To blog or not to blog? Should you spend valuable minutes and hours talking in chats and forums? Dengi have found out that the "waste of time" can benefit your career and increase income when you do it properly.

One of ICQ fathers Yossi Vardi told authors of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers (see link) once that "story telling is the second most popular entertainment in the world, but conversations is the first". People love talking and do it in every way possible. Talking online is one of the most effective communication channels today. But just like other types of conversation, online communications take time and don't always benefit your work.

Do you need a blog and why?

Each blogger thought about it at the very beginning. Each has a positive reply of his own. For example, when asked "Why do you need a blog", Ukrainian editor, photographer, and blogger Konstantin Donin (http://donin.livejournal.com) said "for the very reason I have a telephone – this is a communication medium".

Most people the reporter of Dengi has spoken to at various communities, forums, and personally, would say they started blogs for themselves. Including those working in communications – journalists and psychologists. "I launched it for no special reason and write whatever I'm up to. But the most surprising thing is that although I don't regard the blog as an advertising medium, people approach me through it. They mean they like the journal and that's why come to me", -- says inbell (http://inbell.livejournal.com), psychologist Olga from Israel.

"My blog is 1.5 years old. I started blogging for myself but it proved to be a very handy tool", says Vakhtang Kipiani, editor-in-chief of Inter TV channel program Veliki Ukraintsi (Great Ukrainians) (http://vaxo.livejournal.com).

"I run blogs on LiveJournal and the website of our edition. The first hosts mostly my viewpoints of various subjects from politics to culture. The second blog is more professional and I write chiefly about international life", Kiev journalist Dmitriy Gubenko said to Dengi.

 
Ways to use it
The simplest goal is self promotion pursued by most bloggers. Although Russian writer Viktor Pelevin tried to pursued readers in his Empire V that “blogging is a defence reflex of a maimed mind endlessly vomiting glamour and discourse”, bloggers don’t trust him. And right they are as self promotion is not so evil if you ask any spin doctor.

Online stories feature lots of cases when “a mere guy started a blog and now enjoys STRONG AUTHORITY and people BUY HIM”. But let’s describe how to promote rather than retell stories of others. Firstly, you need to spend much time on promotion updating your blog very often to raise its rank in search engines. Secondly, following the principle "I give it to you, you give it to me", you can exchange many links with other users (to other blogs, news, photos, etc. related to blog subjects). Thirdly, you should be a real person and not try to pose as a “virtual character”. Essential elements of a successful blogger are openness and sincerity, while vital aspects of a good theme-focused blog are passion and authority. Yet small tricks are out there too, e.g. experienced bloggers recommend to post anything important on Monday morning when the whole blogosphere flows to offices, turns on PCs and goes on the web as it feels enormous desire to work.

 
Professional use 
People dealing with information professionally – journalists, market researches, PR-specialists – know that blogs and forums offer an excellent chance to collect it. For example, Dengi regularly visits focused forums seeking for ideas of articles. Blogs can be used effectively too. For example, a Kiev journalist Anastasiya Alekseyenko (http://nastasyia.livejournal.com) runs a blog as a portfolio, looks for characters of her stories and useful contacts. Vakhtang Kipiani told Dengi he uses the blog to find people he needs, to commission articles, and take comments.
There are even more sophisticated ways to use blogs if you seek money.Moscow business coach Maya Vorontsova (http://buddilnik.livejournal.com) launched her first LJ as a job follow-up. "I work on the web and sometimes I feel it difficult to find division between private staff and business. The second blog emerged quite recently purely as a working tool – a consultation room". She says internet coaching is not a wide-spread trend. “Online consultations are not limited to correspondence but include my voice and a webcam. Yet most people in deed still prefer correspondence as you can reread it later and analyze. This is valuable in coaching".  

“There is always likelihood that content will be sent be people willing to affect it, e.g. promote their goods or services”, warns Auguste Grant, Professor of South California University and a member of Digital Future of Journalism, joint program realized by SCM's Foundation for Development of Ukraine and the Journalism School of Kiev Mohyla University. But Internet is democratic and you can always skip a waste page.
 

Getting answers
Asking friends with expertise for advice in a complicated situation is easy. Forums and chats often offer people ready to give a sensible suggestion. Important is to ask correct questions. "You can undoubtedly get advice. Moreover, I don’t usually ask questions that knows-nothing want to answer", argues Russian psychologist and blogger Vladimir Volokhonskiy (http://volokhonsky.livejournal.com). But you should not go too far with “smartness” in questions. For example, a reporter of Dengi spoke once to an IT-director complaining of never having got answers on professional forums. "I’ve been dealing with Machs for long and eagerly answer questions on IT-forums. But I never received any reply to three questions of mine. Maybe I’ve been so much “advanced” that no one can advice anything or maybe nobody has seen similar problems before?”

