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Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

Their Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents provides basic information that will benefit those new to blogging—explaining blogging terminology, how blogs differ from other kinds of Web sites, how to select a blogging tool and Web host, and how to get started—and goes on to offer tips that even veteran bloggers will find useful. Journalist, blog-ger, and author of We the Media Dan Gillmor tackles the issue of journalistic credibility and standards. Journalist Mark Glaser offers tips on how to "make your blog shine.

Bahraini blogger "Chan'ad Bahraini" explains how Bahraini bloggers have "broken the government's news monopoly"; Hong Kong's Yan Sham-Shackleton, aka Clutter, discusses blogging for Chinese human rights and free speech; Iran's Arash Sigarchi, who did prison time for his blogging, reflects on the importance of blogs in Iran as an outlet for nongovernment-approved speech; and American Jay Rosen points out that even in the United States, blogs are a revolutionary new way for writers to circumvent various powerful "gatekeepers.

Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes Michael J. Panzner See book keywords and concepts

Blogs even started overtaking traditional media outlets as a source of breaking news and real-time commentary in some cases, with blogging occasionally referred to as "citizen journalism." In recent years, blogs have been one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet, providing access to a broad array of insights and tips on virtually any topic, including consumer finance and personal investing. But the explosion in content has also made it difficult to track down or isolate information that is especially useful or relevant.

Why America is still a great place to live: thirteen things I love about this country Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

That's why I'm also a huge proponent of citizen journalism, online blogging and freedom of speech in all its forms. #13: Better treatment of animals Another thing to love about America is the (relatively) humane treatment of animals in this country. Now, I'm not saying we have a perfect record, and there are many areas that need improvement, especially in the beef and chicken industries (just visit PETA.org if you want to see some examples), but by and large we tend to treat animals better in this country than in almost any other country in the world.

Start a blogging site and write about your beliefs. Or if you feel strongly enough about a subject, get out there and rally with others who share your beliefs. Be active -- if you aren't part of the system, then you have no right to complain about it. Help move this country in the direction that you think it should be moved. And take care of your health; improve your nutrition and watch your diet so that you can maintain a healthy, sharp mind. You can stay mentally sharp all the way to 100 years of age or beyond, but it's up to you to make the lifestyle choices that keep you healthy.

Interview with Debbie Weil, Wordbiz founder and online marketing expert Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

For example, I will interview one or more experts on a topic related to e-newsletters or blogging. People like that a lot, but it's passive. In other words, you, Mike would dial in and you would just sit there at your desk, and you probably are checking your email while you're listening, but you're listening and you're thinking, "This is great, I'm learning something, I'm getting some tips, and she'll give me a link to download an audio recording later and I'll get something out of this.

Maybe it's a non-profit foundation or a for-profit company -- do you think that index page should be written more along the lines of marketing speak, or authentic blogging style, or somewhere in between? What's the right tone? Weil: Well, I don't think you start with tone. I think you start with what the objective of the page is. I think that is absolutely key for the homepage index of any business site. You ask yourself, "What is the business goal of this page?

I mean, you should probably be blogging yourself. You can also talk about your products, but do it in a way where you're maybe talking about some of the interesting hurdles you got over in developing a new product, some of the things around the edges of, "Hey, we have a new product, buy it." Microsoft is a great example. Microsoft has, I believe, about 800 bloggers who are allowed to blog -- Microsoft says, fine, go ahead and blog.

But now, blogging comes along, and people are putting in their opinions and their passions, and suddenly that seems a lot more credible to people because it's real. Does that ring a bell with you? Weil: It does, and it sort of seems a bit contradictory in a way, doesn't it? Particularly when you talk about business, where credibility is what you're trying to build. When it's marketing communications, whether it's online or offline, what you're trying to build is your credibility, leadership and that sort of thing. So, I think honestly it's a little hard to describe -- where is that line?

These products are special reports on topics related to marketing with e-newsletters, more recently business blogging and so forth. I also offer consulting services and audio conferences, and I'm doing a new interactive teleseminar series. So I do a bunch of different things, all centered around marketing with words and marketing with your content online. That's through the internet, either through email or through a website. Mike: I think a lot of people who are involved in email marketing or web marketing tend to forget that it really is about words.

But for other people, particularly in business, I think it's actually turned them off of blogging. They say, "That's so silly. I don't want to read about someone's personal observations about politics. I don't want to hear about their cat or what they ate for breakfast." But I think we're just beginning to move beyond that, where people are beginning to understand that you can learn a lot from these famous bloggers, the political pundits and so forth, by studying how they write about things, how they link to other sources, how they create an ongoing dialogue with their readers.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

Other topics include anonymous blogging, overcoming Internet censorship "firewalls," and ensuring e-mail privacy. If you want to know how to blog for impact, the Handbook should be your first stop, jl Connecting With Others mmmm "To work at this work alone is to fail," says the poet Wendell Barry (1990). Almost no one changes the world single-handedly. To make real change, we have to learn how to find and work well with others. We need to search out allies, build networks of people who share our values, support good causes, and trade ideas.

The most inspiring aspect of the Handbook are the "Personal Accounts," short essays from bloggers around the world about why they blog and why blogging matters. German blogger Markus Beckedahl of Netzpoli-tik.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.