STORIES in CONTENT

臺北一零一

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:23:15 +0300

臺北一零一

Content Story: Ariesa Lie aka Dolliechic - Indonesian Beauty Blogger

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:20:00 +0300

By Richard Mooney, Content Analyst and Storyteller at StoriesinContent.com

While studying here in Taipei, I have come across many fascinating individuals all living here for one purpose or another. It was here I met my friend Ariesa, an Indonesian beauty blogger. She’s of Chinese descent, speaks several languages (English, Bahasa Indonesian & Mandarin), loves fried chicken and all sorts of Taiwanese delicacies, from dumplings to potato chips. Currently she lives in Jakarta.

Ariesa’s blog (and vlog) talks about beauty, cosmetic and make up products. From Beauty is Forever, she has learned much about the internet, herself and has gained some unique insights into the cosmetic industry.

This is her story.

“When I first started my blog, I didn’t mean for it to be a beauty blog. I used to write about my daily life in a journal. You know, teen girls love to write about boys’ stuff in their journal and so did I, as a teenager.

“Then when my blog became a hit, I stopped writing the journal and started blogging. Of course I never meant it to be my love journal either. I thought about writing about stuff I loved like Asian movies or dramas (I am fond of Korean and Taiwanese TV dramas) or my traveling experience.”

After shifting to blogging Ariesa was confused about the initial direction of her blog. “My first few posts are quite random, so to say. But by that time, I have also fallen in love with beauty products. I joined an online beauty forum (where I am still an active member until now) where I can discuss about the beauty products I use or intend to purchase. I almost always look for information regarding beauty products on the internet, since I am quite experimental.”

After joining the forum, her blog and passion began to co-incide. “I like to try new products or stuff from the brands that are not available on local stores yet. So most of the time, I obtained information from bloggers in America, Canada and Europe.” Dolliechic then began to realize she could do the same as these bloggers. So she did.

“Although makeup and skin care products might not have similar result on every one. But still, the information they share is very helpful. Then I thought I could be one of them too.”

You don’t call yourself a beauty guru, others do

Before long, her friends and others began asking her for recommendations on beauty products. She was had become an expert. “My friends always come to me for suggestions when they want to purchase beauty stuff, what brands are good, which one is suitable for their skin type or where to shop.”

After this change, her habits started to change as well. She began to understand that she spends more on beauty products than other things and that wasn’t all. Her writing got better and as a result, so did her blog content and English language skills. “I’ve become more comfortable writing in English than in my first language (Bahasa Indonesian).”

She then began to find out her specialisms as well. Like others, she started to see that you have to update content regularly to keep traffic steady. Unexpectedly, she gained first hand insights about the Beauty industry and its relationships with the media and businesses.

“Nowadays, beauty events don’t only invite press from fashion/beauty magazines but also beauty bloggers,” explains Ariesa. “The internet can be both threat and opportunity for authorized importers who are selling imported stuff at the shopping malls. Threat because there are many online sellers who sell similar products at a much cheaper price; and opportunity because there’s so much information about the newly imported products written by people from the other side of the world who have tried them. Good reviews can trigger potential consumers to purchase the products.”

Bonus content

5 tips of beauty wisdom

1. You have to re-apply your sunscreen every 2 hours if you’re exposed to direct sunlight.

2. There’s actually only a few people gifted with naturally flawless skin (acne-free), even the beauty gurus have skin problems.

3. You must never wear makeup when you sleep, it will finally bring damage to your skin (like in my own experience).

4. Every beauty product might have a different impact on each person, so my holy grail moisturizer might be unsuitable for you.

5. My holy grail beauty product might not be the same as yours.

Most popular post

“Etude House AC Clinic Pink Powder + Intense Red Spot Balm” has the highest traffic of all time. These 2 products are in the acne-care range from Etude House Korea.

Platform used

Blogger

Final thoughts

“Being a blogger opens up new connections that might lead to business or career opportunities. There are many beauty bloggers in Indonesia who have enjoyed some privileges given by the beauty companies, such as: new product trials, trip abroad to enjoy beauty treats, product launching events, etc.

“But I don’t see things like that as my reasons for being a beauty blogger. I realized I have learned things from blogging and vlogging. I designed my own blog layout, I learned recording and editing of videos, and of course, my English writing skills. Most of them I have would never have learned from school or my friends - I learned by doing it myself.”

Me and Susan Boyle: The three and a half minute video that changed my life

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:22:00 +0300

by Richard Mooney, Storyteller and Content Analyst at StoriesinContent.

This content story will tell how I became the first journalist to interview Susan Boyle on camera and how that video went onto be officially named as one of YouTube’s Most Memorable Videos of 2009.

Having read the above paragraph I still can’t believe it. This was one of the craziest weeks of my career. Why have I not written about it until now? Four years later?

I was scared to. Scared being called a blatant self-promoter and of being defined by it I suppose. Looking back on it I think should have capitalized on this more. But I didn’t, and to be honest, that’s just fine (you’ll see why later).

Not just another Tuesday

It’s a Tuesday following a nice three-day Easter weekend. For me it was nice to have some time of work and the ability to focus on my training and catch up with my friends (all twenty somethings and young professionals working in social work).

