Sylwia Korsak

If you remember my interview with Kid Tech Guru and read my comments to it, you will know who Monik Pamecha is. He is 13, lives in Mumbai, studies and runs Etiole.com technology blog. Here’s the interview.

Hi Monik, thank you for letting me know you would be interested in this interview. Here are the questions:

Syl: The logo of your blog ‘Live the dream’; what does it mean to you? What does stand for?

Monik: Actually living the dream represents my blog Etiole which states to you that to do what ever you ever wanted to do, like I wanted to blog so did it and if you want to do something go ahead and complete it!

Syl: You have mentioned monthly 20k traffic to your blog. How do you do that?

Monik: When I started it was like, quite boring but then as slowly readers started getting attracted to my blog I got even more interested in it. I used many tricks to get into “The first  Result  Page of Google” like some basic URL tips, by including some of the keywords in the post URL, I will not go into the detail! :), and other traffic bringing widgets like Blogrush, entrecard and so on..  I tried link exchanges and also would like to thank some of my friends who linked to me too, which helped me to get better PageRank (Google’s way of marking websites). And finally used Google analytics to find out what actually my visitors wanted, by finding out keywords which my visitors like and so I concentrated more on those keywords. I posted some of those tips on my blog too so that my visitors would be aware of it.

Syl: I have seen your mission statement on Facebook: ‘We want to have a record breaking traffic – 6,000,000 page views per week!’ What tools and promotion do you use to achieve that?

Monik: I mentioned it in the earlier questions that I use tools like Blogrush, Entrecard, Adwords keyword finder tool (to find which keywords have more density in the search engine), and also some Good, new and fresh content. I also love to listen to reader comments and reply to them is also a must, as to make up a reader-author relationship between me and the reader. I also did not want to put up ads on my blog (which helped to increase readers and search engine attention) but to run the blog I had to pay for the domain so I started putting ads. Using Feedburner is a very nice idea as you can reach your readers via various other ways.

Syl: Apart from your blog and Facebook, do you have other presences online?

Monik: I First Started on WordPress but then shifted to blogger ( I know it’s weird ). I love twitter too but got no followers as I joined it recently. I am on technorati too. I am not interested in social networking actually, but just to keep up with friends I am on Facebook.

Syl: You have mentioned you are 13. It’s exact lower border age for most social media sites and tools. For instance, Twitter does not allow people younger than 13 to sign up for the service. Would you be upset about it let’s say a year ago?

Monik: No, this is an age limit set-up by them for our safety so we should actually follow it but when anyone at a young age would he be able to understand the reason, obviously no. But then what is the problem even if you fake your age in your account? It’s safe and you can use the service too.

Syl: Do you think 13 years is a reasonable age to begin blogging and other social media presences?

Monik: I can’t answer this question, it depends from person to person, just like my brother says we shall not start blogging and social networking before we are 16 but I don’t think so. If you want to do something nothing can stop you, nor your brother and not your age.

Syl: How and when did you start blogging?

Monik: I started blogging a year ago or maybe before than that. Like you too, I first blogged on WordPress, then I shifted Xanga, then to Weebly, then back to WordPress and then finally to blogger, you see it’s a long journey. Blogging in India when a started blogging was like, What is a blog? , but I saw this man, Amit Agarwal who runs a blog called Labnol, who dared to leave his job a become a professional blogger and I saw his video where he told people how he earned from Adsense, my main aim from there was to setup a blog which would have much more traffic he would have and also have Adsense earnings in 6 digits, but unfortunately I got disqualified from Adsense but I just blogged and blogged.

Syl: What do you want to achieve with it (apart from impressive readership)?

Monik: I want to achieve some fame. I also want to get some attention and want to start a bloggers community, I already Started A blogging platform and Blog Showcase for it.  I started some other services like Forums, Search Engine (powered by Google API), social networking website (powered by Ning)  so that readers can enjoy many other things too and I want to give these services attention too.

