BlogHer Inc., the media network and publisher for women announced its new editor-at-large for BlogHer.com to be Kathryn Finney.

Finney’s new role will contribute to the growth  of BlogHer’s style, fashion and beauty presence in response to community and client demand. In addition, Finney will work with BlogHer to advance the businesses of bloggers in the BlogHer Network, and create opportunities for women of color at the intersection of technology and social media.

“In this role, my focus will be to strategize expansion of the style, fashion and beauty community with BlogHer, while serving as a resource for women who want to evolve their blog into a media brand,” says Kathryn Finney.

Finney’s fashion blog The Budget Fashionista, will also join the BlogHer Publishing Network.

When Shawn Williams began blogging in 2006, he had no idea of what he was getting himself into. In fact, he barely knew what a blog was, simply taking the advice of his favorite magazine, Men’s Health, to start Dallas South Blog.

Initially, his focus was on issues pertaining to the areas of the city that were south of the Trinity River Bridge. His objective was to bring a different perspective to how areas such as Oak Cliff were being portrayed in the media, which at the time he felt were typecasted negatively. Unbeknownst to Williams, the blog would soon become a go-to for many outside of the area that he actually covered; people from across the nation began visiting it. He had become a recognized authority on issues concerning the underserved populations of the city.

Fast forward five years, and Williams is still blogging as editor of the online newspaper Dallas South News, a content partner of Pegasus News. Most recently he was able to add published author to his repertoire when completed his first book,Blogging While Black.

Read the rest of this article at Pegasus News

(Photo: Pegasus News)

A few of my colleagues decided to write some thought provoking, “conversation starting”, blog post about the Golden Age of Tech Blogging calling it over leading to debate saying it’s not over and so on. I guess over is the new dead? Here are a few of the must read material reference blog post.
End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over (started the conversation)
Golden Age of Tech Blogging Done? I Couldn’t Disagree More ( a good reply from Sarah Lacy who is rumored to be launching a new tech blog, hmmm)
Is the Golden Age of tech blogging over? ( Brian Solis chimes in )
The Next Era of Tech Blogging: 3 Things That Could Make it Better ( respected technology writer Marshall Kirkpatrick drops some knowledge)
Oh No! Blogging is REALLY, REALLY dead this time!!!!!! ( Hugh Macleod has some fun)

You can add this one to the list of the nay sayers. I don’t believe the Gold Age of Tech Blogging is over. That’s all I’m going to say about that but what I do believe is that for tech bloggers, journalist, hobbits or anyone who wants to join the tech blogging party here’s what I believe to be not only the future of technology blogging but blogging in general.

Before I continue on the future of tech blogging here’s my tech blogging “street credibility” aka “klout”. Note, it still doesn’t’ mean I’ll be 100% accurate but just to let you know, I know a little something about tech blogging. Let’s just say I was blogging using b2/cafelog before Matt Mullenweg turned it into WordPress in 2003 and have been blogging about technology and more since 2008 at SocialWayne.com.

The Future of Blogging .. Still about the content
The future of blogging will be more of less the same moving forward in 2012 and beyond but with more content mediums added to gain readership. While video blogging has been around for years along with podcast the future of blogging will continue to merge all contextual formats with blogs having video channels, podcast along with continuing to use photos as an element to get readers attention. (ooh..aww)

But there are at least three new tools/plugs-ins/browser extensions that could put more emphasis on good, valuable content vs link bait, general list and those shiny infographics. Extensions such as Evernote’s Clearly and options like Safari’s Reader which makes blog posts clean and easy to read by stripping out all of the ads, navigation and just provide readers with just the text. As more blogs become more “noisy” with ads, icons and slow to load, readers will just want to access the content clean and fast. Those tools along with platforms like instapaper will provide such options.

Also keep in mind platforms like Google Currents, Flipboard and pulse where blog readers can access just your content. To sum it up, if you’re a blogger, tech journalist or just a writer it’s time to step up the content in 2012.