There was nothing spectacular about my weekend. I went to ASDA and bought some brown bread instead of plain bread actually. I started a diet and was advised that brown bread was healthier. I went to bed on the Monday night and fell asleep expecting a pretty routine beginning of the working week.

This would include updating the website homepages, rotating and refreshing news content, checking/analysing the weekend website traffic on Omniture and other general website “housekeeping” duties.

I worked as a multimedia journalist for the digital media department of Scottish and Universal Newspapers, now Media Scotland, at this time. The company is Scotland’s largest regional newspaper publisher and is the owner of the West Lothian Courier (WLC), Susan’s local newspaper.

At this time, I was based in the company’s head office in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire in the Hamilton Advertiser buildings. From here, I was part of a team of multimedia journalists responsible for producing and editing digital content for the group’s many local newspaper websites.

There’s an email in my inbox from my then editor with a home address of a lady named Susan Boyle. The gist of it goes; DROP EVERYTHING ELSE AND GET THIS DONE.

Apparently this local woman who was on the popular UK show, Britain’s Got Talent, was quite well received by the judges and he wanted me to do a video interview with her.

We used to get lots of locals who go on Britain’s Got Talent or X-Factor (another similar show) and run stories on them as well. These are great content, usually positive human interest stories from local people - the best kind for regional and local newspapers.

I thought this was just going to be another one of these stories and how wrong I was.

Susan everywhere

As I was in the coffee shop I heard people speaking about Susan Boyle. As I hear more mentions of it and Britain’s Got Talent, my mind goes into overdrive and I’m putting two and two together. I see the front page of that day’s Daily Record (Scotland’s biggest newspaper) and then a news report about her audition on the Coffee Shop’s TV with the headline Scottish Woman Stuns Simon Cowell.

Bingo.

I get my coffee, return to the office and immediately set to work.

For the record, at that time I was not a regular viewer of Britain’s Got Talent or similar shows. If it’s on I’ll watch it, it’s entertaining. But I’d rather watch something like Zero Punctuation, or Dragonball Abridged for my own personal entertainment. That’s just me (I’m a geek).

I call up the Britain’s Got Talent press office and they tell me they are inundated with emails, personal interview requests and much, much more. I ask for a video interview or some phone time. “There is no time for Susan this week, please call again later,” the press agent says before hanging up. “Thanks”.

Disappointed, I tell my editor but he gives some words of encouragement and says keep trying.

The local newspaper angle

I try again and this time I go for a different approach, I tell them that I work for the immediate local newspaper and that we’d be doing our readership a disservice if we didn’t get access to one of our own locals. There’s a five second pause. “Susan’s available for a 30 minutes this afternoon”, the press agents says. Jackpot.

I call the West Lothian Courier (Susan’s local newspaper) and tell them. They send a print reporter along with a photographer to accompany me. I gather up the video equipment and make a dash for Blackburn, West Lothian. I check and triple check the gear.

Battery working? Check. Tripod? Good. Microphone? Great, but probably won’t need it (this was before I realized the importance of sound in video) Questions? Check.

Half-way to West Lothian I realize I’m in need of petrol. Bugger. That takes an extra 10 minutes that I didn’t account for in my planning. Keeping within the speed limits I make it to Susan Boyle’s estate. It’s a typical Scottish suburb with old, grey-brick houses, surrounded by countryside.

I was expecting to see crowds of photographers, reporters and a media frenzy…but there was none. No one was anywhere. The estate was empty. Just a typical Tuesday.

Meeting SuBo

The biggest story-in-the-world and no one is on the scene, but me. That’s odd. I find her house and knock on the door. It opens and there is Susan, dressed in her Sunday best. She looks a little bewildered, but calm.

“Hello, who are you?” she asks.

“Richard Mooney, digital reporter for the Courier”, I reply nervously.

“Nice to meet you, come on in,” she said shaking my hand.

She is extremely welcoming and offers me some tea. Her home is cosy, warm and very traditional.

Pebbles, her legendary pet cat, is nowhere to be seen. We go the living room and sit down.

It was here that she started to get a bit nervous (which is very understandable given the situation at the time).

I set up the camera and ask her to do some talking into the lens to test the quality. For some reason it keeps on zooming into her face. I check the camera and it turns out it is stuck on zoom. After fixing it we begin the interview, I sit behind the camera,I reach for my questions and oh bugger! THEY’RE in the car!

Improvising with Pebbles

She was ready and so was I. Throwing caution to the wind, I went on instinct and just began by asking her some basic questions about her life and being on the TV.

Subduing her joy and excitement, Susan remains modest, despite touching the hearts of hundreds of millions. Incredible, I remember thinking to myself, this woman is literally the center focus of the entire world right now.

She was also slightly cautious about what she was saying, nervous perhaps, so the majority of her initial answers were short, to the point and straightforward.

After several minutes I draw blank during and search my mind for something to go on and I think of her cat. I decide to change tact and try to lighten the mood.

“You have a cat yet?” I ask. “Yes, Pebbles”

“How did she take the news?”

Did I just ask that? You idiot, Richard.

She looked confused for a split second then smiled, laughing saying, “Oh, you know the usual cat way” as she moved her shoulders in a pretend strut.

The whole atmosphere changed instantly. It became lighter, more relaxed and she opened up much more.

