Bloggers beware

Don't forget to apply some journalism to those blog posts and tweets.

Blogs, Twitter & live blogs
If you work for the IDS, your personal blog reflects on the paper, like it or not. Apply some common-sense ethics and professionalism to your posts.

The trick to successful blogging is persistence. You don’t have to write a novel each day, but make consistent appearances.

For sports live blogs and Twitter feeds, blend play-by-play with commentary — but don’t shortchange us on play-by-play. Don’t make us guess the score, and update the scoreboard whenever you can.

Look for ways to tweet and blog together. Copy from one and paste to the other.

Repeat the play-by-play or key plays in both places.

Punt the ALL CAPS, EMOTICONS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! :(

Shorten URLs, and include hash tags to broaden your readership.

Share the color. What’s the coach doing? What’s the mood on the bench? How big is the crowd? What are fans chanting?

Try your best to answer questions that readers post to the blog. Be honest when you don’t know the answer.