If you’re not going out this weekend to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, maybe you’ll want some reading material. (Or you could go see a recent release like Iron Man – but skip Speed Racer, in case you’re expecting it to be as good as the Wachowski Brothers’ earlier effort, The Matrix.)
It’s still arguable whether or not bloggers are generally opinionated, but some are definitely introverts. Chris Garrett gives some advice on breaking out of your solitude – something that’s necessary for online success.
One way to ease into being less introverted is to speak in front of people. (I was incredibly shy before becoming a teaching assistant in college.) If you don’t want to do that, try talking to a video camera set up on a tripod. (Or just start with podcasting. Both are less intimidating than public speaking.) Start with product or movie reviews, or a simple vodcast about something you know. (Write a rough script, to keep yourself focused.) Review the recordings and if something’s good, pop it up on YouTube. (Then use Google’s new YouTube Insight tool, to study the breakdown of viewers.)
You could also combine web cam video of yourself with screencasting, to educate your readers about blogging, how you produce content, how they can comment constructively, or even request information from you. Or do an excercise where you answer 20 questions about whether to stop blogging. As before, set up a video camera on a tripod, then review the recording sessions. Other things to talk about: whether the recession has hit the Internet [via Xfep], whether you should self-brand yourself as a freelancer, getting naked as a blogger, or how great Twitter is as a broadcasting tool.
Another outlet for being outgoing is to drop video comments on the sites that allow it. Thanks to Disqus and Seesmic, there’s a WordPress plugin that allows WP blogs to enable video commenting (or use Magnify to create a video community). Personally, I’m not big on the idea of video comments, but if you are, don’t forget to brush your teeth first – in case you have some chive stuck in your gums.