I was still nervous, as you can hear this from the video. Stuttering and the likes, but I think my approach here helped.

I thanked Susan for her time, wish her all the best and tell her I’ll be in touch about know when the interview was uploaded.

It should be said that I was only given basic video training at work and the equipment was a designed-for-home-use Sony HD handycam and tripod. It was decent, not exactly top-of-the-line equipment, but not bad for local newspapers.

The elements of my early days as a journalist are reflected here in the video. It’s a simple shot with a medium-close-up of Susan, with so-so lighting and average sound. This interview was mixed with footage of her legendary Britain’s Got Talent audition. I used Windows Movie Maker, Audacity and the video was “topped and tailed” with the West Lothian Courier branding.

Below is the original and you can view the High quality version on my Vimeo page.

Next, I uploaded the video to YouTube and left it overnight and put it as a video response to SuBo’s BGT audition video. This was around mid-afternoon at 2.30pm and by finishing time, 5pm, the video was sitting at nearly 120,000 views.

The next day: Susan’s reaction to fans’ messages, Sky interview requests and refusing CNN

By 9am the video was approaching a quarter of a million views, this was strange for the newspaper as most of our videos were only getting watched by a few thousand local British people, with the occasional expat logging in from abroad.

This time our primary audience was the entire globe.

My inbox and the WLC website were inundated with requests and fan mail about Susan Boyle. We had people saying how much of inspiration she was, how they loved her, hundreds of messages of support and requests for interviews (people thought I was the only journalist with access to her).

With the messages of support, I wrote this article, Susan Boyle is doing what The Beatles did in the 60s. Later that day we were telephoned by SkyNews who wanted to interview me and my editor, but we didn’t want to go for it.

However, Sky News still used samples of the video, but the news presenter mistakenly called the newspaper the West Lothian Chronicle and not the correct name, West Lothian Courier. Frustrating? A little, but regardless it was still great to see my work on the TV.

I added a small teaser to the end of thatarticle saying that the next day we would put up an audio interview with SuBo and a few hours later I got a phone call from a producer at CNN asking for early access to it, but said we were running this as a WLC exclusive. Later NBC also called, but I had to tell them the same thing.

I had tried SuBo again all day but her phone was answered by a “PR assistant”. Then I called back after 5pm and got through to her for a follow up interview, which was recorded and you can listen to here.

During the interview I read some of the fan mail we received for her and her reactions are great.

As she has no internet in her house at that time, I am quite confident this may have been the first time she had heard directly what people what people were saying about her and not via PR people, TV or newspapers.

Much of her reaction was astonishment, surprise and glee. “This is unbelievable,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed.” After the interview, I spoke with her for five minutes and wished her all the best for the future.

That was the last time I would speak with her.

By the end of this day the video was approaching half a million views.

Two days later

The video had reached one million views overnight. I tried calling SuBo’s home again, but there was no answer and the press office were not granting any follow up interviews

One month later: Millions of views and a Brazilian TV show visits my office

I was working at the Wishaw Press and got a phone call from the office in Hamilton saying that a couple of Brazilians are visiting Scotland are looking for me. “Are you having a laugh?”, was my initial reaction.

It definitely couldn’t be football scouts as anyone who has seen me play will tell you.

I made my way over to the Hamilton office, met my editor and sure enough there was two Brazlilans coming to see us, from the network TV Globo - the world’s second largest commercial TV broadcaster.

What the Pebbles?

I cannot remember the name of the show exactly, I think it was Fantastico, but it was shot in Glasgow was all about Susan Boyle. I met two men, one was a short fellow, a producer and the other was tall and spoke eloquently, with confidence. He wore a bright blue jumper.

The tall fellow introduced himself in the office as Zeca Carmargo. I had never heard of him. But in South America he is a big deal.

As he entered the office, with a confident brisk, walk, he asked: “Now where is Richard Mooney?”

“I’m here”

“Congratulations on the video Richard, very nice work!”, says Zeco sharking my hand.

“Thanks very much”

They asked for access to the original footage (which we gave them after paid a nominal usage fee) and were then on their way. I never saw the footage being used until only recently, but was glad my work would be used in Brazil.

The YouTube Honor

In December 2009 my editor calls me into his office and shows me an email he has received regarding my Susan Boyle interview. It’s from someone at YouTube he tells me. My first thought is, Crap, is it being taken down?! And then he lets me see the email.

We are pleased to inform you that YouTube is having a special video New Year’s Countdown through the month of December. Every day, a new video will be revealed in a special landing page, which will be promoted across the site. Your “Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent first on camera interview” video is one of the 31 videos being honored as the year’s most memorable clips.

We added the video in early December, and then the wait for it to appear began.I could almost faint.

The video was to be added at http://www.youtube.com/newyears, where a different video for every day of December a new video was featured.

Day after day in December, the video did not appear. And I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to appear. Everyone said, it will appear eventually. I wasn’t convinced. I seriously believed it was all to good to be true. I mean out of the millions of videos on YouTube, mines would be named as one of the most memorable?

Then on New Year’s Eve, December 2009 it appeared. I found out at midnight whilst was watching Die Hard with a Vengeance. I jumped up and down with joy. I’ve never been so happy.

