Blogging as a Platform for Influence.

I am glad I am a teacher in this generation. I have a high regard and great respect for the teachers of yesterday, but I have to admit I feel very lucky that I am teaching in this day and age, mainly because of the advancements in technology.

In the last trimester, I was able to explore blogging as a teaching tool. In one of our class projects, I encouraged my students to come up with a multimedia campaign for an advocacy of their choice. They had a freehand in deciding how to go about it. Several of the groups chose online media as part of their campaigns. They started blogs and social networking profiles to get their messages across.

It was a great success! Even though we did not formally launch the project beyond the class members, I was able to see how the web, and blogging, can be a tool of influence.

That experience, coupled with my exposure to many blogger events and Plurk, allowed me to consider blogs as a platform for influence, thus the birth of this particular blog. To be honest, I ‘ve been blogging since 2004 or 2005, with Friendster still, and I never saw the value of my blog outside of me and my friends until now.

Not so long ago, I read about the search for the Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs. I honestly did not expect to be nominated at all, but I feel blessed and honored that I was! Because I beleive that blogs are indeed platforms for influence, here is a short-list of blogs that I feel are influential. This is not my entry to the writing project, nor am I guaranteeing that these will be in my final list. For me as TEACHER RIA however (the Yapatoots or personal part of me may have different ideas hehe), these are great reads:

1. The Filipino Mom Blog.

2. OFW Para Sa Pamilya.

3. Gain Smiles. Find a Hundred and Plus Reasons to Smile.

4. Project Fit.

5. of course….The Accidental Teacher.

All these blogs have one thing in common, in my opinion: they really help! Be it parenting, teaching, psychological wellbeing or just overall wellness, these blogs can be sources of inspiration and information for it’s readers. I hope this list helps out a friend and reader of this blog, Earthlingorgeous, as she tries to find her own top ten blogs for nomination. Check out her contest search here!

If you found this post interesting, informative and educational, feel free to take home my notes by subscribing here.