The Delhi Bloggers Symposium was held on 12th December by www.scratchmysoul.com in association with Hindustan Times, Doordarshan and Barista. The evening aimed to recognize the blogging talent of the capital and was held at the Jacaranda Hall of the India Habitat Centre. EminentLyricist and writer Javed Akhtar was the chief guest for the evening. Other dignitaries included noted sports journalist Ayaz Memon, humorist Ashok Chakradhar, Mr. Gulshan Rai is the Director General - India Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT –In) and One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) CEO Mr. Satish Jha.

The evening started by a keynote address by Mr. Raghav Chandra the chief mentor of scratchmysoul.com. He explained in depth the working and the uniqueness of this portal and what sets it apart from all other social profiling networks. He then invited Mr Ayaz Memon to share his experiences. Mr Memon set the tone for the day with his sharp observations on blogging as a tool of social expression. He also said that blogging is the easiest way to express our views and it is not be necessary that you have to be a journalist to express your views. This was intriguing for the audience present as these issues had not been fully thought through in this discipline. Finally, the discussion turned to methodology and to the question of how blogging could usefully benefit the society as a whole.

Mr. Shlok Chandra member founding team of www.scratchmysoul.com played a three minute video introducing the website. The first blogging magazine in the world “Bloggers Park” was also distributed to the bloggers.

Mr Gulshan Rai briefed the audience about the legal issues pertaining to blogging and how we can make a difference by being a little cautious.

The evening ended by a vote of thanks by Ambreen Zaidi, editor of the Bloggers Park magazine.

Many in the audience said this platform provided them an opportunity to connect with fellow professionals and share their views not only on tricks such as search engine optimization and monetization but also on what topics and tags would attract maximum eyeballs. The timing for a unique platform like scratchmysoul.com where there is a unique profile page for each blogger could not have been better considering that more and more people are taking to blogging in India. The evening boasted of literary exchange of ideas between the bloggers and non bloggers, writers, IT professionals, literature enthusiasts and students. It really isn't an exaggeration to say that the symposium had a profound and positive effect on the mindset of everyone present there.