Category: Blogger

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Devin Faraci’s name may not be a household one, but the mere mention of it is enough to send Damon Lindelof into a full-blown anxiety attack. Lindelof, one of Hollywood’s most successful film and television writer-producers, admitted in a 2015 podcast that Faraci, a 42-year-old film blogger, “has been trolling me incessantly for the majority of my career. This guy owes me, like $40,000 in therapy bills.”

Lindelof was not exaggerating. In fact, it was Faraci’s relentless criticism of the Lost creator (“Devin. I get it. Please stop,” Lindelof once pleaded on Twitter) that eventually pushed the once-enthusiastic tweeter off of the social media platform.

A Feared Film Blogger, a Dancefloor and a Dark Accusation 2

But now it’s Faraci’s turn to step away from the keyboard.

The influential blogger — whose highly opinionated essays on fanboy culture frequently go viral and whose pugilistic relationship to other film writers and filmmakers is so extreme, director Joe Swanberg once literally challenged him to a boxing match (which Faraci soundly lost) — announced on Tuesday that he is resigning immediately as editor-in-chief of Birth.Movies.Death.

The film site is owned by Alamo Drafthouse, the influential movie chain behind major fanboy gatherings like Fantastic Fest and Drafthouse Films, a growing distribution label specializing in the niche genre fare. The move comes amid startling claims of sexual assault leveled Sunday against Faraci by Twitter user space crane.

After Faraci tweeted about a leaked video in which Donald Trump brags of being able to “grab” women “by the pussy” — “[Trump] wasn’t talking with his best friends. He was boasting to a TV host,” he noted — space crane responded with a devastating accusation.

“Quick question,” she wrote. “Do you remember grabbing me by the pussy and bragging to our friends about it, telling them to smell your fingers?” (The tweet was eventually deleted, not because “it didn’t happen” but because “it’s become a focal point for some really vile stuff,” she later explained.)

Faraci did not deny the incident had occurred, tweeting back, “I do not remember this. I can only believe you and beg forgiveness for having been so vile.” He has not tweeted since.

News of Faraci’s resignation broke Tuesday morning with this statement to his readers: “This weekend, allegations were made about my past behavior. Because I take these types of claims seriously, I feel my only honorable course of action is to step down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of Birth.Movies.Death.”

He continues, “I will use the coming weeks and months to work on becoming a better person who is, I hope, worthy of the trust and loyalty of my friends and readers.”

For space crane — whose real name is Caroline (she asked that The Hollywood Reporter not reveals her last name) — the move is a step in the right direction. Alamo Drafthouse owner Tim League called her personally to discuss the company’s response.

“We had an excellent conversation about it that left me feeling like he understood the situation and was interested in helping Devin,” says Caroline, 33, a non-profit worker living in New York City.

“I’m thrilled that Tim League took this seriously and that Devin is interested in getting treatment. I’ve let them know that I’m available for any accountability processing that might be part of his rehabilitation,” she adds.
The incident dates back to 2004, when Caroline and Faraci, who grew up in New York, were part of the same group of friends living and socializing in the East Village.

They met on a music message board (“I can’t remember which. There were so many in the early aughts,” she says), a group of about a dozen men and women in their 20s and 30s who shared similar pop-culture tastes.

Friday night was when they would get together at a dive bar to dance to a jukebox and let off some steam. On the night in question, it was an early-evening gathering for happy-hour drinks. Faraci was tipsy, Caroline says, but far from obliterated. “I liked him and thought he was funny,” she recalls, adding that he was well aware that she was a lesbian and was “not interested” sexually in men.

“We were dancing, and he stuck his hands down my pants, very blatantly on the dance floor. I said stop. He did it again. I didn’t know what to do. I stopped him again and pushed him away,” she says. “There was no penetration. He just kept sticking his hands down my pants and into my crotch. Then he came in to do it again.”

“I think I moved away from the dance floor at that point,” she continues. “I had to get away from him. I was just so shocked that it had happened and grossed out. I felt mortified for him. That was the palpable memory I had. I felt sad for him.”

While Faraci never apologized or even acknowledged the alleged incident, the group dynamic was forever altered that night. Caroline, who never spoke of the incident to the others, began to withdraw from the group. Faraci, meanwhile, “would get in fights and have fallings-out” with the other friends, she says. Two years later, in 2006, Caroline confronted Faraci about the assault on an internet message board. Just as in this week’s Twitter exchange, Faraci claimed not to recall the incident. “He disappeared after that,” she says.

But one of the friends at the bar that night saw the message-board exchange and later confided in Caroline that it was doubtful that Faraci would have had no memory of what happened, as he had bragged to her about the incident at the time, encouraging the group to “smell his fingers.” “That was not something I knew about at the time,” Caroline says. “And it made me really angry.” Caroline did her best to avoid Faraci in the ensuing years — but as his profile and audience grew, that became increasingly difficult.

“There was the Jodorowsky’s Dune documentary that I was really excited about seeing — and then I saw the [appears in it as an expert], and I was like, ‘Well, f—, I can’t see it.’ Or he’d be in a trailer giving a blurb for some horror movie. I would get so angry every time. It kept coming back that he’s an influential person in leftist film criticism or whatever.”

Caroline characterizes herself as a woman who is “good at letting things go,” but amid the current cultural climate and political rise of Donald Trump — culminating in the leak of the Access Hollywood video and Sunday night’s ugly presidential debate — she could not remain silent. The reactions have been mostly supportive. “I’ve largely had people thanking me, DMing me, saying in their own lives they’ve encountered similar things in different industries,” she says.

But Faraci’s peers in the film criticism world, meanwhile, have suddenly found themselves in an awkward position. According to sources familiar with the situation, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, of which Faraci is a member, has reached out to him and is currently considering what action to take.

Then there is the question of the fate of his weekly podcast, The Canon, which Faraci co-hosts with film critic Amy Nicholson of MTV News. Owned by the Earwolf podcast network, the show is regularly one of the top-rated film podcasts on iTunes charts. Nicholson did not respond to a request for comment.

