Will you read my blog?

There remain 31 days until my departure for Israel.

This morning, I had received a Tweet from my sister, Marla, referring me to Klout, a website that measures for you your overall online influence. I was highly interested to see my web presence measured by the content of my posts and numbers of comments, @mentions, retweets, and subscribers. Who knew that there exists a whole game of strategy in social media! Check out my Klout profile to get an idea of how it works. I’ve linked Klout to my Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare accounts. Klout seems to be most interested in Twitter activity, but I’m not sure about why or what it all means.

One neat thing Klout does is evaluate your content, using a number of variables. For instance, my number one influencer on Twitter, Brandon, has a higher Klout score than I do because he tweets so much. He retweets a lot of things other people post, and in turn is retweeted often by his followers. It also says here that the three main topics he tweets about are cars, cereal, and alcohol. This evaluation of content made me really think. What am I posting for people to read? Is it my goal to generate more and more site traffic? Will quality content alone generate subscribers or do I need to market myself?

I asked Google the questions, and I landed on this blog, from ProBlogger.net:  How I’d Promote My Blog If I Were Starting Out Again. This was the answer. Five great tips on how to promote your blog! I spent the morning reading this and learning the basics of blog promotion psychology. Even if I don’t take all of the advice Darren Rowse provided, I at least have an idea of what people will and will not read, and what kinds of things they would be willing to share with others!

It’s neat to see how far I’m coming along in the blogging arena. Blogs I had kept in the past were more like frivolous online journals. They were filled with a lot of words about nothing, and were read only by a handful of close friends. As you can see, I have been pretty enthusiastic so far about preparing this new blog for my trip to Israel. It is my goal to generate a community of interested readers and to share as much information about my experience as possible.

I’ll try not to blog too much about blogging in the future.

I’m going to Israel.

I had been putting off making a formal [social media] announcement explaining what I was going to be doing for the next year. But I had completely forgotten when I made my last blog post that I had linked my Twitter and Facebook accounts to my WordPress. I accidentally let the cat out of the bag. I’m a novice social media juggler, if you couldn’t tell. So here it is.

Yes, I’m going to Israel for one full academic year to continue my BFA Dance studies abroad! I’m quite looking forward to it. There was much thought that went into making the decision to apply, and the one guiding ideal that steered me in the direction of the Middle East is this: I am interested in diversifying my dance and life experience.

I truly embrace my individualism and all the unique experiences that make me the person I am. Marching band essentially led me to become a dancer. I was in and out, and back in, then back out, and now finally back in college. I’ve had work experience in food service and retail. I’ve lived with friends, with lovers, and (painfully) with ex-lovers. I’ve lived on couches! I’ve been away from my family for years at a time. I’ve met all kinds of people, and have found some of my best friends in the most unlikely places around the country. Now twenty-five years old and (somewhat restlessly) working on my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Mason Gross, the opportunity to continue to diversify my life experience has come with Dance Jerusalem.

I look forward to a change in my cultural environment. Oh, to find the differences in what people wear, eat, say, and how they say it! I’ve heard such good things about the food. And just the pace of Israeli living… I won’t speculate too much before I actually get there.

And what of the dance culture? Israeli dance has a strong voice in New York that speaks with the movement language called Gaga. Is much of the contemporary scene in Israel influenced by Gaga? What other forms exist? Is ballet the same there? What are different Israeli companies like? Is it okay to step on the Marley floor with your sneakers in Israel? Can you stand directly sideways of the instructor as they demonstrate? What’s the dress like? There are so many questions that run through my mind, most of them trivial (and hopefully not too ignorant). I can’t help but wonder.

Friends, family, and colleagues… Please follow me on my adventures in Israel by subscribing to my blog. I haven’t ironed out all the details about what I want my consistent web presence to be like for the next year, but I have definitely decided to post much of my experiences in this blog. These posts will be forwarded as links on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, but I would like to have most of your thoughts, feedback, and conversations live on this blog as well!

Let’s stay connected…