News
BLOGINABOX goes Beta
Published: Friday 25th April 2008
Today, The International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE) went Live with Bloginabox, the successor of the hugely successful ReadMyDay blogging service. It's more user- friendly and looks even better than before. We have been listening to our users of ReadMyDay, other bloggers and local authorities and the improvements in Bloginabox will make it so much easier for councillors and local authority leaders to get blogging and discuss local issues with people in their area, online.
Fraser Henderson, ICELE Centre Manager commented "It is great to see so many civic leaders blogging and that popularity and interest in their online presence is on the rise. We have developed Bloginbox to build-on the success of Readmyday and feel that we can now offer a complete, unique solution that builds-in good blogging practice. We are also expanding our new blog directory on a daily basis and hope to have the most comprehensive list of local authority blogs in the UK".
The service is based on blogportal technology provided by 21Publish GmbH who partnered the innovations. Leif Koch, Managing director added "Providing an easy-to-use yet comprehensive blogging service is pivotal when targeting civil leaders. By adding domain registration and opening the platform to existing blogs, local authorities with packed schedules now have an even easier way of promoting their blogs and reaching out to their citizens. Being a powerhouse for Web 2.0 services, we are glad ICELE again has confidence in our expertise and experience for running eDemocracy services."
Bloginabox is easy to use and for people without any technical know how. The service is packed with lots of help and guidance to assist you in creating that perfect blog entry including a 'getting-started' guide.
>>So, What's a blog?
A 'blog' or 'weblog' is a shared online journal where you can post diary entries about your work in the community. You can then ask web-users to comment on your policies, plans and Issues. They are really easy to use and very effective.
>>Calling all Civic Leaders, Why blog?
• Easily tell people about your achievements
• It's easier, cheaper and quicker than posting leaflets through letter boxes
• Reach out to a wider audience
• You can get feedback about issues in your area
• You can report in your own words
• The ability to chronicle your own life and reflect on your achievements
• Its far easier to manage than a website
>>What's different about Blog in a box?
The good news is that all the existing, free features are still on offer.
But now it's much easier to make your first post with a streamlined registration and set-up process. This guides you through the various options in simple steps designed to encourage good practice, such as linking to other blogs.
Marketing is vital for a successful blog so we've teamed up with a UK domain registrar to offer the sale of domain names to new registrants as part of the sign-up process. Buying your own internet address is easy with this is fully automated service which incorporates online payment and a domain dashboard so that the customer stays in control.
We also felt the need to link up all local authority bloggers whether or not they use Bloginabox. So, we've added a national blog directory which makes it much easier to find blog, either by local authority or political party. There's even an aggregated feed on the site homepage.
If you already have a blog, why not add it to our directory?
For more information:
ICELE
Matthew Barker
matthew.barker@icele.org
www.icele.org
01543 308797
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