2018 PEOPLE: A collaborative blog is social media if you use it that way

A collaborative blog is social media 
if you use it that way
Updated 12/262018

Collaborative blogs could replace some of the functions of G+ and do a better job of it.

Old fashioned collaboration

A collaborative blog

• Has one owner and multiple contributors.
• Contributors may act as authors, editors, and promoters. 
• Editors bring in guest articles from their contacts.
• Promoters repost articles on other social media outlets.

Advantages of a blog

• Persistent and searchable.
• Can carry post buttons for Facebook, and other social media.
• Keeps the focus on a topic of interest.
• You can let anyone leave comments on an article.
• You can collect comments on a specific topic and post them in a new article

Advantages of a collaborative blog

• More frequent publication gets more views.
• Multiple contributors promote more widely.
• Multiple contributors give a better representation of the community.
• Multiple contributors give wider coverage.   
• Multiple contributors ensure continuity.

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• MUVE (virtual world) weekly update 11/22/2018
• #socialmedia  #virtualworld  #MUVE  #hypergrid

2018 WRITE: BLOG: Blogging in virtual worlds. How to... Summary

Blogging in virtual worlds. How to... Summary
Updated 1/19/2018

• Articles on how to blog in virtual worlds, links

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Why blog about things in Second Life?

• Blog to tell, publicize, or promote.  Summary
• Collaboration
• Pictures and graphics
• Events
• Curating  
• Writing
• Promoting
• Monetizing

2013 PROMO: WRITE: Bloggers in SL--Promote your blog and the SL Blogging Community

Bloggers in SL-- Promote your blog 
and the SL Blogging Community
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Here are some ways:

• Blogroll
• Social Media buttons
• Social media 
• Blog Posters inworld

2018 WRITE: Writing: Create a collaborative blog to market your writing

Create a collaborative blog 
to market your writing

Suggestions on how to use a collaborative blog to market fiction.  Use it as an online writer's colony.  Cooperate on promoting you fiction and building an audience for the blog.  Suggestions for starting a blog, finding collaborators, creating content, promotion, monetizing, and meeting on the web.  #web-world  #socialmedia  #virtualworld  #MUVE  

• Collaborative blog: Multiple authors publishing on the same theme.
• Online writer's colony: Writers collaborating online.

Starting

• Blogging in virtual worlds. How to... Summary
• The whys and hows of blogging
• Blogging for beginners, the virtual world advantage
• Blog to tell, publicize, or promote. Summary

Contents

• How can I find other writers online?
• Why collaborative?
• Suggestions for content
• Promotion
• Can we make money on the blog?
• Will Selby create a collaborative writer's blog?
• Meeting on the web

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• MUVE (virtual world) weekly update 12/10/2018

2014 EVENTS: PEOPLE: Added News and Notes section, collaborating blogs

Added News and Notes section, collaborating blogs
Scroll down for news and notes
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Often I have items of interest that don't justify a separate blog or are about continuing events that really should appear over a period of several days.  I  put them in my Google+ stream, but I wanted to make some of them more easily available to my blog readers.   So I have added a section to the organization of my posts: the News and Notes section.  

2021 PROMO: Plan for organizing a blog in a digital "world". One person, publishing once a month, will get no following in years. But a collaborative blog...

Plan for organizing a blog in a digital "world". 
One person, publishing once a month, 
will get no following in years.  

But a collaborative blog...

Suggestions as to how and why a community or professionally-oriented class might want to develop a collaborative blog that reports on what they are doing.

• Twenty people, publishing once a month on related topics, can build a following.
• That is the potential of a collaborative blog/

Where would you get 20 people?

• In a community.  People in a community share common interests.
• In a professionally-oriented class. They all share professional interests. 

Why blog?

• The whys and hows of blogging.
• Publicize something.
• Build a portfolio.
• Build a reputation.
• Show off project results.
• Let students build portfolios.
• Promote events.
• Promote the interests of your group
• Blog to tell, publicize, or promote. Summary

• Update 11/19/2020 Covid feel good. VWBPE2021: RECONNAISSANCE Call for Proposals Educators' online calendar and OPLN. 