Caroline says several friends and acquaintances of Faraci’s have reached out to her, saying they feel conflicted about the situation and looking for guidance. She finds herself at a loss. “I’m not going to tell anybody that they should not be friends with him,” she says. “I want people to use this opportunity as a time maybe to explore why women feel this way and feel like they can’t talk about it.

“What happens when we give people a certain amount of control or a label that allows them to be above reproach or have their behavior dismissed? Why does that happen?” Both Faraci and League declined to comment for this story.

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Blogger

Like a Broadway critic deciding to write a play, a blogger complained about fund fees decided to start an exchange-traded fund. He discovered that keeping expenses low isn’t as easy as it seems.

Eddy Elfenbein says he likes transparency, like the Grateful Dead when the band accommodated fans who wanted to tape their music.

Eddy Elfenbein decided last year to launch a fund based on the stock picks from his more than decade-old Crossing Wall Street blog, written from Washington, D.C. Mr. Elfenbein recommends 20 stocks on his buy list and then sticks with them through the next 12 months. Each year, he changes just five of the holdings for the next year.

Because of the success of his choices—he posts returns on his blog—he built up a Twitter following of around 25,000, many of whom asked over the years if he managed money.

His fund, AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF, launched Sept. 21, 2016, under the ticker CWS, for Crossing Wall Street.
It isn’t just the Twitter-led impetus that makes the fund unusual; the fee structure is also. Mr. Elfenbein has to beat the benchmark index or else give back part of his fee. If he exceeds it, he gets more.

He spoke with The Wall Street Journal about his experience setting up the fund. Edited excerpts of the conversation follow:

WSJ: When and why did you decide to do this?

MR. ELFENBEIN: I built a following based on what I recommended. If Twitter wasn’t around, I don’t know if this could have happened. As the years passed, I had more people asking if I managed money, which I didn’t. Late last year, I met with AdvisorShares [an actively managed ETF sponsor] to see if it was possible to develop a product that tracked the buy list.

WSJ: What surprised you about the process of starting an ETF?

MR. ELFENBEIN: I always complain about the fees for ETFs and mutual funds. But when you are on the other end of the process creating a fund—with so many fees, lawyer fees, exchange fees, etc.—the question is how can we get them so low. [Currently, the fund has annual expenses of 0.75%. , that compares with an average expense ratio of 0.86% for actively managed U.S. stock ETFs.]

I was also surprised by how little capital the fund needs to be viable. Advisor Shares points out that the patient is alive on the table if you have $20 million in the fund. Ideally, you would want to have more. With $50 million under management, then you’d have something that is chugging along.

WSJ: Will having an ETF get in the way of the blog?

MR. ELFENBEIN: No. I can write about the stocks I recommend, but I have to steer clear of anything that smacks the fund’s marketing.

The ETF will track the buy list as closely as possible, with the picks equally weighted as much as SEC regulations allow. The positions will be rebalanced once a year. We have to keep a small cash position due to the mechanics of the fund; we’ll start with 2%.

WSJ: You’ve done something different in terms of the way you are going to be paid. Please explain.

MR. ELFENBEIN: There will be a fulcrum fee for me. My pay will be based on performance relative to the S&P 500. If the fund beats the benchmark, I get a bonus; if not, I get a penalty. The size of the penalty is based on a sliding scale and would result from a reduction in the fund’s expenses.

The hedge funds get bonuses. If they miss their benchmark, they don’t get penalized.

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WSJ: Why an ETF instead of a mutual fund?

MR. ELFENBEIN: It just seems that investors are voting with their dollars. We are moving from the world of mutual funds to ETFs. There are tax benefits with the ETFs. [They are less subject to capital gains taxes than mutual funds, for example.] I also like you to track the value during the day, whereas you can’t help with a mutual fund.

Plus, a lot of funds are very secretive about what they own. I’m the opposite. My buy list is completely free. So you get the complete transparency that you get with ETFs.

Here’s an odd comparison: Years ago, bands were trying to clamp down on bootleg tapes of concerts. The one group that was the opposite was the Grateful Dead, who reserved spaces for the people taping.

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HONG KONG — The authorities in Vietnam said on Tuesday that they had arrested a popular blogger who has criticized the country’s one-party government over politically delicate topics, including a dump of toxic chemicals that devastated fishing communities and set off protests.

The blogger, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, was detained on Monday in Khanh Hoa, a south-central province. According to the Vietnamese news media, she was accused of distorting the truth and spreading propaganda against the state. The charges carry a maximum prison term of 12 years. No trial date was given.

Ms. Quynh, who writes under the pen name Mother Mushroom, is a co-founder of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers, one of the few independent writers’ associations in Vietnam. The governing Communist Party heavily controls the country’s news media and publishing industry. Writers who stray outside the system and challenge the party are frequently imprisoned under vague national security laws.

Vietnam Arrests Mother Mushroom

Pham Doan Trang, a dissident writer in Hanoi and a member of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers, said that the authorities might have arrested Ms. Quynh to intimidate younger bloggers who have been inspired by her online crusades — via Facebook and independent blogs — against corruption, social injustice, and police brutality. But Ms. Trang predicted that the tactic would fail.

“She has a lot of supporters,” Ms. Trang said of Ms. Quynh in an interview via Facebook Messenger on Tuesday. “Many of them will replace her or follow her path.”

Citing a news broadcast, Ms. Trang added that investigators had found materials in Ms. Quynh’s home that criticized the government’s handling of a chemical dump in April at a Taiwanese-owned steel plant in central Vietnam that caused mass fish deaths. It is believed to be among the worst environmental disasters in Vietnam’s modern history.

Although Formosa Steel has agreed to pay $500 million in damages, many Vietnamese have criticized the government for initially remaining silent about the cause of the spill and then refusing to release full details on the likely health or environmental impacts. Outrage over the scandal has festered for months and continues to set off protests in central Vietnam.