What makes Tech Blogging So Special?
In 2009 or 2010 tech blogging jumped the shark, TechCrunch, Mashable and Read Write Web all became syndicated from national news outlets and million dollar online properties as their readership traffic sky rocketed. Gizmodo and Engadget also took off a few years earlier but why? A few reasons but take a quote from the Social Network Movie “exclusivity”. Exclusivity to information, to niche gadgets, reviews, people, startups and more along with the rise of privilege bloggers that led to spin offs such as mommy bloggers, food bloggers and video bloggers.

Tech Blogs are big businesses if done right. Just ask OM of GigOm. Who would have imagine back in 2003 that a blog network could raise more than $8,000,000.

The Good, The Bad and The Newbie of Tech Blogging
The good about tech blogging is that while one “age” of tech blogging “pivoting”, the bad part is that as more companies and media outlets are focusing more on tech blogging we’ll see a newbie class of tech bloggers rise to stardom and making a name for themselves in a very short period of time. With that comes questions of credentials, value and respect. Something that many established tech bloggers already have even if they were to stop blogging and become venture capitalist. Some are lucky because they went from newspaper to famous tech blog and others are still trying to find their niche. Regardless in 2012 we’ll see a few new faces on popular tech blogs along with a shift in writers moving to different sites to do what they love… write about technology. Reference (Ben Parr’s Seismic Shifts Have Radically Altered the Tech News and Blogging World post)

The Role of Social in Blogging
The role of social in blogging will be more of the same in 2012 also. Note I didn’t say “social media” but social in terms of not only a blog social reach but in terms of the blog and all of it’s writers social graph. Blogs will rely on almost every social network to increase traffic: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and while thought leaders will say “don’t push the same content everywhere” that’s what they want their readers to do. Blogs will continue to add buttons and create new simple, cleaner ways to make content social.

Quick Note on Mobile Blogging
Mobile blogging isn’t talked about that much at least not in my circles but mobile blogging is huge especially in photo blogging. With faster, better smartphones expect to see more video interviews posted from smartphones and mobile content being posted on platforms like instagram and pintrest either showing up in blog post and/or on the sidebar.

Blogging Platforms
For many of the top blogs they’re using WordPress. BlackWeb 2.0 is on WordPress and so is SocialWayne.com. WordPress bloggers often make fun of blogger users but with the recent changes that Google has made to blogger it’s time to give Blogger a second chance. It’s cleaner and now has google+ integration giving blogger a few perks enticing users to make the switch. Tumblr is holding it’s on as a blog platform too. Other custom content management systems will work for more media properties like theVerge has built but for the new tech blogger you can’t go wrong with any of the big three, WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.

Now what?
Keep blogging…

Where do you see blogging going in 2012? Let us know in the comments.

Today WordPress announced version 3.3 of their publishing software platfrom code named “Sonny” in honor of jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt. WordPress 3.3 comes with a an aray of new features and a slick new dashboard redesign. Four of WordPress 3.3 new features I’m excited about are:

1. Easier file uploading with file type detection and drag and drop uploads.
2. A Tumblr Importer for Tumblr users who want to make the jump.
3. Widget Improvements so if you change your theme you don’t have to redo your widgets.
4. Responsive design for better publishing with an iPad and other tablets.

Here’s a video from WordPress highlighting some of the above features and more.

Take a look at the redesigned dashboard.

You can download WordPress 3.3 here or update inside your WordPress dashboard.

If you upgraded to the latest version of WordPress 3.3 let us know what you think in the comments.

Tumblr may be the next hot online platform for celebrities.  Alicia Keys plans to connect with her fans in a new social way by using Tumblr.

Keys calls her Tumblr “an artistic representation of me, my art and my world.”

She has already used her site to promote her Showtime documentary, Keep a Child Alive with Alicia Keys, as well as photos from World AIDS Day 2011.

Her page is very vibrant and visual which is a great way for people to really see what Alicia Keys has going on in her life and the different projects she is working on. The only problem could be time.

