#UsBlogs: Round-Up Perma-Post!

by Thomas MORADPOUR on February 7, 2011 · 31 comments

WHAT IS #USBLOGS?

A fun way to spice up our blogging efforts, #usblogs is a group weekly blogging game within the #usguys tribe!

Every Friday night, we pick a common theme, and blog away until Monday morning. No particular rules or template, no winners either – the benefit is simply to push each other to blog on a great topic, learn, have fun, and start a wider conversation with (hopefully) great diversity in our points of view.

Anyone can participate by suggesting topics, posting articles on their own blog, and of course, reading, commenting and sharing the results!

If you’re already a #usblogs contributor, you know what to do… if you’re #usguys, see below for “How it works”… if you’re not #usguys yet, #usblogs is a great way to jump in and join in the group’s conversation – there is no “qualification” to join our tribe, except a desire to be part of a great group, and participate to our 24/7 chats with an open and positive mindset – welcome!

WEEK 4 ROUND-UP  - LEARNINGS FROM THE MOVIES

WEEK 3 ROUND-UP  - BUILDING YOUR OFFLINE KLOUT

WEEK 2 ROUND-UP  - THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY LEADER

WEEK 1 ROUND-UP  - TWITTER: PODIUM OR NETWORK?

HOW #USBLOGS WORKS

  • Monday-Thursday: we all suggest themes for the following week-end; any #usguys member can suggest a theme, to keep the game open to all, not just those who already posted; to suggest, simply send a tweet with the following format: “Theme: xxxxx #usblogs #usguys Please RT to Vote!”
  • Friday: we’ll pick one theme on a simple popular votes basis – the most retweeted; this ensures themes have broad appeal for both writers and readers – and hopefully enough controversy to stimulate different perspectives and opinions: I’ll be happy to keep track and announce the theme each Friday pm, around 6pm NY time.
  • Saturday & Sunday: we all write and post on our own blogs…
  • Before Monday Mid-Day: we all tweet our posts with the #usblogs hashtag, and update our own posts with a round up of all other #usblogs posts.

 

Related Posts:

Tagged as: #usblogs, #UsGuys, blogging

  • Anonymous

    What a great idea Tom! This makes me want to start writing! I do look forward to reading all post by #usguys – #beyond140

    • Anonymous

      Credit to Mark (@youternmark) who was in the initial convo and got us started with our first topic!
      Tom

  • http://fredmcclimans.com Fred McClimans

    Excellent concept Tom for the eclectic group of #usguys! The value of a blog isn’t just to impart your thoughts, but to do so in a way that makes people think, to question, to challenge both the reader and yourself. It will be interesting to see the diverse perspectives that emerge on each topic, and the resulting discussions that ensue. At the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we also encountered a good bit of commonality as well. Looking forward to next week!

    Fred

    • Anonymous

      And I’ll look forward to your entry, Fred!
      Any thoughts on topic for next week end?
      Tom

  • http://twitter.com/Karen5Lund Karen E. Lund

    FYI: I added a second worksheet to the #UsGuys blog directory at http://josepf.co/usBlog for a list of upcoming #UsBlogs topics. There seems to be a consensus for Dan Perez to propose next week’s topic.

  • Anonymous

    And over time, #USguys may grown in number, power, and influence; becoming a huge machine capable of taking down corporate brands and political agendas. Like a hydra, it won’t be able to be destroyed. Chop off one head and nine grow to fill its place. Have you thought about joining Anonymous? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)

    • http://twitter.com/TomMoradpour Thomas Moradpour

      Not sure I’m following you these ;-)
      Tom

  • http://twitter.com/Nickyhants Nicky Hirst

    Great idea Tom and #thanks for offering to collate. What do they say about always give work to a busy person? I love the idea providing it is easy for us to post replies on ie like this one. Some blogs want you to sign up with them before you add comments which I’m not a fan of. I look forward to seeing the next topic!

  • http://toddrjordan.com/thebroadbrush tojosan

    Excellent kick off and wrap up of week 1.

    I liberally stole the links and added them to my week 1 post. :)

    Now I have enough reading to keep me busy all night.

    Thanks to everyone that wrote a post, and those that worked to bring this into being.
    Cheers,
    @tojosan

  • Pingback: Twitter: Network or Podium | The Broad Brush

  • http://ianmrountree.com Ian M Rountree

    Love it, Tom. I’m off to read all those posts now. It’s so good to see action, and expansion of purpose, in the #usguys stream.

