A blog means different things to different folks of different backgrounds. A tech guru would probably tell you that a blog is nothing more than a dynamic website usually maintained by a single person and whose entries are presented in reverse chronological order and offering a capability for visitors to leave a comment. A teenager would probably say that a blog is his ego wall and with streaming music and a hodge-podge of psychedelic colors and personal photos he is able to open his soul to the world and connect with his friends. A company proud of its product would probably see a blog as a sort of trade paper and help-desk rolled into one, wherein the company can reach out to its customers and inform them of what other goods or services they are offering and in turn, for their customers to ask support questions that employees and other customers can reply to. An information center or a non-profit organization would see it as a way to offer resources to their constituents through active links or information. Collectors, enthusiasts, and hobbyists would say that a blog is their community to connect with like-minded individuals and argue, discuss, dissect, and become excited on what they all have in common. All of them are correct, a blog, as Farkas pointed out, is not about the software or piece of code, but it’s about the connection it foster among people who create and follow them. A blog can be about anything, from the sublime to the inane. It can be a platform or a pulpit. It can aim to inform or to entertain. It can move people to activism, or it can just move people to sigh and smile. But what makes a blog successful? What are the elements that spell being read and followed as oppose to forgotten and abandoned? Ultimately, a blog is successful if the user is in to it and maintains it religiously and it has developed a core of followers, but this does not happen overnight, and success means preparing and planning for it.

Know thy self.

Even before you download and install the blogging software or start choosing the theme for your blog, the key to a blog that will become an on-going concern, rather than a one-hit wonder you have to ask yourself the level of commitment that you are willing to invest in terms of time and effort on this undertaking. Remember, that putting up a blog does not end with the first post. It is a continuing activity that will require some level of regularity to be able to hold on to its audience.  Readership will quickly fetter away if your post are far in-between or erratic.

Also, be honest with what you want to blog about. Is it something you are an expert on? If not, is it something that interest you or you are passionate about? Your own interest and passion on what you will blog about is important, since how else will you be able to pique curiosity on your target audience if you are even bored with what you are talking about. Remember, even if you are blogging for your company or information center, you are still invested in terms of commitment and interests or the effort will become a burden and it will show on the quality of your post and the subsequent reaction of your audience. Then all that effort will go to naught.

Know thy goal.

What will be the purpose of your blog or its raison d’ entre. Are you blogging to call attention to information, resources, product, or services available in your company or information center?  Will it be a personal journal, or a filter or a knowledge log, or even a combination of the three? Is your intention in setting up a blog to entertain, to be creative, to be informative, or to advocate, or again, a combination of any of these? It is important that you have a clear understanding of the purpose of your blog as decisions on style, and who you want your blog to reach out to will be affected by it. I found it useful and significant that the first post, or the About page is you talking about yourself and what your blog is all about. It is you, presenting your credentials to the rest of the world and telling them that what I am blogging about might interest you since I know, like, can be creative about it. And you have to be consistent and true to your stated purpose. Consistency augurs readership. For instance, a techie blog will quickly lose followers if it runs posts on the fun of knitting or rants about politics and the establishment.  A good example of this is LBD or the Library Book Discussion. It is an online discussion of books by teens maintained by several libraries from different states. The layout is simple and there are no other pages to it, it simply focuses your attention to the reason why the blog exist – book discussions. I think this is even a good example of what Web 2.0 is all about, collaborative endeavors to build communities and encourage the mix and remix of ideas.

Know thy audience.

Closely related to why you are blogging in the first place, is making it your business to know the interests and taste of the specific audience you want to address. For instance, if you are creating a blog to serve a specific demographic that uses your library, you might ask yourself if you have the interest to blog about things that matter to that specific population and if they, in turn, would invest time to read or check out your blog. A blog that would be about the latest teen books or gaming in the library will not exactly attract older adults who wants incisive reviews of the latest fiction bestseller, the same way that teens won’t probably take to a blog that has long dry articles or analysis on the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East. By being honest and matching the purpose of the blog with your own interests and the target audience you want to reach, you at least guarantee that you are achieving the reason why you would want to invest the time and effort on setting up and maintaining a blog in the first place, and that the effort would be rewarded once audience interests picked up on the blog and your readership grows.  Also, knowing the taste does not only apply to the content of your blog but also its style. Form follows function. A kids’ blog needs to attract kids and probably drab colors and long winded articles will not do the trick, the same way having the picture of Elmo dancing right at the main page will not be a hit among stockbrokers. The best example of this is the Darien Library blog. It is a library blog and therefore, informational, and it succeeds in fulfilling its mission of enriching the experience of its customer’s either in person or through the web by providing a clean layout wherein headings are active linked and easy to find.

Source: Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

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