Melissa Ford

All Posts

  1. Do You Believe What You Read?: Social Media and Whitney Houston's Death

    2/13/12 6:00am by Melissa Ford
    • 14
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    Whitney Houston

    As this becomes more and more common, with average citizens beating mainstream media to the punch, it raises the question: how much do you believe what you read on Twitter? Do you believe it the first time you read it? After you've seen it pop up a few times? Only after the news has been confirmed by a mainstream media outlet? And would you stop believing something were true if it was never reported by a mainstream media outlet?  Read more >

  2. Are You Spending More Than You Think on Blogging?

    2/12/12 10:30am by Melissa Ford
    • 4
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    Computers and Money

    It's tax season and your mind is probably on how much you've earned and how much you owe from your blogging endeavours, but have you ever taken a moment to work out how much you spend in order to write? Book bloggers have to purchase books, entertainment bloggers take themselves to the movies, and food bloggers are constantly purchasing ingredients and equipment. One blogger did just that -- worked out exactly how much she spent both timewise and moneywise over the last year.  Read more >

  3. Study Shows Pseudonyms Lead to the Best Comments

    2/1/12 6:00am by Melissa Ford
    • 7
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    Paper Dolls

    Mashable recently reported on an interesting study done by the commenting mechanism, Disqus. Disqus discovered that "Commenters who use pseudonyms tend to offer better comments." Which opens up a new thread in the ongoing debate about using real names instead of aliases on the Internet. This is coming on the heels of Google+ also announcing that they're finally going to be allowing people to utilize a pseudonym provided it is an established alias and not a newly created one.  Read more >

  4. NaBloPoMo Soup: Add Your February Posts

    1/31/12 5:00pm by Melissa Ford
    • 627
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    February NaBloPoMo

    You have posts and we want to read them. This is a way for people to post a link to their daily February NaBloPoMo posts that they publish on their personal blogs. Please use the linky feature below daily to add your post, and peruse the ones already entered in order to find great things to read as well as support your fellow NaBloPoMo'ers. Bookmark this post so you can use it all month.  Read more >

  5. USDA Announces Changes to School Lunches

    1/31/12 8:00am by Melissa Ford
    • 2
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    School Lunch

    The USDA have set new standards that will be tweaked at the local level. In other words, there will be a base standard that will ensure better nutrition to all kids, and then local school boards can make decisions that reflect the financial realities of their school district: do they want to use organic produce, buy locally, or grow their own food. Schools will increase the fruits and vegetables on the lunch tray every day, including a lot more leafy greens. Only low-fat or fat-free milk will be offered. School chefs will utilize more whole grains. They're all good steps in the right direction, and all of these changes are being put in place so children can be well-fed and more able to learn.  Read more >

  6. NaBloPoMo February 2012 Badges

    1/26/12 5:00pm by Melissa Ford
    • 8
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    February Badges

    The official badge for February.  Read more >

  7. NaBloPoMo February 2012 Writing Prompts

    1/26/12 5:00pm by Melissa Ford
    • 25
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    February Prompts

    If you're participating in NaBloPoMo in February -- or even if you're not! -- here are some prompts to get you going. Writing prompts appear here nightly, Monday to Friday (weekends are for free-writing!)  Read more >

  8. Join Us for Daily Blogging with February's NaBloPoMo

    1/26/12 5:00pm by Melissa Ford
    • 25
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    February's NaBloPoMo

    It's that time again; time to commit to posting every day for a full month by joining in with NaBloPoMo. The point? Well, beyond the endurance factor -- of becoming a writing athlete -- there's the benefit from daily writing. I use it as a way to warm up before getting into book writing. And then there's the community aspect: joining NaBloPoMo is like joining a gym. You're writing in a group and feeding off that for motivation rather than writing alone.  Read more >

  9. NaBloPoMo February 2012 Blogroll

    1/26/12 5:00pm by Melissa Ford
    • 9
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    February Blogroll

    The theme for February is RELATIVE. If you're posting every day in February and would like to join the blogroll, fill out the NaBloPoMo Blogroll Form. Make sure you've selected FEBRUARY and only submit your blog once, please. It may take up to 24 hours for your blog to appear on the list. The February blogroll is open until February 5th. After that point, no new blogs will be added.  Read more >

  10. @Whymommy Love Fest: Social Media as Virtual Hug

    1/23/12 10:00am by Melissa Ford
    • 10
    • Sparkle (
      )
       
    Susan Niebur

    If you concentrate your examination of social media to the low-lying fruit -- the jockeying for followers, the trolls, the question of oversharing -- you miss the story that rarely makes Mashable. The one that is played out in thousands of different ways across the blogosphere on a daily basis. Social media is being used to give a virtual hug. In a fragmented world where your friends may span multiple continents, social media gives people a chance to gather together virtually in a single space and give support.  Read more >

Mel Ford

Full Name
Mel Ford
Member Since
July 2006
About Me: 
I write Stirrup Queens when I'm not reading other people's blogs, cooking, or chasing after my twins. I'm the author of two books: Life from Scratch, a novel about blogging, and Navigating the Land of If, a non-fiction book about infertility and pregnancy loss. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter. You can reach me via email at melissa.ford@blogher.com.
About Me Tags: 

infertility, twins, Judaism, baking

Melissa Ford's Followers

More >

 

Conferences


BlogHer '12

The BlogHer Annual Conference is heading back to New York City on August 2-4, 2012! Join thousands of other bloggers, writing on every topic under the sun, for 3 days of learning, networking, and fun. Register today!

Learn more about BlogHer conferences.

Subscribe to our newsletters.
Follow our RSS feed.