Syl: I usually post a part of my interview on Bar Mleczny, my other place online (promoting Polish culture). If I say Polish, what comes to your mind?

Monik: Since I am Indian I really not aware of Polish Culture but would love to know more about it!

Syl: Do you like to cook? What is your favourite meal? 🙂

Monik: I occasionally cook, I can’t cook more or my mom will assign me a job as her chef! I love eating Pav-Bhaji , I think so everyone in the world shall not die before having tasted it. I know many people won’t be aware of it so if you want to know more just google it and look at the images, your mouth will start watering!

Syl: You are obviously interested in technology. Do you have other hobbies?

Monik: I am interested in sports too. I love playing soccer and badminton too. I love public speaking too so I try spreading awareness on the environmental issues.

Syl: What is your message to other younger bloggers?

Monik: It is not of much concern what your age is, go for whatever you like, not only blogging, may it be your love for soccer or for anything just go ahead and do it. Don’t worry about traffic, concentrate on your content because if that is good traffic will already be there reading it!

Syl: Thank you!

Media Camp London is happening again! If you are interested in workshops about different aspects of social media and are OK to spear a Saturday in December to do so, see below:

This time the themes are:

1. Games / web development / animation
2. Social Media / Communication / PR / Advertising / Business
3. Educational Technology/teachers /

If you want to attend add your name here.

Trust me, it’s worth it:) Hope to see you there!

OK, here it is. I am really happy that I decided to go to the Oxford Geek Night yesterday. First of all the place: Jericho Tavern has a great history. That is the place where bands like Radiohead started their stage career. Jericho is a nice area of Oxford and I was lucky to meet few kind people before the event, who live there – they gave me encouraging ideas about it, so I might consider moving there in January.

Secondly – people: very friendly, very open minded, networking orientated crowd. All you need to do is just step in:) I like this type of atmosphere, simply because I am new to the city. I am happy I met Tom Dyson from Torchbox (sponsoring the event, next to Google, and Moo), who was kind enough to answer few questions and help me out with asking more (yes, I did ask questions, as usual :P). I am also happy I managed to meet @peejaybee. Pity I didn’t get hold of @ihatemornings or @benwerd, but hope to do so next time.

The first presentation delivered by Jeremy Ruston on TiddlyWiki impressed me entirely. The second one was closer to my heart – since I am interested in modern literature. Adrain Hon described his project We Tell Stories and even though the website is quite self-explanatory, it’s great to see how the campaign was planned, completed and perceived. (I do not agree with Stumble Upon generated traffic to be called organic, but it’s just me being picky – I am actually happy the project was so successful and I hope there will be more to come!).

I couldn’t stay to hear all the short presentations, and pity because when I talked to Martin Chapman, he was quite convinced and excited about their idea of Price Wars. Anyway, it was good to be there, and I will definitely join the Geek Nights from now on. I strongly advise anyone interested in those topics to come along, it’s worth it. More info, and hopefully soon some pix, here.

I met Julius via Twitter and Lolly, almost at the same time. Our common passion, coffee, proved to be so crucial that Julius suggested #coffeetalk on Twitter. I also met him personally on Monday and did a short interview. Before you read it, check his Eventmanager blog (brilliant check-list for event organisers), LinkedIn meet-up, very impressive LinkedIn profile (7500+!) and Twitter.

Syl: You have a strong presence on-line. When did you start blogging and why?

Julius: I started in 2004 for fun but took it seriously at the beginning of 2007 with www.eventmanagerblog.com I always had a passion for events and my interest in social media was skyrocketing after I studied online marketing. I felt the need to share my opinion with like minded individuals. I like arguing and I have a strong opinion on how business should be made. Blogs are amazing media and the user generated component make them powerful enough to keep me hooked up.

Syl: When did you start getting involved in events organising and how did this involvement evolve into social media event organising?

