Thing 24: What's Changed?

Wow! Has it been almost a year since I did Thing 1? At that time, I had a little baby blog, hadn't even tried Flickr, and didn't know a thing about Ning.

Since then, I've:

• Grown my blog, Travels with Children, enough that I'm becoming known in the travel-blogger world. I moved from a free Wordpress setup to a self-hosted blog with plugins and theme variations. I've learned about SEO and monetization and other things that go with having a serious blog. Instead of random posts, I have a pretty strict posting schedule of 4-5 times a week.
  
• Begun blogging for Uptake, a travel aggregate site. It's nice to get paid (a little bit) for blogging.
• Started a review blog that complements my travel blog.
  
• I'm also writing for Midwest Parents. A group blog is an interesting thing to work with as well.
• Joined two other Ning sites, and jumped in with both feet. I was one of the first 200 members of Twittermoms, a Ning group with 6000+ members now. It made my day to be named Twittermom of the Week a few months ago.
• I've also grown fond of Twitter, as my twitter grade shows. I've found Twitter to be useful for throwing out those tidbits that I just want to tell someone, as well as for gathering information. Twitter has been useful in a variety of ways.
  

What do I like about blogging?

• Sharing information with other people. I'm not a this-is-what's-on-my-mind-today kind of blogger. My blogging is primarily to inform about things with which I have experience, like taking a 3800-mile, 17-day road trip with four young children in December and January.
• Making a little money. Not much, granted, but enough to pay for hosting fees and Flickr memberships.
• Having a written record. Since much of what I write is experiences with my kids, we'll have a permanent record of our adventures.

Have I found other blogs to read?

• Um, yeah. I currently have 254 blogs on my RSS reader. . .

Do I comment on others' blogs?

• Yes, daily. I don't comment on everything I read, but I do comment on things that strike me as interesting or useful. As a blogger, I enjoy getting comments, and I like being part of the blogging conversation. A lot of networking has been done through comments.

I guess I'm walking proof that the 23 things were useful. I came, I learned, I put into practice.

And I'm excited to learn a whole lot of new Things!