Standing in the way of control!

I found this arresting chart on Swivel. It plots the number of bloggers who have been incarcerated over the past few years, based on data collected by the World Information Access project. The number of incidents it tracks went from five arrests in 2003 to 35 last year. As blogging expands internationally, so do the risk of speaking one’s mind. (Something many of us take for granted).

Most of those arrests are in countries with oppressive regimes, such as Egypt, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. But bloggers have been arrested in Canada, France, Greece, and even the U.S. (with Josh Wolf being one of the most famous incidents—he spent the better part of a year in jail for refusing to turn over journalistic video footage to a grand jury).

A few involve cases of alleged terrorism or pedophilia, but the majority involve some form of political speech. Some typical examples:

Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007). “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”

Charles Leblanc (Canada; June, 2006): “For taking pictures at a conference for his blog.”

Josh Wolf (USA; August, 2006): “For videotaping a burning police car.”

Hu Jia (China; December, 2007): “For posting his vocal critiques of human rights abuses and environmental degradation in China and calling the Olympics a ‘human rights disaster.’”

Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007): “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”

Nay Phone Latt (Burma; January, 2008): “For posting pictures of monks and people demonstrating on the streets.”

I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet with the names of all 64 arrested bloggers tracked by the WIA that includes their country, date of arrest, and reason for arrest. These do not include people arrested for impersonating someone else on Facebook or unfortunate enough to be beaten to death during an arrest.

From TechCruch

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This is a helpful article from DailyBlogTips:

As a blogger, there are more than a few mistakes which can and will make you waste valuable time and resources, so that identifying them in order to be able to take action is simply a must.

Let’s not waste another second and start with:

1. Neglecting the Comments Section

The opportunity to interact with your readers is one of the most important things which makes blogging special in the first place. Never make the mistake of neglecting the community you can build around your blog through the comments section, or you will definitely end up regretting your attitude down the road.

2. Not Taking Feedback into Consideration

You will certainly receive your share of emails with suggestions on how to improve your blog, and not taking them into consideration would simply be a shame. After all, if a reader has taken the time to write you an email and share his or her two cents, listening to what that person has to say is the least you could do.

3. Taking Breaks From Blogging

You are obviously only human and will need to recharge your batteries every now and then, but that doesn’t mean that not publishing blog posts for several days in a row is the way to go. Take advantage of the timestamp feature, write a few blog posts before you leave and there you have it.

4. Seeing Blogging as a Chore

The “I’ll just write this post and get it over with” attitude is never recommended if you are serious about seeing long-term results. Pick a topic you are both passionate about and knowledgeable in, and make sure that your posts reflect the way you feel about blogging.

5. Not Respecting Your Readers

When interacting with readers, always be polite and helpful. Don’t look down upon a person simply because the question he or she has asked seems like something obvious. It may be obvious to you, but it may just represent something extremely important to a person who is just starting out. The same way, you should encourage the loyal members of your community to always be ready to help a fellow member out since, as I’ve previously stated, not taking advantage of the comments section would simply be a mistake.

Conclusion

I am convinced that it’s more than clear which blogging traps you need to avoid and, now that you have identified the problem, taking things to the next level is a must. Time is not exactly something you can afford to waste and, as a blogger, maximizing results is the way to go if you are serious about standing out.

What about you? Are you guilty of any of these and, also, which other blogging traps have you identified? What advice would you give to a blogger who is just starting out when it comes to the mistakes he or she should steer clear of?

Alan Johnson is the owner of The Rating Blog and author of The Online Business Handbook.

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From the Gawker blog:

We’ve heard all about the negative effects of blogging: there was the NYT-induced blogger-death panic, in which blogging created an unhealthy lifestyle, resulting in two heart attacks that would have happened anyway. And there are the people who have had relationships destroyed by compulsive blogging. Blogging also exacerbates narcissistic tendencies! But expressing your feelings might actually be good for your health, Scientific American finds: “Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery.” Whoa. Four reasons why blogging is good for your health:

1. Bitching and moaning alleviates stress! “As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a ‘placebo for getting satisfied.’”

2. It gets you high. “Blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.” (Meta-blogger Emily Gould said as much in the NYT Magazine.)

3. If nothing else, there’s the placebo effect: “Cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.”

4. Instant feedback, unlike your diary: “Unlike a bedside journal, blogging offers the added benefit of receptive readers in similar situations.” Sharing is caring!

Blogging—It’s Good for You! [Scientific American]

I knew that there had to be health perks…..

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The xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in SA did not come as a surprise but rather as  a shock of its extent as perpetrated by those involved. I crawled a lot of blogs and noticed that though the press, and columnists working for them, are avidly blogging about it, only a few private bloggers have expressed opinions on the situation! Here on bundublog.com I could only find one blog posted about the topic by African Trade hub.

The question I ask myself is why aren’t more South Africans speaking out or in the least expressing their private thoughts and or opinions about this situation? I experienced the same situation with the Skielik-murders. The press was having a field day, reporting and blogging,however, private individuals remained mostly silent. Surely public discourse is called for by he citizens of the country instead of the press just towing the politically correct line. Is that not what citizen journalism is about?

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