Jul 3, 2012 / General Advice & Pro Tips

Keeping Up With the Times

A few days ago, it seemed like all my social network feeds were abuzz with a popular new article in the New York Times. I bookmarked the story, and got around to reading it the next day. The day after that, I made a note to myself to at least write a short blurb on my opinion of the article. And after that? Well, the hype died down and my friends were sharing the “next big thing.”

Often, blogging is about timeliness. For personal bloggers (myself included), posts about memories, outings, and life philosophies can generally be published at any time. But if you write about hot topics or come across a trendy article that you just need to share your thoughts on, posting in a timely manner is crucial. When done right, it can bring new readers to your site and build your reputation as someone who can navigate the wily media.

What does it mean to be timely? There’s no hard and fast rule for when you need to write your posts, and different topics or controversies will die down or carry on at their own speed. Personally, I’ve found that if I haven’t written something roughly four days after I first heard about it, it’s probably not going to get written. And by a week’s time, I feel like I’ve missed the boat. This timeline may be shorter than others, but sooner is generally better.

Media moves quickly, and it can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace. If you’re looking to report on hot topics, keep these tips in mind:

  • Multitask: Try to blog while watching your favorite news program for immediate writing fodder. You can do this on your phone, on your laptop, or with a trusty notebook in hand.
  • Inspiration in your inbox: Through Google Alerts, you can sign up to receive daily email alerts regarding topics that you’re interested in. Want to blog about the presidential race? Want to stay up to date on the Olympic games? Adding these as alerts will let you know each time they’re mentioned in a news article, and also cuts down on the leg work when looking for related articles to link to in your post.
  • The big picture: If there’s a particular topic you’re interested in commenting on, but feel like you’re arriving late to the party, write it anyway. Some posts may take longer, but it doesn’t mean they’re any less valuable. It can also give you the opportunity to develop it into a larger commentary and include other related topics that display an overall trend in the media.

Timeliness is, at times, a skill, a luxury, and a necessity for bloggers. Do you have a deadline for when you try to get a post out? Or do you prefer to focus on pieces that can be timely at, well, any time?

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  1. Absolutely right. When I used to maintain a blog about tech news, I had to keep myself up-to-date with all the twitter feeds of big companies, brands and media just to make sure that I become one of the first ones to share the story. But for personal blogging, this may not be always the case. However, I’ve faced similar situations.

    Like one day I had an amazing experience going out of town and hanging out with a couple of friends. Each and every moment during that day, I had this thought on my mind that I will write a post about the trip on my blog as soon as I enter my room.

    When I came back, I was tired and thought of doing it the next day. The next day, I still had the urge or interest to write up about the trip but I opted for some other pending tasks. As time passed, the excitement about the trip, and more importantly, about writing that trip, seemed to fade. Because I took too long, I eventually forgot every tiny bit that was exciting on that trip. So, a week later, I forgot a lot of little things that I could have added to my post if wrote earlier.

    So, I believe timing is also important when sharing about recent happenings such as partying, journey, adventure, etc. Even thoughts, too, because sometimes our mind stumbles upon a thought that we forget over time. WordPress’ custom post-types comes in handy in such cases. 🙂

    Bunch of love to Matt and his team. ♥

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  4. I’m about as far removed at being trendy as anyone can be. I go right off the cuff, wear my heart on my sleeve, spill my guts and share my love for nature. I must never forget that I’m the funny gal with the acerbic wit. Old hippies never die.

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  5. I’ve really only just started blogging, and I definitely think this idea of timeliness is very important. I have a mixture of things that I aim for: ideas of things that I can write any time, some things that are recent news and developed a bit more, and other things that are big news (for me) right now that I need to talk about before it gets old. Good advice about the 4 days… I’m going to try to keep that in mind for inspiration as I write my new blog! 🙂

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  8. Good post and good points by Sajib. I know if I let too many days go by without writing in my journal I forget what made a particular day special.
    I tend to blog about memories or things that come to me on a particular day. I know it sounds like simply a lack of confidence, but I leave commenting on current events to others; unless I’m directly involved, I don’t see that I have anything special to offer that is different than thousands of others writing about something in the media.

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  11. Re: Timeliness, I, too have saved information as drafts that a few days later seem too late. Sometimes, I hit on something that has less to do with time, and I pull it up when I feel especially uninspired. Since my posts address mostly education issues, about half the time I can address some of the saved topics later, perhaps with some extra input. Thanks for sharing your experiences and insights!

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  13. Thanks for the tips, Erica. Good insight on the four-day rule. I also use Google Alert it’s a good tool.
    Blessings – Maxi

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  14. Hi Erica, thank you so much for the advice. I\’ve been bloggin for two year now and I\’ve found it a fascinating experience. My blog is about books ( http://thetravelingbookclub.wordpress.com ) and it really helped me out when the Post a Week challenge started last year, because it gave me the discipline for me to be constant. What I do is that I prepare my post in my mind during the week and then I post my comment during the weekend. Cheers! 🙂

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  15. My blog originally started out as a place to blog about whatever I like, and have a place to archive articles I write for other outlets so I can show them to prospective employers (*wishful thinking). But now I’ve kind of focused my blog into a book blog. Didn’t plan it. It just sort of happened. Luckily, this means I can post whenever I feel like it.

    As for the media writing I do for other outlets, I also abide by the 4 day rule. Depending on the news item, I may even whittle that down to 2 days. That’s why I like writing for other people. I can’t imagine running a media site on my own. Too much work!

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  16. The information is true. An example:
    I was amazed to learn that a post on my novel site (www.intertwinedlove.wordpress.com received almost 1,000 hits one day. When I checked it out i learned it was the day Elizabeth Taylor died. The post was about purple eyes.
    Currently, my general writing site is receiving a large percentage of hits on a post about lion’s mane jellyfish. I’ve been unable to discern why…
    Carolyn Cornell Holland

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  17. Like you, I’d say i’m a personal blogger and thus there is usually no rush in blogging about a topic. However, there are times when a story catches my interest, a story I feel the need to blog about. Time permitting (rarely happens), I start jotting down notes immediately in a small notebook or in an application on my phone such as Evernote or SpringPad. Alternatively, I bookmark an article to read later.

    Sometimes, I wish I did not have the ability to bookmark an article. I feel like the ability to bookmark opens up yet another procrastination wormhole where articles get sent to collect Internet dust. If there were no way to bookmark an article, I’d either have to read the article read away, or print it out and place it in a physical file. No longer desiring to keep a collection of paper around, I’d feel compelled to read the article right then or I’d move on. The bottom line, at least for me, is that if it is an article I have a strong interest in reading, I’ll do so right away. Chances are, if I am in surfing the web mode that means I have a least a little time to read an article. That being said, having the ability to bookmark is great and oftentimes useful.

    Consequently, I have decided to create two “to be read” files in my applications that would sort articles by level of urgency. Breaking news and hot topics will get placed in one notebook, while articles of interest will get placed in another file. Sorting the articles in this way, i believe, will help me to determine which articles need my immediate attention versus articles that I can read at my leisure.

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