Veteran Transitions

• This blog is intended to educate hiring managers and businesses about the value of veterans and their challenges in transitioning to civilian life.  It will provide useful transition information to veterans as well.
• What is a blog?  Blog is short for weblog – a webpage containing information on topics of interest.
• Advantages and disadvantages of blogs

  

  Image retrieved from Flaticons.com (n.d.)

  • Advantages – quick and easy to start and user friendly for writers and readers.
  • Disadvantages – some may prefer more formal writing or prefer reading information from a reputable source versus an individual on their own.
• Ways blogs could be used for training
  • It is an easy way to broadcast information and learning.
  • It can be used for social learning when other contribute to the conversation (Shaw, 2013).
• Best practices for someone who is new to blogging
  • Determine your purpose

    

    Think before you write! Image retrieved from Flaticons.com

     

     

  • Do your research
  • Write well – make it a pleasure to read
  • Consider well and guard your online reputation (Levenson, 2017).

Accuracy Matters Image retrieved from Freeiconspng.com (n.d.)

• Impacts of content on your reputation
  • Innacuracy can hurt your reputation as well as potentially hurt others
  • Poor writing, poor grammar and use of slang can discredit your work
• Impacts of reader’s comments to their online reputation
  • Innacuracy can hurt their reputation as well as potentially hurt others
  • Poor writing, poor grammar, and use of slang can discredit their comments

Here are a few sample blogs to check out:

The Value of a Veteran

• Frequency and timeliness of posts – many posts from 2011.  Ceased in 2015
• Moderator – unknown
• Level of engagement by blog followers – minimal
• Credibility of the blog  – good.  Author is identified, intent to market training products from The Value Of a Veteran clearly identified, articles are well written and substantive.

From the Green Notebook

• Frequency and timeliness of posts – most recent post was April 2017.  Frequency was every week or two but it varies.
• Moderator – Joe Byerly
• Level of engagement by blog followers – there are responses on most of his posts but not in large numbers.
• Credibility of the blog  – good. While the blog does not seem to be widely read, it would not be because the content is lacking.  The blogger is well spoken but also conversational with a real-world tone and has had his work published in a number of reputable publications.

G.I.jobs

• Frequency and timeliness of posts – the blog is continuously updated
• Moderator – unknown
• Level of engagement by blog followers – unknown.  Blogs have comment capability but the articles are e primarily informational in nature.
• Credibility of the blog  – good. The is an organizational versus a personal blog.  It is primarily informational and has many sponsors and educational resources.

References

Blogs: Evaluating Blog Credibility. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Technology/Internet/Blogs.pg_00.html

Flaticon, (n.d.) Chat free vector icons designed by Freepik [image]. Retrieved from https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/chat_262520

Flaticon, (n.d.) Thought free vector icons designed by Smashicons [image]. Retrieved from https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/thought_775497

Freeiconspng, (n.d.) Accuracy icon [image]. Retrieved from       https://www.freeiconspng.com/img/20544

Levenson, L. (2017, January 13). B2B blogging best practices for 2017 | Alaniz.        Retrieved from https://www.alanizmarketing.com/blog/b2b-blogging-best-           practices-for-2017/

Shaw, J. (2013, February 15). Training Blogs – using the web to train the world – training and development. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/blogs/training-and-development/2011/06/22/training-blogs-using-the-web-to-train-the-world/