Julius: I started organizing club/disco nights when I was 16. I always had a passion for events and the feeling of getting in touch with people you like. When I got a better grasp of how events such as conferences, meetings and congresses are run, I started to develop my own opinion. I am against control and breastfeeding customers or attendees. Social Networks gave me the chance to experience new forms of aggregation such as Meetups or BarCamps.

Syl: I saw your tweet today saying that London Meet-up reached 200 members – congratulations.  What audience are you aiming with those events? Can other bloggers attend?

Julius: Linked in London is a Meetup for those who have a profile in professional networks such as Linkedin or Xing. The aim of the meet up is to bring your network live. We welcome people for a number of different industries and we also do themed nights. Next one is for event planners. We’ll soon have a speed networking session and social networks specific nights.

Syl: It must be great to see your ideas kicking off. What is your next one?:)

Julius: Next one is ecoCampLondon , ecoCamp is a BarCamp about the environment and sustainability. I co-organize that with Carmen from Green is not a colour. We organized it already in Italy and it was a great success. We are planning to replicate here in London. We’ll be hosted by UnLtd, a great organization who support social entrepreneurship projects.

Syl: You have proposed #coffeetalk hashtag on Twitter for all coffee lovers. You have also mentioned an event happening on the 1st of November in London. Are you the organiser? Tell me more about it?

Julius: No, I am not the organizer, but I will be a very active participant. I discovered the group on Meetup.com and I am looking forward to the next one. Being Italian, my espresso comes first and I need to express that socially!

Syl: Apart from your blog, meet-up presence and Twitter are you active somewhere else online?

Julius: I am a strong user of Linkedin. I have more than 7500 direct connections there plus more than 3700 people in my Event Planning and Management Group. I recently discovered Xing and I am becoming a great fan of it! Obviously I am on Facebook and also on A Small World, a very secluded one. I use also delicious which is great for bookmarking.

Syl: What is the role of your online presence in your life? Do they affect each other?

Julius: I try to keep my personal life out of the online world. Online is my work, hobbies, passions and interests.

Syl: Talking about drinks and food  – I am usually posting part of the interview on my Polish Bar Mleczny initiative and I would like to do it now if you agree, so I will have a few questions related to your expat life in the UK, ok? Do you cook? If so, is it Italian or rather local food?

Julius: I cook Italian food obviously. But Italian is not my favourite to eat. I am a fan of Thai, Greek and Japanese. In the above order.

Syl: Do you know any Polish dishes or drinks?

Julius: I am very ignorant about Polish food but definitely interested in knowing more. I enjoy polish beer though.

Syl: Would you be up for a social media event based around cooking Polish food, let’s say in Oxford?:)

Julius: Sure!

Syl: Just going back to events – do you organise events focussed on Italian culture, expat life in the UK or for Italians living here?

Julius: Not yet, although I definitely have Italian coffee/wine event in mind. Oops I already disclosed too much information.

Syl: And the last one: what are your plans for the next 6 months?

Julius: I learned not to make long term plans, so we’ll see what happens

Syl: Thank you!

Let me introduce you Kid Tech Guru,  Xavier, a 14-year-old blogger from Singapore, passionate about technology. In his words ‘Currently, I’m only a 14-year-old student who loves blogging and is keen to share his tech knowledge with you all guys via this blog. Running up this tech blog is just a part of his interest and a place for me to kill time.’

Here is the interview:

Syl: Hi Xavier, first of all, thank you for agreeing to respond to few questions! When did you start blogging? Why?
Xavier: Since July 2008, I have been blogging at KidTechGuru, with great thanks to Mr Alvin Phang of GatherSuccess.com. One day, when I was reading the newspaper, something eye-catching caught my attention. It was the problogger – Mr Alvin giving a complimentary workshop on how he makes money online. I was inspired by his talk and from then on, I started to set up my blog, but with zero blogging experience!

