Here’s how to make money from social networking

“What is a blog”
“It’s short for web log, meaning an online journal of sorts.”
“What purpose does it serve?”
“You can write anything. Opinions, thoughts or even what you ate for lunch,”
This conversation dates back to an era where Indians accessed the web largely on a 56.6kbps dialup modem and 256kbps broadband connections were considered “awesome”. One didn’t imagine then that one day we’d see pro-bloggers (professional bloggers) and paid advertising on blogs. But that day has come. And gone.

However, pro-blogging is like an urban legend or a fairy-tale of sorts, everybody wants to do it but very, very few bloggers manage to make enough money to even recover the money invested in domain names and hosting space. But that isn’t stopping the blogging community from going strong on blogs and micro-blogs.

“I don’t blog to make money. It is my way of expressing myself, my ideas,” says 32-year-old Neil Dantas who used to be an industrial designer before he quit his job to become an “example setter”. Dantas started his blog to initially use his strength -- design -- to comment on what was happening around him in Mumbai. He now makes funky Tshirts and bags that sell across Mumbai & Pune retail stores.

While making stuff that can be sold offline isn’t so easy for everyone, food consultant and writer Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal
uses her blog to gain reputation and credibility on the world wide web. It is only natural since the mother of two found her vocation through blogging.

“I just started my first blog as a bulletin board, and I don’t think people really read it,” she confesses. But on a stray afternoon, research for an article on pickles led her to eGullet.com, a popular food blogger community site. “It was then that I decided that I wanted to write about food.”

Today, her blog is fairly popular and she has translated it into services like Masala Trails (food tours), cooking classes and food consulting services. She also has a book coming out soon.

 “The blog helped me become accessible and helped me build a reputation as a serious food writer,” says Ghildiyal who dreams of documenting culinary knowledge across different regional cultures of the country.

For Manjari Verma, a travel writer and consultant, it was this accessibility that was the motivating factor to start blogging.

“I use my blog to share my published work and to post my travel stories every once in a while,” she admits. However, the blog comes handy to her in getting new assignments by adding credibility to her passion – travel.

“The minute someone approaches you for something, you Google them so it is essential to have all your work in one place if you’re a freelancer,” she says.

Verma also uses micro-blogging site Twitter to talk about travel. She isn’t the only one. Sahil Jatana, a former digital media professional, now a full-time coffee coach came on Twitter to explore the network and to socialize in general. Since he had been following coffee for so long, he decided to don the avatar of “The Coffee Nazi” on the micro-blogging site.

After hosting a number of people over for coffee and pancakes, Jatana decided to take a serious step towards his passion and quit his job to do a fortnight-long course at the Indian Board of Coffee in Bangalore.

“A lot of people would often ask me how to brew coffee and where to get certain coffees from. It made me realize that the knowledge I sought wasn’t available easily and that since I had done the course, I should start sharing the info,” says Jatana who has started holding coffee workshops that have received enormous feedback. “People have been writing in from Delhi, Chandigarh and so many people from the corporate sector are approaching me to hold workshops. And it’s mostly through Twitter,” says Jatana.

All the participants in his initial workshops have been people from Twitter, while he has successfully found a venue partner via the social networking site. “If you use it right, Twitter can be a fabulous platform to spread the word,” he says.

Even though these bloggers have blogged about their passion and found a way to create tangible products and services, their ventures are fairly small right now. “I make only Rs10,000 a month based on the sales which helps me just about survive but then I am content. I am following my passion and I am being positive” says Dantas who would rather have less money and work with passion.

“I don’t have a single ad on my blog, but it is my home on the net. People recognize it, and I use it to promote things I do offline,” says Ghildiyal who believes that if you’re passionate about a certain thing, going about it in a structured manner always helps.

Jatana advices to find a passion, spot an opportunity and be open to doing different things.

“Blogs are a great way to battle creative suppression and they allow you to showcase your passion,” says Dantas.

“Blogs are the spine of social media and they are a centralized source of content, which is what makes them extremely enticing avenues for brands to explore,” says Adarsh Munjal, 23, digital media professional and a blogger. “If brands can take it seriously, every blogger must think of themselves as a brand and use their blogs to create an identity for themselves.”

While your blog might be just another one of the 156 million-odd blogs out there (based on The Nielsen Company report), it might be a good time to get creative and find ways to make yours stand apart. Who knows it may eventually lead to that job you’ve dreamt of or help you start your dream business!