Tag: blogging

Social Media and Electoral Politics: What I have learned about the connection between social media and political campaigns

~ Veronica ~ Leave a comment
Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix. 1830. Oil on canvas, 260 x 325 cm. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_People

1. Social Media encourages engagement between politicians and their supporters.

  • Even though it may not seem so at a glance, political campaigns and social media campaigns follow the same structure that allows a deeper engagement between the politician and their audience, “Social media really just makes it easier for politicians to find, listen to, and engage with their supporters during their election campaigns” (Jenn 2019).
Continue reading “Social Media and Electoral Politics: What I have learned about the connection between social media and political campaigns” →

Disrupting Traditional Journalism: What I have learned about being a successful digital media journalist

~ Veronica ~ Leave a comment
Young Lady at the Writing Desk by Auguste de La Brely. Source: https://a.1stdibscdn.com/a_4473/1597574408992/LA_BRELY_666C_master.jpg?width=768

1. Explore original approaches

  • Although traditional news organizations were successful for centuries, their time is almost gone, with new, inventive companies like BuzzFeed gradually taking their place and stealing their readership. “BuzzFeed’s journalists think they are more attentive to audiences and more willing to experiment than those working in traditional news organizations,” Tandoc and Foo argue (2018). However, their journalistic standards remain the same, and it is the approach itself (more interactive, user-experience-oriented content) that is different. 

2. Gain Cultural Capital

Continue reading “Disrupting Traditional Journalism: What I have learned about being a successful digital media journalist” →

Working in and with Digital Media II – What I have learned about Self-Publishing

~ Veronica ~ 1 Comment
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Portrait of a Woman detail, ca. 1787
Image source: https://78.media.tumblr.com/e8f7359068283fe3a3b6a16a4fe1db0d/tumblr_p2jwdjXFU31rpbpcio1_1280.jpg

1. The Digital News Industry is in Crisis!

  • “These days I find that I’m getting paid more for a sponsored tweet or Instagram post that takes less than a minute, than I do for actual journalism,” repeat many digital media journalists each year as social media platforms take over the traditional news outlets, thus forcing many people to change the initial route of the careers in the journalistic field (Spike 2017). Freelance journalists often have to deal with a “slow response rate from the editors and delayed payments,” so they have to take up other writing projects for additional income (Spike 2017).

2. However, you can still be successful!

Continue reading “Working in and with Digital Media II – What I have learned about Self-Publishing” →

Online Voice and Rhetoric: What I have learned about gaining the trust of my readers

~ Veronica ~ Leave a comment

The Nine Muses, Polyhymnia, Rhetoric by Johann Heinrich Tischbein. Source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-nine-muses-polyhymnia-rhetoric-johann-heinrich-tischbein-the-elder.html.

1. Be transparent!

When it comes to online content creation, transparency is key. Developing a strong level of trust is an essential skill for any blogger, and it is especially relevant for writers because words can hide so much! Remember that “the Web is active 24/7 and has cameras on all angles,” so there is no benefit in hiding the facts or submerging the truth – one day, it will reach the surface, anyway, because the Internet sees everything (Brohgan and Smith, 2019). Therefore, the best tactic would be never to attempt hiding anything in the first place! Tell the audience your true intentions, and you will be paid back with more trust and support than you could imagine!

Continue reading “Online Voice and Rhetoric: What I have learned about gaining the trust of my readers” →

In memory of the Strawberry Moon

~ Veronica ~ 11 Comments
Two young women are sitting on the precipice. One of them looks at the sunset, while the other one gazes at her tenderly. There is a mountain landscape behind them.
Contentment by Maxfield Parrish

~Love has more shades than the sky itself.~

When I let go of your hand many moons ago, deep down, I knew I would never hold it again. I still see your ghost, now and then, hovering over the cliffs and mingling with the mist between the mountains… At sunset, your shadow haunts the valley where we used to dream. We made up stories; we gathered berries and laughed; we conjured up entire lives, intertwining our thoughts like grapevines and drinking their mellow nectar until we were intoxicated with passion.

Continue reading “In memory of the Strawberry Moon” →

Ode to Saint Petersburg

~ Veronica ~ 13 Comments
Snowy landscape with a statue of Peter the Great, the first Russian Emperor, covered by snow.
My photo of St. Isaac Cathedral and The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great’s Statue), 2017.
The Spire of the Admiralty Building with an angel on top is visible, while the building itself is blocked by the snow-coated trees.
My photo of The Admiralty, 2017
The facade of the Winter Palace, framed by icy branches of trees.
My photo of the Winter Palace, 2017
Roses blooming in the Peterhof Gardens, surrounded by greenery.
My photo of The Peterhof Palace Gardens, 2020
Saint Petersburg - the city of the Dead,
Where dreaming spirits haunt the mist-cloaked streets.
A diadem of rubies crowns your head,
And silver armour lines your mighty fleet.

Let myriads of angels guard your spires
Against the pain and suffering of war:
Rejoice, the bygone northernmost empire,
Built on deception, cruelty, and gore!

The Winter Palace flaunts its azure gown -
A ballerina on the frozen lake,
Whose beauty flares, as if about to drown
Beneath the burden of her last mistake.

May a luxuriant, wild garden grow
Where once was land of misery and snow.

The Star Festival

~ Veronica ~ 15 Comments
This is a 1927 painting by Edwin Blashfield. It is an allegory of spring in which a female nude representing spring stands on a crescent moon, with an angel watching behind her. She is scattering stars throughout the cloudy sky.
Spring Scattering Stars by Edwin Blashfield
This painting depicts a group of fairies from a Shakespearean tale dancing in the forest at night.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Gustave Doré
This artwork is an allegory of winter. It portrays two women in light semi-transparent garments. The younger woman seems to have fallen asleep on her friend's shoulder.
Winter by Wilhelm Kray
This painting depicts a nude woman falling through space, like a shooting star.Her body radiates light, and there is a string of pearls around her wrist.
Falling Star by Witold Pruszkowski
My distant angel,
Only you can decipher
This secret message.

Deep in the shadows
Where summer turns to autumn
Once a year, we meet.

Two star-crossed lovers
Separated by darkness,
United by light.

The sky will show you
Our celestial counterparts:
Vega and Altair.

Song of the Raven

~ Veronica ~ 25 Comments
The artwork portrays a young woman sitting on the grass with a crow perched on her hand. Both of them look at the crescent shining brightly in the night sky.
Illustration: The Moon Asked The Crow by Christian Schloe
We are spending more time apart than together
Playing silent games…

Are we lovers or ghosts, lighter than feathers,
Leaving nebulous stains?

Let my longing be nectar to your amorous venom,
Which leads me astray -

Our memories echo a murderous raven
Looking for prey.

Tenderness has become a torturous weapon
In your loving hands,

And I swallow my words like the earth swallows Heaven
Each time it rains…