— Blogging, Community, Community Building —

Learning to Use Online Communities Efficiently: My First Bloggiesta Blogging Experience

September 16, 2014
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BloggiestaWhile I strongly believe and have been participating in “IRL” community building efforts, I am still relatively new to online community building efforts.  I tried out NaNoWriMo in 2008, but other than meeting a few people and writing quite a lot, I didn’t really get into the NaNoWriMo community.  When the show was live, I was involved with the Fringe fandom, through which I had built a network of friends.  But with the end of the show, most of them disappeared.

I was surfing the internet looking for information about improving one’s blog when I fell on the Bloggiesta website and found out about their blogging mini-challenges: every couple of months, a group of bloggers take on certain tasks and complete them “together” – i.e. at the same time during a set number of days.  The idea is that by spending four days working on refining one’s blog helps us connect with other bloggers who are doing the same thing.  It is an intriguing idea, especially in light of how much fun live tweeting during Fringe episodes was.  So I decided to give the next Bloggiesta challenge – which starts this Thursday – a go.

Just like with any new effort, I decided to start small.  There are four twitter chats, and I am planning on “attending” two.  As for the challenges, I decided again to keep it small.  Then my inner ambitious monster kicked in, and after the epic struggle that is sanity versus ambition, the list of what I want to accomplish during Bloggiesta is as follows:

I don’t quite know what this effort is going to yield, other than the tangible results completing the above list.  But I’m definitely very excited to learn more about efficient online community building efforts!

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20 thoughts on “Learning to Use Online Communities Efficiently: My First Bloggiesta Blogging Experience”

      1. It just wouldn’t feel worth it without the connections I’ve made. Blogging is such a commitment of time and effort… don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it and I’m glad that I have an outlet. But if it weren’t for the blogging friends I’ve made, and that I continue to make, I probably wouldn’t stick with it.

        1. A lot of bloggers have shared thoughts that are quite similar to yours – on the one hand, they love blogging, but because of the intensity of the commitment that doesn’t always reflect in the reception of the blog, it becomes quite discouraging, and blogger friends are the best support that is available to us. Yay for blogging communities 😉

    1. Thank you Melanie! It’s going well! I joined my first ever Bloggiesta Twitter party this morning – were you there? I felt like the new kid in school 😉 How is your Bloggiesta going?

  4. I think your goals are pretty impressive for the time period. Don’t sell yourself short 😉

    I adore the book blogging community – there’s always something bound to be going on. Hope you’re having fun with Bloggiesta so far. And thanks for popping by my blog … maybe I’ll see your book map in 2015? 😉

    1. Really? Thank you!

      And I am discovering how amazing this community is! Bloggiesta is fun, although I do feel like the new kid in school 😛 I have added your blog to my reader, I really look forward to reading more – and yes, a book map is something I am quite keen on starting!

  5. I hope you enjoy your first Bloggiesta. For some of us, it’s a chance to give our blogs a facelift and improve a few things. I always add the Twitter chats, but don’t really get that whole scene…LOL.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    1. I am enjoying it up to now, thank you! How many have you participated in? Twitter is quite unique – it sometimes feels like a room filled with a ton of people constantly moving and chatting away… So it’s both great to capture a lot of information but sometimes it’s just nice to sit back and enjoy 😉

      My pleasure – and I’ll be doing it again 😉

  6. Hope you do well in this – remember it is your first one and the only person you have to answer to is yourself (so dont worry if you dont finish them all!).

    Also use Bloggiesta to help build up your community – those who will inspire and challenge you as well as support you!

    1. Thank you for the advice! You are right, this is such a great opportunity to build up a community of fellow book bloggers. I didn’t finish all my tasks, but I’m quite happy with what I managed to do. How was your Bloggiesta?

    1. I knew there was a lot going on, and I couldn’t make up my mind on which event or activity or group to pick – so I just picked one and it seems I got lucky 😉 I’m very excited about the Travel the World in Books Challenge, it’s going to help me choose books more carefully to get the opportunity to travel the world. What a fantastic idea! Where did you get it???

  8. I think you made a great list! And I hope you enjoyed your first Bloggiesta! I would also encourage you to give NaNoWriMo another chance. I met an awesome group of people IRL my first year participating, and they became some of my best friends. I moved a year ago and didn’t really participate last year, but I’m going to give it another go this year and hopefully find some more awesome people to hang out with in my new town!

    But Bloggiesta is a great event to not only get some blog housekeeping done, but also to meet some other bloggers! I hope you got lots of your goals accomplished and also enjoyed interacting with community! Hope to see you again next time!

    1. Thank you Andrea! I did enjoy it, and I am planning on joining again in the future! I went through most of my list, and yes, indeed, met some other bloggers, amazing ones at that. What a fantastic community!

      I am also planning on doing NaNoWriMo for the second time this year, and I am quite excited about the storyboard I am putting together in anticipation! Any advice on how to go about doing it?

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