The blogger’s repertoire

June 7, 2010 | 6:55 PM | By
FILED UNDER: Practice, Andrew Sullivan, content management, content planning, design, link roundup, pace

A blogger has a great many tools to choose from. Photo courtesy of Flickr user tashland

Next time you’re scrolling through Andrew Sullivan’s blog, take a moment to notice how much Sullivan and his merry band of link-droids vary up the pace. The blog alternates long posts with minute ones, highly visual posts with snippets of pure text, stacks of links and blockquotes with flowing columns of original thought.

This is among the most freeing elements of the blogging format: with no news hole to fill, you can adapt every post to the length and format it deserves. We’ve been dreaming up ways that our design can accommodate the blogger’s creativity in designing different types of posts for different occasions. Here’s a smattering of the types of posts we’ve come across:

The just-a-link: Thrifty as can be.

The link roundup: A way to signal that you’ve read everything relevant to your topic and selected only the highlights, so your reader doesn’t have to.

The list: Remember, numbering is narrative. If you want to make a variety of disparate points without wasting time on transitions, there’s no better choice.

The single quote: Dramatic, arresting, concise.

The quote roundup: For displaying a wealth of perspectives.

The Q&A: Got an interview with a string of compelling tidbits? Edit it lightly (and transparently) and post it all. You’ve got the space, your wonkier readers will love it, and you can always highlight snippets and provide analysis in follow-up posts.

The liveblog: I think every reporter should have the experience of liveblogging an event on their beat. Unlike the typical event, where you often have to walk in looking for a story angle to take away, the liveblog demands your full engagement with every minute of the proceedings. You have to pay attention and capture what’s going on, rather than trying to impose patterns on the event from the get-go. If users chime in during the liveblog, the mix of voices and perspectives can make for a more rollicking, informative experience than you could ever create on your own. When you wrap up your live coverage, you’ll have the best notes from the event, hands-down – perfect raw material for a good analysis post afterwards.

The call-to-action: One of the many benefits of taking the time to create a great community is that you can turn around and ask your crowd to produce some stellar content.

The single photo: What’s that they say about the worth of a picture?

The slideshow: If people love one photo, how much will they love a dozen?