A blogger is born!

There is no doubt that blogging has become one of the most popular activities on the Internet today, especially among the younger generation. As a newborn blogger, I was asked to share my experiences of how I got started, what I like to blog about and the methods I use to gain followers.

My blogging began shortly after I became comfortable using Twitter, admittedly, “Tweeting” wasn’t fulfilling my creative needs. My best friend attends fashion school in Los Angeles. She explained to me that she was required to create a fashion blog for her apparel technology management course. As a lover of fashion myself – and a proud new owner of a MacBook Pro that I received for Christmas – I thought that blogging would be a fun way to spend the rest of my free time while I still had the chance before the semester started up. Well, as it turns out, I probably spend more time now on my fashion blog than I do in class.

Signing up for a Tumblr account was as easy as it is to use the site itself. The only problem I faced was that I felt “Tumblr-single.” I quickly realized that my posts were not being read or looked at by anyone. I did not have any followers. I went about solving this problem with a piece of advice I heard the previous month during the holiday season: “You have to give in order to receive.” With this mindset, I started following various fashion blogs I found interesting. I looked for fellow bloggers with whom I had similar taste in fashion.  I found that the more Tumblr pages I followed, the more followed me back. Another way I gain new followers is to “reblog” pictures of things I like that come from the people I follow, then my followers will “reblog” the same pictures from my blog, which promotes me in a way to their followers. Like sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr is a form of “social networking,” except you do not need to know the person you are following or get their permission. I follow girls all over the world from Romania, Australia, New York, England and even girls here in San Diego. We are all from different cities and cultures, we have diverse beliefs and languages, yet we are all connected because we share a common interest: fashion blogging. I like Tumblr not only for this reason, but also because the things you follow can be as specific as you’d like and there are no “private” blogs. I have been on Tumblr since the beginning of January. I have 44 followers and 174 posts. By the end of the year, my goal is to be up to 500 followers.

The title of my Tumblr is Delanie’s Playhouse. My tagline is one of my favorite sayings, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” I had a really hard time coming up with a blog name. I knew I wanted to include my first name, but I probably changed it about five or six times. I finally came up with Delanie’s Playhouse; it is fun and girly, and it literally is my playhouse… it includes everything I love. On average, I blog and reblog about ten times each day. Tumblr has an iPhone app that gives me 24/7 access to the site and the ability to upload pictures straight from my phone.  I post pictures of things that I believe are appropriate for a fashion blog. For example, I love my watches, so I have taken pictures of them, or friends watches that I like and post them on my Tumblr hoping they will be reblogged. If I like what I am wearing that day, I will take a picture of my outfit and give a detailed description of each piece.

Just yesterday, I went to Salvation Army, a store with donated clothing, sold at EXTREMELY low prices. I hoped to find some old, vintage clothing and although it was overwhelming, I managed to find some beautiful pieces and best of all, it was “Two-Dollar Tuesday,” I walked out of the store only spending ten dollars! Anyways, I immediately went home and pieced together an outfit and raved about it on Tumblr, although it was only reblogged once. Although Tumblr gives you the option to post everything from text, to links, quotes, audio and video the one I utilize the most would definitely be the photo uploader.

My newest blog is only two weeks old and is powered using WordPress.com, a similar, but much more technically complicated blog site than Tumblr. I created this blog as a semester-long assignment for my “Writing for the Mass Media” course, also known as JMS 220. We were asked to create a blog on a topic of our choice and to choose wisely because we will be required to write at least 350 words on that topic each week up until the end of the semester. Initially, I was going write about fashion and do almost the same thing that I do on my Tumblr except with more writing. The more I thought about it, I realized I wanted to do something different that would challenge me and help my writing become more well-rounded.

I decided to make my blog about different places in San Diego; places that I have and have not been that I believe would be note-worthy and fun to write about. I was right, not only am I getting my homework done, but it also gives me a reason to try different things and explore new places (something I should have been doing since I first came here for school). For my first post on WordPress, I blogged about my visit to a park in Pacific Beach that overlooks a vast majority of San Diego.

My WordPress blog is a little bit different than my Tumblr, not only in the content, but in the way that my only followers are a few of my classmates and my Professor. Since I am very new to WordPress, it will still take some getting used to and my personal goal by the end of the semester is to have thirty followers, including bloggers outside of my classmates. I kept the same name as my Tumblr, Delanie’s Playhouse, and my tagline reads, “Join me as I explore San Diego.” I kept the same name because I want my followers to hopefully recognize me and associate the two blogs.  I hope to promote this blog using my Twitter and Tumblr accounts, seeing as how I already have the link to my Tumblr blog on my Twitter account and vice-versa. (When it comes to Facebook, I personally think that Facebook is best used for more personal reasons, whereas the others serve a more professional purpose.)

I would recommend blogging to anyone and EVERYONE! Whether you are a public relations student trying to improve you writing skills or a lover of ANYTHING and wanting to write about it, blogging is a fun and easy hobby. It will not only get your name out there, but your blog are guaranteed to please someone else in the world without you even knowing it. I hope that employers seeing that I blog on my resume will put me a step ahead and I can use writing pieces for my portfolio. A website I used to go on to pass the time has turned into a daily routine for me and I love it!

For all of you fashion lovers, here are some blogs that I recommend:

http://whatiwore.tumblr.com/

http://amanstovall.blogspot.com/

http://www.theblondesalad.com/

http://www.champagneandmarshmallows.com/

By Delanie Billman
delaniebillman@hotmail.com
@delaniebillman
delanies-playhouse.tumblr.com
delanies-playhouse.wordpress.com