Ah, the good old days. Blogs were a world unto themselves and if we bloggers did anything related to social media it was purely to post URLs and hope that it’d help drive some traffic our way. With the continued rise of Facebook and addition of the surprisingly slick Google Plus, combined with Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Digg and so many other social sites, however, a smart blogger’s gotta know how to manage the social nets, not just a blog. I’ve been in the blogosphere for a long time and my main site — Online Tech Support at Ask Dave Taylor.com — has been a part of both the blogosphere and social media world since 2003.

To explore the topic of Blogging in the Age of Social Media in depth, I’ve pulled together a panel of experts who are living and breathing the social media experience every day, either for their own businesses or for clients. Success in social media comes from engagement and participation, after all, and that can be distressingly time-intensive.

Here are the panelists’ thoughts on this, as a way to whet your appetite for our session at Blogworld Expo Los Angeles:

“The are many more things to be aware of as Social Media has overwhelmed the world.  Having a blog post go viral is huge, which is possible through the use of Social Media, but there’s also more competition for attention than ever thanks to all the social media sources.  How can a new blogger cut through all the noise and have their voice be heard?” — Jeannine Crooks, Account Manager, buy.at affiliate network

“The birth of the blog changed the way we shared information.  Whether we were talking about our cat obsession or writing about our latest pet peeves, blogs allowed people to express themselves in a way that made anyone and everyone capable of being the editor of their own publication for all to see.  Many blogs have eclipsed traditional media as a source for news and other means of knowledge.  As other forms of social media have come about, bloggers have gained new ways to build relationships and their readership.  There is no cut and dry formula for using these tools to do so, but there are some general guidelines that, if followed, will help you find success.” — Joshua Dorkin, Founder / CEO  – BiggerPockets.com

“In some ways, a blog is social media, and some social media communities can act as blogs. The age of social media can perhaps be best described as “the age when the lines got blurred.” Is a blog — say, Techcruch, just to poke the badger a bit — a journalistic media outlet? Can a thoughtful Facebook stream that I subscribe to be every bit as much of a ‘blog’ as a WordPress site?  The answer to all of this, to me, is yes. The definitions of journalsim, blogs/blogging, social media, etc., are morphing and changing every day. Each of us will find our own level of both comfort and personal best practice when it comes to tying everything together — and even decide how much we want to tie our online lives together. In the end, I think all of these are becoming “information sources,” and each of us will turn to the sources that work best on a case-by-case, topic-by-topic basis.” — Doyle Albee, President, Metzger Associates

“Whether you look at personal blogging, business blogging, micro-blogging or how they overlap and support each other, blogs have become essential sources of self-expression, thought leadership, information, news, entertainment and community building in our social media age.  While 73.5% of the blogging population is under 35 and connecting on personal levels, companies that blog receive 55% more web traffic and 77% more leads than companies that don’t.
Though social media has become a catch all phrase meaning various things to various people, the heart of social media is that individuals have become the media, and blogs are where their stories live to provide the sound bites for Twitter and Facebook content.  As social media platforms continue to proliferate, the content that makes them interesting and builds their followings are often tied back to blogs.  Imagine Twitter streams, Google searches and Facebook feeds without links to blogs to serve up content that helps readers to dig deeper, connect further and laugh harder.” — Brett Greene, Co-Founder, Hip Chameleon Social Media Marketing

My job during the panel will be to serve as both the glue that holds the discussion together and the rabble-rouser to make sure the conversation is lively and entertaining, as well as informative and thought-provoking. See? Doesn’t it already sound like a terrific panel?

We’ll look forward to seeing you at Blogworld Expo LA in just a few weeks and in the meantime, listen to why I keep coming back to BlogWorld for every event.