julia" last week, blogging is all about "Me, me, me!" (Or, the quote was something to that effect.)
Although that statement is amusing, and largely true, I would argue that it is also slightly misleading.
My view is that bloggers must adhere to two major rules. The first is to declare a topic and stick to it. The other is to update the blog.
My view of blogs, especially when educating young people about blogging, is to point out that blogs are not "all about me" but rather they are topical.
Sure, the TOPIC of the blog could be "me" (meaning, the author), but it could also be about one specific topic like hockey, or baseball, or Buffalo sports teams, or gardening... the most important thing about a blog is its TOPIC. The authors of blogs just need to be clear on what the topic is, and stick with it. That is how blogs gain a following.
The same with micro-blogging (like Twitter), the authors need to stick to one topic in order to collect followers that will keep reading.
And of course, after the topic theme, the next most important is keeping the blog updated. The authors must update their blogs regularly. If there is not a "schedule" for updating, how will readers know when new posts will be there? Readers will not keep returning unless there is new information.
Although these two guidelines seem easy, they are not followed well by many bloggers. I would argue that this group of rule-breaking bloggers are not very well read by internet users!
That would be an interesting study....Hm.....
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