Lessons on Creating a Blog for Social Change

Global Voices Advocacy has published an invaluable (and free) guide to creating a blog for social change.

Here's the official description:

The goal of Blog for a Cause! is twofold: to inform and to inspire. The guide is designed to be accessible and practical, giving activists a number of easy-to-follow tips on how to use a blog to further their particular cause.

The guide is divided into five sections:

Frequently asked questions about what blog advocacy is
The 5 key elements of any successful advocacy blog
The 4 steps to creating an advocacy blog
How to make your blog a vibrant community of active volunteers
Tips to help blog activists stay safe online

In addition to the information provided above, the guide is also full of examples of advocacy blogs from around the world, to inspire readers with a glimpse of what is possible. These featured advocacy blogs have a variety of goals, ranging from freeing a jailed blogger in Saudi Arabia to protecting the environment in Hong Kong and opposing the conflict in Darfur.

The guide was written by Mary Joyce, a student of digital activism based in Boston, and was commissioned by Global Voices Advocacy, an anti-censorship project of Global Voices online.

Here's the summary from the Nonprofit News Network:

Global Voices has published the second edition of their civil society guide to blogging: Blog for a Cause! The Global Voices Guide to Blog Advocacy (colorful 21 page PDF). The solid advice includes: why you would use a blog for advocacy, crisis versus issue blogs, the basics that every blog needs, the steps toward launching an advocacy blog, and the relation of a blog to its community.

Download Blog for a Cause: The Global Voices Guide of Blog Advocacy