2019 #VWEDU: WRT: Blogging: Starting, building, and promoting your blog about virtual worlds (MUVEs)

Blogging: Starting, building, 
and promoting your blog
about virtual worlds (MUVEs)

A summary collection of previous articles about blogging, with focus on virtual worlds (MUVEs).

Can I make money from a blog?

• Some do, but many use a blog to support a favorite project.
• Google AdWords
• Choose your goal.  To make money, you have to blog to get readers.
• Your favorite project may not be a good subject for that.

How do I start?

• The whys and hows of blogging 
• Blogging for beginners, the virtual world advantage. And blogging for instruction

• #VWEDU update 5/23/2019 Newcomer Notes, Freebies

2018 WRITE: Build an effective community blog for 3D virtual worlds

Build an effective community blog for 3D virtual worlds

Some suggestions on building a blog to help grow and maintain a 3D virtual world community.

What would you use a community blog for? 

• Promote the community to the outworld, get new members.
• Keep community members informed about happenings.
• Support communication among members.
• Answer questions for members, find out about new concerns.
• Share promotional copy and graphics. 
• Support collaboration among members.
• Post/distribute news of interest to members.
• Keep a record of previous events, pictures, and videos, for future use.
• Hypergrid Writer's Community

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More after the break

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Metaverse events, recent and upcoming

• OSCC 2017 Presentations
• Mal Burns: Inworld Review
• Hypergrid Writer's Community
• HYPERGRID EVENTS
• Metaverse Jobs; Job Listings
• IMA projects
• 3D web-worlds of the browser (G+ community)
• Selby's daily news collection:  Virtual worlds are real   
• Virtual Outworlding news collection 
• Events on the Hypergrid: HYPEvents
• Destination guide: OpenSimWorld
• Hyperica, Directory of Opensimulator hypergrid destinations
• WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES
• Entertainment on the Hypergrid, a G+ community
• Hypergrid Destinations
• Hypergrid-related articles in this blog

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2013 PROMO: Not just inworld. Outworld

Promote:  Not just inworld.  Outworld
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You promote inworld.  Do you promote to the outworld?  That's where the people are.  

• Inworld: a virtual world created in a computer
• Outworld: the "real" world
• Your promotion in the outworld is not limited to people in SL
• You can promote to attract people into SL, to enjoy your products
• Your products attract people in SL, 
• They could attract people not yet in SL
• If you promote to the outworlders

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Of interest to

• Content Creators
• Shop owners
• Mall owners
• Estate Landlords
• Musicians/entertainers
• Venue operators
• Anyone with a place that needs traffic

Promotion: from virtual worlds. Summary
Here is what some people are doing to promote their SL projects in the outworld.

2013 WRITE: BLOG: Brand Blogging in virtual worlds. Blogging for the brands.

Brand Blogging in virtual worlds.  
Blogging for the brands. 
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Brand blogging
That is blogging for the benefit of particular brands.  

• A brand might run its own blog.  
• Or it might pay a blogger to write blogs that fit its goals.  
• Events may also have official bloggers.  
• Official bloggers might get no pay
• But would get early access and co-promotion  
• A fashion brand might pay a blogger to write about their products.  
• Or the brand might give the blogger free evaluation products.  

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Here are some issues that come up in connection with brand blogging

• Is it ethical?
• Is an evaluation product the same as pay?
• Can you tell if the promotion is working?
• Can a blog promote to people not in a virtual world?
• Can a blog have several similar clients, serving as an aggregator?

For my suggestions about these, read on

2018 PROMO: BLOG: Talk Virtual Outworlding in MeWe

Talk Virtual Outworlding in MeWe

I created a MeWe group for conversations about this blog.  You can post there to suggest content or to discuss an article. 