Ya dancer! My family rushed into my room, I remember hugging them and jumping up and down with my dad. It was like celebrating a winning goal. Just amazing.

Epilogue

After the Susan Boyle interview I was profiled on Digital Ministry (a digital media website, to which I currently contribute), interviewed by The Times newspaper and was a guest on New Zealand radio station, Radio Live, twice.

News of the YouTube honor was covered by Journalism.co.uk, Allmediascotland, Hold The Front Page and the West Lothian Courier itself. Simply amazing.

I thought next I would try something different so I applied for jobs at STV, the BBC, several newspapers and abroad. I had interviews at STV but never got the job, never heard back from the Beeb or the newspapers.

And then I was offered a post in 2010 at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia to work as a content producer in their communications department, writing on tech and science.

KAUST is a new university aimed at providing international education to Saudis and international students alike. There’s no segregation on campus. Men and women are free to mix. The campus is highly international and feels like a small village. It’s very cosmopolitan.

There I met and wrote on some of the most influential people in science, business and higher education, including Frank Rhodes, several Nobel Laureates, Fortune 500 VPs and even Rolf Heuer, the Director General of CERN.

Meeting my partner there, Erin, a Taiwanese woman, brought me to Taipei where I am currently studying for a Master of Arts in International Communication on scholarship and also learning Mandarin Chinese, Tough language, but not as hard as you would think.

And that’s really that, I hope you have gotten something from this post, be it entertainment, inspiration or information. Otherwise, I’d just like to finish this with a message for anyone considering journalism or writing as a career path.

Do it. It may not be highest paying job in the world, but the opportunities and experiences you will gain are worth so much more. It’ll take you places you’d never believe possible and the more you stick with it, the more it gets better.

Electronic Arts Pull Sim City Marketing Campaign After Server Problems Cause Major Launch Problems

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:47:00 +0300

by Richard Mooney, Storyteller and Content Analyst at StoriesinContent.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s largest videogame publisher, last week put a major marketing campaign on hold for SimCity, one of its largest franchises, after a series of major server setbacks caused major disruption.

Fans of the game have taken their frustration to the Internet after EA’s servers failed to handle the large number of users. The crash subsequently caused the game to fail for users around the world on the product’s launch day. Many players are demanding a refund for the game, however EA maintains a no-refunds policy for digital downloads. On Amazon, SimCity currently has a one-star rating and hundreds of low-scoring user reviews.

This issue with digital downloads has led fans to create a White House petition calling for a catch-all returns policy for digital products that do not work because of problems beyond the player’s control. Currently there are over 1,900 signatures.

SimCity developer Maxis said in an EA blog post that they are adding more servers to deal with the higher user loads and working to fix the in-game bugs and errors. ” The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address,” wrote Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager at Maxis. ” So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta. OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it.

The content marketing arm of EA pulled promotion of the game and is offering a free game from the publisher’s portfolio to those who experienced problems, but videogame fans are still mad. Bradshaw, the Maxis GM, was actively blogging about the problems experienced over the weekend and kept fans updated. On EA’s Origin and SimCity Twitter accounts the developer an publisher were actively providing updates of progress on the server.

While some appreciated this, a majority of fans vented their frustration and disappointment toward EA and Maxis through social media. In this instance, pulling the marketing campaign was the right thing to do as no one should promote a product with errors and glitches. However, it remains to be seen if EA will offer refunds for those who bought the game via digital download. While this seems unlikely, it has happened in the past. The content marketers at EA dealt with this situation in a sensible manner, they kept their customers updated on the problems, admitted EA made a “dumb” mistake with the server, apologized and offered a free game.

However, as with any crisis in marketing, not everyone was happy and the situation appears to be part of an overlapping anger from videogame fans against the shift in the industry towards always-online videogames. Many believe this shift takes away the control of the game from the player and relies mainly on the technology of the publisher. Persuading fans of the benefits of alway-online gaming remains a challenge for the videogame industry.

Last year another publisher, Activision, experienced similar problems with the launch of the much-anticipated Diablo III. Similar to Electronic Arts, Activision in do not offer refunds for digital downloads, however they did offer free in-game incentives. Around the same time, as the Korea Times reports, angry Korean gamers complained to the country’s Fair Trade Commission and that body ruled that Activision had acted wrongly. In response Activision offered full refunds.

Stop Right Now

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:57:00 +0300

You’re an idiot for trying something so different, stop right now.

You will fail at this and you know you will, stop right now.

This is a completely faulty endeavour, stop right now.

This idea of yours will never work, stop right now.

It might work, but we just don’t have the budget….so you should stop right now.

Why do you want to go there? Why are you doing that? To me it’s so stupid, so you should stop right now.

Why are you learning that language? Are you sure it will be useful? Stop right now.

Aren’t you a bit old to go back to school or try something like that? If I were you, I’d stop right now.

Never give up. Go on, go on, go on.

Inspired by Chris Guillbeau’s Things They Have No Right To Tell You

Original content IS the best content. Accuracy is...

