Neophyte or Luddite?

Source: http://www.istockphoto.com

Neophyte or Luddite? Being a neophyte to Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 at both the corporate and personal levels, I am quite apprehensive with how to approach this unit.  I can hear you say, ‘how can someone not be part of it?’ with Facebook, twitter, google+, ….

I have worked in IT for quite a few years and have ‘missed’ out on this aspect of IT.  I find that IT is quite broad ranging and I have worked and concentrated on the not-too-sexy side of IT - data, information, databases, business intelligence, etc., and not been part of the frontline digital arena. But am I truly ignorant or a Luddite of blogging? No, because when I think about it, blogs are everywhere – even when I go to buy a book at amazon, I read the reviews or the blogs about the books.

Blogger of the Year 2014

For this initial foray into blogging, the purpose of my blog will be to experiment in a safe environment with regards to learning the tools of the trade, and creating an online presence across different channels.

Ouch, is that sore?? 

Source: http://appreneurworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/branding_cow.jpg



From my readings, I am learning that Web 2.0 is not just ‘a casual chat with someone’ but that my online presence is global and therefore has much more serious consequences to how my personal brand is received in the marketplace.  The description of personal branding as “the public expression and projection of an individual’s identity, personality, values, skills and abilities” shows the depth that surrounds this simple phrase. 

This is specifically true when you consider the blurring of the boundaries between personal and professional online identities.  Does this matter? Well, if it is going to impact my professional life, my career, my means of income, well yes, then it does. To see that applying for jobs is not a manual process anymore (5 Reasons Why Your Online Presence Will Replace Your Resume in 10 years ) but an automated one which leads to employers doing global searches of people’s online presence.  So maybe not being an early adopter may work to my advantage as I can plan for my entrance onto the digital stage by following a branding strategy.


Just Me…..
Some of the questions I have asked myself are –

• How will I portray myself? Will I use a persona?
• What tone and style should I use? Do I need to be the James Joyce of the digital age?
• How to blog? Do I have anything to blog about, something to say or a message to convey?
• Do I need to be a particular personality type? An extrovert?

The answer to my above questions were summed up quite nicely in the article “Learning About Blogging and How to Blog” – BE YOU! BE HONEST! This gives me some relief and hence I started this blog ….

My aim is to create useful blogs and I believe that I can achieve this if I keep the following at the fore of my mind that there are 2 things worth doing when blogging are

1) create content worth reading and

2) create content worth linking to.

Word of Mouth!
Strange to see the phrase ‘Word of Mouth’ in an article about how to attract a blog audience through digital linkages!  The idea of sending people away from your blog by using links, is like playing Russian roulette, but this tack seems to work quite successfully. The benefits of commenting on other people’s blogs is a way of builing up traffic on my blog, increasing my blogging network by creating relationships with fellow bloggers and experts and obtaining readership while increasing my digital signature.

 A Weird Duck Business …

At this stage, I cannot honestly give an example of a blog that I consider excellent, I could of course say that at this point of my learning and research it would be http://digitalplatforms.blogspot.com.au/ - good layout, concise and clear articles…..

…… until more investigations are done but if I can achieve this level of blogging I would be happy with my online digital presence.