Just when you think every idea under the blogging sun has been thought of, someone comes along with a simple, yet genius, plan to get people creatively interacting.
Renaud Dehareng (30), of Brussels, Belgium, works in municipal social assistance by day, but when he has free time he runs the strange, quirky blog called Sho()tmyblog.blogspot.com.
The aim of the blog is to get as many people as possible to send in digital photographs of their computer monitor, as long as they have Dehareng’s blog title on his homepage displayed on the monitor. Creativity is key, and people are encouraged to think out the box (or desktop) when taking a picture of their monitor.
One of the pictures on the blog features two computer monitors lying side by side in bed, separated by a cellphone. It comes from a blog called Iloveyoudonttouchme.blogspot.com. Another picture has a monitor wearing a beanie, and perhaps the most creative one has two hands that look like they’re actually reaching into the monitor screen and holding up Dehareng’s blog window.
“I love creating original, totally bizarre, powerful and strange methods to promote websites on the web; something that can cause a ‘buzz phenomenon’ on the internet,” writes Dehareng on his website.
Dehareng told the Mail & Guardian Online that the idea came to him while he was in bed. He said he usually spends two to three hours each evening sorting out his blog.
He hopes to focus the attention of web users and the media on his website, and those of his contributors.
“My concept is based on humour, originality and made without pretension (I say that for those who hate this blog) … and to experiment [with] a new marketing concept,” he says.
Sho()tmyblog.blogspot.com is Dehareng’s second blog. His first was “a new travel guide” called Welcomeguide.blogspot.com where bloggers can share both their good and bad travel experiences.
In order to promote his idea on the web and to encourage people to be creative and productive, Dehareng has also announced a “special contest” for the most imaginative photograph sent to his site. The winner gets a Mac Mini 1.66 GHz Intel core duo. The competition is open to anyone — but if Dehareng does not receive 1 000 entries by December 31 this year, there will be no competition.
He says that he will take no more than 1 500 entries — first come, first serve.
On the net
The M&G Online‘s picture