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:45:51 +0300

Original content IS the best content. Accuracy is key.

shortformblog:

Jonah Lehrer just lost his Wired job, too: With Lehrer’s reputation already in tatters after it was found he fabricated quotes in his most recent book, NYU professor and occasional Wired contributor Charles Seife (on the request of Wired), did an analysis of Lehrer’s Wired work. The above graphic shows what Seife found. As you see, only one of the 18 listed articles doesn’t have a single checkmark on his list of journalistic misdeeds. While Wired chose initially not to publish the piece, Slate had no problem throwing it on their site. The result? Wired just issued this statement: “Lehrer’s failure to meet WIRED editorial standards leaves us no choice but to sever the relationship.” Ouch.

Content story: Indoor gardening in Washington D.C

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:52:00 +0300

by Richard Mooney, Storyteller and Content Analyst at StoriesinContent.

Gardening has long been a favoured past time of people all across the world. The fresh air, exercise, care and nurturing plants (young and old) speaks to the nature of people. But what about those of us who live in a city? Can these individuals have the same experience?

One freelance science writer says YES they can.

Kenneth Moore, founder of blog The Indoor Garden(er), writes about gardening indoors in Washington D.C. He’s quirky, scientifically minded and a hell of a writer. He’s lived all over the states and even worked in Saudi Arabia (where we met last year). He’s written for Nature, the American Chemical Society and was a Science editor at my former employer King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

His mission? To make a difference one seed at a time.

Enter The Indoor Garden(er), Kenneth Moore

Gardening has always been a passion of mine. I harvested my first cucumber at the ripe age of 4-years-old, grown in a small planter box on our adjoining townhouse’s patio, and had a penchant for bringing home new plants from the woods or leaves to press into my tree sample book.

Throughout high school and university, I got my fix taking plant physiology courses and doing lab research on hydrocarbon phytoremediation and transgenic tomato crops. After graduating from university and situating myself in Washington DC, it didn’t take long for me to decide that I didn’t need to be doing research or have a yard to start gardening. I read “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” on an airplane in 2009, right after New Year’s—nights later, I started my first indoor vegetable garden on my windowsill, and The Indoor Garden(er) was created to record my adventures.

I’ve always been a writer—random story leads in a notebook, handwritten letters to friends, even something of a blog for friends and family while I lived abroad going to school. I worked as an editor for a newsmagazine before starting The Indoor Garden(er)—but as an editor, in order to write for the magazine, I had to sacrifice my nights and weekends outside of work hours. I found writing about gardening to be a more enjoyable and rewarding outlet because of my inherent interest in the topic. But as I continued writing for the blog, the content expanded well beyond my towering 9-foot-tall tomato beasts in the living room.

Through reading other garden blogs and related websites, my background in agriculture, botany, and gardening increased and occasionally intersected with my professional career—I have written articles about chemical control ofPhytophthora infestans (late blight), nanofertilizers, archaeogenomic analysis of cotton, and natural dyes for various print and web publications. So The Indoor Garden(er) has developed into something more than a personal log of a gardening experiment, it’s become a vehicle for self-education and professional development.

Five things learned from blogging

Don’t trust plant tags. No matter how reputable the nursery you bought the plant from or the friend who gave it to you, do a quick Google search to make certain you have the correct plant name. There’s nothing more embarrassing to a science-trained journalist than to post a plant ID that’s just plain wrong and could have easily been correctly identified. There’s transferable wisdom there for anyone who writes, or talks, or communicates in any fashion!
Expect nothing. Because I fashioned The Indoor Garden(er) into a personal, experience-based blog, I don’t have an agenda, a marketing goal, or anything of the sort. It’s just a place where I can share gardening goings-on with the world and where others might learn a few things. I don’t expect comments, I don’t expect tons of traffic, and I don’t expect to become a well-known blogger. With that mindset, it’s thrilling whenever someone chooses to engage me in a comment about a photo I post, to share with me their experience with a gardening technique I’ve tried, or even to e-mail me just to say that they’re a quiet reader who enjoys reading my blog.
Vacations are important. Just like employment, relationships, and everything else in life, you might start feeling like your blog writing is in a rut or you’re tired with the formulaic posts. It’s important to post on a regular basis—some people are more rigid than others in their post schedules and themed days, but I try to post at least a few times each week, and no more than once per day. But after a while, you need to step back, take a break, and reassess. During your vacation, what do you think about wanting to post? What topics or personal adventures are still worth posting after your break? Those are the types of posts that appear after my breaks (which are frequent and unannounced), because that’s what I’m really passionate about at that moment. A personal blog without passion is often not well-written and infrequently updated—it’s hard to write about things that you don’t care much about. My passion shifts every once in a while, so breaks are a great way to reassess what I’d like to be writing.
Folks love how-tos. A lot of bloggers feature finished products that they knit, can, grow, cook, paint, what-have-you. But readers greatly appreciate an overall picture of how something’s done. Emphasis on the word “picture.”
It’s okay to be a real person. Even though I write a personal, experience-based blog focused on gardening, I initially attempted to keep all reference of who I was and what I did (beyond gardening) out of the equation. I wanted the blog to be strictly about the plants. But blogs aren’t personal diaries—they’re public. Sometimes, it’s okay to share a bit about yourself beyond random photos or musings about plants. I went through a period of posting a bunch of recipes—I had to force myself to intersperse the recipes and food photos with posts about plants, so I could justify to myself the blog’s name. After a year or so of that, I shared my progress on Weight Watchers and how eating so many fresh-prepared meals with local produce helped me lose as much as I had. The content may not be completely related, but readers usually have diverse interests, and it’s not verboten to slip in a little hint of personality here and there.

