Ryan Ballengee Now

At 25, Ryan Ballengee isn't much older than I but what he lacks in years he makes up for with his blog footprint. About a year ago, Ballengee started Columbia Now to start a conversation about the issues that face Columbia. Ballengee got his start in the blogosphere two years ago with Waggle Room, a golf based blog.

Ballengee says he thinks the purpose of his blog is to share his interest in local politics.
"I encourage people to share an opposing view," says Ballengee. "My feeling is that the conversation can be nothing but good for the community, so long as it is rooted in facts and is honest."

Columbia Now's readers come from all over Howard county, says Ballengee. He says the content speaks for itself and though the feedback is usually positive, his readers may not always agree with what he thinks.

"More or less, I talk most political or policy issues on Columbia Now because my undergrad degree is in business and my Masters is in public policy. So, in a sense, what I cover is really reflective of some of my personal interests."

So who is Ballengee following on the blogopshere?

"I try to read bloggers from all over the County. I read HoCo Freemarket, Columbia Talk, Tales of Two Cities, Jessie X, and read HoCoBlogs for blogs that I may not normally see. I really enjoy the food and restaurant blogs because they give me good tips on where to eat."

When writing his blog posts, Ballengee says he gets his information from the Howard County website, the Baltimore Sun or papers on Explore Howard. He also gets information from other blogs.

Ballengee closes out the interview with his top five tips for bloggers:

1. Have a passion for both your subject area and writing.
2. Be responsive to your audience.
3. Don't let your audience dictate how you communicate with them.
4. Be a credible source and back up opinions with facts.
5. Blogging is fun. If you aren't having fun, stop blogging and come back to it.