Social Media Monday : Blog syndication

by Karen I just wrote a blog post. Now what?

When I first started blogging in February 2009, I used to publish posts with zero promotion. I wasn't expecting followers nor did I particularly want any at the time - my content wasn't that interesting. I was blogging as an experiment initially, but when a couple of people found out, the encouragement I received actually made me want to continue. Eventually, I took the plunge and posted a link to one of my blog posts on twitter. Even though I had only about 100 followers at the time, I felt very exposed. It was nerve-wracking. Because I was on Blogger (which has no built-in stats) and hadn't set up Google Analytics, I have no idea if anyone even paid attention to my posts.

After committing to blog more regularly and moving to a more sophisticated blogging platform (Squarespace), I started to wonder how to promote my blog better and make it easier for people to follow me. So, how do people "follow" blogs?

RSS

The easiest way for people to follow a blog is through the RSS feed. RSS stands for really simple syndication. Every blogging platform allows RSS, via email or through the feed that goes to various readers. I use Google Reader. There are many readers out there. To follow a blog with a reader, you can copy and paste the home page of the blog into the reader to subscribe. This is pretty easy, but whenever I see a blog I want to follow that has a Feedburner link to the RSS, I mentally bless the blogger.

I. Love. Feedburner.

What's so great about Feedburner? It's just so darn easy - for the blog owner and their readers.

1. When I click on a Feedburner RSS link, I get to pick which reader I want to use out of about a dozen common readers and it adds it to my feed automatically. No copying and pasting.
2. As a blog owner with a Feedburner feed:

• I can see feed stats: how many subscribers I have and if my subscribers are actually clicking on my content (as opposed to marking all as read).
• I can change my domain, which changes my RSS feed link and my subscribers do NOT have to resubscribe. Why? Because I just go change the link in Feedburner. I recently did this and didn't lose a single subscriber. Feedburner, FTW!
• I can also subscribe to a bulletin for my feed that will tell me if there were any problems pulling the feed. Then it tells me when it's working again.

Networked Blogs Oh, how I love this tool.

It's actually a Facebook app, but you can use it to syndicate your blog posts to your twitter account. Networked Blogs is very easy to set up and it uses your blog's RSS feed to automatically share your latest post on your Facebook page, personal FB profile and/or twitter. This tool saves me time by helping me promote my blog when I'm busy doing other things. Other Networked Blogs users can also follow your blog through the app as well as like (or dislike) your posts.

Other Promotion Tools

Where and how many places you choose to promote your content is up to you, but there are lots of ways to get the word out about what you've got to say. Most of your promotion can be done automatically through various automated tools. For example, my Digg account is linked to my RSS feed, so it automatically "Diggs" new posts. Ping.fm also has the ability to broadcast to dozens of networks simultaneously. Just link up your account and Ping.fm does the work for you.

Is all of this required for blogging? Not at all. You get to choose for yourself just how much you want to do. That's the beauty of social media - it's completely customizable for everyone.

Karen is married to Matt and has an almost-3-year-old little boy named Brandon. You can read more about their lives at Karen's Chronicles.

Going big with mural painting

by Brie We have been doing a lot of painting at our house. It is one of my kids' favorite indoor activities on cold winter afternoons. The result is that there are piles of 8.5x11 painted pieces of printer paper, construction paper and card stock. And I never know what to do with them.

One day I decided that I had had enough of the kids quickly tearing through a stack of paper. I needed to get more creative. So I introduced them to murals.

Using the roll of paper I bought from IKEA for the easel they no longer have any interest in, I covered the rectangular dining room table in paper. One long strip of paper for each kid on either side of the table. I brought out some washable kids' paint and let them go at it.

I love the paintings that have resulted. I have taken some of my favorite paintings and cut them down to fit into large frames.

The long strips of paper make great murals when taped to the walls. On a particularly snowy and slushy day the four year old girl and I collaborated on a spring-is-almost-here mural. I helped with some of the drawing but she let her imagination and paint brush soar with all her ideas for spring.

Hung on the wall these two murals remind me that spring is coming!

Have your kids tried their hand at mural painting? And more importantly what do you do with all your child's art?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Parents in the Capital: Meet Yumi

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Our first Ottawa blogger profiled in Yumi. Hello Yumi!

Tell us about yourself and your family. I live very happily with my husband of 10 years and our little boy "Moe" who was born in February 2010. My mom lives next door, and my mother-in-law lives a block over. It isn't anything like Everybody Loves Raymond - it's great. I work for the National Capital Commission (and love it!) and my husband is a bookstore manager. Our goal is to raise a patriotic reader. ;)

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? We are both museum junkies and are trying to foster a love of museums in our son.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? I love watching Moe discover music. We sing, dance and make music together. It's one of the best parts of my day. (Plus, my kid totally has rhythm.)

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? We are both constantly hit with waves of emotion over how incredibly lucky we are. We knew this would be fun, but we didn't imagine it could ever be THIS much fun. Moe brings new joy into our lives every day.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? People told me this, and I tried really, really hard to do it. I think I succeeded. Here it is: savour every freaking moment of that first year.

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. My parenting blog is at http://kidsquared.livejournal.com, and I started it in May 2005 with the intention of using it to blog my efforts to conceive, my pregnancy and eventually my journey as a parent. Things didn't go as planned. We became one of the one in six couples who struggle with infertility. My blog became a record of that journey, including a diagnosis of premature ovarian failure at the age of 29, a year of mourning, a very special offer from a friend, and a round of IVF via egg donor. Our story has a happy ending, but I don't ever forget what it took to get here. Now, the blog is a parenting record, including monthly letters to my son. I also keep a photo log at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yumikid.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I grew up in Ottawa and so did my husband. We love raising our son here because we can share all the things we love about living in the capital with him - things we enjoyed as kids and new things we discover as a family. All three of us were just so lucky to be born and live in the best city in the world.