Talk Virtual Outworlding in MeWe

• Use this group to suggest content for Virtual Outworlding.  
• Offer to provide an invited article (no pay, just distribution).  
• Offer links with content you think the blog should report on.  
• Ask questions you want answered in the blog.  
• Present issues you think the blog should discuss.  
• Comment on an article in the blog.   
• Post a press release that you want this blog to carry.  
• Describe recurring events you want this blog to mention (on the MUVE update page).   
• You have to be registered in MeWe to get to the group:
• Talk Virtual Outworlding in MeWe

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• MUVE (virtual world) update 12/13/2018

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2019 #WVEDU: BIZ: Do we have a professional learning community (PLC) in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)?

Do we have a professional learning community (PLC)
in the virtual worlds (MUVEs)? #WVEDU

Sort of.  We have a many educational organizations and activities in virtual worlds and some loosely organized communication among them.  But they do not yet form a cohesive community with community plans or community actions. Can we form a stronger professional community?

The Empty Classroom

What is a Professional Learning Community?

• Professional learning community (PLC) (Wikipedia)
• Scholarly articles for professional learning communities
• EdWeb Join a Professional Learning Community

We have several inworld groups that might fit into a PLC

• Here are a few that I know:
• Rockcliffe University Consortium (RUC)
• Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE)
• Virtual Worlds Education Round Table (VWER)
• Institute for New Paradigms (in learning) NPI
• New Media Arts (NMA)
• NonProfit Commons (NPC)
• Community Virtual Library (CVL)
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
• If these groups increase collaboration, they could make a PLC 

• #VWEDU update 5/10/2019 VWBPE Conference Proceedings. Entrepreneurial educators

2016 WRITE: SEO: Build traffic to your blog about virtual worlds

Build traffic to your blog about virtual worlds 

How you can use virtual worlds to promote your blog about virtual worlds 

• SEO tips for promoting your virtual community (Not how to cheat with SEO)
• Interest tally, virtual worlds. Top posts on this blog about Opensim worlds
• Make your articles search friendly
• SL Enquirer offers aspiring writers a place to show their work
• The writing communities of virtual worlds: Nara's Nook
• Google+ as an identity directory. Link to people you write about
• Role playing tools, immersive writing, encounter boxes
• A curated blog, what, why, and how. View counts for my top curating pages.
• Bloggers: Google+ Communities get you leads and get you reads
• Metaverse Authors (G+ group)
• Role playing tools, immersive writing, encounter boxes
• How to build a fictional world, Kate Messner
• Virtual Writers Workshop
• Virtual Writers, Inc.
• Written Word: A community of writers, prose and poetry
• Virtual Stages: Theater, video, acting, directing, script-writing
• Teaching creative writing in a virtual world: How get the world.
• A tale of three kitties
• Notes from a novelist in SL, by Keykey Underwood

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• (More after the break)
• Where is Arcadia?

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Metaverse events, current and upcoming

• WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES
• Entertainment on the Hypergrid
• HYPERGRID EVENTS
• Hobo Reserved Sandbox on Kitely
• Selby's daily news collection
• VWBPE Video collection

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2019 WRITE: BLOG: Use auto-curation on your blogs

Use auto-curation on your blogs

If your blog carries evergreen content, you want to think about curating it.  The best curation requires manual intervention, but auto-curating is always up-to-date.

• About curation
• Are some of your blog posts evergreen (of lasting interest)?
• If so, you want to help people to find them in the future. 
• Blogs stay available indefinitely.  
• Here are some ways you can help your readers find articles in your blog.

• MUVE update 1/17/2019 Murder for dessert, OpenSim Fest, blogs, voice

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2013 WRITE: BLOG: Promote your evergreen content.

 BLOG:  Promote your evergreen content.
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• Evergreen=content of lasting interest
• Continues to draw people to you blog
• If they can find it.
• Here are ways to help people find it

2013 WRITE: BLOG: Blogging for beginners, the virtual world advantage. And a demo of blogging for instruction.

Blogging for beginners, the virtual world advantage.
And a demo of blogging for instruction
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• This article is content for a Q and A session. 
• to be presented at the Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting, 
• 8: 45 am SLT on Sept. 13  
• Location Link. Click to go or drag to the viewer screen:
• http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/95/123/26

• The web link (url) for this current page is: 
• http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/2013/09/2013-write-blog-blogging-for-beginners.html
• At the meeting, post questions in advance by sending an IM to Thinkerer Melville 
• On the web, post questions any time in the comments.
• Presentation is in text. It will mostly be in response to questions.
• Responses will often be links to web pages.

