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How to Start Mobile Blogging
From MobileActive Wiki
Written by Elizabeth Keren
Contents
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How to start Mobile Blogging in Five Easy Steps
Step 1: Set up a web blog.
Finances are often tight for many grassroots organizations. Therefore they could take advantage of free or inexpensive global blogging websites. The following free or low cost web blogging sites are recommended since they tend to couple with most mobile web posting resources and they are accessible in a variety of countries around the globe.
Step 2: Sign up with mobile to blog media posting services.
Each web resource listed below couples with a blog so that different types of media captured on a cell phone can be posted to a web blog. If organizations subscribe to a couple of different resources such as Flickr for photos, Gabcast for audio feeds, and Flixwagon for live video feeds, citizens will have many media options for posting on the organizations' web blog. Below are a variety of mobile resources to select from. Organizations can decide to subscribe to as many of the resources as they would like. The more subscriptions, the more mobile media posting options citizens will have. Additionally, all of the resources mentioned below have free account options so there is little to no cost to using the resources.
Post Static Video (MMS)
Post Live Video Streams (only Nokia phones)
Post Audio (MMS)
Post Live Audio Streams
Post Images (MMS)
Post Images at Map Location (MMS)
Post Text (SMS)
Step 3: Make your blog mobile
Use one of the following resources to get a mobile web address and subscription options with a short code.
Step 4: Get a Mobile Keyword for your blog
The following sites allow anyone to create a mobile keyword (such as “Africanvoice”). The keyword allows people to text message the keyword to a given number and then they can become a subscriber to your site. Being a subscriber allows them to receive updates, alerts and blog posts. Additionally, it allows the organization to keep track of subscribers.
Step 5: Check to see how "readable" your mobile blog is on a cell phone.
It is important to know how easy it is for citizens to read your blog on a mobile phone. The following resource will “check” the readability of your blog on a cell phone.
Example: Setting up a Mobile Blog
While there are many options for mobile citizen media journalism blogging, the next paragraph will describe one way that a mobile bogging site can be set up and utilized.
Step 1: Create an account in Blogger
Go to Blogger
Click on Create Your Blog Now.
You will then go through a menu of options to fill in information, continue until you get to your blog’s editing window (it should look like the one below).
Step 2: Create an account in Utterz
Utterz will allow me to post mobile images, video, audio, and text messages from my cell phone to my Blogger blog.
Login to Utterz. Click on Get Started.
Create your account; select country, email, phone, and password. Then click Join.
Step 3: Set up Utterz so that it can automatically publish from your mobile phone to your Blogger site.
In your Utterz account, click on Connections.
In Connections, select the Blogger Icon.
Type in your login and password for your Blogger account.
From the drop down menu, select your Blogger blog, fill out the rest of the form, and select the “Automatically post your Utterz to the connection” button. Click Save.
Now you should have a Blogger icon at the top of your connections page.
Step 4: Test out your mobile blog!
Try an audio podcast with a picture or video Using your cell phone, call in to Utterz.
1. Call 1-712-432-6666.
2. Press 2 to create your new audio post.
3. When finished recording, press #.
4. Press 3 to post to your blog.
5. Hang up.
Within 10 minutes of your podcast (anything you do within 10 minutes of the original podcast will appear on the same message as the podcast in your blog), take and send a picture or video with your cell phone to Utterz.
1. Take a picture or video with your cell phone, then press Send.
2. Send it to this address: go@utterz.com.
Step 5: Check your Blogger blog
Both your podcast and your picture/video should appear on your Blogger site after 10 minutes.
For more on how to use mobile blogging, see Mobile Phones and Citizen Journalism.