In 2009, Ms. Quynh was detained for more than a week after writing about a bauxite mining project in Vietnam’s restive Central Highlands, in which investors included a state-owned Chinese company. Chinese economic influence is a politically delicate topic that the government has tried to play down. She was not charged with a crime at that time.

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“It was ugly what was happening in our society,” Ms. Quynh said in a 2014 interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group. “My blog asked: Why must we agree with the government on everything? Why can’t we have different opinions?”

In 2015, Ms. Quynh was named civil rights defender of the year by Civil Rights Defenders, an advocacy group based in Stockholm. The group’s executive director, Robert Hardh, said on Tuesday that her arrest saddened him.

“People very often have a picture of Vietnam as one of the ‘tiger economies’ and a tourist country,” Mr. Hardh said in a telephone interview. “But in reality, the situation is really dire for human rights defenders.”

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Nabi was arrested in Dhaka’s Sayedabad on Sunday night and produced before a court on Monday. The court has granted the police three days to grill him.

The law enforcers claim that Nabi, a militant outfit Ansar Al Islam, directly took part in Nazim’s murder on Apr 6 last year in Old Dhaka’s Sutrapur.

Police’s counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam on Monday told a press briefing, “Nabi and four others had taken part in that murder. All five were wielding machetes, but only one of them had a firearm.”

Blogger Nazim

He claimed Nabi had served as the ‘coordinator’ of different attacks carried out by the militant group.
Apart from his role in Nazim’s killing, during preliminary questioning after his arrest, Monirul said, Nabi has also ‘admitted to his involvement in the murders of Xulhaz and his theater activist friend Mahbub Rabbi Tony’s.

“Police also have found information on his ties to the murder attempt on publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul.” Three other suspects have already given confessional statements to the court in the case over the attempt on Tutul. Nabi has divulged the ‘organizational names’ of the four others who killed Nazim, Monirul said.

“We hope to get information regarding the two other incidents out of him when we take him on remand.” Xulhaz and Tony were killed in a machete attack by a gang of assailants, is posing as delivery men entering Xulhaz’s apartment building in Dhaka’s Kalabagan on Apr 25, 19 days after Nazim’s murder.

Xulhaz was a USAID official and the editor of Bangladesh’s first LGBT magazine, ‘Roopbaan.’ Also, the murder attempt on Tutul was made at the office of Suddhaswar, the publishing house he owns, at Lalmatia on Oct 31 last year.
On the same day, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was found dead in a pool of blood, hacked to death in his Jagriti Prokashony office at Shahbagh’s Aziz Super Market.

Several writers, bloggers, and online activists were murdered in similar attacks last year. Following those, the biggest militant attack occurred at Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen on July 1 this year. The militants had killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners. But since then, after several successful raids by the security forces, no attacks have taken place in the country.

‘Militants tracked Nazim’ The militants had singled out Nazimuddin Samad and planned to kill him after observing his posts on Facebook; detective officer Monirul Islam said on Monday, quoting Ansar Al Islam’s Nabi. And then, he said, they rented a house adjacent to the street the online activist had frequented in Old Dhaka. Nazim lived with a friend at a house on Rajani Chowdhury Road at Gendaria. He was attacked in public and killed on Hrishikesh Das Road at Dhaka’s Sutrapur on Apr 6 when he was on his way home with a friend.

Monirul said, “The killers had conducted a recce of the area. They also rented a home behind Jagannath University to observe Nazim’s movement. The killers observed where Nazim lived and who he met with.” They followed Nazim for three months before killing him in April, he said.

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Asked why Nazim was murdered, Monirul said that Ansar Al Islam had identified the youth as an atheist for his writings. “Then information on him was gathered and handed to the militant group’s leaders.”

Nazim, 27, a Jagannath University law department’s evening course student, was the information and research secretary of the Bangabandhu Juba Parishad’s Sylhet branch and an active participant in the Ganajagaran Mancha’s movement.

He often wrote in favor of the 1971 Liberation War and critically about religious extremism, the government, and contemporary politics on Facebook. Nazim was also on the list of ‘atheist bloggers’ sent to the media during the Hifazat-e Islam movement.

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In an unprecedented development, a member of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team has apologized to the nation for his involvement in the murder of Gonojagoron Moncho activist and secularist Nazimuddin Samad six months ago.

Rashidun Nabi Bhuiyan alias Rayhan, 26, arrested by detectives from the Sayedabad bus stand area on Sunday night, was produced before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain yesterday afternoon with a 10-day remand prayer. The judge granted the police three days to interrogate him. No lawyer represented Nabi during the remand hearing.

At one point, when the judge asked him about the murder, Nabi told the court: “I admit that we killed him [Nazim]. Please forgive us. We regret it and apologize to the nation. Please pardon me. We were misguided…” Nabi was arrested by a team of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit and the Detective Branch of police.

Jagannath University master’s student Nazimuddin was hacked to death at Paramour intersection in Old Dhaka’s Sutrapur area on April 6. In January, he came to Dhaka, got admitted to the university in February, and started living in Gendaria. Nazimuddin was the information and research secretary of Sylhet district unit of Bangabandhu Jatiya Jumbo Parishad. He used to write against religious extremism and radicalism on Facebook.

DB police in August claimed that a sleeper cell of the outfit from Sylhet targeted 28-year-old Nazimuddin for his writings on Facebook, followed him, and carried out the killing. The detectives also found that Ansarullah leader Saiful Islam masterminded the attack.

DMP Additional Commissioner and CTTC chief Monirul Islam yesterday said that the militants linked to Ansarullah (now Ansar Al Islam) had planned to kill Nazimuddin three months back. “A few days before the attack, the militants had rented a house near Jagannath University. They followed Nazimuddin’s movement and finally conducted the attack on April 6,” Monirul said at a press briefing.

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“Since Nazimuddin used to live in a messy house at Sutrapur of Old Dhaka, the militants thought that it would not be possible to kill him there. So, five militants led by Nabi attacked and killed him on the street.” Monirul claimed that Nabi had also confessed his involvement in killing LGBT rights activists XUL has Mannan and Mahbub Tony and the attempted murder of publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul.

