You’ve heard of blogging, tweeting and Facebooking (yes, this has been made a verb), but how many of you have heard of live blogging? It’s not as popular as the other tools – yet, but it’s just as effective and really cool. If you’ve heard of live blogging, this post is a refresher. If you haven’t heard of it, this is your introduction.
What is Live Blogging?
Simply stated, live blogging is sharing information in real time just like Twitter. Unlike Twitter, there are no character limits. Also, blogging, social media and multimedia are combined to give your audience an online “experience”. Lastly, audience engagement is critical for a successful live blog; therefore, many tools are provided to optimize interaction.
Who’s Live Blogging and What Are They Live Blogging About?
Huffington Post is notorious for blogging politics. Many technology bloggers are first to report new technologies and gadgets. DJ Slim, a huge American Idol fan, has been live blogging these shows on his Idol Blog Live since 2004! I live blogged the very first 1-Day WordPress Workshop and the Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Women Entrepreneurial Conference. These are just a few examples of who’s live blogging and what they are covering.
Other events that can be live blogged include:
- Tradeshows
- Community events
- High school and community sports events
- Real-time Q & A sessions for political and community leaders
- Community meetings – PTA, city hall meetings, town halls
Why Live Blog?
The ability to share what’s happening RIGHT NOW and immediate engagement with your audience are two of the main benefits of live blogging. Following are five more reasons.
- Report information first. Because you are an independent operation, you can report information first and accurately. Also, you can share information that mainstream media outlets would not share because of time and relevancy.
- Get paid. In addition to charging for live blogging services, you can charge people to advertise during the live blog and you can submit stories to paying publications after the event.
- Additional blog content. You may decide to use the content from your live blog for posts on your site or as guest posts.
- More exposure to events, knowledge and people. Blogging opens doors to a world of opportunities. You can live blog the topics beyond those on your site. Check out different industries and events. Additionally, you may attract new visitors from around the world.
- Garner support for causes important to you. This is great for real-time fundraising.
Live Blogging Tools
To date, there are four main live blogging programs. WordPress Live Blogging Plug-in, Cover It Live, Scribble Live and G-Snap. Read a review of the different programs.
This is just a quick lesson in live blogging. It is definitely more work than blogging and tweeting, but it can be fun, especially when you are engaging your onsite audience and sharing that information with your online audience. For more information on the many aspects of live blogging as well as tips on how to live blog, purchase my eBook, The ABCs of Live Blogging: Quick Tips to Live Blogging Success.
{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
Live blogging is one effective way to numbers of traffic in your website. Easy and fast to communicate and make topics.
Flexispy Reviews recently posted..Flexispy iPhone Review
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 17, 2011 at 9:25 am
Flexispy, which platform do you use for live blogging? I love it. I’m trying to help other people understand the value so they can pay me to do it.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: webmaisterpro
September 17, 2011 at 9:52 am
I must admit that I hear about live blogging for first time. It looks quite interesting and probably I will look for platform or build custom one myself.
Kaloyan Banev recently posted..Jay created new blog entry Using Coupons to Increase Back Links in Internet Marketing & SEO
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 17, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Kaloyan, I’m glad I was able to expand your blogging knowledge. If you build a plug-in or platform, please let me know.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: BlazingMinds
September 17, 2011 at 10:18 am
I have to say I’ve not really heard of live blogging, but I suppose with the speed that the world is moving and the information is flying around so quickly, live blogging is certainly a way of keeping everyone up to date with up to the minute events.
Karen recently posted..It’s Time For A Top Commentator Contest, Sponsored By BlogEngage
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 17, 2011 at 3:32 pm
It is way cool. It’s really great for covering events using updates, photos and videos.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: lifenleisure
September 17, 2011 at 10:33 am
Your post is so timely for me, Marcie. I’m scheduled to attend an event this coming Thursday. I’ve been to a number of other events in the past few weeks, but never took advantage of live blogging. Thanks to you, I can start applying these starting this Thursday.
Adeline recently posted..Discover Cuisine: An Exclusive Food Blogger’s Event Part 1 of 2
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 17, 2011 at 3:39 pm
I’m glad I could help talk your blogging to a new level. Let me know how it goes for you.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: Part_TimeTed
September 17, 2011 at 5:49 pm
I have to be honest here. I have seen live blogging done a couple of times before and found it somewhat less enjoyable than blogging in the traditional way. I think Twitter is a better medium for that purpose. Yes, I know about the character limit. Yes that sucks. But it forces someone to state the most important points only which is why I think I didn’t like the live blogging. Too much “who cares” kind of content.
Maybe I would like it if it was the only way I could find out what was happening in the Superbowl or something like that. Otherwise….meh………
Ted recently posted..Do You Realize How Much Power You Have As A Blogger?
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Ted, you’re right. Depending on the event, it is rather stuffy which is why you have to add your flavor. But, if you can get online audience engagement, it is more enjoyable. But I totally understand.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
First time read about the live blogging but many of the online activities are to get appreciable traffic and to be a part of organic search and live blogging is also one of them.
