About a dozen West Virginia-based bloggers will challenge West Virginia's stereotypes in posts to their online homes all on West Virginia Day.
About a dozen West Virginia-based bloggers will challenge West Virginia's stereotypes in posts to their online homes all on West Virginia Day.
The collective posting idea is the brainchild of Jason Keeling, a public relations consultant and writer on www.ABetterWestVirginia.com.
"The power of this new media is that it allows for regular people to create a gateway to the nation and world as West Virginians," Keeling said.
Keeling launched his site on West Virginia Day in 2007. With the site's first anniversary on Friday, he wanted to unite area bloggers for a common cause.
The group, dubbed Charleston Area Bloggers, have been meeting informally for a couple of years with the help of photographer and blogger Rick Lee, Keeling said.
Friday's post will help keep the community's momentum building, he said.
Each blogger will prepare a post defining their vision for a new stereotype of West Virginia. The posts will be published on this evening or early morning Friday.
Keeling will create a central listing of posts on A Better West Virginia.
Some have already posted, like Sarah Cooper of the Putnam County Scoop. Most of her readers, she said, are from out of state and she is the only West Virginian they know.
"I've already taken care of the stereotypes for them," she said during a meeting at Capitol Roasters with five of her blogging brethren.
Health care lawyer and Health Care Law blog writer Bob Coffield said he was already "fascinated by the feedback" on Cooper's blog.
He hopes his post on Friday will bring "positive attention and shed a new light on West Virginia."
Bill Gardner, an IT manger for a Charleston law firm, started blogging in 1998. Now, he runs his own blog, http://oncee.blogspot.com and maintains a collection Web site for West Virginia blogs called 304Blogs.com.
He blogs mostly about West Virginia. Like Keeling, Friday's assignment is just an extension of what he's already doing, he said.
Todd Beane is a marketing specialist with West Virginia State University's Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute. When the institute launched its new Web site in February 2008, blogging became part of the package.
Through his post on Friday, Beane wants to show others West Virginia is a state that is moving forward, he said.
"We are on the forefront. We are forward-thinking. We are diverse," he said.
Emily Bennington, the marketing director of Maple Creative, posts about three times a week on her employer's Marketing Genius blog.
About a dozen West Virginia-based bloggers will challenge West Virginia's stereotypes in posts to their online homes all on West Virginia Day.
The collective posting idea is the brainchild of Jason Keeling, a public relations consultant and writer on www.ABetterWestVirginia.com.
"The power of this new media is that it allows for regular people to create a gateway to the nation and world as West Virginians," Keeling said.
Keeling launched his site on West Virginia Day in 2007. With the site's first anniversary on Friday, he wanted to unite area bloggers for a common cause.
The group, dubbed Charleston Area Bloggers, have been meeting informally for a couple of years with the help of photographer and blogger Rick Lee, Keeling said.
Friday's post will help keep the community's momentum building, he said.
Each blogger will prepare a post defining their vision for a new stereotype of West Virginia. The posts will be published on this evening or early morning Friday.
Keeling will create a central listing of posts on A Better West Virginia.
Some have already posted, like Sarah Cooper of the Putnam County Scoop. Most of her readers, she said, are from out of state and she is the only West Virginian they know.
"I've already taken care of the stereotypes for them," she said during a meeting at Capitol Roasters with five of her blogging brethren.
Health care lawyer and Health Care Law blog writer Bob Coffield said he was already "fascinated by the feedback" on Cooper's blog.
He hopes his post on Friday will bring "positive attention and shed a new light on West Virginia."
Bill Gardner, an IT manger for a Charleston law firm, started blogging in 1998. Now, he runs his own blog, http://oncee.blogspot.com and maintains a collection Web site for West Virginia blogs called 304Blogs.com.
He blogs mostly about West Virginia. Like Keeling, Friday's assignment is just an extension of what he's already doing, he said.
Todd Beane is a marketing specialist with West Virginia State University's Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute. When the institute launched its new Web site in February 2008, blogging became part of the package.
Through his post on Friday, Beane wants to show others West Virginia is a state that is moving forward, he said.
"We are on the forefront. We are forward-thinking. We are diverse," he said.
Emily Bennington, the marketing director of Maple Creative, posts about three times a week on her employer's Marketing Genius blog.
"It sharpens how I think on my profession," she said. "In posts, you better get it right and do your homework. That extends to doing your homework for the clients."
People are noticing. Marketing Genius was named last week to Advertising Age's list of top advertising and media blogs.
Over at photographer Rick Lee's blog, it's all about images. He launched the blog in 2005.
"[The negative stereotyping of West Virginia] is becoming less and less over time," he said. Still, it does exist, he said.
"Don't you think that the bloggers around here can change that?" Bennington asked.
The bloggers around the table agreed.
That is exactly what Keeling is hoping for on Friday.
"We need to reinforce a pride in being in West Virginia, but at the same time, there is the greater challenge of constructively addressing our [stereotype]," Keeling said. "We want the power of the people on the Web to help create a new archetype of how people view West Virginia."
To participate, contact Keeling at ja...@keelingstrategic.com or visit http://www.abetterwestvirginia.com/.
Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.
A selection of blogs participating on West Virginia Day include:
| http://marketinggenius.blogspot.com/
| http://healthcarebloglaw.blogspot.com/
| http://304blogs.com/
| http://www.theputnamscoop.com/
| http://oncee.blogspot.com/
| http://www.aceop.wvstateu.edu/blog
| http://www.abetterwestvirginia.com/, which will have a collection of link of all the blogs posting on the topic
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