via Blogging doesn’t have to be extra work — contentious.com.

An interesting interview with a mom-blogger who is now Senior VP for consumer brands social media at Edelman in Chicago. She got the job when Edelman noticed her blog , Foodmomiac blog. She discusses how they find and work with bloggers. They don’t do “paid-for posts”:

…we look through the list of bloggers that we know; we ask bloggers we know for recommendations; and we don’t ever work with anyone, or reach out to anyone, until we’ve read back at least three months to get a sense of what that blogger’s like so that we do know that they’re sane, that they’re disclosing, that they are doing things in a way that fits within the ethics of our company and of our clients’ companies.

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• Martha Stewart and Blogger Relations (americapeals.com)

via Job Search Examiner: How can a blog help you get a job and enhance your career?.

Okay, so contact us if you need some specialized and “just in time” training for a reasonable price. Remember that learning is the labor of the 21st century.

Breaking News! Writing for the Web will be held at DePaul Center at 1 E. Jackson, Blvd. See below for a full description of the event. We hope you can attend!

Writing for the Web, with Keidra Chaney

You just set up a brand new blog, or maybe you have an opportunity to write for a website on your favorite topic. Are you ready to wow the world with your compelling content?

If you’re new to writing for the web, your content may not hit the right marks to attract regular readers. This workshop will give you an overview of the guidelines you need to follow to engage website visitors and increase your readership.

Learn:

• How web visitors read; no, they’re not just like a print audience
• How to learn who your audience is and write for them
• How to write content that gets the search engine traffic you want
• How to promote your site, and your writing, to get attention and win fans

This workshop is for: Writers, marketers, and communications professionals who are transitioning from print to web

When: Sunday, May 31, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Chicago Loop. More details to come.

How much: FREE for AWJ members, $25 for nonmembers

More information: Location and registration information is coming soon. Check www.awj-chicago.org for the latest.

Who is Keidra?

Keidra Chaney is Emerging Media Specialist at DePaul University. She has spent her career straddling the divide between print and online media. She was an editor at award-winning Clamor, which ceased publication in 2006, and is a former columnist and editor at Chicago-based progressive publication Third Coast Press, which was reborn as the website www.chicago6corners.com. Her music, film, and book reviews frequently appear in ALARM Magazine and Bitch, among other publications. She has spoken about issues of blogging, social networking, user-generated content, and fan culture at MIT and University of Michigan and for Publicity Club of Chicago, Girl Scouts of Chicago, and other organizations. www.thelearnedfangirl.com is but one of her online homes.

Keidra Chaney is one of this year’s Winners.

Here is a list of 12 ways to replace the “boring” .pdf you are tempted to put up on your website with something more interesting. From maps, to twitter feeds, to slideshows, and more. It is an interesting read.

And if you are working for a non-profit, check out impactmax for the full article on getting your org’s knowledge into forms that will take it into people’s heads….

via Blogging for Glory « Daniel Durazo’s Blog.

It was a fantastic learning experience and I came away with some head-exploding resources and ideas. You can read about my experience at my blog, The Learned Fangirl, but here are 25 things that I came away with from the conference (based on the copious note taking that I did while there) I’ve been sharing with friends, colleagues, and now, you. Hit me up at @ thelearnedfangirl @ gmail [.dot.] com if you want a little bit more explanation, or better yet, check out the podcasts from all of the SXSW interactive panels at the SXSW website. Hope to see you there next year!

1.) Websites: It’s about the user. Web design should begin and end with user needs. Always bring them into the web design process.
2.) Social Media: It’s about the community, not your message. Listen, listen a lot before you enter into a social media community.
3.) Technology scares people. But what’s happening w/ social media isn’t about technology, but about how people are adapting their behavior to it (Clay Shirky)
4.) Social media succeeds and evolves when you do social media (Hashtag evolution, Social media/racism panel)
5.) Do not overwrite on the web. Talk to people as if they are human beings. One on one interaction is valuable here. (Scott Goodstein, Revolution Messaging, LLC. Goodstein was External Online Director for Obama for America,)
6.) Marketing = transactional interaction. Social Media = relationship interaction. Many people new to social media mistake one for the other. (DL Bryan)
7.) 1 way conversations in media are becoming less and less relevant (DL Bryan)
8.) Allow your audience to validate you, let them carry your message and evangelize. Don’t decide for them what’s important. Give them info and let them decide. (Clay Johnson,ex- Blue State Digital)
9.) FAIL HARD. Experiment by listening to your community, but allow for mistakes. Big ones.(Clay Johnson, Scott Goodman,)
10.) Popular perspectives on Facebook/Twitter/MySpace use are often based on assumptions about user cultural background/class. My Space is no longer used by white middle class, college educated. Does that mean it is no longer popular? (Danah Boyd, Microsoft)
11.) Email not dead, but not a priority (Clay Johnson)
12.) Social Media, not about what you say, but about the tolerance you have for what others say about you.
13.) Voice is key.
14.) The five levels of online user experience 1.) interested 2.) invested 3.) commited 4.) engaged 5.) embedded (Leah Buley, UX designer)
15.) Create a web design principle: a statement of what you want your user’s online experience to be (Leah Buley, UX designer)
16.) Measure everything, but against your own benchmarks. Online community is too diverse to adhere to uniform benchmarks (Clay Johnson, Scott Goodman)
17.) No such thing as a social media campaign “best practice” The best examples of successful social media have come from the bottom up (suxorz ‘09)
18.) Online community building. Mind the tyrannical minority, but not at the expense of the silent majority (Alexis Ohanian, Reddit).
19.) Social media does not change corp. culture. The next few months/ years will be about re-education for communications media professionals, Educate before you ask for buy-in.20.) ROI is happiness. Make your users happy. (Tony Hseih, Zappos.com)
21.) Blog out of love and passion for your chosen topic, and people will read (John Gruber/Merlin Mann – Big Name Bloggers)
22.) Don’t be obsessed with staying on message (Amit Gupta, photojojo)
23.) The traditional press release will stop being used by the end of this year. (Brian Solis, PR 2.0)
24.) Social media success? Run small experiments that will fail.
25.) Online content strategy: Plan. Create. Publish. Govern. (Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic)