#NewsSpeak & #ThinkSpeak: blog rejuvenation

We need your help to rejuvenate the blog #NewsSpeak #ThinkSpeak #MSBlog

Just back from my family holiday and for the first time in a long time I feel well, have a manageable workload and have a list of things to do in the new academic year that will refocus our research and educational agenda on the things we do best. Whilst away I had a complete break from academic activities including the blog, which is why I probably feel so well. 
I read some very stimulating books, unrelated to MS and neurology, that have provided me with food for thought. 



High on the ToDo list to do is to review our blogging activity and to improve our offering. From discussions with numerous pwMS, comments on the blog and emails (thank you) we are aware that we have lost our core readership and that most of you now have problems understanding our posts. We are aware, from our web analytics, that the number of people who read the blog regularly has fallen and the number of times you come back for information is decreasing. 

Alison Thomson (designer) and Beki Aldam (writer), our public engagement gurus, have reviewed our content and blogging activity and have compared it to well-described attributes of successful blogs and have identified several issues. Alison and Beki are confident that we can reverse our decline and are planning to take us back to basics. As part of our rejuvenation, they will be re-training us in the art of writing for a lay audience. Their aim is to improve the quality and reduce the quantity, of our offering so that the majority of our readers will understand what we are writing about - 'less is more'. 

If you have any suggestions to help us please feel free to comment on the blog or send Alison and Beki an email (bartsmsblog@gmail.com). For example, one potential option is to change very little, but provide you with tools to curate our content. What do you think? 

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