Continuing our week about social media, CUPID Associate Beckah Porter has written about her best and worst experiences with blog writing within the professional world.
Communication is vital to share ideas, messages, and concepts, which are an important part of our everyday life but also in the professional world. This summer I was fortunate to be accepted as a Fashion Guru for a website called CollegeFashionista. I would write blogs each week about the styles and trends that would inspire me when walking around campus or on the streets.
Blog writing is different in many aspects but the one area that I found myself having most difficulty in was the length. Coming from a university, or any school for that matter, which creates an atmosphere where lengthy papers are a requirement in order to unpack rather complicated topics can be tricky. Making the transition into a shorter writing style can be challenging, and often I found myself unsure of how start. I discovered one of the most helpful rhetorical tools to concentrate on was word choice. The art of being concise and the particular words that are used go hand in hand. The ideas in my blog were the same, but I focused on how to best describe these thoughts in a crisper manner.
Blog writing should involve other aspects of media than just the blog post itself. Rhetoric can be created in many different forms and the ability to combine visual rhetoric can make a blog more appealing. Creating tags, and embedding clickable links and related articles should be considered when creating a post. Adding similar ideas and websites can help the reader understand a message more clearly without making a blog post seem lengthy. By generating different mediums, the blog post is more engaging and interesting. 
Although my summer internship evolved around fashion, blog writing intrigued me. I learned that there is remotely a blog for just about anything. Not only did this fascinate me, but more importantly I learned even if everyone can write a blog, the use of rhetorical devices are relevant but also vital in order to have a successful post. Being a professional writing and rhetoric major leads the way into exploring many different types of writing. The most important concept I have learned however this summer is, regardless of what type of writing, never be afraid of the “publish” button.
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