Why Blog?

• Tell people about something important to you
• Blog to tell, publicize, or promote.  Summary
• Maybe you get a rep and get hired as a consultant
• But telling comes first

2013 EDU: THERAPY: Weekly interactive blog on aging. Read the blog. Chat with the author.

Interactive blog on aging.  
Read the blog. Chat with the author.   
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Weekly interactive blog on aging. Read the blog. Chat with blog author the following Tuesday at his conference room on the University of Texas Medical Branch in Second Life.
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Chat with the blog author here

Click image to enlarge

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The blog text is above the fireplace

in a BOP

• Read the blog:  

  Weekly Update on Aging 
• The meeting is the next Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Second Life Time.
• University of Texas Medical Branch in Second Life.
• Location Link. Click to go or drag to the viewer screen:  
• http://slurl.com/secondlife/UTMB%20Island%20Alpha/143/227/26
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• If you need help getting into Second Life, go here.
• Or click on the Newcomers link in the top menu of this blog.

2017 LIBR: This blog is curated: How to use search to find things. Digital smarts

This blog is curated: 
How to use search 
to find things

Digital smarts include knowing how to find things easily and knowing how to make it easy for others to find things in your publications (blogs or scholarly articles).  Here are some tips.

Key word list 

Note search-in-site bar, upper left

Click image to enlarge

• Some of these features may not be offered except in Blogger
• Search on page:  Ctrl f,  put search term in bar, upper middle.
• Works in Chrome, may work in other browsers.
• List important terms at the top of an article to show readers what to search for.

Help your readers search your blog

• Articles about writing in this blog
• Articles about blogging in this blog
• You can pick up the search command and use it as you would a url.
• The search command is in the address field

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More after the break

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Metaverse events, recent and upcoming

• Registration Deadline for the Rockcliffe Conference is August 31
• -
• Events on the Hypergrid: HYPEvents
• Hypergrid Destinations
• IMA Social Web and Virtual World Events, Music, and Meeting Calendar
• HYPERGRID EVENTS
• OpenSimWorld Events
• Entertainment on the Hypergrid
• Opensim AAM Virtual Performers
• Promotion for virtual worlds and everything in 'em
• Selby's daily events and news collection:  Virtual worlds are real 
• Comedy Videos from the virtual worlds
• Web-world videos

Metaverse places and activities

• List of Social VR/Virtual Worlds by Ryan Schultz
• Search this blog with the search bar, upper left.
• Hypergrid Writer's Community
• Metaverse Jobs; Job Listings
• IMA projects
• 3D WEBSITES A2Z
• 3D web-worlds of the browser (G+ community) 
• Web-worlds, 3D virtual worlds running in a browser. Summary
• Virtual Outworlding news collection 
• Destination guide: OpenSimWorld
• Hyperica, Directory of Opensimulator hypergrid destinations
• WELCOME TO SEANCHAI LIBRARIES
• Hypergrid-related articles in this blog

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2013 WRITE: EDU: VWBPE: Blogging as instruction and information in virtual worlds, summary

VWBPE  Blogging as instruction
and information in virtual worlds, summary
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If you would write it, you could blog it

• No publication costs
• No one between you and your readers
• No time between writing and publication
• Update whenever you need to.
• Display inworld for class or poster.
• Answer questions on the article.

This article gives summary instructions and serves as an example.

• Use the media in SL: Browser-On-Prim (BOP) Summary
• Blogging in Second Life. How to... Summary

2014 1stHELP: About this blog. Mission, goals, themes

About this blog. Mission, goals, themes
Updated 9/26/2015

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Objectives, main themes, invited articles, blogroll: The goal of this blog is to show people what they need to know to get the best out of virtual worlds and to suggest lines of creative thinking on how to exploit the potential of virtual worlds.  
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If you know where you are going,

you can figure out how to get there.