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 18, 2011 at 5:01 pm
My only concern about live blogging is how much SEO juice it really get AFTER the event. I was thinking about this the other day, and I think the best tool for this is the live blogging plug-in.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: Craig_Sowerby
September 18, 2011 at 4:10 am
Hi Marcie
I have never heard of “Live Blogging” but I suppose it is a really good way to connect to your target audience. I suppose it is a very similar format to webinars.
I have been included in skype groups too, where you can have live interaction with each other. And I know of Facebook groups who meet up on certain days to discuss things aswell.
So I suppose “Live Blogging” is just another to interact with your readers and audience. Thanks for the tips Marcie
Craig Sowerby recently posted..One Of My Best List Building Techniques!
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 18, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Live blogging is closer to Twitter than webinars. It’s a streaming update of on a designated site. However, you can integrate images, video, audio and Twitter.
I have never participated in Skype groups or Facebook groups; however, it seems those groups are around specific topics or people in specific groups. Live blogging is more event oriented as opposed to topics and groups. But, it is a great way to interact with your onsite and online audience.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Hmm, I feel live blogging is an interesting thing. I myself share new things regularly & live blogging helps me stay ahead in social media as latest happenings help get traffic easily. Nice post
Saksham recently posted..Shopperpress Coupon For September 2011
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 18, 2011 at 5:38 pm
It is interesting, but it is much more work than traditional blogging. You actually have to pay attention, which is hard at events with so much going on. What do you live blog?
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: marketsecrets
September 18, 2011 at 11:44 am
Live Blogging also can be done when an epiphany or enlightening idea occurs to you. For example, when I submitted my guest post for BasisBlogTips the other day I wasnt sure how to go about selecting and uploading an image for it, but fortunately Ileane chose the perfect one for it -which you can see on Don’t Shoot The Messenger
This little delimma immediately caused me to find a way to make that process easier for my own posting efforts and so I immediately blogged about it because I know the things that help me can also help others
Caleb the MarketSecretsBlogger recently posted..How To Find Pictures For Your Posts
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 18, 2011 at 5:39 pm
I never considered the immediacy of live blogging. Every time I’ve used it, planning was required. Thanks for sharing.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: Stevescott1
September 18, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Marcie,
Live Blogging is a very interesting topic. I can see all sorts of useful ways to make this work. but the amount of work. Wow. It seems like it would be immense. I can see where this could be a wave of the future, but I take way to long agonizing over a blog post to ever make a go of it in this venue.
Still very intereresting to know what is going on/upcoming.
Steve recently posted..The Challenge: How to Build a Million Dollar Blog
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 18, 2011 at 5:43 pm
One of the biggest pros of live blogging is you can share your information immediately. The con is the amount of work required. I enjoy doing it, but there is a lot involved. I would encourage you to plan prior to doing it. Pick a small event first to practice.
Marcie recently posted..Live Blog: The Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: slbphoenix
September 18, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I have never heard of this before, but it does give another avenue for the blogging community. Sally
Sally Brown recently posted..‘The Help’ – A Movie Review
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 19, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Hi Sally,
I’m glad I was able to expand your blogging knowledge.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Twitter: JENPENS2
September 18, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Hi Marcie,
Thanks for sharing another blogging avenue for today’s blogger. Can you tell me if there are expenses involved with this form of blogging?
Jennifer Brown Banks recently posted..Could Your Writing Career Use Training Wheels?
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 19, 2011 at 1:31 pm
To live blog, you have to have a computer or mobile phone with wireless access. Depending on how much of an “experience” you want to give your audience, you may need to invest in a camera or video camera if your phone does not have those capabilities.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 19, 2011 at 2:42 pm
You may also need a self-hosted site because I’m not sure if hosted sites allow frames.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Hm.. Interesting. Thanks a lot for sharing this!
Andrew Walker recently posted..Unique Golfing Experiences in Arizona
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 19, 2011 at 12:27 am
Hi Sally! I’m happy I could share a new bit of knowledge with you. Let me know if you have any questions.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Great..You have really make my day.
As I have heard lot about live-blogging but get to know in depth from your post only. This is something more interesting from viewpoint of both i.e from blogger and visitors.
Thanks a lot for sharing such a useful information as I will definately going to palnn for this ASAP.
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 19, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I’m glad I was able to enlighten you. It’s more work than traditional blogging but I enjoy it. Let me know if you need help with anything.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Guest blogging, ghost blogging and now live blogging. I am just getting familiar with new blogging ways with each and every passing day. It sounds so interesting a way to share the information with your audience. I hope, it must be very cool. Thanks for sharing it Marcie.
Daniel Wood
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 20, 2011 at 8:57 am
Glad you’re gaining a wealth of knowledge on Basic Blog Tips. Let me know if you have any questions on live blogging.
Twitter: ivinviljoen
September 19, 2011 at 8:23 am
Hello MArcie. I’m curious: Where does the term ‘live blogging’ come from? It’s a unqiue concept and I’ve even thought it to be way of monetizing your blog. You blog an event live and a company pays you to cover it.