Hailing from Comilla, Nabi joined Ansarullah Bangla Team last year and inspired many youths to join the group. Since 2013, military members have killed 11 secularists, war crimes trial campaigners, and teachers.

Nabi has disclosed some names of the outfit’s members. “We are verifying the information and will launch drives to arrest his associates,” Monirul said.

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Bangladesh Arrests Main Suspect In Secular Blogger Murder Case

DHAKA: Bangladesh police have arrested the main suspect in the murder case of a law student and secular blogger who terrorists killed after posting comments against radical Islamists on Facebook.

A joint team of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit and Detective Branch of Police held Rashidun Nabi from Sayedabad in the capital last night in connection with the murder of blogger Nazimuddin Samad, who machete-wielding militants hacked before being shot dead in April, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman said today.

Counter-terrorism officers said Nabi was held at a bus station in the capital Dhaka, alleging he was the ringleader in the Nazimuddin killing, local media reported.

Nabi was today sent on three-day remand by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain after police produced him in court with a 10-day remand prayer.

Nazimuddin, 28, a master’s student of the state-run Jagannath University’s law department, had been on a hit list of 84 atheist bloggers that a group of radical Islamists prepared and sent to Bangladesh’s interior ministry.
A day before the murder, Nazimuddin had expressed concerns over the country’s law and order in a Facebook post.

He was known to have been critical of state religion in the Bangladeshi constitution.

Nazimuddin was the information and research secretary of Sylhet district unit of Bangabandhu Jatiya Jumbo Parishad. He was also an activist of Gonojagoron Moncho’s Sylhet wing.

Bangladesh has seen a spate of gruesome attacks on secular activists, religious minorities, bloggers, and foreigners, many of whom have been hacked to death with machetes.

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This is the primary feature about thrilling facet gigs or pastimes that nurses do outside of their complete-time jobs. By day, Lauren Mochizuki, RN, BSN, has been an ER nurse for extra than a decade. But at night time and at some point of unfastened time, she’s a successful financial blogger. About eight years ago, Mochizuki started blogging about price range because she and her husband had been tired of being in debt. She commenced writing her first weblog, NurseFrugal.Com, to file and share their adventure, approximately turning into debt-free. They paid off $266,000.

You examine that efficaciously — $266,000 of debt.

After Mochizuki has become debt unfastened, she took a ruin from running a blog because she and her husband had started their circle of relatives. Last year, she commenced rerunning a blog at CasaMochi.Com so that she may want to encourage others to live an incredible life on a budget. What I love most about blogging is similar to nursing. With both professions, I actually have the chance to connect with others and make an advantageous difference,” says Mochizuki, approximately her aspect gig.

Nursing Side Gigs: Financial Blogger 9

Mochizuki says that consistent with the Federal Reserve Board, 40% of Americans can’t cowl a $400 emergency price. Much less than 40% of working Americans sense that they are on the right track for retirement. Because of this, she says that her goal “is to help others change the way they together consider money, how to spend their money, and store — with a purpose to revel in existence, and concurrently be desirable stewards of their money.” About each different week, Mochizuki publishes a new article on finances.

“I feel like my nursing activity and blogging supplement every different. With nursing, I actually have learned how to be personable and use interventions to assist my sufferers in sensing higher. My nursing career has at once affected my blog because it has fashioned me right into a worrying and problem-solving man or woman that I am nowadays,” says Mochizuki.

“The finest praise of running a blog is receiving responses from people that I have made an effect on their lives. I sense particularly fulfilled after I encourage a person to grow to be debt unfastened, and introduce them to a step-through-step manual on how to achieve this aim,” says Mochizuki. “Creating a network of like-minded people has also been every other reward of blogging. I commenced the #debtfreecollective hashtag, and it’s been such a laugh to peer all of the accomplishments and actual-lifestyles troubles that arise at some stage in one’s debt-unfastened adventure.”

“I am a firm believer that all people can reap monetary freedom if you are willing to paintings for it,” says Mochizuki. “There were often when I doubted if my husband and I should repay $266,000 of debt, however after continually enforcing the whole thing we discovered about cash, we did it!”

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According to the Pew Internet Project’s PIP Blogging Report, 46% of bloggers are a girl, and the numbers are growing regular. However, many woman bloggers are barely disillusioned with the shortage of popularity in their industry. After a week of studies, I finally asked myself why aren’t women greater prominent on the net? Of all of the weblog ranking lists, besides style and superstar blogs, an average of 12% of women seem inside the pinnacle hundred of each list. And a few sources have the nerve to suppose that style blogs are “non-public diaries of favor.” After doing a little research, I found out why such a lot of bloggers and readers these days understand ladies bloggers in another way than men:

blogger

  • Many men bloggers don’t link to girls bloggers
  • Less than 10% of girls are political bloggers
  • 60% of ladies created blogs are categorized as “personal diaries.
  • Nearly 88% of top bloggers are white American guys.
  • Some guys don’t respect being lectured by girls.

Instead of studying RSS feeds and getting to know to list after list, I decided to move without delay to the supply to get greater solutions and find out how women electricity bloggers reached achievement, how they reach their readers, and what they consider the discrimination toward expert girls bloggers in brand new blogging network.

I communicated with 4 very distinct women bloggers (Chanel Ward/Hip Candy, Charlene Li/Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed through Social Technologies, Michele Obi/My Fashion Life, and Julie Strietelmeier/The Gadgeteer) and requested them the identical 5 questions: What is the point of interest of your blog and why did you choose this precise niche? If you can describe your readers in three sentences or less, what would you be saying?

How has running a blog advanced your career?