    My suggestion for week 2? “What are we using our networks for.” Pretty general, but an important question. :)

  • http://twitter.com/robertheadley Robert Headley
    • http://twitter.com/TomMoradpour Thomas Moradpour

      Done! Sorry for the delay… updating from an iPad on the road is not the most convenient ;-)
      Tom

  • http://twitter.com/Verilliance Verilliance

    Sounds fun. I’m in.

  • http://twitter.com/Verilliance Verilliance

    Might I also recommend you use a blog hop tool such as linkytools.com? When set up, people can enter their link for the round-up (so you don’t have to do it manually) AND they can also include the automatically updated list on their own blog post as well. That way the list exists on every participating blog, and their readers (if they chose) could also enter a blog post. Linkytools has a subscription cost, but if you’re going to run a weekly event that involves rounding up links, trust me, the super low subscription cost is going to pay for itself in time saved. I have no affiliation with LinkyTools, just advice after running a weekly blog meme for years.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks!
      I’ll look into it (and most probably just start using it!)
      Tom

  • http://www.terametric.com Taariq Lewis

    I think this is an interesting idea, but isn’t there a risk of “in group” bias around the same blog topic?

    In-group bias: The tendency to reserve positive feelings and special treatment to people we have defined as being part of our in-group (the group with which a person identifies and of which he or she feels a member), and negative feelings and unfair treatment to people we have defined as being part of our out-group (groups which an individual does not identify with).

    Secondly, did we review the impact of the first #usblogs post? How many RTs that were OUTSIDE the group? How many inbound links? Was there any difference in the quality of readers?

    I love experiments, but given that all our time is precious, shouldn’t we understand the objective of this particular exercise and determine whether it aligns with a productive end-in-view?

    Of course, I support all innovation and new approaches! I think this has great potential!

    Cheers,
    Taariq

    • http://twitter.com/Almost60Really Paula Lee Bright

      I agree that time is precious, but since this is strictly voluntary, perhaps people could make that choice for themselves. Agreed, all those facts would be fascinating to know, but every blog starts off with those who “know” the blogger. Hopefully, the group expands from there, if the links are interesting and of value.

      For me, it’s an opportunity to weigh in on things that interest me, find others whose work would interest me as well, and generally get my writing “out there,” without having to do the shameless self-promotion that I hate so much.

      If folks hate what I write, then I imagine they’d just skip me in the future! And I know we would all encourage our networks to check it out, since that’s why we blog. Best of all possible worlds? We gain new readers and new acquaintances, and hopefully another friend or too. I love the idea! :)

      • http://www.terametric.com Taariq Lewis

        Hiya Paula:

        I agree it’s voluntary, but that’s not mutually exclusive from being productive, right? Tom said the following: ‘I think we can all safely say “it worked”, and “we should do more”’ I’d like to know more about how it worked and can improve. 15 blog posts on the same topic is awesome, but I didn’t read all. I couldn’t. they were all the same title so I just read the first 2 – 3 to publish.

        However, maybe I just got it wrong and i need some more educatin’

        What do you think? How productive was this exercise?
        Cheers and see ya on the stream!
        Taariq

        • Anonymous

          I’m in it for fun!
          Tom

          • http://twitter.com/Almost60Really Paula Lee Bright

            I agree it would be interesting to know. But I’m in it for fun as well. ;D Thanks for the response, Taariq!

  • http://twitter.com/Almost60Really Paula Lee Bright

    What an incredibly awesome idea. I love it! I can’t wait for the ideas to flow in, and the voting to commence. This will be just a grand way for all of us to get to know one another on another level, through comparative opinions.

    Knowing the #usguys, I imagine it will be controversial. :) Love the whole concept. YAY!

  • Pingback: Podium or Network? Twitter Really Is A MMORPG

  • Pingback: The Wallace Effect

  • Optioneerjm

    What a fantastic idea! I will definitely follow to see if my topic on sales leadership falls under one of the priviledge/chosen themes!
    What a great group #USGUYS is .. I’m humbled and honored at the warm welcome so quickly!
    @optioneerJM
    http://optioneerjm.blogspot.com/
    FB: optioneerJM

  • Pingback: Go Fast, Turn Left… | The Wallace Effect

  • Pingback: From Fear to Opportunity: Leveraging the #USfactor

  • Pingback: Social Media and Selfless Social Good « Digital B2B Marketing

  • Pingback: You don’t need to wait to change the world

  • Pingback: Blogging on “Social Business” via a #Shareathon | via @nickkellet

  • Pingback: Remember #UsBlogs? Time for a #shareathon! | via @nickkellet

Previous post:

Next post: