Interview: A Blogger by Profession - Answers

Meanwhile Karen's answers for my interview came in. Here's what she had to tell me:

-From reading your blog, I know you have recently quited your job for working as a full-time blogger. How has that changed your life?

I finally get to do what I always wanted for a living. I was doing a job that didn't interest me and I died a slow death at my desk daily. Since leaving that job, I feel better mentally and even physically. I am moving into more opportunities that I could not have done before with that office job for example I was hired as a photographer to shoot backstage at NYFW. The world is now really open to me to accept anything. It's a bit scary too being my own boss but I would rather that than the security of a corporate cheque that gave me no joy.

 

-What are the benefits of your job and are there any downsides to it?

I get to work when I want and how I want to. I am my own boss so make all the rules. Blogging is a mobile so as long as I have access to the Internet I can work literally anywhere in the world. It's a fantastic feeling to not be 'chained' to one place.

Blogging takes up a lot of your time. More than I think readers realize. Blog posts can take hours and I have three blogs now. Also it's great being your own boss but along with that I need to be an accountant, photographer, model, writer, promoter I mean the list goes on. I am semi considering getting an intern to help.

-What career perspectives do you see? 

Career wise I see opportunities in so many different directions. Being hired as a photographer is one of them. I have an opportunity that will involve a magazine very soon that I can't talk about yet till its confirmed but I can't wait. It's like the blog can be the stepping stone or launch pad to other opportunities that you don't see coming eg stylist, hosting, modeling, writing, collaborations the list goes on depending on what your blog is about and what you are passionate about.

 

-Would you say it pays off, both morally and financially, so far?

I feel really blessed to be doing that I want now. It's definitely the most satisfying feeling ever to be your own free agent and to know you are doing things in life now for you and no one or no other business. Financially I am matching what I made from the job I left behind so I feel this is a real split screen moment In terms of doing what I want for the same income.

 

What a great girl and a really helpful material both for my project and my own blog! #motivation

Question: Respond on Facebook

Facebook page is pretty much silent too, so far I have only got two responds. More to be added, shall I receive some over the next few days.

UPDATE:

FURTHER UPDATE:

Question: Respond on Twitter

Twitter is meant to be instant. After hours and hours there is not a single reply. NOTHING. I mean, even my foodie posts get more response, hello??

#shocked @passiveness

UPDATE: One respond the next morning:

UPDATE: After getting fed up with the silence I decided to give it another try this afternoon which proved to be more successful, and I received a few valuable comments:

Looks like I already see a pattern here... :-)

FURTHER UPDATE:

Question: Respond on Formspring

Some replies have already started coming back to me, however they are far from what I was expecting.

First of all I intended it to be a quantitative approach, assuming people would name one or two things about what makes a great blog for them, but instead I have received some big pieces of writing to analyze. It's not a bad thing as I can still pick up the bits I want for my statistics, but it just makes me think I should be more careful next time and specify what I am after in more detail.

Secondly, I was expecting far more answers coming in, but perhaps that's due to the late hours I popped the question- as Russia is at least 4 hours ahead and most of my followers form there would be sleeping. I'm hoping to find more answers tomorrow morning and in the days to come. Either way, I will be updating this post with new entries throughout the duration of my module.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

FURTHER UPDATE:

Question: What Makes a Great Blog?

As I planned, I have now asked my question on the following social networks in both English and Russian:

Formspring

Facebook

Twitter

Knowing how passive people usually are I am not hoping for a massive respond, but I will be happy with any number of people getting back to me as every feedback is important! Let's see what they have to say...

Videos: Andy Torres "The Key to Successful Blogging"

Interview: A Blogger by Profession - Questions

 

To nail my "interview" bit, I have come up with 4 questions that I emailed to Karen from WhereDidUGetThat, as she is one of the few bloggers who work full-time on their blogs (she runs 3 of them actually!) that I know. Although we speak online from times to times as it can be seen from the posts below, we don't know each other in person and our connection is based on blogging purely, that is why I would still consider Karen as a weak-tie in my network. Will be looking twice as forward to receive her answers, being a blogger myself!

Anyway, these are the questions I came up with:

• From reading your blog, I know you have recently quited your job for working as a full-time blogger. How has that changed your life?
• What are the benefits of your current job and are there any downsides to it?
• What career perspectives do you see?
• Would you say it pays off, both morally and financially, so far?

Image source:
http://blog.gts-translation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blogger2.jpg

Karen from WDUGT On Advertising

Here are some more e-mail conversations with Karen from 2 years ago, that I remembered about and thought they would come useful. This time Karen speaks about  blog advertising issues:

Karen from WDUGT on Free Clothes Samples

I was randomly speaking to Karen from WhereDidUGetThat when we touched the topic of freebies that are being sent to bloggers, including myself. Below are few things that she had to say on the matter, that definitely made me give it a thought and perhaps even reconsider my relation to that wonderful "benefit". (click to see the original size)

Diagrams: How do Bloggers Communicate?

A diagram found on Internet which displays the way the blog community bonds. It sure reminds me of decentralized network model which in this case probably means bigger bloggers representing super-nodes with a lot of connections and followers.

Image source:
http://www.communitywiki.org/CommunityTiedToOneTechnology

My Topic: Possible Questions

No matter for how long I've been putting away the most important difficult part- it's time to decide on the questions! What is it I want to find out? What will be my questions and which particular network I will test them on? How will I get qualitative and quantitative data? Right now my head is exploding from defragmented ideas, but nothing is clear yet!

Relying on these posts here, here and here this is my possible plan:

1. A blogger by profession: interview a fellow blogger who works full time about all the pros and cons of this choice. Does it pay off? What are the perspectives of the career? etc
2. Blogs vs traditional media: create a survey on peoples opinions about today's value of both 
3. Blog collaborations and brand partnerships: use another survey (ask bloggers) and ask a question to brands via email
4. Successful blog: what makes a great blog? ask the question on Facebook, Formspring, Twitter and Blogspot
5. Qualitative data: interview people in person whether a) they have a personal blog b) whether they read other blogs (if yes, what type?)

My Topic: Possible Ideas

Having agreed on a general topic, I am yet struggling to decide which aspects I will be mainly focusing on as there are so many of them to blogging and right now I've got a great mess in my head! I thought I'd put together some questions/ideas to help me organize my thoughts and see what is it I want to find out. I might even use some of them as my main questions or just include them in my questionnaires/interviews.

• types of bloggers and blogs
• pros and cons of blogging
• blogging and traditional media
• influence of blogs on different aspects
• bloggers by profession
• reasons why people blog
• how to success in blogging
• making money blogging
• brand relationships

Image source:
http://sem-group.net/search-engine-optimization-blog/little-things-bloggers-crave-and-most-never-get/

Social Media in Higher Education

Schools are on a short list of organizations that have been notoriously slow to adopt emerging tech. But within the last few years, as social media becomes more integral to students’ lives, educational institutions are finally catching on, and catching up. When it comes to higher ed, there are not only opportunities for digital learning, but digital marketing too. Some schools have taken the reigns on both sides, with mixed results.

The infographic below takes a look at how schools have fared with social media over the last few years — what platforms are best, where they’ve succeeded, and the challenges that lay ahead.

Infographic by onlineuniversities.com.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang

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