How to use this platform to share your content

On our platform, www.DiploInternetGovernance.org, you can:

• Add blog posts directly - your page is your blog!
• Posting or embedding videos, photos, slides and audio;
• Invite comments and feedback on your blog posts and other content;
• Add IG-related events on the Calendar;
• Post status updates.

You will need to be a member of the site and to create your own profile before you can post blog posts and media.

The following guide explains how to post blogs, videos, photos, slides, audio and calendar events.  

1) Posting blog posts
A good blog post shares a story, update or question from the event. There are several ways of adding a blog post:

• Point your cursor to 'Main' on the main toolbar, then click on 'Blogs' from the drop-down menu. In the blogs page, click on 'Add' on the top right corner; or

• Click on 'My Page' on the main toolbar, then click on 'Blog Post' at the top, right above the status box, next to 'Share'; or

• On the homepage, scroll down for the blog posts section. Right below the section, click on the link 'Add a blog post'.

Give your blog post a descriptive title, and then write your post. Make sure you space our the text clearly. Use the Link, Photo and File buttons to add links, photos and documents to your blog post. You can embed videos, photos and audio from other sources, or from elsewhere on the site, into your blog posts.

Make sure you pick thematic tags for your post, and if you want, add your own extra tags, separated by commas.

If you are pasting text from a document, you can click the 'T' icon next to 'Add'; then paste your text in the pop-up window. The function will remove your document's formatting, and paste your text as 'plain text'. You can then use basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language) in your blog posts for emphasis, to add bullet points, quotation marks, etc.

For example, highlighting text and pressing the ʻBʼ button above the text area will result in: <b>highlighted text</b> which means that the text between <b> and </b> will appear in bold when you save your blog post.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to add emphasis, or use the tools right above the text box, or switch to 'HTML Editor' to add or edit your post's HTML. 

Also of interest: Blogging best practices (written by Diplo's blogging expert, Mary Murphy)

2) Posting videos
You can embed videos to the site using an embed code. To upload videos:

• Click on 'My Page' on the main toolbar, then click on 'Videos' at the top, right above the status box, next to 'Share'; or

• On the homepage, scroll down for the videos section. Right below the section, click on the link 'Add Videos'.

To embed your video, locate and copy its embed code. Once you have added a video to the site, you may like to create a blog post to bring it to everyoneʼs attention and to tag it. 

3) Posting photos
You can upload photos direct to the site, or you can import photos from Flickr, the large photo sharing website. To upload photos:

• Click on 'My Page' on the main toolbar, then click on 'Photos' at the top, right above the status box, next to 'Share'. The pop-up box will prompt you to select photos on your computer. By clicking on 'More options', you will be directed to a page where you can either locate photos on your computer, or import them from Flickr, or

• On the homepage, scroll down for the photos section. Right below the section, click on the link 'Add Photos'. The page allows you to either locate photos on your computer, or to import them from Flickr.

Follow the on-screen instructions. If you choose to embed photos from Flickr, you will be asked to log in to your account first.

4) Posting slides

There are several ways to add slides. You can embed them in a blog post with some explanation and commentary, or you can embed them in the video section as if they were a video.

5) Posting audio
If you have an audio file, you can either upload it as a file attached to a forum or blog post for others to download, or upload it to an audio hosting service, and embed it into a blog post.

6) Adding events to the calendar

The events calendar is a useful way of checking upcoming IG-related events. Events may contain links to the host organiser's website.

To add an event, on the homepage, scroll down for the events section. Right below the section, click on the link 'Add an Event', and fill in the details on the Add an Event page.

Adapted from The Social Reporting Handbook, developed for social media reporting during the 2009 Internet Governance Forum.

From time to time, improved ways of sharing content, and new applications for Ning (the service hosting our community platform), are developed. This page may therefore be updated to reflect these changes. For questions or comments, please use the comments field below.

For help on using any part or function of this online portal, please post a message to Diplo IGCBP, or send an e-mail to ig@diplomacy.edu with the subject 'Help needed on IG community platform'.