Dealing with difficult situations

My biggest challenge with The Indoor Garden(er), besides attempting for weeks but failing to design my own Blogger template, actually arose not from my posts but from the social network of garden and food bloggers in DC. I met a few of them a couple of times back in 2009 and 2010—and out of those meetings arose DC State Fair. Helping run that organization has been a real challenge for various reasons, not least of which was the summer I spent working in Saudi Arabia while I was the Fair’s President. Being half a world away really hampers coordinating a community-based organization.

Now that I’m back in DC, the Fair is eating yet more of my time, which I should be using to find a full-time position somewhere. Somehow, however, I manage to continue blogging on The Indoor Garden(er). But as I mention above, I spent some time to reassess the blog and its content earlier this year and quickly realized that I wouldn’t have much time to blog on a continual basis. So the majority of my posts in 2012 are snapshots of interesting plant events and photo adventures of gardens, parks, nurseries, and my community garden plots. Being adaptable to remain consistent is key to address such potential setbacks—and finding enough time to blog is usually the most frequent challenge I face.

Most controversial subject

I was about to type “I don’t have much controversy on my blog,” but then I remembered two posts: One was a post where I shared photos of critters that had tagged along with plants I had just purchased. That post was titled “Unplanned Parenthood.” Over the years, that’s a pretty consistent search term that lands people on my blog. Another controversial topic was a book review I signed up to write on a virtual “book tour.”

It was my first-ever for-real book review, and I should have known better than to actually write what I thought about it. There wasn’t any real fallout from the scathing, rambling, perhaps even angry words I wrote about the book—but I don’t like that it’s something I chose to post. It’s one of the only negative-toned posts in the 500+ I’ve written. And I’ve learned my lesson: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

No content strategy, just write!!

I started The Indoor Garden(er) in February of 2009, so I’m going on 3.5 years and 500 posts, each written by yours truly despite many and frequent advances by marketing and product advertising firms.

I have no content strategy whatsoever—I really just write for the hell of it!

I discovered Twitter during an annual staff meeting training session in 2010, and my following has grown slightly since then—but I have many more Twitter followers than I do blog followers. That is, perhaps, in part because I feel as though the blog requires some effort, some research, whereas I can just rapid-fire Tweet a bunch of comments or pretty pictures from a trip on Twitter.

The only maintenance challenge I have is organizing all the photographs I take. Without the blog and associated Twitter account, I would probably take zero photos throughout my daily life. But because I’m always on the search for interesting sights to photograph and share on my blog, I might take dozens or hundreds of photos in a single day, and usually on my iPhone for its convenience.

And I certainly don’t get paid for The Indoor Garden(er)—there are no ads, no paid content, no intentional marketing. Anytime I mention an organization, nursery, company, or other group, it’s because of personal interest or connection. I feel it’s important for a blog that builds itself around personal experience to maintain a distance from marketing messages. I want any reader who comes by my blog to know that every word s/he reads on The Indoor Garden(er) is as honest and personal as I can make it.

More than a hobby

I think The Indoor Garden(er) became a full-blown hobby about the time I got business cards printed up to give to people I met who were interested in gardening or blogging. There’s a subtle difference between telling people you’re a blogger and feeling like you need to have cards to hand out declaring yourself as a blogger. It’s more than a hobby—it’s an identity.

Blogging has opened up so many opportunities for me, personally and professionally—I’ve pitched potential blog posts to publications, and they turned into full-fledged (paid!) news stories. I’ve “met” folks who later helped develop an annual showcase of the homegrown talents of the residents of the United States capitol city. I’ve been contacted by folks who wanted to trade plants. And I’ve learned more by reading others’ blogs and comments than I could have by just trial and error (and Google) on my own.

If you want to blog, or even write in general, find your passion, and keep developing it. Having that excitement about your subject helps develop your personal voice and style in writing—and for a blog, in particular, it helps focus the purpose and content for yourself and the readers.

And if you want to garden, well—get your hands dirty. The best way to learn how to grow plants is first to kill them, and try again.

To my friend

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:03:00 +0300

On Thursday I returned to the UK after working abroad for two years.

Yesterday, I got the terrible news that a longtime friend had passed on. This has to say the least left me shell shocked and sad.

Big guy - you were a proper gentleman, fine fellow and wonderful writer. You brought laughter to your pub and were always game for a pint.

It’s hard to think of anyone who had more original, better chat than yourself.

And now you’re gone. It’s not fair, we were supposed to go for a catch up pint at our usual spot.

I miss you big guy. I miss my friend and never got to say goodbye.

Where ever you are buddy, I hope you’re well, merry and smiling.

Flattr - Supporting great web content

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 08:53:26 +0300

Flattr - Supporting great web content:

Supporting great web content

Smart marketing move by Oreo. guardian: Oreo’s gay pride...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:27:44 +0300

Smart marketing move by Oreo.

guardian:

Oreo’s gay pride Facebook post prompts threats of boycott

An image posted to the Oreo fan page shows rainbow layers betwixt its biscuity wafers, instead of the usual dollop of white cream. The photo was accompanied by the message “Proudly support love!”.