On average, the best 12% of ladies bloggers have featured on pinnacle one hundred lists. Why do you observe that is?
If you can supply one phrase of advice to girls bloggers today, what wouldn’t it be?
After speaking with those ladies, I realized that a “power blogger” has not anything to go along with your ranking on a listing; however, the quality of your posts, the notice of your reader’s desires, and the capacity to appearance beyond fame and fortune and stay actual on your problem count number. This is a part certainly one of a two-part collection featuring ladies bloggers who’ve modified the way the sector views them and their readers. Today’s featured blogger is Chanel Ward from Hip Candy and Charlene Li from Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed by Social Technologies.

Chanel Ward / Hip Candy

It’s tough to pick out one among my favored blogs, but Hip Candy is very close to my heart. From the tagline, “candy… However not in that fattening kind a manner” to the blog’s owner, Chanel Ward, Hip Candy is sparkling, interesting, and new.

Fashion clothier/image artist/author Chanel Ward was featured as 225 Magazine’s Top People To Watch in 2008 and for a desirable reason. After being the voice for America’s Next Top Model Interviews and one of the finalists for Project Runaway’s fan-favorite blogs, this fashionista becomes invited to experience and write about Fashion Week and quickly launch the much-anticipated clothing line Hip Couture. Blazing a trail of character and fashion, her blog and her profession has their own lifestyle, but don’t take my word for it.

woman

1. What is the focus of your blog, and why did you pick out this specific niche?

The cognizance of Hip Candy is my tagline. Fashion. Celebrity. Entertainment. Me. That’s basically what I blog about in a nutshell! I want to think of my blog as fashionably fun! I selected this area of interest because my background is in Fashion Design (I graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, 1999 – http://www.Fidm.Com). I’ve usually been intrigued by the way celeb way of life, so I just notion it might be a journey to begin a fun web page that could make cognizance on the one’s matters. At the same time, it might keep me abreast of what changed into happening within the [fashion] enterprise. Hip Candy is a fun discussion board for readers to come back and proportion their evaluations on fashion (the present-day trends, fashion don’ts…) movie star (what they were sporting, what have been they wondering?!) then today’s happenings in amusement, with a little bit of what is taking place with me thrown in for proper measure.

2. If you could describe your readers in 3 sentences or much less, what could you say?

I was amazed to analyze recently that a number of my readers are as young as 12! But I also have more “pro” readers, women over 50 and past in addition to each age (and gender) in among. Hip Candy readers are very opinionated. Even though most of them commonly believe maximum matters I opine and “wax poetic” about, they don’t constantly consider the entirety I placed down, and that’s k! Having a distinction of opinion is what makes us particular! One of my most commented posts (69 comments at ultimate count number) has a firestorm of sturdy opinions on it from beginning to finish (http://hipcandy.Blogspot.Com/2007/03/style-verdict-hetero-men-in-heels.Html) Anyone who takes time out in their busy day to click on onto to Hip Candy, read a publish and share their reviews is more than very well with me.

3. How has run a blog advanced your career?

Wow. That’s such a loaded query! I’d never surely considered myself an “author”; however, after beginning Hip Candy, I slowly commenced allowing myself to assume in any other case. My weblog has already reached degrees that I wouldn’t have imagined after I began it. I figured it’d simply be a fun hobby. The reaction because I started it’s been exceptional already! It’s very humbling. Some of the more noteworthy advancements have been 1) exposure to the hundreds from accomplishing the “Top Model” interviews 2) getting credentialed and being invited to Fashion Week from my style coverage on the weblog coupled with strong readership 3) That identical solid readership translating into monthly advert revenue generated on Hip Candy 4) all-price paid trips to cowl alternate suggests and events ([http://blogs.Dreambrizo.Com/kbis_2007/]) five) popularity and acknowledgment from magazines, and sooner or later and ultimately, 6) built-in name reputation for a destiny garb release! Blogging has, in reality, been a marvel and a blessing, and I sat up for extra in 2008!

4. In common, most effective 12% of women bloggers are featured on top one hundred lists. Why do you observe that is?

I hadn’t heard this statistic earlier, but it is pretty stunning because I did pay attention that approximately half of the humans blogging proper now are girls. I do not sincerely recognize why extra ladies aren’t considered top bloggers. I want to discover that out myself. I’d love to discover what we as ladies could do to a degree in the gambling field. I’m now not as privy as I’d want to be on how weblog ranking works. I’ve made a pair of lists in the beyond ([http://www.Fashioniq.Com/wordpress/2007/04/23/top-50-fashion-blogs-in-the-us/]) (http://www.Customizedgirl.Com/blog/), but until you are a site like Technorati who ranks blogs on several exceptional statistically primarily based standards, I’m now not positive how a great deal weight it holds. That being stated, I’m usually grateful to be protected from humans’ “Top” listing, whatever the standards!

successful

5. If you can deliver one phrase of advice to girls bloggers nowadays, what wouldn’t it be?

My phrase of advice to women bloggers might be no longer surrender! So a lot of us who may additionally have a sturdy voice on something concern fall by way of the wayside after beginning blogs and do not ever see the full fruit of what could have been. Unless you are a celebrity, nobody ever starts offevolved out with thousands and thousands of readers! I’m still striving for that myself! So it is definitely a manner, and developing pains are part of that system. I can take into account back while my mother and some of my buddies made up the whole thing of my readership. But in case you’re placing out exact content, readers will always observe. Have faith in yourself and what you’re doing! Especially if you love it.

Charlene Li / Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed with the aid of Social Technologies

Charlene Li is aware of what she’s speaking about, and she or he is enthusiastic about it. Groundswell: Winning In a World Transformed via Social Technologies is a great written blog on the internet. Charlene is a professional on technologies like blogs and social networking and uses this know-how to lead the advertising and marketing, and studies team at Forrester.

Charlene would not just write approximately her passion, and she consults others about tendencies and strategies surrounding her area of interest. She is one of the maximum quoted analysts and has seemed in The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, CNN, NPR, and BBC, as well as The Wall Street, Journal, The New York Times, and BusinessWeek. As a remember of fact, even as scripting this biography and learning Charlene’s accomplishments, a commercial for 60 minutes segment on Facebook was advertised; Charlene provided a historical past on that story. Reading Charlene’s blog has, in my opinion, superior my career as a technology leader within my enterprise. It has saved me fully up to date on progressive marketing answers through social networks and blogging. I am very honored to have her take some time to reach out to my readers on the topic of ladies and running a blog.