Ivin recently posted..New User? The 411 on Blog Engage
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 20, 2011 at 9:01 am
Live blogging is blogging in real time. Like Twitter, you are sharing details as they arise. Yes, you can get paid to cover the event, there are ways to get paid for advertising during events (more money), and you may even charge for access to the live blog. So many ways to get paid.
Marcie recently posted..Are You Ready for Social Media Week Chicago? It Starts Tomorrow
Twitter: The_Health_Guy
September 19, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Marcie, the ideas regrading Internet Marketing (home business, blogging etc …) seem to move so quickly at times it is difficult to catch up let alone get ahead of the trends. I have never heard of live blogging and quite frankly since I do not have my own dedicated blog (using free blogs right now) I would imagine I can not use this method of possible promotion, can I? If I could I can think of several ways to use this cool idea! Thanks for sharing I learned something new again
The Health Guy recently posted..Home Business Promotion: Blogging for Money
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 22, 2011 at 9:10 am
Mr. Health Guy, I don’t think you can use this on free blog sites, but keep this in mind when your blog grows. Great opportunities to engage and get paid!
Marcie recently posted..Marcie Hill was Panelist for Social Media & Social Activism for Social Media Week Chicago
Hi, Marcie,
This is an introduction to me, as this is the very first time I am hearing for live blogging possibility. I like the idea about it, as it can engage people directly and thus give more exposure to events and knowledge. I see it can be very time consuming and harder than regular blogging or tweeting, but it sounds at the same time like something that needs to be tried out. I bet it is lots of fun!
Thanks for revealing this info on live blogging, I appreciate it!
Kristina L. recently posted..Tubbs SnowShoes Coupon Code
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 23, 2011 at 10:52 am
Hi Kristina,
I’m glad I was able to introduce you to another aspect of blogging. Let me know if you need help with anything.
Marcie recently posted..Marcie Hill was Panelist for Social Media & Social Activism for Social Media Week Chicago
Twitter: techoclock
September 24, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Live blogging is an excellent idea! I am already into it & it helps me great surplus of my blog traffic. It’s nice!
Matt recently posted..Google Chrome Offline Installer
Twitter: marcie_hill
September 24, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Matt, which platform do you use? Do you like it?
Marcie recently posted..Marcie Hill was Panelist for Social Media & Social Activism for Social Media Week Chicago
Twitter: rakeshnarang5
September 27, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I didn’t knew WordPress had a live blogging plugin. I haven’t tried live blogging yet but I think it would come handy when you are covering some event like a product launch or something, or even watching a Football match.
Thanks for sharing WordPress live blogging plugin because I though you have to just update the same post at different times to live blog.
Rakesh Narang recently posted..Xiaomi Phone to get Android v2.3.5 Vanilla next month, ICS in January
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 27, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Rakesh, I’m glad I was able to introduce you to the live blog plugin. Let me know how it goes for you.
Marcie recently posted..an acorn is a chav
I think live blogging works particularly well for Journalists. This allows them to do real-time reporting and get their stories out fresh. Why haven’t I thought about this before? This is a great idea.
William Cox recently posted..Sample Post
Twitter: thewritedesign
September 28, 2011 at 8:50 pm
William, you’re right. Journalists are major users of live blogging. And, they use the information on more than one occasion. I love it! Let me know if you need help or have any questions.
Marcie recently posted..Many Thanks to Dante Hamilton for an Excellent Live Blog at the Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Hi Marchie..
Thank you for sharing such lessons.. And the plug-in you mention is quiet beneficial..
Twitter: thewritedesign
October 2, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Jessica, I am so glad I could help you. Let me know if I can help you with anything.
Marcie recently posted..Many Thanks to Dante Hamilton for an Excellent Live Blog at the Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Twitter: addisonskanks
October 5, 2011 at 6:43 am
Definitely a great tool for sports bloggers. I once tried to use it but my now unattended sports blog does not have enough readers to make it worthwhile.
Great resources too. I peeked at the Wordpress Live Blogging plug-in and I think the next event I attend, I’ll give it a shot.
Noel Addison recently posted..Selling Ice Cubes to Eskimos
Twitter: thewritedesign
October 5, 2011 at 8:10 am
I would say give it a few shots and ask your audience if they prefer traditional blogging or live blogging for sports events, and make a decision from their response. Enjoy!
Marcie recently posted..Many Thanks to Dante Hamilton for an Excellent Live Blog at the Women’s Business Development Center’s 25th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference
Great chance to connect your readers to real time events. Gives a more personal feel to the info you are relaying to your audience.
Twitter: thewritedesign
October 6, 2011 at 12:19 am
Thanks for your valuable feedback. This is confirmation that live blogging is a pretty cool thing to do.
Marcie recently posted..Interview: Adam Sharp Discusses New Trends & Trending Topics at Twitter
Twitter: chantel_mario
May 13, 2012 at 11:09 am
I think live blogging is a new and an interesting thing. I love posting new things too; very often. Great article Marcie
Mario M. recently posted..SEO Report … What happens when you begin a search
Twitter: marcie_hill
May 13, 2012 at 11:16 am
Mario, have fun live blogging. It definitely adds a different flavor to your site.
Marcie recently posted..Happy Mother’s Day from Marcie
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