Most users praised the (unfortunately unavailable in stores) rainbow cookie, but a few swore off parent company Kraft

Photograph: facebook.com/oreo

Three reasons your website is failing

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:02:00 +0300

Three reasons your website is failing:

Corporate, media, advertising, non-profit and all sorts of institutions have bad websites, however most do not grasp why their digital presence is failing. Usually it is because they simply do not get the web and are failing to engage the user.

Here are some reasons why…

Q&A: Michael Oghia - Blogging Lebanese Love

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:31:05 +0300

Photo by Carolina Farion.

Relationships are tough. Very, very tough. I’ve had my share and am involved in a long-distance one right now.

The life of being on the road.

Now imagine trying to hold one down in a region in which unmarried youth face societal pressure to look great, have a fabulous social life and be in good moral standing all at the same time.

Now, that’s TOUGH capitalized.

I’ve visited Lebanon twice in the past year and found it to be one of the most diverse countries I’ve ever travelled to. Upon exiting at the airport you’re automatically greeted in Arabic (apparently I look Syrian), then French and finally English.

Most Lebanese (specifically in Beirut) has at least some fluency in these three languages.

While at a media conference at the American University of Beirut I happened upon Michael Oghia, a researcher there.

He greeted me in Arabic, then French.

After explaining I’m Scottish and working in Saudi Arabia, we started talking about a variety of things from politics (Scottish Independence movement - Occupy Glasgow anyone?) to philosophy and then, after a few beers, about love, life and relationships.

Ogie (like Yogie Bear), as he prefers to be called, started discussing the subject at great lengths with our guests, so I said to him - “Dude you should write about this. You’ve got some great insights.”

To which he replied, “As a matter of fact I do.”

LOVEanon: Dating with a Lebanese twist

What is LOVEanon? Are you like an agony aunt?

It’s not an advice blog - I’m not Dear Abby.

On the contrary, it only serves to help connect individuals to relationship research and resources. I set it up with the purpose of helping individuals understand who we love, why we love them, what we look for in a partner, and how we can create better, stronger, and more meaningful relationships.

What inspired this…it’s a combination of things. First you have to understand my thesis research. My MA (sociology) thesis pertains to how a sample of unmarried Arab youth form and maintain romantic relationships specifically exploring how they define, experience, identify, and value romantic love. Where did this topic come from?

Many places. When you look around Lebanon, you see couples holding hands in Jbeil, heart-shaped graffiti in Beirut, and overbooked restaurants on Valentines Day. Love is “in your face” both at AUB and throughout Beirut.

Two factors in particular were critical to beginning this research as well. The first is that there has been little-to-no research done on this topic, and none of them are extensive studies. The second is that my mother actually was in love with a guy in the 70s, but they couldn’t be together because her parents didn’t approve.

Basically, I reflected on this and combined with seeing how much “love” is around, I began to wonder if things had changed since 1970s Lebanon regarding romantic love and romantic relationships. Although love seems to be everywhere, what is harder to find is information that helps us navigate our romantic relationships. While the jury is still out about this in terms of my thesis (it’s almost done!), I designed a study all about love and relationships using AUB students as my sample population. As soon as the flyers for my thesis went up, people were talking about my study. It was a hot topic. One male student even came up to me one day when I was surveying and said he needed help with his relationship!

I really saw that there was room for something like a blog about relationships. Not an advice column—I’m not a professional yet as I said— but more like a way to connect people to relationship research and resources.

Something I’m very dedicated to as well is “public sociology,” which long story short amounts to connecting academia to the general public through advocacy, communication, and education. I thought, “Hey! People have been saying I would be a good person to talk more about this. Why not?” And the other thing is that I was getting so many requests to hear what the results of my research were. So, between the potential audience, the fact that no one else was doing it in Lebanon or for a Lebanese audience, and the overwhelming social support, I did it!

List five things you learned about yourself, love and relationships from the blog?

Great question… It’s interesting forming a relationship when you blog and study about love and relationships! Some female friends of mine have said that it could be a bit intimidating for some girls haha. Honestly though, it’s a wonderful professional tool for me. The way I blog isn’t just about news or opinion, I really connect people to research.

My blog actually includes references! I focus a lot on self-development and self-awareness, because these two concepts are paramount to fostering happier relationships. This includes how we communicate, which is a topic I frequently blog about. Most importantly, I review social scientific research relationships, and include it in the posts in an easy-to-understand way. But all this reviewing resources and research actually keeps me on top of the research in various fields related to relationship research as well. And it’s actually helped me in my thesis writing too, at least in terms of being more familiar with the general literature about relationships.

So five things…

People in Lebanon really like and want to talk about love!
Blogging is about content, not about the frequency that you post. Blogs are content driven!
I really love blogging! And it’s really been helpful to people (I call my followers LOVEanese)
It’s a great way to foster professional development without anyone’s help, but also I can do so in a way that let’s my voice and my personality shine through
It’s really helped me solidify my interests better and understand why I am doing what I am. People have come to know me as “the love guy!” and I really like that. I am happy that it can help me spread my passion!

What have you found to be the most challenging issues? Was there any moment you thought, why in god’s name did I decide to do this?

