Teen Writers, Blogging and Me
Last week, I was given the amazing opportunity to speak to a group of young female writers about blogging. Blogging happens to be one of the few topics that I can chatter on endlessly about with an excited smile naturally plastered on my face and yet, I found myself a little shaky at the start.
Why? Because these girls are smart as well as gifted. I arrived early enough to hear some of their work and let me just tell you, blogosphere, watch out because some fresh talent is headed our way. And soon.
I began by telling them a little about myself. I write for 3 blogs – 2 of my own – my own personal site and a review blog. I also write for the DC Metro Moms. I started writing online back in 2005 when most people didn’t even know what blogging was. It was a community with a space and a voice for everyone. “Weblogs” had a hippie kind of feel in a very new millennium kind of way. Back then, no one I knew was making money blogging and most people posted under pseudonyms in fear that people would read their most intimate tales and then somehow end up on their doorstep or worse, spying through their window. (because that is worse.) Back then, there was no real time interface beyond instant messaging so comments were HUGE. Getting a comment from someone you’ve never met about something you wrote was extremely exciting. FEEDBACK!!! All of a sudden I was addicted. About 6 months in (waaaaay back in 2005) I wrote this. And then I got a grip.
What I found was that I was in the same boat with many other like me who realized that blogging was a creative medium that you could tailor to suit yourself all the wile reaching out and building relationships with like minded folks. It was both a powerful tool as well as a quite place to reflect. You could stand on your soapbox and shout out your opinions to the world or remain anonymous and quietly bear your soul.
Five years later and I’m still pretty much hooked. I’ve done some readjusting as far as how much time I spend online, however don’t think I could give it up. A couple years ago, I decided to monetize my hobbies and now I generate enough money from my site that it pays for itself and then some. (Which makes the guilt vs. addiction factors cancel each other out.)
Sounds like all unicorns and big puffy hearts, right? Well, sure, there is a downside, an ugly side, if you will. But in reality, the internet is still as it was five years ago in the sense that there is room for all of us. You can carve out your own little plot of land and hang your flag. You don’t have to pay a dime, give out your name or even be the least bit tech savvy to share your writing with the world. Now that’s got some appeal, right?
The girls agreed. (And they were TAKING NOTES!)
I moved on to ask a few questions:
What do you think of when you hear the term “Blogger”?
The only girl that answered said "teens". A surprise to me. I guess I was expecting to hear "old ladies".
What are some types of internet socializing that you use?
1. MySpace (two had accounts)
2. Facebook (about half had accounts)
3. AIM (duh)
4. Twitter (no one - they thought twitter was "lame")
5. Blogging (one had a blog)
What are some of the rules your parents have imposed on you as far as your online time?
Some of the answers were...
1. No computer after 8pm.
2. All of the kids on Facebook were being monitored by (or were friends with) their parents.
3. No pictures of themselves.
4. No personal information.
5. Be careful what you say.
Next, I read some comments readers left on my personal blog for the girls. That segued into a conversation about the dangers of sexting. And then I started to perspire a little so I handed out a copy of Yahoo!’s top 10 tips on cyber safety.
1. Yahoo! Safely - a complete resource for all things cyber correct.
2. Create a family pledge for Online Safety (I passed out the pledge and asked them to show it to their parents)
3. Applying a filter to your child’s Yahoo! Mail account is simple by creating a family account to monitor your child’s use of Yahoo! and edit and maintain their account settings. 4. Talk to the hand, Mr. Spammer. Yahoo! Mail uses the latest technology to combat spam and to help protect you from phishing and viruses. Yahoo!’s spam guard will filter out 97% of all things bad.
5. You can flag photos on Flickr for abuse via the Report Abuse link that’s available in the footer of every page.
6. 4 things to know before your child goes online
7. Report abuse on any Yahoo! property at http://abuse.yahoo.com.
8. Keep private things private. Manage your online profile.
9. Yahoo!'s SafeSearch feature is designed to filter out explicit, adult-oriented content from Yahoo! Search results.
10. Keep up to date with our safety experts blogs.
We explored how they could incorporate talents beyond writing into blogging. Examples: photography, graphic design, arts & crafts (I introduced them to Etsy), cooking, and so on. We talked about marketing yourself online and off, self branding and about popular blogs both teen and beyond.
In closing, I asked if they had any questions. The young ladies asked only two.
1.How do you make money online?
2.What was that Dooce site again?
I have no idea what the girls walked away thinking about me, possibly shaking their heads in confusion, but I thought THEY were brilliant.
Welcome, young bloggers. We have just the space for you!
Kimberly Petro writes about her life in The Ding Dang Woods on her personal blog, Petroville. Come visit. An original DC Metro Moms post.