Syl: I will start with a serious question bothering me a lot since I started to work in business ethics – we usually see that social media sites set up the lower age limit for 13. Do you agree with those policies?
Xavier: In my own view, I don’t really agree with that as I feel that everyone be it age 10 or even age 80 can participate in social media sites. As what the authors of ‘Wikinomics’ – Don Tapscott and Anthony D.Williams says, “mass collaboration is important as it changes everything in today’s Web 2.0”. Therefore, I think that we should get the kids involve in these social media sites as this will create some interaction between the children and the adults in the online world. However, some strict rules must be implemented.

Syl: I will be honest with you – when I saw your Twitter profile and checked your site (which is how I learned about it) I was very impressed to see that you are 14 years old and so successful. Do people very often ask you how come you started writing your blog?
Xavier: Oh yes, sometimes loyal readers who are curious drops me an email and ask me how and why I created this tech blog. Most of the people who read my blog are impressed by blogging feat and love what I write about technology (although a minority says that I’m faking my age as a marketing bait for my blog).

Syl: I see that in your about section you receive not only great feedback but also very creative advice. Do you find it useful?
Xavier: Feedbacks and advice from readers are greatly important and useful as you need them on how to improve your blog. For example, when one is a salesman, he needs feedbacks from customers about his attitude, how good is the product, what can be improved, etc.

Syl: Apart from your blog and Twitter so you have other online presences? Which one of those is a primary place for you?
Xavier: Besides writing articles about web tools and stuff in my blog and my active presence on Twitter, I do spend quite a huge fraction of my time in the net on Entrecard. For those who don’t know what Entrecard is, it is a site which enables users to drop and advertise cards on other sites with a so-called blogging currency – “Entrecard Credits”. I find this web service quite interesting as it gives me the opportunity to drop by on cool sites and read their posts. (Let me tell you something which you might not know – the person who created Blogger known as Evan Williams, sold it to Google and founded the microblogging platform – Twitter.)

Syl: Does your blogging affect your private life and/or vice versa?
Xavier: Of course it doesn’t! I just treat blogging as my hobby.

Syl: You have posted the n Twitter link to the most successful, young entrepreneurs. Are you interested in earning money from blogging?
Xavier: I’m interested in making money from blogging by just selling some ad spaces but not into affiliate marketing. My main objective of this blog is to share my tech knowledge with people around the world and hope they benefit from it. As simple as that!

Syl: Your approach toward blogging is very professional, judging on your content. Do you plan to take in to the next level and work in blogging related industry?
Xavier: As I’ve said above, I take blogging as my pastime. Hence, I may not consider taking it to the next level and work in the blogging industry. When I grow up, my main source of income will not come from blogging. My goal is to become a financial investor as I love how the way stocks behave (not the money! lol).

Syl: You mention sports as your additional hobby. Is there something else?
Xavier: Besides sports like soccer and badminton, I’m interested in F1 racing, fascinated by how fast those F1 drivers – Massa of Ferrari speeds on the track! Zoom…!!! Hope I can watch it live and not on TV!

Syl: I am usually posting a part of my interview on my secondary, Polish blog committed to promoting Polish culture in the UK (http://barmleczny.blogspot.com/ ) , and if you agree, I would like to post it there too. Hence my question: what do you associate Poland/Poles with?
Xavier: When you ask this question, the first thing that came up in my mind is that Poland is a leading producer of food in Europe (if I’m not wrong). By the way, you have a nice blog!

Syl: My Polish blog is mainly about culture and cuisine. Do you like cooking? What is your favourite dish and drink?
Xavier: I’m greatly excited when you talk about cooking. Although I’m not a great chef, I enjoy cooking meals for my family once every month. Usually, I would cook stuff like bolognese spaghetti and Chinese cuisine. My mum is a housewife but I can proudly say that she is a great baker. She loves to bake delicious cheesecakes and chocolate cookies. My favourite food is Passionfruit Cheesecake especially made by my mum and my favourite drink got to be Iced Lemon Tea. I dislike drinks that contain soda.

