Timeliness is the key element of reaching people with an important message. The stories of the Chilean miners who were rescued wouldn’t be nearly as powerful to us a year later, compared to seeing them the moment they get out. Much of the television news relies on the value of timeliness to make the content interesting and appealing to viewers.

Blogging is no exception. You need to talk about topics that are timely. There needs to be a sense of connection to current events for blogging to work properly. This is why people need to learn how to blog on secondary instruments.

What the heck is a secondary instrument?

First, let us define the primary instrument: the computer. Most blogging is done sitting down, typing into a computer of some sort, be it laptop, desktop or terminal.

The value of the computer as a primary instrument is obvious. Lots of tools, browsing capacity, a nice big screen for seeing what you’re typing and reviewing it.

That said, even the best laptops have a certain weakness as far as portability goes. Holding even a netbook in one hand and typing with the other gets cumbersome and painful.

Enter secondary devices: smartphones, tablet computers and such.

These offer the advantage of supreme portability at this time. Until such a time as computers are wired right into our brains a la the Deus Ex games, these devices are the word of god as far as mobile computing goes.

For all the gaps that come up, 3G coverage or WiFi access is pretty easy to get ahold of, and most smartphones out there offer some degree of wireless connectivity. Thus, you can be sure of generally being able to access your blogging site and its resources with just a little bit of effort. From there, it’s fairly straightforward to type into the fields and get a post rolling.

Tablets obviously offer a bit more functionality than the average phone, including a screen you can actually read with. Typing is a bit easier, too, as the on-screen keyboard tends to be larger as well. Still, everyone needs a phone, not everyone needs a tablet. The choice is largely which is more convenient to you.

Regardless of whether you use a smartphone or tablet computer, you’re going to have to get used to working an on-screen keyboard. Despite being arranged in Qwerty (or Dvorak if you’re into that sort of thing) configurations, these keyboards are treacherous beasts that do not function quite the same way as a traditional keyboard. If you want to pursue an exciting career blogging or microblogging on up-to-the-minute issues, you’re going to have to start practicing now — unless you want a bunch of autocorrect nonsense replacing your ideas.

Start blogging regularly using the device. Even if nothing comes up that warrants a blog post on the go, type at least one or two posts a week using the mobile format, just to get used to the concept so that when the need comes up to actually do it under pressure, you can put together an intelligible post instead of a verbal Jackson Pollock piece.

There are also a number of technologies associated with these secondary devices that can make the process easier for the aspiring blogger on the go. For example, Android OS phones in particular come with voice-recognition technology. Instead of typing a post in, if you just don’t have the time or ability to free your hands (say if you’re driving or doing an interview), you can speak the words into the machine and it will transcribe them for you.

The problem there is that voice rec software is still a bit twitchy, and can translate some things in hilarious ways. Make sure you aren’t posting directly to your site from voice recognition, and instead review the document before sending it on. Timeliness is key, but don’t let the rush to get a good story out ruin that same story because your phone translated something profound as something a bit perverse.

Again, it is important to practice using your device of choice if you intend to use it on a regular basis for your blogging efforts. The quirks and confusing bits of translation can usually be discovered with a bit of online research and personal practice with the machine. Taking the time to work your way through these bits of confusing translation ahead of time can help you smooth them over in advance.

So, the point of all this is, regardless of if you choice voice or type, phone or tablet, blogging on the go is becoming remarkably easy. Yet the medium does have its own unique pitfalls that we have to be aware of. Every technology is going to have particular ways of behaving, and understanding those ways will help you be ready ahead of time, instead of making a mistake mid-stride.

Written By Ben Porter

Ben Porter is a co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. For the free Brandsplat Report go to Brandsplat.com or visit our blog at http://www.ibrandcasting.com