1. What is the focus of your blog, and why did you pick this unique area of interest?

The cognizance is tendencies in interactive and social technology in general for advertising functions. Most recently, the focus is on using social technology and supports a brand new ebook that I was published in April 2008. The weblog is an extension of my paintings at Forrester Research.

2. If you can describe your readers in 3 sentences or much less, what might you say?

I even have 3 very unique readers: 1) Businesspeople interested in leverage interactive and social technology, more often than not in marketing; 2) Influential press and bloggers; three) Thought leaders in the field, whom I can tap for research purposes.

3. How has blogging superior to your career?

Oh, by so many methods! It’s given me visibility past the restrained Forrester consumer base, and prolonged my have an impact on relatively. I actually have contacts that I would by no means have developed out the blog. And I depend on it continuously to research a network that doesn’t exist anywhere else. As such, I actually have got admission to higher research faster than all and sundry else inside the industry.

4. On average, only 12% of ladies bloggers have featured on top one hundred lists. Why do you think this is?

I’m assuming which you mean the simplest 12% of pinnacle bloggers are girls. This is partly a count number of who makes a list. And frankly, why does it count in case you’re a “top” blogger? The most critical factor is knowing who your reader is and hyper-serve them higher than everyone else. I’m unlikely to make it on the Technorati one hundred lists, but I’m absolutely considered a “pinnacle blogger” in my area.

The other way to take a look at it is, do girls consider themselves a pinnacle blogger? If the stat is 12% of girls bloggers don’t forget themselves to be pinnacle bloggers, we have a self-esteem hassle!

5. If you can provide one phrase of recommendation to women bloggers today, what would it not be?

Be true to yourself and your reader. There’s nothing worse than a blogger who is striving to be something they aren’t. Tierra Sir Bernard Law is the Vice President of Training & IT Development at Joy Corporation of Baton Rouge as well as a former Adjunct Professor at Baton Rouge Community College’s Small Business Training Center, where she teaches employees of Cox Communications, Casino Rouge, and Shaw, Inc. Laptop literacy and proficiency in Microsoft Office Applications.

Ms. Bernard Law Montgomery has an immeasurable amount of revel in dealing with the displaced community. She currently serves on the rebuilds steering committee and designs and applies Joy Corporation’s Community Technology Initiative presenting schooling to the community free of rate using Microsoft Unlimited Potential Curriculum. As a community volunteer, she has designed artwork packages, play productions, and young people management programs to benefit African American youth inside Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.

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Blogger

As the proprietor of a company that gives book opinions and operates a book contest, I’ve long been conscious that numerous bogus contests and reviewers are available. I’ve also promoted blog excursions for authors. I firmly agree that having your very own blog and being a guest on someone else’s weblog is an amazing way to get the word out about your book. But not all blogs and bloggers are created the same, and worse, some aren’t very sincere.

Recently, I have become aware of a brand new fashion amongst bloggers to provide giveaways to their readers. Sadly, lots of these purported giveaways are scams, or at least, they are no longer completely honest or imparting what they claim they may provide for the book’s author. Following are a few examples and recommendations to observe earlier than providing your e-book to bloggers who’re presenting giveaways.

book

First, permit’s examine the e-book giveaway system and inspire bloggers to provide an ordinary e-book giveaway. The blogger requests authors and often other owners of various products to ship them the goods to overview them. Next, they study the ebook or use the product and write an assessment of the product, posting the product facts on their weblog. They then ask humans to submit their names through a few digital forms or e-mail for a random drawing for a giveaway of the product. The product is then mailed to the winner. Sounds simple sufficient.

But it is actually extra complicated than that. The blogger is not going to undergo all these paintings without getting something it goes back. Often, the blogger will post an image of the product with a link to in which it can be purchased, which includes a web bookshop that no longer handiest sells the product but also has a referral software wherein the blogger gets a commission on all merchandise bought whilst people click via from the blogger’s website to the vendor’s website and purchase the product.

That is even reasonable, and there may be nothing wrong with human beings being paid for their paintings. The possibility of unethical and scamming behavior comes, but in diverse, sometimes small, but extreme ways. Before you publish your e-book to a blogger, here are some things to look at out for:

1. FTC Disclosure-It is the law now that everybody who gets a profit when she or he endorses a product has to reveal that in advance. A legitimate website can have an FTC disclosure statement that the proprietor is receiving a commission (whether via click-through or the direct fee by using the author or product owner) for selling the work. That does now not imply the blogger is dishonest in imparting a great assessment of the product. In reality, if the FTC disclosure is there, it’s a great sign the blogger believes in being sincere about the product. If the FTC disclosure isn’t there, don’t participate.

2. Product Reviews-Before you send your ebook to someone to review it, have a look at the past evaluations on the website. A lot of bloggers (and ebook reviewers) claim that they overview books when, in reality, they genuinely copy the product description because it seems at the writer’s or an internet book shop’s internet site, or they copy the back cover description and put up that as a evaluate. That is not a valid book evaluation because it does not reflect the blogger’s private opinion of the book, and it’s an amazing signal the blogger failed even to bother to read the ebook to find out whether it merits being recommended. The blogger is, without a doubt looking to get as much merchandise featured on the blog as possible so more commission can be earned.

3. Multiple Copies-If bloggers request greater than copies of the e-book, it is not going they need the books for overview or giveaway. Understandably, the blogger would possibly want an e-book to study, after which another to ship to the giveaway winner. However, it is a lot greater sensible for the blogger to request the most effective replica. After the giveaway’s winner is known, the writer personally sends the winner an autographed replica. If a blogger requests extra than two copies, it is in all likelihood the blogger is amassing inventory to resell-perhaps to a local used bookshop, or perhaps at an internet shop, thereby making an income off copies of books he didn’t pay for and that the writer concept could be given away.