Syl: I don’t want to keep you long. Thank you very much for your answers. Is there anything else you would like to say to my UK, Polish and international readers?
Xavier: If you a kid or teenager like me, try to enhance either your talent or what you’re good at doing. It would be great to start young when your brains are working fast and intelligently. But if you’re an adult, you can either brush up your skills or do things which make you happy and lead a meaningful lifestyle.

What am I talking about? See yourself here. ‘Global Voices aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining a light on places and people other media often ignore.’ If you know my blog, you have probably seen the post in September about Global Voices linking to their site and to my fellow blogger Jez Wegierski, who posted about Global Voices Summit in Budapest this summer. For those who see it for the first time, I strongly advise to check out their Advocacy site, where you can find info about issues international bloggers face when being deprived of freedom of speech. I have noticed that their translation program lacks Polish, so I have written to them. I received a great response and established very professional, pro-active and encouraging communication with cool people, as a result of which I hope to help them out to kick off the Polish site fairly soon.

If you are a blogger and you’re interested in joining me or/and them, please let me know! I would love to share voluntarily work with anyone else caring for the cause.

Freedom of speech is a sensitive topic, and the info there makes me realise how happy I am to live in the UK and be able to post whatever I want and access all the sites whenever I want to. At American Studies we had an American Constitution class one (‘Congress shall make no law…), where the teacher wanted to show us the true meaning of American concept of freedom of speech. It’s important actually. We were asked to take 10 post-its each and write one of our most important freedoms (freedom to, and freedom from) on each of those. Let’s say this way:

1. Freedom to write my own opinions

2. Freedom to travel

3. Freedom from having to attend one religious gathering

4. Freedom to choose friends

5. Freedom to think and speak it.

6.  Freedom to eat whatever and whenever I want.

7. Freedom to access all books at the local library.

8. Freedom from having to wear pink.

9. Freedom to write letters to my family abroad.

10. Freedom to leave the house.

Now, with all this in front of our face, we had to imagine being deprived of one of those. Talk about it. As we got rid of 9 post-its we were terrified. And smarter, if you know what I mean.

Freedom of speech is one of our basic human rights. We think it’s so obvious, but is it?

Global Voices does a great job bringing the reality, the facts to the public and establishing a dialogue among those who ae involved in protecting it. They encourage blogging. You can find their link on Amnesty International site too.

What is the freedom you would leave on the last post-it?

Blue Day 2008 is Australian initiative to raise awareness of anxiety and depression, but since it’s based around social media, it has potential to become global. I actually think depression is a huge issue, simply because it’s very often ignored and untreated can affect our choices. While living in Hungary, I had to face the reality of it quite often. Hungarians, for some reason, tend to be very depressive. On the other hand, their general level of knowledge about psychology is quite high, so treating depression simply by talking to your GP is not an issue, shame or a fault. It happens to all of us, but sadly we are used to ignoring it. I hope I will be able to post on the 10th and I encourage everyone to do so.

You can find them on Twitter as well.

I like Paul Carr’s book. I like the fact he describes the community of people interested in social media from a business perspective. I honour his openness. I admire his almost cruel self-criticism.
Book raised a few questions in my head:
1. Why some of us want to be famous and/or make money from our projects/blogs?
2. Why do capital cities tend to generate an open field for niche communities like the one described in the book, to the extent of becoming a prisoner of the place we live in (I experienced it myself while living in Budapest)?
3. If we blog why do we start getting interested in social media in general?
4. And finally: why do we blog?
5. How does our social media involvement change our life?
I have no answers to those questions, but the reality described in the book brings me closer to finding them out. It’s enough to look at Abby Lee’s example (nicely put in the context by Carr) to see how life changing our online behaviour can be.
I strongly advise everyone involved or interested in PR, marketing and social media read this book. Its extracts were recently published here. Paul Carr is also on Twitter.