Now that you’ve been finding, reading, and commenting on blogs, you’ve probably realized that it takes time to go from blog to blog every day to read posts.  If you read news on more than one website, you have the same problem.  Fortunately, with an RSS feed aggregator, you can read all the blogs and news in one place.

This video by Common Craft explains “RSS in Plain English”:

I use Bloglines to keep up with the latest posts on blogs and other sites each day.  Some people like Google Reader.  Others prefer start pages like Pageflakes and Netvibes.

To learn how to use Bloglines, watch Russell Stannard’s videos here.  If you’d rather try Google Reader, you can start with this video and then watch “More From: expertvillage” by clicking on those words on the right side of the screen and select the video you want to watch next.  You can also search YouTube for videos on how to use other aggregators.

I will be also be publishing and updating this information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover creating blogs and using other types of social media.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs
Lesson 3: Understanding Tags
Lesson 4: Finding Blogs
Lesson 5: Commenting on Blogs

Since you’ve been finding and reading blogs, you’ve probably come across some blog posts that you’ve wanted to comment on.  It’s not difficult, and if you haven’t figured out how to do it, just watch these videos to learn how to comment on Blogger and WordPress blogs.  Blogs hosted by other services work much the same way.

“Posting a Comment to Blogger“

“How to Post a Comment in Blogger“

“How to Post a Comment on Somebody Else’s Blog“

“WordPress Web Marketing Tutorial – How to Comment on a Blog“

“How to Post a Comment on WordPress“

Here are some written instructions and tips for commenting on blogs:

• “Good Comment – Advice For Writing a Great Blog Comment“
• “How to comment like a king (or queen!)“
• “How to comment on a blog – a beginners guide“
• “Geek to Live: Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments“
• “How to Comment Like a Professional“
• “How to Leave a Comment on a Blog“

If you’ve thought at all about starting your own blog, I’d recommend commenting on others’ first to see if you have enough to say and say it well enough to warrant doing so.

I will be also be publishing and updating this information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover reading blogs using RSS feeds and using other types of social media.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs
Lesson 3: Understanding Tags
Lesson 4: Finding Blogs

There is more than one way to find blogs to read about politics or other topics.  A good starting place is the list of prominent conservative blogs and bloggers I provided in Lesson 2.  Several search engines have been developed just for finding blogs:

• Addictomatic
• BlogPulse
• Blogged
• BlogScope
• Globe of Blogs
• Google Blog Search
• Icerocket
• surchur
• Technorati
• Trendpedia
• Twingly Blog Search
• Xanga.com

In addition, there is a list of Blog Search Engines at About.com.

Probably the two most popular blog search engines are Technorati and Google Blog Search.  I recommend using Technorati.  Here are some videos if you need help using these two blog search engines and surchur:

“Technorati“

“How To Find Blogs in Any Category“

“Using Google Blogsearch“

“surchur – The Web’s Ultimate Dashboard to ‘Now’“

I will be also be publishing and updating this information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover commenting on blogs and reading them using RSS feeds.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs
Lesson 3: Understanding Tags

Before we delve any deeper into social media or web 2.0 applications, it’s important to understand tags.

In your filing cabinet or on your computer, you create folders to store related documents.  You create a taxonomy, or system of classification, for your documents.  However, unless you make copies, each document can be stored in only one place under one classification, and you have to remember where you put it.

With tags, you can use several different classifications for each item.  Look at a post on a blog, a page on a wiki, or a bookmark on a social bookmarking service.  Clicking on a specific tag (or label or category) will bring up items with the same tag.  This system of using tags for classifying items on the web or a computer is called folksonomy.

This video explains “Tagging & Folksonomy”:

In this one, Robin Good discusses  “Tags:  Content Tagging and Its Importance”:

For more information, read these articles:

• “Tags“
• “Tags and Tagging: How Do You Create Good Tags?“

You can also watch these presentations on SlideShare:

• “Tagging That Works“
• “Tagging“
• “Tagging in an Academic Setting“

This is the third in a series of lessons to help conservatives who are less comfortable with the internet learn what these services do and how they can be used.  I will be also be publishing and updating the information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover finding more blogs to read, commenting on them, and reading them using RSS feeds.

Earlier Lessons:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″
Lesson 2: Understanding Blogs

A web log is essentially a journal or log kept on the web.  Eventually the two words were joined as weblog and then shortened to blog.  A blogger is a person who has a blog, and the blogosphere is entire community of bloggers.

This video by Common Craft explains “Blogs in Plain English”:

Blogs range from personal daily diaries to professional publications.  Each entry or post is dated, and they appear in the blog with the latest first.  In recent years, quite a few pundits and ordinary people have started using blogs to write about and comment on political events and issues.  For conservatives, blogs, like talk radio, can provide news that we don’t get from the mainstream (“old”) media.

Some of the more prominent conservative blogs and bloggers include

• Michelle Malkin
• Power Line
• Instapundit
• Glenn Beck
• Hugh Hewitt
• RedState

For Colorado, you can find some of the most prominent bloggers at

• Rocky Mountain Alliance
• Backbone America
• The Blog Wrangler at Face the State

This is the second in a series of lessons to help conservatives who are less comfortable with the internet learn what these services do and how they can be used.  I will be also be publishing and updating the information on a wiki.  Future lessons will cover using tags,  finding more blogs to read, and commenting on them.

For more information, read these articles:

• “How Blogs Work“
• “Blogging Basics“
• “The History of Blogging“

Earlier Lesson:

Lesson 1: Defining “Social Media,” “New Media,” and “Web 2.0″

Social media includes web-based services for blogging, microblogging, social networking, podcasting, photo and video sharing, and others that allow users to produce content and communicate with others.  All of these applications are encompassed within the idea of web 2.0, which is the term used to refer to the second-generation of web-based services used for communication, collaboration, and productivity.  In addition to the types of applications considered to be social media, web 2.0 includes social bookmarking services, wikis, web-based productivity applications (word processing programs, spreadsheets, and presentation programs), and, by stretching the definition some, virtual worlds.

New media includes all of this and any computer-based media.

This video by Common Craft explains “Social Media in Plain English”:

In order to advance conservative causes and support conservative candidates, we need to use all of the tools available to us, including the ones listed above.  I’m hoping this series of lessons, which I will be also be publishing and updating on a wiki, will help conservatives who are less comfortable with the internet learn what these services do and how they can be used.

For more information, read these articles:

• “Web 2.0 Compact Definition:  Trying Again“
• “What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software“
• “Web 2.0“
• “Web 2.0:  What Is It?“
• “What Is Web 2.0“
• “What Is Web 2.0 Anyway?“
• “Basics for Beginners:  What Is Web 2.0?“

You can also watch some or all of these videos on YouTube:

• “What Is Web 2.0“
• “Web 2.0 Panel Discussion – What Is Web 2.0?“
• “Webvolution“
• “What is Web 2.0? And what about 3.0? Part 1“
• “What is Web 2.0? And what about 3.0? Part 2“

I found the following definitions by searching Google, which does have its uses, though I don’t think it’s the best search engine out there.

Definitions of “social media” on the web:

• Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words … (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media)
• The term social media describes media that is posed by the user and can take many different forms. Some types of social media are forums, message boards, blogs, wikis and podcasts. Social media applications include Google, Facebook and YouTube. (www.batchblue.com/glossary.html)
• Software tools that allow groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content (examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace etc) (www.bottlepr.co.uk/glossary.html)

Definitions of “new media” on the web:

• New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the … (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media)
• Online and digital ways of receiving information. (www.mediasmart.org.uk/parents-media-glossary.php)
• a general term covering non-traditional ways of delivering advertising or promotion messages, anything from text messaging to the Internet (www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199274895/01student/glossary/glossary.htm)
• Media technology or a form of media communication that surpasses, enhances, and/or alters an already-existing technology; for example, DVD … (userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/anthro/jbeatty/COURSES/glossary.htm)
• a term describing media that can only be created or used with the aid of computer processing power. It is a form of media that includes some aspect of interactivity for its audience and is usually in digital form. … (cjt-site.tacticaltech.org/book/export/html/19)

Definitions of “web 2.0″ on the web:

• The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Web_2.0)
• The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second-generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. … (sunsigngraphicdesign.com/drupal/)
• The use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. … (www.anvilmedia.com/search-engine-marketing-glossary.html)
• Web 2.0 describes a transition of the World Wide Web from a system of websites to a second generation platform of social networking sites, communication tools, and web applications. Web 2.0 services may, in the future, replace desktop applications for many purposes. … (back40design.com/glossary/)
• This is the name which has been given as an umbrella term to what is considered to be the next phase of the evolution of the internet, encompassing technologies such as blogs, wikis and other forms of interaction, development and innovation above and beyond the web technologies which have been … (absolute-digital.co.uk/glossary.php)
• A term to generally describe web sites and services where the content is shaped partially or entirely by the users (instead of being read-only and published by a sponsoring company). (ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/web20glossary)
• There is no simple definition for Web 2.0. Broadly put, it is a paradigm shift in the way the Internet is used. Web 2.0 involves a more open approach to the Internet, in particular user-generated content, Blogs, Podcasts, social media, review sites, Wikipedia, etc. (www.inetasia.com/NewsandEvents/seo-terminology-explained.html)
• A new way of thinking about the web which provides tools and functionality for publishing, collaboration, and information access that normally … (icfl.idaho.gov/page/glossary)
• A generic term that describes a class of Web-based tools that enable the publishing and management of user-created content. This includes social and professional networking sites, community sites, blogs, wiki’s, discussion boards, user-submitted reviews and ratings, and more. (techjobsbook.com/glossary.html)
• A term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 to describe a second generation of the web. This describes more user participation, social interaction … (www.webdesignseo.com/blogging-terms/web-20-terms.php)
• This term refers to the “second generation” of services that are available on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 applications include blogs, podcasts, ppc marketing, wikis, tagging and RSS syndication. Web 2.0 is a rather large category of services that share some basic themes: (www.boutiquewebdesigns.com/InternetTerms.doc)