There’s something to be said about the ability of microblogging platforms like Twitter to host real-time coverage of unfolding events. While such platforms have their fair share of problems, they have proven their worth more than once by allowing the timely dissemination of information from big voices and small voices.
Twitter and its alternatives aren’t the only way to offer this type of coverage to your audience. If you’ve spent resources building a WordPress website and gaining a decent following, you may want it to be the place where you post events on time, not your Twitter account.
If that’s the case, what you’re looking for is called live blogging. If you’re not familiar with the concept, not sure how to set it up or whether it works with WordPress, don’t worry. We’ll get you to learn the basics of live blogging right away.
We will show you:
Imagine you have a blog post that you can update in real time. The most recent updates go to the top, with each update timestamped. You can use formatting to call attention to some of the more critical updates. You can also add links or rich media. Most importantly, you’ll be able to create a timeline of the moment an event occurs, with your coverage, information from a third-party source, and even your comment.
This is, at its core, what live blogging is – the ability to update a post or page with additional or new information in real time. As a concept, it has been around for a while and is used by some media outlets to cover everything from breaking news and elections to sporting events. The Guardian’s website is famous for its live blogging, as is the BBC’s website.
However, they are not the only traditional media outlets to embrace this new form of public information, and they have not done so without the backlash from various stakeholders. More than a decade ago, when live blogging was in the limelight, heralded as something that could kill real journalismempowered a journalist to a role where they would often broadcast news pieces in quick succession without leaving room to dig deeper or paint a broader picture.
Still, it’s hard to say that depth and breadth matter when the live blog covers the Wimbledon finals or something like that. The same is true for posting live updates of product launches, conferences, and a wide variety of events where the pressure of content and due diligence isn’t as it is when blogging about an impact or natural disaster event.
Now that we know that live blogging can be an incredibly useful tool despite its shortcomings, let’s see how you can create a live blog on your WordPress website. WordPress is famous for being blog friendly, allowing you to use a variety of blog themes and do cool things like customize the content layout. As for live blogging, You will have to rely on third-party platforms and their WordPress integrations to run the live blog.
We’ll take a quick look at how you can set up live blogging with WordPress using the following. 24liveblog platform. The platform has its own WordPress plugin and allows you to create a live blog that is mobile ready, comes with social media integrations and should adapt to the look of your website.
To get started, you must first go to: Plugins > Add New at the back end of your website. Once there, search for the plugin, install it and activate it. Later, you will want to go the platform’s website and create an account. It comes with a variety of plans, but getting started is free and should give you an idea of what to expect from the add-on.
After creating an account with the platform, you can go back to your website backend, Settings > 24liveblogand enter your credentials to establish a connection between the website and the platform. You will be greeted with a “welcome” message, nothing more.
However, if you go Pages > Add New or do the same for a post, you may notice that there is a new block you can add to your page. If you have trouble finding it, simply type “24” in the search bar; will appear.
Adding the 24liveblog blog to your page or post will show you a prompt to choose a live blog or create a new one. If you choose to choose an existing live blog, you will remain on your website and will be given the option to embed a previously created blog on the platform.
You can also choose to create a new live blog; then you will be transferred to your 24liveblog control panel. There you will be able to create an event.
Once you have chosen Live Blog as the type of event you want to create, you will enter the four-step process for creating a live blog. In the first step you will give your event a title, description, tags and cover photo. You can also set the start time of the event, choose a countdown, choose a category, link it to your Twitter username and URL where the live blog will appear on your website.
In the configuration options, you will be able to set the language, sound and page numbering options. You will also have the opportunity to change the time format, chat location and greetings, as well as various options regarding chats, comments and sharing. By adjusting all these options to your liking, you can create a template and save it for future use.
In advanced options, if that’s what you’re interested in, you’ll set up the video stream. You will also be able to open popups that capture subscribers.
Finally in the theme options, You will choose how you want your live blog to appear on your website.
After that, you’ll have some options that you can pretty much only access with a paid account. When you’re done with these, you’ll be taken to the activity dashboard where you can start adding updates to your live blog.
If you go back to your WordPress website, You will be able to choose the event you want to experience on the blog.
After adding the first post to the 24liveblog board, your audience will start seeing them on your website.
Adding a live blog to your website is easy, thanks to platforms like 24liveblog. But creating a good live blog is something entirely different.. There’s more to it than just posting one piece of content after another.
Since people have been doing this for a while, there are some tips and best practices that have proven to work. You can try:
With a little practice, you’ll soon realize that some things work better than others. Keep going and you’ll find what’s the best way to blog the events you follow. You will develop your style and also learn what your audience responds best to.
Let’s wrap it up!
If you plan well, a live blog can be an incredibly valuable asset in your content strategy. Such quick snippets of content can accompany events ranging from product launches to promotions to world-changing events. How you use it depends on you and what your WordPress website is about. Remember, if you have a website and want a live blog, you will be able to set it up fairly easily – there are third-party platforms available to bring live blogging to WordPress.
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