Thanks Yumi!

Kids can cook - Rainbow cupcakes

by Joanne I don’t know about you but at our house when March rolls around we start to get excited for the arrival of spring!  The kids want to get out on the bikes, we start discussing summer day camps and we love seeing all of the sidewalk chalk and skipping ropes we have in the garage.   We love taking family walks in the evening before bed and don’t even mind the occasional rain shower, especially those that provide us with magical rainbows!  But there is no need to wait until April showers to bring that touch of colour we are all looking forward to – with a little work you can bring the rainbow of colours into your kitchen.   We decided a few days ago that we needed to add a little bit of colour to our days and my daughter was up to the challenge – she would bake some yummy rainbow cupcakes for us!   This is an easy recipe that we found on www.familyfun.com .   It is a simple ingredients list:   Box of white cake mix – or you can make your own from stratch (you will need the ingredients required to make the mix) Food colouring (as few or as many colours as you would like) Cupcake pan liners White frosting (store bought or make your own) Green sprinkles (or even gold coins)   Instructions:   1.   Prepare your white cake mix, then divide the batter into the number of colours you are using.  My daughter used six colours so we needed six bowls.   2.  Once all the batter is divided into the bowls you add your food colouring.   Colour and number of food colouring drops  Purple: 9 red and 6 blue drops Blue: 12 drops Green: 12 drops Yellow: 12 drops Orange: 12 yellow and 4 red drops Red: 18 drops

 3.  Once you have lined your muffin pan with the liners evenly distribute the batter among the cups starting with purple and then blue etc.  It helps to spread the batter a bit with the spoon to make sure it goes down in layers. 4.  Once you have all of the colours in the muffin pan you bake according to the directions of the white cake mix. 5.  Once they are cool you can frost them with white frosting.  My daughter added some green sprinkles to hers but you could add some chocolate gold coins and your little ones will be thrilled to see that they have found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  

  Enjoy!

Joanne the proud mom of Amélie (8 years old) and Mathieu (5 years).  She is new at blogging and you can find her at Our Money Pit.

Beyond books: Spring Break recommendations from the Ottawa Public Library

This post is part of a series of monthly blog posts by Ottawa Public Library children’s librarians! We hope you enjoy today’s post and remember to check back every month for great children’s books ideas. by Angela Madore, Children's Librarian, Greenboro District Branch

Do you have a child, or possibly more than one? Will he, she or they be at home driving you bonkers this March Break? Are you trying to figure out how to keep them entertained for a couple of hours without taking out a second mortgage?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these question-but especially if you’ve said ‘heck, yes!’ to all of them, you should check out your local branch of the Ottawa Public Library. We’re teaming up with some pretty amazing people and organizations this year to bring you some fantastic programs for all ages. Plus, they’re free! Yes, I’ll say it again-they’re free!

Not convinced? Check this out...

The Billings Estate Museumwill be on hand to teach the kids about fossils and they’ll even be able to make their own to take home. Now, if you’re like me you may be wondering what the connection between the Billings Estate museum and fossils is-right? Well, apparently Elkanah Billings was Canada’s first palaeontologist. Who knew?

CKCU radio station will show your kids how to make and record a radio ad-how cool is that? The Currency Museum will be on-hand to teach them how to play fan-tan, a Siamese game of chance and to show them how to make their own tokens. Aboriginal Experienceswill show them how to make petroglyphs or rock art and folks from the Ottawa Lumière Festival (love it!) will help them decorate their own lanterns.

Wait, there’s more…

Staff from Pinhey’s Point Historical Sitewill show the youngsters how to do paper quilling while the Cumberland Heritage Museum will show them how to create their own print and teach them about printing technology from the 20’s. Magician Elliott Smith will astound the kiddies with his nimble hands and trusty scissors (rocks and paper will also be involved) and Darcy Whyte will show them how to make their very own rubber-powered paper planes. Apparently they can fly up to 4 football fields in length. Pretty impressive don’t you think?

And to kick it all off, Surfsidewill be hosting an RPS (Rock, Paper Scissors) tournament, for kids and teens up to age 18, at our Nepean Centrepointe branch on Saturday March 12 @ 2. The winner of the tournament will walk away with a pretty sweet skate deck.

And just so you don’t think that we’ve brought in loads of presenters in order to get out of doing our own programming, here’s just a sampling of some of the fine things that our library staff have in store for you.

We have music-based programs, dance programs, origami programs and puppet theatre programs. We have paper doll programs, writing and drawing programs, family storytimes and gaming programs-yes, we have Wii! I’ve always wanted to say that!

Some of our branches are also offering great programs for teen including gaming, crafts and anime. There is also a babysitting course at Cumberland and two career-themed programs at Nepean Centrepointeas well as a button making program and Wii tournament at Greenboro.

Now that we’ve completely won you over, here are some important things to keep in mind when browsing through our programs database. First of all, not all of these programs are offered at every branch. To make it fair, we’ve tried to offer a few at each branch. Also, because we are a bilingual organization, many programs are offered in French. Check out our website for specific details like program times, dates and locations.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Don’t despair if the programs at your local branch have already filled up. See what other branches still have openings and try somewhere different. There really are many interesting and varied branches in and around the City. Just think of it as an adventure. You may be very glad you did. And the library is always a great place to visit, browse and choose some great reading. See you during the break!