4. Drawing Results-An sincere blogger walking an ebook giveaway will reveal the winners’ names. However, it’d simply say Amanda W., Syracuse, NY or George T, Salt Lake City, UT for privacy’s sake. What is suspicious is not giving any indication that there are winners.

If you’re nonetheless uncertain whether or not to publish your book to a blogger’s ebook giveaway, contact the authors of a number of the previous giveaways and ask them whether it helped them or they ever heard from any of the readers. If the blogger is going for walks a legitimate contest and offers the author the e-mail and mailing cope with of the giveaway winner, you can touch the individual and rest confident that your ebook is going wherein it must. If the blogger is mailing out the copies himself, you do not have proof the books are being mailed out. In fact, I’ve heard from a few authors who have participated in such giveaways multiple times that they’re in no way obtained thanks or any comments from the individuals who supposedly acquired their books. While not receiving feedback isn’t necessarily a sign of dishonesty, while you do acquire comments, it’s a sign that the whole thing is functioning as it must.

authors

Will an ebook giveaway help promote your book and provide you with publicity? It may want to if the blog receives several traffic, and if the blogger surely is giving the books freely, you could, as a minimum, discover one new fan. The blogger of the path might also let you know how the blog gets tens of thousands of perspectives. If that’s genuine, it is tremendous because then plenty of human beings will pay attention approximately your e-book. If they may be interested and no longer win it in the giveaway, they will purchase it with any luck.

If you do get scammed, you may most effective lose out on the fees of the few books you provide away; however that said, no person wants to be scammed, so do some studies earlier than you decide to provide away your books and you may relaxation confident that the readers whom you need your books to attain could be those taking advantage of the e-book giveaway instead of solely a blogger who’s out to make money without ethics.

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Blogger

Nowadays competition is stiff in nearly any niche! If you are a new blogger you sincerely cannot anticipate to end up world-famous quickly or simply due to the fact your blog frequently. As a new blogger, you want to recognize that human beings aren’t watching the whole thing you do. Some humans don’t even care and maximum aren’t privy to you or your business.

This is why such a lot of new bloggers are suffering from site visitors. Don’t live in a bubble, take movement and trade your scenario. An excellent manner to begin is to build visitors the right manner. Follow those 10 Traffic Strategies and begin driving visitors to your website nowadays!

blogger

Traffic Strategy #1 Distribute Viral eBooks for New Bloggers

New Bloggers developing an eBook that you write and bring as soon as can pressure site visitors to your web page for a very long term. How do you ask? By placing your name, internet site deal with an email or telephone variety on each web page. Pick a subject that your readers could, fortunately, pay for. Then write the eBook and then supply it away for FREE! Yes, I stated FREE! Have the subject relate to what you are doing, what your website is about.

Tell people who get your eBook to proportion it with their pals, percentage it with anyone they understand. Remember all your touch information is listed on each page of your eBook. This will deliver visitors to your website. People will need to peer what else you need to percentage with them. They will come to your website online due to the fact they received this splendid eBook from you for FREE!

Traffic Strategy #2 Self Promotion for New Bloggers

There are such a lot of little things that new bloggers can do to assist promote you that many can be left out. Everything you could do to sell you, you can also use to promote your website which is better. Keep in mind you could not be capable of power big amounts of traffic with those strategies, you just never know what’s going to take place with that handful of visitors. Add a hyperlink to your internet site to your email, percentage hyperlinks for your posts and of path your business playing cards are only some approaches to self-sell you and your website.

Traffic Strategy #3 Quality Content for New Bloggers

Now as a brand new blogger you may think that excellent content material has nothing to do with getting traffic to your internet site. The impact of satisfactory content can be very giant. Visitors come to your website to find out what you have to offer and examine your records. If they prefer what you’ve got, what they study, the desire enrolls in your RSS feed, sign on to your publication and of route inform their buddies approximately your awesome internet site/blog. Remember content is king! Blogs are an outstanding device for growing great content material on a regular foundation. Each time you add a put up you growth your blog content which turns is creating a smorgasbord of applicable content that Google and different engines like google truly love!

Traffic Strategy #4 Article Marketing for New Bloggers

As a brand new blogger, you might imagine why do I want to write down article? I’ve been instructed article advertising no longer works! There is some distance too many articles out there, what may want to I probably have to say that hasn’t already been stated before?

traffic

I in my opinion use article advertising to drive visitors to my website, to grow the traffic to my website/weblog. Some of them (the site visitors) will grow to be clients/clients. The time spent writing and promoting the articles is time nicely spent. New Bloggers article advertising and marketing will maintain paintings so long as human beings need information. Think…How you may as a new blogger match in by using contributing that facts…Into articles. Article marketing is considered one of my favorite visitors strategies which do no longer take months to peer effects. You can begin to generate visitors within days. Write articles which are focused in your marketplace, your area of interest. Submit your articles to the top 5 to ten article sites which include your call and website URL.

Traffic Strategy #5Social Networking for New Bloggers

Social Networking websites are stoning up everywhere. You can join companies of like-minded people which are bloggers or entrepreneurs. As new bloggers don’t permit all the social networking websites to weigh down you! A few of the top websites to sign up for our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Start with these first and then add later whilst you get cozy.

As a brand new blogger it’s far essential to don’t forget is start along with your profile, invite your buddies and start connecting with likeminded humans. You have an internet site/blog it’s miles vital to no longer best create a private Facebook page; you also want a Fan Page in your business. Facebook Fan Pages are truly beginning to take off as a method of traffic era for your internet site/weblog.

Keep in thoughts begin with a pair social networking sites…Get to understand them, how they paintings and so forth. Get certainly properly with the one’s networks before joining extra. Quality time is more crucial than the amount. As new bloggers becoming a member of a ton of social networks and not taking part will no longer generate visitors. You will feel overwhelmed and simply surrender. Social Networking only works in case you participate regularly…Relationshipping with people. This is a courting constructing business.

