Blogging Made Easy ... thanks to the iPad

I don't know about you, but blogging has become a bit easier for me over the past few months. I have my iPad to thank for that.

I have two blogs that I try to post to at least twice weekly: The Radio Girl blog and Indy Hip Hop World. I have a third blog, Radiogirl Cards, that I haven't been very attentive to, but I aim to post there more regularly in the near future.

One thing that's made blogging easier for me lately is that I'm taking advantage of the email address for blogging using Blogger and that way I've started emailing articles and blog posts to the different blogs.

Now, in terms of apps for the iPad that are specific for blogging, I don't use any of those. What's working for me are the following apps - all of them are FREE:

My iPad Feed Reader Apps

Zite: Love the look and feel of Zite. I have several sections including and iPad section, journalism section and DIY section. I like that I can give articles a 'thumbs up' or a 'thumbs down' and that I can kick out the article to Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Delicious or email.

What I don't like about Zite is that it seems to take a bit of time to load in; I'd say 20 seconds or so.  Also, I don't like that you can add a subject, but not a specific feed. That means in my 'hip hop' section, I have to constantly go in and give a 'thumbs down' to some of the seedy stories that end up there. On the plus side of that, Zite does allow me to discover more stuff than any of the other apps.

Flipboard: I've always liked Flipboard ... though it was getting on my nerves just prior to the most recent upgrade. But what I recently learned (thanks to @AmrAdelAmin) is that I can create a flipboard for individual folders from my Google Reader. That's what I've been wanting (and the ability to use multiple Twitter accounts).

News360: This is not my fav app; it's just wonky and it doesn't offer much in the area of personalization, but I like it for getting the most current news headlines. You can also publish the stories to the various social media platforms and send via email too.

Pulse: I used to be a big fan of Pulse, but after a recent upgrade, the feeds are no longer updating. Pulse is aware of the problem and tried to assist me in fixing it, but it's been such a hassle. I may just go in and re-install the damn thing, but ... doesn't that defeat the purpose of being efficient?

What I did like about Pulse was the feed lines that I'd added and the look of the app. Now, I think I'll just take the feeds and add them to my Google Reader and go from there. Good luck to you Pulse.

That summarizes my use of some of the feed reader apps that I use. Again, they're helpful to keep me up to date and in keeping my blogs fresh with content.

What other apps are you using or would you suggest? Or is there some other tip that you're using to keep your blog current?

Prezi Presentation: The Pedagogy of Blogging

I use blogging in the classroom. It's a good way to get students to write (and there are tons of other reasons why students, especially journalism students, should be blogging. Note: there are some cons to this platform as well).

I discovered this Prezi on "The Pedagogy of Blogging". Loved it. You'll enjoy it as well.

Pedagogy of Blogging on Prezi

To Learn WordPress or not?

I've been toying with the idea of doing a blog using WordPress. I want to use the WordPress.org version and not the WordPress.com version. I'm a newbie to this, so if you don't understand the difference between .org and .com, then you will have to look it up as I may screw up the primary differences between the two.

I do know that the .org version allows for creating multiple pages and thus gives your blog more of a Web site feel. That's a sellable point for me. I want multiple pages.

But then I have to slow my roll. I've heard about the nightmares w/WordPress installs. I don't really want to work w/code. I know a little about it, but I'm a content creator and I don't want to have to hassle w/the code, at least not all of the time.

I don't want the learning curve of learning a new program especially a program like WordPress whose knowledge base runs sea deep. What I do know is that if I do fully go the WordPress route, I will not be transferring from Blogger to WordPress. I am just too afraid that I would lose information in the transition.

I currently have three blogs and a Web site. I contribute to other webbies as well. So adding WordPress at this time could just eat up my time. Time that I could be using to create blog posts and create other multimedia.

WordPress will be there and I will use it in the most bare bones way for now. For all of you WordPress fans ... I appreciate what you're doing. Maybe I'll join your ranks in the next year or so.