January 2, 2008

Dance Blogging in 2008 - Blogging Application Round-Up

I think that 2008 ought to be the year for dancers to blog.

By "blog" I really mean that dancers might want to consider sharing their first person stories and perspectives with their online audiences. I don't mean that every dancer ought to create their own comprehensive dedicated blog and devote large numbers of hours every week to writing about what they're up to - although they can. I'm just encouraging dancers to speak directly to their audiences on an on-going basis in a more or less conversational style. And providing these blog updates on their websites and social networking pages. And promoting them through email and other communication channels.

There are a number of blogging software programs to choose from. So in this post, I offer a round-up of the most popular blogging applications. Some of these programs are meant for short, quick posts, and others are intended for more formal blogging.

Blogging Tools and Applications

I'll start with the short-form blogging tools and follow with the more feature-rich applications.

- Twitter is a very streamlined application that is intended for people who want to share what they're up to in just a couple sentences or so. Two examples of Twitter blogs for dancers are from Terrence Taps and Article19. Twitter feeds, as with all blog feeds, can be embedded in your website, social networking pages and blogs.

- Another short-form blogging tool (but not intended for supper-short posts like Twitter) is Tumblr. Two Tumblr dance blogs include Danciti and Quodlibet.

- You can also use social network sites such as MySpace, which includes blogging functionality. Here's the MySpace blog for Troika Ranch.

- There are a number of popular choices for hosted blogging platforms. You can take a look at Blogger, TypePad and WordPress. Boris Willis Moves, Clare Byrne's Weekly Rites and Moving Space and Time use Blogger. Bellydance: Experiences uses TypePad. And A Time to Dance uses WordPress.

- Blogging software can also be integrated into the overall look and feel of your website. Dance Theater Workshop's new blog uses WordPress and, as you'll see, the blog is a seamless part of the redesigned DTW website. And Swan Lake Samba Girl , which also uses WordPress, is integrated into the overall design of Tonya Plank's website.

- You can also use blogging software to host multiple bloggers and blogs. The Winger uses WordPress. And Great Dance uses MovableType. Personally, I'm a fan of MovableType for hosting multiple blogs. But WordPress does have a lot of fans.

So that's a quick round-up of blogging applications. The tools toward the top of the list are pretty much do-it-yourself programs. As you move down, you'll either need more technical experience or want to hire a consultant for the design and implementation.

Posted by Doug Fox on January 2, 2008 9:00 AM

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