I’m sure I have thought of that, but honestly, my readers are the best people in the world. They are so supportive! So far, I haven’t had many challenging issues, aside from people not commenting as much as I would like. But I know a lot of people read, and share. And I’m not worried about content either. I have a Word document that keeps growing in length with suggestions for posts, and I always ask readers to suggest content.

What has been your most controversial subject?

Hmm… I haven’t really had many. I try to keep my blog as objective and value-neutral as I can. Love tends to be something with a more positive connotation, and there is not necessarily as much taboo around it as there is with sex for instance. Also, I include so many references in my blog that there’s not much to add—e.g., it’s not an argument. It’s more of a discussion. Unlike other blogs that give mostly opinion, I try to keep mine out as much as I can. I try to make people think, but I do not like to be provocative or uninformed.

I did get a lot of comments on a post I wrote about the friend zone, but also one about sexuality. Sexuality as a whole is something I try to avoid because although it is often related to love and/or relationships, they aren’t inherently related per se. Love is my field, not sex. In the social sciences, they are completely different topics.

How long has the blog been running?

Since August 27, 2011.

How has it grown to be so popular? Do you have a content strategy for it? Or do you just write for the hell of it?

I really blog about whatever I feel like blogging about that particular week. It’s grown a lot through my social networks (both online and offline). I have a strong Twitter and Facebook presence, and many people have followed the blog through these two mediums, Facebook especially. I also have a Facebook page just for the blog (www.facebook.com/LOVEanon). I’m lucky as I’ve said because many people I know who read it share my content with their friends and on their pages/with their followers. Also, while my content is geared towards Lebanon, it is also applicable to a wider, more general audience.

So yes. I write for the hell of it!

Is it hard to maintain? You’re doing it for free?

Maintenance when it comes to money is simple. It’s on Blogger, which is free. So that kind of maintenance is easy. You are right though, sometimes I think to myself, “I spend so much time doing this, why do I? What’s the point?” You know, sometimes with all the research, writing, editing, etc., it takes me up to 8 or 9 hours to write a post. No kidding! I put a lot of effort, time, energy, and myself into the posts. And I’ve committed to writing one a week, and have been pretty good about sticking to that. But I try not to think of it in terms of what am I getting from it, or how is it helping me.

Call me either romantic or foolish (or both), but I think I do it in part because I’m really committed to this ideal that I’m a sociologist, and it’s my duty in part to serve the community. Taking my knowledge and my skills and communicating them to the wider society. I’m an idealist I guess, but I also have integrity. I will NEVER monetize my blog, and that is something I have very little doubt that I will change my mind on. I would much rather people just read the blog than gain money from it. I don’t want ads on my blog!

At what point did it go from being just a blog, to a full blown hobby?

Wow, good question too…No idea. I mean, I can’t remember the one moment, but it didn’t take long before I became “LOVEanon.” And conveniently enough, I love that :)

Anything else you’d like to add?

Check it out, and spread the love!

Five qualities editors seek in journalists | IJNet

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:21:00 +0300

Via Scoop.it - Stories In Content

IJNet.org is the premier global website for journalists and media managers to learn about training and networking opportunities. The site and its weekly e-mail bulletin reports on the latest innovations, resources and awards.

Via ijnet.org

Five tools for creating (great) online content

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:55:00 +0300

Via Scoop.it - Stories In Content

On-the-go editing, curation and creation are becoming a common duty for the modern journalist and online creative. Here are some tools to get you on your way.
Via digitalministry.com

Probably the youngest delegate at sxsw

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:08:05 +0300

Via Scoop.it - Stories In Content
Firsts This trip has contained my first long haul flight, my first trip to the states and my first conference. Long haul is fantastic. It’s basically a reason to sit around and watch crappy f…
Via seventeenbysouthwest.wordpress.com

Amazon.com: Digital Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media (9780759111219): Loïc Tallon, Kevin Walker: Books

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:40:39 +0300

Via Scoop.it - Stories In Content

Amazon.com: Digital Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media (9780759111219): Loïc Tallon, Kevin Walker: Books (Digital Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media: Digital Technologies and…
Via amazon.com

Planning to compete with the World of Warcraft? Then you'll need an army of Star Wars creatives

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:03:00 +0300

Planning to compete with the World of Warcraft? Then you'll need an army of Star Wars creatives:

“30 people in production, 75 designers, 80 engineers, 40 platform experts, 10 people to localize the game, 10 composers, 140 artists, and 280 people in quality assurance”

BioWare’s TOR team could only compete with WoW by planning, and not being afraid to throw out the plan if it wasn’t working.

Newspaper revenue loss - it's a culture problem, says report

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:24:49 +0300

Newspaper revenue loss - it's a culture problem, says report:

What do you think? Is archaic newsroom culture destroying the print media business?

theeconomist: An ambitious gesture-recognition system aims to...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:39:23 +0300

theeconomist:

An ambitious gesture-recognition system aims to let you use your body instead of a range of portable electronic devices.

sincerestregretsfromg: A newsletter I did on becoming a music...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:03:00 +0300

sincerestregretsfromg:

A newsletter I did on becoming a music journalist. “So you wanna be a music journalist.”

Here’s some decent info on getting started in music journalism. Totally diggin’ the slipknot poster!