Self-expression is an important part of writing. When children express themselves through the written word, they not only practice their literary and verbal skills, but also learn how to tap into their own creative spirit. Writing is a skill that should always be encouraged, can always be improved upon — most importantly — can also be quite enjoyable. At LW4K, we understand that writing is a difficult endeavor for some kids to get comfortable with, especially when children are prompted to share what they have written. Socal media and blogging offer a casual avenue for children to ply their craft, offering fun and interactive communities for writers to explore. Read on for some great social platforms for writing, and tips on how to use them with your child.
Our Favorite Writing Apps for Blogging and Social Media:
Tumblr:
Tumblr is one of the most popular blogging platforms around, so helping your child set up a blog can be a great way to spark an interest in writing. Kids pick a unique username, a custom URL, and than choose a theme to give their blog a personalized look. Users can add content-specific tags to posts, making it easy to catalog writing and browse topics of interest. Good writing will garner “likes” from others users, and particularly interesting posts may even get “re-blogged” (shared) by others.
Twitter:
A platform for “micro-blogging,” Twitter’s 140 character restriction narrows the scope of words per post, meaning users will have to get a bit creative with their phrasing in order to fit an idea within the limited space. There are also a lot of great Twitter accounts to follow for writing. From users who post the works of a renowned poet, to accounts dedicated to quotes from famous novels and even grammar-correcting robots, the Twitter-verse houses a large community of content dedicated to writing.
CHEERS:
Marked as the “happiest iPhone app” by C|Net, Cheers is an app-based social network for sharing positive and happy moments from everyday life. Finding topics for children to write about can be hard, so the singular focus of Cheers helps set clear parameters for content to explore. It can be a fun way to set daily writing goals, having your child use the app to share at least one positive thing from each day.
BLOGGER:
Blogger is Google’s premier blogging platform. If you already have a Gmail account, you’re pretty much ready to go. Helping set up a blog for your child is a simple way to provide a personal space for writing down everyday thoughts or experiences. The Blogger community can read and comment on each others’ blogs, helping expose kids to simple feedback and constructive criticism. If users prefer to keep their writing private, parents can set that up in the account settings, too.
WORDPRESS:
Learning how to use WordPress is becoming an increasingly important skill in today’s online world. The blogging platform is used by everyday bloggers and huge, popular websites alike, and offers powerful tools for content creation. Users can quickly set up a free blog at WordPress.com to get acclimate with the publishing system, or head over to WordPress.org to learn how to install the blogging software on a custom URL (i.e. katesblog.com).
