Quick Lessons in Live Blogging

50 Comments / Blogging Tutorials, Guest Posts / By /

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?

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Additional blog content. You may decide to use the content from your live blog for posts on your site or as guest posts.
  4. 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.
  5. Garner support for causes important to you. This is great for real-time fundraising.Try Animoto for Free

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.

50 thoughts on “Quick Lessons in Live Blogging”

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  3. Marcie

    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. 🙂

  4. Kaloyan Banev

    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.

    1. Marcie

      Kaloyan, I’m glad I was able to expand your blogging knowledge. If you build a plug-in or platform, please let me know.

  5. Karen

    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.

  6. Adeline

    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.

  8. Ted

    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………

  9. Marcie

    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.

  10. dominos coupons

    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.

    1. Marcie

      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.

  11. Craig Sowerby

    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

    1. Marcie

      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.

  12. Saksham

    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 🙂

    1. Marcie

      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?

  13. Caleb the MarketSecretsBlogger

    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 🙂

    1. Marcie

      I never considered the immediacy of live blogging. Every time I’ve used it, planning was required. Thanks for sharing.

  14. Steve

    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.

  15. Marcie

    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.

    1. Marcie

      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.

  20. MegB

    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.

    1. Marcie

      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.

  21. Daniel Wood

    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

    1. Marcie

      Glad you’re gaining a wealth of knowledge on Basic Blog Tips. Let me know if you have any questions on live blogging.

  22. Ivin

    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.

    1. Marcie

      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.

  23. Marcie

    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!

  24. Kristina L.

    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!

  25. Marcie

    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.

  26. Matt

    Live blogging is an excellent idea! I am already into it & it helps me great surplus of my blog traffic. It’s nice!

  28. Rakesh Narang

    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.

    1. Marcie

      Rakesh, I’m glad I was able to introduce you to the live blog plugin. Let me know how it goes for you.

  29. William Cox

    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.

  30. Marcie

    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.

  33. Noel Addison

    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.

  34. Marcie

    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!

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