RennyBAs Terella celebrating five years Blog Anniversary

Serving news, history, culture and traditions from Norway and the Nordic countries as well as some travel reports for five years has been an adventurous experience. As a network evangelist, I have learned a lot about how much you gain from interacting with others: to share knowledge & experience, be curious & interested, attentive & including and last but not least helpful. The more you give, the more you get – as I often say: It’s A Givers Gain. These good experiences have deepened and increased in importance since I started blogging, and have enriched my life and, above all, brought me so many new friends and acquaintances. This past year has been particularly eventful, let me mention some examples:

The Oslo Blog Gathering:
Inviting all my blog friends to Oslo was a Social Media experiment. However with good contacts and help – especially VisitOSLO, First Hotel Millennium and staff at the town hall, it was a great success and the experience of a lifetime. About 30 bloggers from around the world experienced Oslo and the Norwegian culture, traditions and history together! Many a new friendship across borders and continents were connected and the event was a testament to another of my motto: Blogging & Social Media connecting people.
You can read more about the event on the Guest Page that also provides an overview of participants’ blog articles about their own experiences.

A blog reborn:
I know a lot about technology and the internet, but even I have my limits. Then it is good to have a network and a little help from my friends. Just a few weeks after I started blogging, I came in contact with Charles Ravndal who is an artist in media and design. He has repeatedly helped me to create an original layout on my blog, including emigration from Blogger to WordPress. The ultimate transformation came this year when he created a new template and new logo design. Charles is good to customize the look of fabric, theme and content – I encourage you to click and visit his site where you can see more of his portfolio and other work.

Other Social Media:
Recent years has witnessed a virtual explosion of other social media that also connects people and provides opportunities for networking: making new contacts and sharing their experiences and knowledge. I was early out on Facebook’s services again originally as an experiment to learn more by doing it myself. This year I have expanded my use to create a fan page. Without going into more depth now, I wonder how long I’ll be blogging and instead use micro-blogging like Twitter and Facebook with all the features included. Maybe when I write a post about my anniversary next year we are closer to the answer.

From all of me, to all of You:
As in previous years, I end by thanking everyone for visiting, for your rewarding and instructive comments and especially for old and new acquaintances in the past year. It is an inspiration that I can continue and share my life and our culture, tradition and history and so many are still interested. A special attention is given as a link love, with a listing of all on my blogroll below. Do you see something wrong, or miss yours on the list, just let me know in a comment.

I would like to thank my wife DianeCA for all of her support and understanding my passion for being so active in Social Media. Check out her post of being married to a blogger!
Cheers to a new blogging year: for new and exciting discoveries, and most of all to maintain old and develop new friendships.