Traffic Strategy #6 search engine optimization and Keywords for New Bloggers

What you write whether or not articles or content material for our website/blog you need to apply relevant key phrases. A keyword density of three-eight% is a good target for buying better page ratings in Google and different search engines like google. Research your key phrases to find the maximum famous phrases used in the search engines like google for your goal market, your niche. Use tags and key phrases in your posts will assist you to pass up on the search engines.

All photographs and additionally add an alt tag the use of your keywords facilitates the search engines like google. As you write your posts you want to optimize your pages for both your human readers as well as engines like google. Some say that if you make it paintings and rank for your keywords that your internet site/weblog will be a seek engine magnet. You can write evidently and the search engines like google will note if you recognize which key phrases to goal. Search engines do need time to work so don’t expect immediate effects.

strategy

Traffic Strategy #7 Social Bookmarking for New Bloggers

Being a brand new blogger you’ll be wondering what is Social Bookmarking?

How do I use Social Bookmarking?

What do I Social Bookmark?

With Social Bookmarking you submit your posts to the top social bookmarking websites. This allows others who’re members of those sites to go to your website/weblog. Taking this time to submit your posts to social bookmarking is an easy manner to fast increase traffic to your website/blog. Social Bookmarking is all approximate people sharing their posts or posts that interest them on your website/weblog. In different phrases your traffic if they prefer your posts they can also bookmark your posts…They could share with others thru social bookmarking.

Put a plugin on your website/weblog to the pinnacle social bookmarking sites, this can assist your traffic to bookmark your posts or pages quickly and easily. WordPress has numerous unique social bookmarking plugins to use…One preferred is Sexy Bookmarks. Sexy Bookmarks has numerous of the pinnacle site to select from. Add this plugin to your posts and pages and make it smooth for your visitor to bookmark your internet site/blog.

Traffic Strategy #8 Document Sharing for New Bloggers

New Bloggers each report, article, put up which you write is by way of my definition an advertising and marketing file. These files present a photograph of your commercial enterprise, your internet site/weblog. It’s vital to reuse your articles and posts…Flip them into PDF’s and upload them to the top 10 to fifteen report sharing sites. Why can you ask? The purpose is the top document sharing sites have thousands of people visiting every day, searching and studying and finding your articles and could, in turn, visit your internet site/weblog for more facts. Each article desires to have your touch records, your name, your website/weblog URL. Set up your profile at each of the record sharing web page along with your internet site/blog URL as properly.

What you are doing is developing back-links in your internet site/weblog and generating traffic.

Sharing information is what the net is all about. Document sharing sites are a growth and an excellent way to generate FREE visitors on your internet site/blog. Be creative add photographs, growth the font size of your header and add shade in your articles earlier than you turn them into PDF’s.

Traffic Strategy #9 Video Marketing for New Bloggers

Listen up new bloggers Google and other search engines like google and yahoo love movies! Video in your website is turning into increasingly a powerful approach to help continue to grow your enterprise, your online presence. Here are a few trivialities. A college of enterprise stated a properly-produced video will increase statistics retention with the aid of 50% and it also quickens shopping for selections by 72% over a broadcast brochure.Video advertising is fast becoming the medium for branding and online communications. This is an important traffic method that you want to contain into your business placed on your internet site/weblog.

The most famous video advertising websites are YouTube that’s owned by means of Google! See why Google loves motion pictures? Produce your great videos; add to YouTube plus at least 10 to fifteen other pinnacle video advertising sharing websites and of course your website/weblog. Always making sure your internet site/blog URL is listed to your video. You want to send human beings lower back to your internet site/weblog. This is likewise creating first-class inbound links to your internet site/weblog and that is producing loose visitors.

Traffic Strategy #10 Syndicate Your Blog for New Bloggers

Setting up an RSS feed and putting a button on your internet site/blog makes it easy for your traffic to examine your weblog every time you submit new content material. As a brand new blogger, it’s important to present your traffic ways to know you have brought new content material. You do not need to depend upon humans’ reminiscence, to remember wherein your website/blog is positioned. To don’t forget to return again now on your website/weblog; then to go to and spot when you have upload new content material or now not, all of us is busy so deliver them a manner to do not forget!

For new bloggers and all bloggers who’re growing an enterprise on-line, earning profits by using promoting products or services, traffic is critical and returning vacationer the lifeline of your business. Setting up an RSS feed for your website/weblog may be very short and easy and another road for generating FREE traffic to your website/blog.

Conclusion to Traffic Strategies for New Bloggers

I want you as new bloggers to recognize that there are several more methods to sell your website/blog, to generate extra traffic than what become stated in this newsletter. It is only a count of creativity and diligence. Some visitors method techniques work better than others. Some visitors techniques sources will ship and generate extra traffic to your website/weblog.

Remember all traffic techniques take time don’t count on overnight riches or thousands and thousands of site visitors. Consistency is vital, don’t simply do every one of those visitors techniques as soon as or partially and anticipate heaps of site visitors. You will see traffic and it’ll continue to grow so long as you still comply with the visitor’s techniques you positioned into place. Regular visitors to your website/weblog will preserve and will boom in case you as new bloggers preserve adding new high-quality content material to your website/blog and in case you always continue these and different traffic techniques. I understand I stated that before however, it’s far well worth repeating.

Barb Sibbing is an Internet Strategy and Social Media Coach, presenting demonstrated techniques and strategies to assist develop a successful enterprise. Let’s work together to create your social media business gadget and get you online by using layout. Barb will build the foundation of social media tools which can be a suit for you, empowering you to consciousness on building the relationships which might be the essence of your success. Sign up for Barb’s e-newsletter and Grab Your FREE WordPress Video Series and 36-page E-Book…How To Set Up Your WordPress Blog... Delivered FREE to Your Inbox Right Now… At Barb Sibbing How might I upload price on your adventure these days? Building Your Online Business System!

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