New Media Pioneer: Cedric Shine of the Notes of this Native Son Blog
http://nativenotes.wordpress.com/
Notes of this Native Son blog brings you a daily dose of songs and messages from author Cedric Shine. Written by a motivated young black man who is dedicated to giving our voices a platform to speak from!
Q: A lot of the writing on your blog is very uplifting. What inspired
you to start the Notes of This Native Son Blog?
A: Honestly, I have always had a passion for writing but in the past I was hesitant to share my writing with other people for fear that they would judge my writing style and how I convey messages. I started out on my myspace where I would let my thoughts fly, but there wasn’t too much traffic there. Earlier this year I began writing spiritual messages titled “Pardon me” every morning and sending them out to close friends. The small list grew to over 100 people rather quickly and the responses I would receive were so uplifting and motivational that I felt selfish for not having an avenue to share those responses with the other readers. Thus I created Notes of this Native Son so that there could be an interactive community that would be spiritually connected and serve as a support group for others who wanted to explore their spiritual side without being judged.
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of creativity; there was literature, music, politics,
spirituality, dance and other types of expression that characterized the intellect and creativity of the people. Notes of This Native Son is inspired by such a time period and I hope that as young artisans we can inspire a resurgence of creativity in our own communities. The site also serves as forms of expression for some of my close friends whose writing has been featured on the blog; Nightday, Maat, Rums, and Jazz are all people who have posted pieces on the site that have added to the overall movement of something different that we are trying to accomplish.
Q: Is there a specific audience you are trying to reach?
A: Honestly, if you go to the blog on any given day the only thing that will be consistent is the Pardon me message, the Quote of the day and the Song of the day. Other than that the Notes of This Native Son can not be pigeon holed into one category because I believe we as people no matter what ethnicity, gender, or spiritual background are truly too dynamic of a people to be placed into closed jars and labeled. We have many different interests and thus there are several different niche groups that are represented here on the World Wide Web. One day I am all about the political scene, the next day I am very focused on music because I love music and feel it leads as a soundtrack to our lives. But then there are social issues, funny youtube videos, you name it and I will post it if I feel it relates to me as a person, or offends me and I want to have an open dialogue with the rest of the internet about it. So I cannot say that there is a specific audience that I am trying to reach because the people who give me the most feedback about the site come from a plethora of backgrounds. Their one commonality is that they are all searching for knowledge of self and like to be well informed about assorted issues. Whether that’s Lil Wayne sipping syrup, a Confucius quote, or institutionalized racism and how it affects people and their surroundings, people really just want to absorb knowledge.
Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a blogger?
A: The biggest challenge I have faced as a blogger is also the best challenge because there is an enormous amount of blogs on the Internet. All of these sites have different content and many of them can be extremely creative but I think the ever-growing amount of blogs can saturate the market so much that you feel like a grain of sand on a 7-mile beach. So I think the biggest challenge is staying relevant and trying to encourage a culture of bloggers and blog viewers to check out something that is not celebrity oriented but more so caters to their unique and individual ideas of expression.
Q: On your blog you feature a song a day. How exactly do you choose which songs fits the day?
A: The song of the day is a reflection of how I am feeling at the moment. Sometimes they are influenced by the spiritual message or the quote of the day. Other times I like to bring an artist who is less mainstream to the forefront and acknowledge their talent. For instance last week I featured Bad Boy recording artist Janelle Monae and tons of people hit me up saying that they really liked her music and appreciated her sound. That brings joy to my ears or eyes when I am reading such an email because often artists are judged on everything but their art.
Q: As far as bringing more traffic to your site, what are the two best tips you can give other bloggers?
A: I think being involved with communities of bloggers is extremely beneficial. I am a member of theurbanblogger.com and I think that as a community my affiliation with this spectacular group of bloggers has doubled my traffic and allowed me to network with other bloggers. Also, I think finding a balance between your own creativity and topics that are hot topics that people will want to read about will encourage more readers to browse through your site. We have to learn to take advantage of all avenues whether it is search engine optimization or networking with a revolutionary idea like your own where we can be featured via an Internet pr site, like Ariel Publicity.
Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a podcaster?