Blogging is great and fun, but can be very time consuming. That is why many people take week, month, and even yearlong hiatuses.

No word on whether Alicia Keys is actually on here herself or someone else will be doing the posts for her. Most likely will be a combination, similar to President Obama’s Tumblr page. 

WordPress.com recently announced a partnership with advertising giant Federated Media. Now that’s borne fruit for the hosted service’s users – you could soon be able to carry ads on your blog, and take a share of the revenue.

WordAds, announced today on the WordPress.com blog, won’t be open to everyone. Carrying premium display ads from known brands, the service will only be available by application. It’s open to publicly visible blogs with custom domains, and factors such as level of traffic and engagement, type of content, and language used will factor into whether a blog gets accepted.

Read the rest of this article at Next Web

Natural hair is in like never before. More and more women are rocking their natural locks and many are turning to Tumblr for some inspiration. There are several blogs on Tumblr that are catered specifically to natural hair. Some give advice and others are just visual, but these are a great reference, among many others if you are natural or looking to go natural in the near future.

Check these out!

1. Natural Belle

2. Kinky.Curls

3. Heart Naturals

4. Kinky Curly Fro

5. The Natural Guru

While everyone is in campaign mode, the president is finding every innovative way to connect with the country for current issues and for next year’s election. His most recent initiative is a Tumblr blog.

Yup, President Obama isn’t just blogging from the White House page, he is now getting up, close, and personal by creating a blog on one of the most popular platforms on the web.

Of course it isn’t the president himself blogging, but just like his other social networks, it’s very likely that he will take the time out to do a few personal post of his own.

The first post indicates why the president and his staff have created the blog and what they would like to come out of it:

They made a point of being polite with the submissions and posts. Having a blog where people can post any and everything is a little risky, and of course there will be haters that post inappropriate things, but hopefully they will be able to screen and edit appropriately.

Overall the Tumblr idea seems like a great way to see what exactly what the Obama camp is up to and also what people in the community are doing. As their post indicated, they want this to be a platform for everyone. This is definitely a more down to earth approach then having to go to his official page.

To follow President Obama on Tumblr go to http://barackobama.tumblr.com/

It’s the first day of New York Fashion Week! The latest fashions from all the top designers will be presented all week long. Unfortunately, even if you live in New York, the likelihood of you making it into a show is very slim. So the next best thing is looking to the media for coverage.

Although, major newspapers and magazine sites will be covering the shows sometimes going to a fashion blog is better. There are so many great fashion blogs owned by black women and men but here are just a few to keep on the radar for this week:

StreetEtiquette.com

AfricaStyleDaily.com

Yep.  The North Carolina resident’s book dubbed Angle’s Laws of Blogging gives the deets on what a prospective blogger should consider when setting out to blog.  The tips she gives are for those interested in blogging for money not for fun though based on the books description it could likely be used for someone who is interested in building a brand with reach and long tail cash instead of immeadiate revenue.

ConcreteLoop is a lifestyle blog about entertainment and has been around since 2005.  Law’s site has been included in Time Magaines 50 best websites on the Internet in 2008.  Really impressive considering she started the site when she was really young!  So if you are wondering what exactly you’ll get out of the book prior to picking it up we can help you out with that.  She covers:

·         Picking the right name for your blog;
·         Branding your blog;
·         Using social networks to your advantage;
·         Generating revenue;
·         Managing your blog, from content to comments

The book, co-written by Carole Moore, also goes into stories on how she got to where she is today in addition to where she thinks the industry is headed.  If you have, or are thinking of starting, an entertainment or celebrity focused blog then she also goes into the details of blogging specifically for that topic.  The book goes on sale July 8th for $14.95 and is published by Skyhorse Publishing.

You might remember almost a year ago to-date ConreteLoop was covered here on Black Web 2.0 for a said acquisition to BuzzMedia that in reality turned out to be more of an advertising deal.  Law’s still owns ConreteLoop.