Blogosphere in the new year

Welcome to 2010! About ten years ago I couldn't even imagine today. I had a Discman and a cassette player, cellphones belonged to the really rich (even receiving a call cost you money) and the Internet was used sometimes to check email.

Google, what's that?!

We didn't use Google that much, Wikipedia either didn't exist or wasn't as informed, and I'd never have imagined that gadgets and the Internet would soon take over our lives!

So on that note, I give you, the Internet Generation, a list of New Year's blog resolutions.

Blog resolution 101
1) Start one: It works for everybody. There is absolutely no harm in blogging, except that it can get addictive. I can't tell you how many people have quit something or the other as one of their resolutions. I say, turn that frown upside down and start something new. A project. An archive of this new year.
2) Prettify it: Don't just use the regular Blogger/ Wordpress template. Do a Google search for free blog templates (or just go into the archives of this column online at the HT website to find the one where I spoke about getting new templates). Make your blog shiny and new. Don't clutter it up though — just make sure it has something that says 'you' each time someone opens it.
3) Publicise it: Go on Alexa (www.alexa.com) and check your ratings. Sign on to Technorati. Get a Twitter account and tweet each time you have a new post up. Put it on your Facebook page. Join a webring of similar bloggers. Do whatever it takes to get one new reader a week. The numbers add up.
4) Photograph things: Digital cameras are everywhere. Take more pictures of things to illustrate where you were and what you were doing for your blog. You can still write your 500 words on the joys of cappuccino at dusk, but this time you have a photo to prove it.
5) Stick to it: If you already have a blog and you're not feeling the love just yet, don't give up.

Do it for yourself if not for anyone else, do it so that you can have something to look back upon and smile at later. It's better for the environment than paper, plus you can have some fun by being anonymous.

Now implement them!
Well, that's all the suggestions I have for you. 2010 seems not very different from 2009 but I am confident that amazing things will happen this year on the world wide web.

Meenakshi writes a blog at the compulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com. Send her your queries at meenakshimadhavan@gmail.com