1) It helps you learn how much time and energy it takes to keep up a social media "property". Whether it is blog, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tool, there is time needed each week to put up new posts, respond to existing posts, and share news and insights with others. The best way to get a real appreciation for what is involved is to start your own blog.
2) It helps you create a community around your passion/topic. As you link out to other bloggers, they will get to know you and link back to you. As they do so, some will come and explore your blog and get to know you. They will start leaving comments back, invite you to be a guest blogger in their community, and most likely connect up in other places (LinkedIn and Twitter are two common areas).
If you can't come up with a topic that you would like to blog about, be sure to check out our textbook Crush It!
by Gary Vaynerchuk. You will be inspired by Gary and how he has chased his passion.Finally, for some tips on how to make your blog really work, in addition to the online class lecture, here are 25 great tips on blogging from another friend, Valeria Maltoni, who I look forward to seeing at BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2010 in a few weeks.
Happy Blogging, students!
(Photo credit: my friend Shashi Bellamkonda)
