Calling all bloggers - unite against poverty

Bloggers from every nook and cranny of cyberspace are poised in front of computers, counting down the hours to this year's Blog Action Day, which takes place on 15 October (tomorrow).

Started last year, Blog Action Day was set up to inspire bloggers to unite in a global discussion on important issues. The idea is that if enough people write about one issue at the same time for a whole day, we can change the news and start a world-wide conversation.

In 2007 the theme was the environment, and more than 20,000 bloggers stood atop of their virtual soapboxes to write for the common good.

This year, bloggers, podcasters and videocasters will turn their attention to poverty. And as it's open for anyone to take part, you can get involved too and help put poverty at the forefront of the public eye.

Here are some ideas to get started:

1. Soaring global food prices are the biggest problem facing poor people at the moment - more than 100 million people have been made hungry in recent months. You could blog about this issue by quoting any of the content on our website - oxfam.org.uk/foodcrisis.

2. If you've not yet joined the blog-o-sphere, then Blog Action Day is the perfect reason to start. All you need is an opinion, and a free blog. We'll leave you to work on the first bit, but to get a blog set up, head to wordpress.com, blogger.com or typepad.com.

3. If Blogger's Block has set in and you're all dried up for words, then you could post a video instead, like our 'In My Name' video on YouTube.

4. Pushed for time to write a full blog? Then you could always do a 30 second micro-blog by updating your status on Facebook or Twitter (if you use Twitter remember to use the tag #bad08).