Follow Friday

I’m pretty new to Twitter so it took me a minute to work out what all the #ff was about.  In fact, I had to check that it wasn’t #ffs (aw, fer f***’s sake) and that I hadn’t offended several people.  Once I worked it out I was quite touched that people had thought to include my name (or twitter tag) and I do plan to go through and do the same this afternoon.  But first, it got me thinking… (always a dangerous thing to crank up something as rusty as the cogs in my mummy brain).

This week I’ve been looking up new blogs and bloggers.  I’m keen to meet other people in a similar situation and see if we can pool our knowledge and support.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to read the established blogs; the ones by people who’ve worked out how to do this successfully (whatever that means) and who have really found their voice, but as nice as I’m sure they are in real life, it can be quite intimidating approaching them across cyber space.  I feel like I’m thrusting myself at people in a way I never normally would.  For me, it’s been the equivalent of walking down Buchanan St with my boobs out, asking people to not only look at but to talk to me.  I’m sure it’s a very liberating experience and we should all enjoy it, but I end up feeling very exposed and vulnerable.

So, I thought that maybe us “newbies” should be a bit more proactive amongst ourselves and be supportive of all the other bloggers thrusting out their blog’s boobs for the cyber world to see.  To that end I’m going to make these suggestions:

1. Check out all the places to showcase your blog and make sure you’re signed up.  So far I’ve found Love All Blogs, I’ve signed up to Britmums (and even worked out how to start using it!) – you can then join the group Newbies (new to blogging_ , and keep up to date with the NewbiesTuesday blog.  I’ve signed up to Tots100 which has some good info on it, though I don’t think I’m using it to its full potential and the whole rating thing seems a bit scary unless you’re a Big Boy Blog.  There’s the Netmums Parent Bloggers Network and many more that I’m learning about each day and slowly but surely signing up to.  If nothing else, you’ll find lots of other great blogs to read.
2. Sign up to social networks – I’ve met so many lovely people on Twitter in a short space of time, and my love affair with Facebook is longstanding. Join in, it’s not as hard as you think.  (Click these links for my pages – see!  I’m flashing my boobs again!)
3. Join in those alien “blog hops,” “linkies,” and “meme” things that Big Boy Bloggers talk of – but don’t just post.  Visit!
4. Visit other newbies and show them the love and feedback you’d like for yourself – what goes around comes around after all.  (Let’s face it, many of us are probably still desperately clinging to the stats page.)

To make that easier, I thought we could sort of introduce ourselves and our blog, and then share the links of any great Newbies we’ve come across.  I’m going to tag some newbie bloggers below for you all to visit, and it would be great if some/one of you would do the same.

(In no particular order):

• Hollybobbs and turning 30…
• Mum of Three Boys and why she loves Wednesday.
• Never Bored of Bubbles and her ingenious solution for staying dry on a bike ride.
• The Crumby Mummy and the wonders of Haribo…
• Mrs W and how she plans to ditch the diet.
• Mother.Wife.Me – a fellow bilingual mum and metamorphosing from SAHM to WAHM.
• Far From Home Mama and surviving life in a place where BBQs are banned!
• A 20 Something Mum and the dreaded routine debate.
• Young(ish) Single Mother talks about depression and the joy of sweetcorn up your nose.
• Mummy’s Cheeky Monkey and some Valentines superstitions.
• Honey’s Mummy on the pros and cons of a home birth.
• They Grow So Quick talks about the programme Daddy Daycare
• Mummy Rates It about Prints Charming and how to work a scarf print.

I’m not sure about the whole “linky” thing because I don’t think WordPress lets me do that list bit at the bottom but if someone knows different then do, please, let me in on the secret.  Otherwise, I’d love it if you wrote your own Newbie blog with your own recommendations and then feel free to put the link to your blog in the comments below or I think if you add a link to this page in your blog it should Pingback and make a note here – though that’s getting a bit technical.

Our very own Follow a Newbie Friday.