I was just about to write a post about how to plan and write a successful blog for class, when I realized… it’s already in the syllabus!

I’m pasting below the relevant part from the syllabus, in an attempt to direct your attention to it.

Comment on this post within 10 hours (ask a question, or somehow indicate you’ve read the post) to be entered in a drawing for a small prize.

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Each student will write a personal blog (readable by only class members, or open – your choice). The blog will be professional, which means you’ll write about work (and a bit of work-related fun), not your personal life, food and movie reviews (unless they’re relevant to your work).

Your blog will have 2 categories of posts:

1. Required topic blog posts:

• notes on readings – YOUR takeaways – What are the 3-5 points that are important to YOU? What did YOU take away from the reading? What did it mean to YOU? How is it relevant to YOU? What questions & critiques do you have?
• notes on social media tools – identify, write about, and review social media tools you come across.

2. Elective topic blog posts:

• Ideas, thoughts, opinions, commentary on anything you see/read/hear that is or can be related to class and/or your work. For example, you may view the videos I posted on the Ning network, and write your thoughts about them. Or you can post your thoughts/opinions about something that was discussed in class, something that happened, etc. You can post videos, photos, etc.
• Some mix of personal or humorous posts ad spice to your blog and show your humanity and complexity. Just keep it work-appropriate
• Questions, fears, unfinished ideas – blogs are most interesting when they document your thinking process rather than when they show a finished, polished “final paper.”

Keep the writing simple, concise, clear, and grammatically correct. Remember, this is (part of) your online resume.

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TWITTER

• Setting up your account, finding people to follow
• Twitter use tips
• Advice on how to twitter

WORDPRESS

• Setting up your WordPress blog
• WordPress TV help

Also, if you need help with Google reader, see these posts.

Here’s some more detail about what I expect you to write about on your blog for COMM 355:

a.    Online discoveries & resources – These kind of blog posts link to interesting blogs, blog posts, PROpenMic discussions, and any other interesting PR-related content, tools, and resources you discover online. In addition to linking to the content, provide a brief description of what it is and a brief argument why it is useful to PR students. Use these blog posts to document your online engagement described in points 1-3 above. Here are examples that my students wrote last semester:

• Meg Reid links to an interesting blog post she found
• Alyssa Maute links to a comment she wrote on someone else’s blog post

b.    PR examples – whenever you identify examples of PR, write about them on your blog. Describe what happened, and evaluate it: Was it good or bad PR? Why? Provide links to relevant material and related online conversations. See how PR student Erin Sanders did it last semester.

c.    Other – you are welcome to write other posts about public relations (your thoughts, reactions, responses, etc.) – just make sure they are insightful and useful to other students. To see examples, browse the blogs linked in the blogroll on the right, or see Madison Fisher’s blog (btw, she is the  Clemson PRSSA – Public Relations Student Society of America – president)

This post explains the types of content I expect you to write about on your PR blog. Please add a category for each type, and make sure each post is categorized appropriately.

1. Reading notes – brief notes or key ideas from the reading assigned for that day’s class. Jot down 3-5 ideas that you believe are the most important & wish to remember. Be very brief, but write enough so someone who can’t read your mind understands what you mean and I am convinced that you actually did the readings.

2. Responses - commentary, reflections and thoughts about class material, whether it is class discussion, reading, case studies, etc. These should be your own thoughts and opinions.

3. Assignments - I’ll post specific blog post assignment instructions  here and if necessary I’ll suggest sub-categories and tags.

4. PR Connections – commentary, reflections and opinions about PR issues/examples that were not addressed in class. These can be responses to other PR blogs you read, links to interesting posts or articles, etc. The main difference between this category and “Responses” is that here YOU identify the material to respond to, whereas in “Responses” you write about class material.

5. Blog comments – whenever you comment on someone’s PR blog, create a post with a link to your comment so I can assess your online participation. Do this only for PR-related blogs.

5. Personal – optional category. Use it for any posts not related to public relations.

You may add other categories and sub-categories of your choice. Please keep in mind that when I evaluate your blog I will pay special attention to these categories, but I will not ignore other posts. I will perform a wholistic evaluation of your blog, looking for:

• professionalism: Clear, correct, thoughtful writing
• frequency: Sufficient posts in categories 1, 3, and 4 (Assignments will be graded separately). I expect you to jot down reading notes for every class reading and to post at least once a week in either category 3 or 4, as well as comment on others’ blogs.
• linking: Identify other PR blogs (use PR Open Mic or my blogroll on PR Connections as starting points) and link to them. Respond to others’ posts. Become a part of the blogosphere. Blogging should not be lonely.
• readability: brief & concise writing style, use of white space, bold characters, images, bullet points