But what are you to do if you want to find solution but are reluctant to show up or afraid of being reputed as incompetent when asking colleagues for advice? You may not ask but just read interesting sections at appropriate forums, perhaps something comes up. You can also create a one-time account and ask questions to “profis” without being shy. Yet they might not reply. Forum sitters don’t like those guys lazy to explore the search option and asking questions discussed before.

Even if you are lucky to get a reply-advice, you can't be sure it is honest. As Dengi have written (see №48, available here www.dengi-ua.com), companies like today to “plant a mole” on various forums, chats, etc. For example, someone asks for advice: "Please suggest a good store to buy clothes at?" The planted pseudo-advisor with allegedly solid experience will immediately prompt you to the best place to buy staff. In fact, the topic can be created by just another “planted” guy. 
 
 

Very useful contacts  
“Do what you must and let it be". Being guided by this principle and talking online only for fun, you can unexpectedly meet a future partner (both in live and business) or an employer. A Dengi reporter met two “free Indians” on www.figvam.net called Exlibrist and Vega. They met long ago on a business publication forum and quite recently have thought: “Why can’t two noble Dons set up a joint business?” No sooner said than done, so a seal and stamp production company has launched this summer.
 

Finding job
Even without any special plans to set up a business, online conversations can be extremely useful. “Working for Fokus I hired someone whom I knew as a blogger only. The person edited our website and I was happy with the job”, said to Dengi Vakhtang Kipiani. Dengi found this mysterious person and he turned out to be Vera Nechitaylo (http://verusya.livejournal.com) – content-manager of our own website. "My LJ marked 5th anniversary yesterday”, she says.
“Major changes in life were connected with LJ. This is a big number of friends in different parts of the world. Some of them would even come to me. So, we are really on friendly terms. I would moderate and oversee Interesniy Kiev (Interesting Kiev) community for long (http://interesniy.kiev.ua). In fact, it started my career in content manager. I met Vakhtang Kipiani, then editor-in-chief of Fokus, through creator of IK Arseniy and had worked there for eight moths. Now I work for Dengi largely thanks to my previous engagement with Fokus.
You shouldn’t however blindly expect to find them through an excellent blog in LJ or “smart” questions and answers on forums. “I rarely hire people and never – on a blog-basis”, said Konstantin Donin to Dengi. “Right, a good website can be some kind of portfolio but won’t be decisive”.

Everything depends on the area though. A search for a strong IT-expert must be certainly started with professional forums and chats. International software developers work exactly like that. For example, several Simferopol programmers got profitable contracts in Moscow thanks to chatting.
Ukrainian HR-specialists admit they approach some candidates including IT through following their activity on forums. But they all rejected blogs as another type of recruiting and candidate check. “You need too much time for this research”, said HR-profis on HR-League Forum to Dengi (http://hrliga.com). “I normally go to social networks” (places for class-mates and other buddy talk -- Auth.). You can track involvement in discussions and circle of contacts, and much more there. But the vacancy must be worth the time spent", admitted one of HR-league experts.
 
 

Losing job
Online conversations are not only useful but also dangerous. Firstly, as they may lead to accidental or purposeful confidential information disclosure. Your business will fire you easily and right he is. Secondly, online talks are addictive. It starts resembling a drug and can greatly disturb your work.

One Kiev journalist quitted three jobs last year year. One editorial office simply fired her insisting she were an absolute flop as a journalist. No censorship, no harassment. She just had no time to work with all that messaging with friends, endless reading of friend-wire and comments in the LJ. Now young lady has got a forth job, not in journalism though.

What is it?
Chat is an instant messaging service enabling many users to converse. Chat contents exist only "here and now". A chat looks like a window with messages flow sent by all users.

A forum is a website conversation tool. Forum messages look like mails with name of author, subject, and content. A forum is distinctive for messages being integrated into threads. Answers of users are tied with the initial message. Sequence of answers creates a thread, and the forum acquires a browse structure consisting of threads.

In contrast to chats, the messages sent to a forum can be stored endlessly long, while the answer in forum can be posted not necessarily on the day of the question publication.

A blog is an online diary run by one or more authors which features entries displayed in reverse-chronological order. The word stems from the term "weblog". Community of blogs is called a blogosphere. The biggest resources of the blogosphere include -- www.livejournal.com and  www.liveinternet.ru. (Source: http://slovari.yandex.ru.)

 

SUMMARY
Online communication is an excellent chance to show yourself, get answers to your questions, make useful contacts, find a job or increase number of customers. But sometimes it is a risk of losing job.
 

To learn more about blogging, forums, and chats, see also:
1. http://hrliga.com
2. www.figvam.net
3. www.dengi-ua.com

By Anna Kibovskaya
Source: DengiUA Адрес статьи: http://www.dengi-ua.com/clauses/28214.html
19 December, 2007