November 2, 2009
The Problem…Can You Help Me Decide on the Answer?
The problem is I don’t know how to handle this blog.
The first issue is that I have a huge subject that I know very little about. I mean, if you want to know about social media, you can type “social media” into your Google search and read about it until dooms day. You don’t need me. Especially when I’m just stumbling along blind.
The second issue is that though I know social media is already big and it’s going to get a lot bigger and impact our lives in ways we never imagined influencing our social outlets, relationships, business opportunities, the way we gather information, our shopping patterns and much, much more, do you really need to listen to me ramble about it?
I don’t know.
I am learning a lot about social media and I find it interesting. I’m really so much more knowledgeable about it now and I can talk about it and where I think it’s going to go and some of the mechanics of it (ad nauseum, I’m sure some of you are thinking).
But I think the reality is that most people don’t really have the time or interest to hear about the details of it until they have a need. It’s occurred to me that the pieces and parts of social media are just going to infiltrate people’s lives and they’ll just figure it out as they go…researching the parts they have interest in and leaving the rest behind until (and if) they need it.
So that means that my blog is going to, for the most part, be way more than anyone wants to know about. I’ll probably be covering subjects that aren’t really germaine to anyone at the time I write them (except for me). And when someone does come to a point where they need this knowledge, they won’t search back through my blog to read about it or wait until I write about it. They will Google it
I mean, if my friend Jane has a lot of knowledge about stamp collecting that people are interested and she wants to impart that knowledge in a blog but she has no idea how to go about that, won’t she just Google “creating a blog”?
So I’m taking some time to sit back and think about whether to proceed with this blog or not. Please let me know what you really think based on what you’ve read so far — how it has (or hasn’t it) filled needs for you, how valuable is this blog as an information source, and do you think I should continue or move on to the next idea?
And, believe me, I have a couple! (Uh oh…now that’s a scary thought!)
And the great part is that if this the collective “you” isn’t finding this blog valuable, it’s not the end of the world for me. It’s something I can walk away from with no pain because I have a lot of stray thoughts about other interesting directions to go.
So please be my personal advisor. What do you think? Post a comment and send me a bill for the therapy!
October 27, 2009
Racing Into the Blogosphere….
Today, friends and neighbors, we’re racing right on into the blogosphere.
The what? Blogosphere?
This time, I tried a new source, UrbanDictionary for the definition of blogosphere. Here’s what I got…
The world of blogs or the “bloggosphere” has become a major source of info dissemination and platform for criticism of pop culture, but certainly not limited to that. It is accessed mostly by the younger, technologically savvier computer generation or “technorati” but available to all.
Okay…shows what they know….I may not be younger but I feel like I’m fairly technologically savvy. But I’ll get my nose out of joint and try our good friend Wikipedia too!
A blog (a contraction of the term “weblog”)[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
That’s much better! I don’t feel like I just crawled out of the cave to hunt down dinner!
So, blogs. To some extent, I just didn’t get it…what’s the deal with blogging?!? Why would anyone care what I think. They already get a belly full of Kathy on Facebook. Why in the world would they want more? And, just as importantly, why would I care what they think?
But every social media job I’ve looked into “highly suggests” you have —- actually, most ASSUME you have — an active blog. Or two. Or more. What gives? Seriously, folks, I just not that interesting!
But what I’m beginning to realize is that blogs are the new personal webpage. Remember when every high school student had their own website? Every proud pappa had a website to post pictures and video of Junior’s latest accomplishment? Now, instead, we have blogs.
Did you know that since 2003, 70 million new blogs have been created?!? 70 MILLION!!! That’s a lot of opinions!
But, here’s the attraction…you can post pictures of your latest vacation. You can post video of the cutest thing your child did the other day. But the biggest advantage of a blog is that you can post words that tell what you’re doing, how you’re feeling, or what you’re thinking. That’s right, folks…a running commentary on…whatever you want!
You can also make blogs interactive. You can start a family blog as a place for family members to post events, pictures, or funny stories by having multiple authors. You can have a business blog to help market your home-based business (and, yes, I do have a business…Stray Kat Strutt Jewelry… awesome prices on beautiful handmade jewelry! Or try Stray Kat Strutt’s Fan Page and Become A Fan! …and now you see why I REALLY started this blog! Blatant self-promotion! Ha!)
And the coolest thing about blogs is people can subscribe to your blog via email or through an RSS Feed (I explained about those in two earlier posts). So, every time you post something, people can be alerted immediately. Seriously! How’s THAT for being the center of the universe?!? Wow!
So, now I have a blog. Yikes! Now I have two! (Check out my What Happens At Gramma’s… blog at www.hellokathy.com/blog). So, make that 70 million and TWO blogs that have been started since 2003!
How did I get it started and was it painful? Ahhh…the million dollar questions!
Stay tuned! : )
Another Side Note: One of the other skills I have to understand on WordPress is inserting an image, so I’m going to use you as my guinea pigs again. Here’s a picture of my adorable granddaughter…
Hey! It worked! Peace, baby….
More Information…
Coming Next: WordPress Basics
CommonCraft has a great 3-minute video about the basics of blogs. Check it out. It’s a simple way to understand.
October 22, 2009
Facebook. Twitter. What’s the buzz?
Today, as promised, I’m going to chat about my basic “take” on Facebook and Twitter which are the two social networking micro-blogs I’m most familiar with. (We’ll get into some “How To’s” for each of these applications later.)
There are a lot of micro-blogs out there in cyberspace. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plurk, Squeelr, Jaiku and identi.ca are all micro-blogs. And yikes! I haven’t heard of any of these except Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn! Who knew?!? But I do know (now) that Facebook is a social networking website that incorporates a micro-blog — it’s that thing called your Status Update. MySpace does the same thing.
Facebook, I’ve got. I’ve been on Facebook for about a year now. I’m a Facebook junkie. I Facebook multiple times daily (and, yes, “Facebook” is now a verb like “Google”). I post a Status Update most days. A Status Update is a small blurb about whatever I want it to be about…my mood, a quote, what I’m doing, how I’m doing…that is sent to the the Facebook page of all my friends. Wow! Instant “News From Kathy”! Cool!
I post when I’m excited about something I did (like learning a new dance at line dancing on Thursday nights) or when something funny happens (like every Tuesday morning when I volunteer at my granddaughter’s kindergarten class) or when I run across something I just think people should see or would want to see.
And, here’s a bennie: My friend Lal had a birthday recently. He posted, “Ya gotta love FB for all the immediate gratification you get from all the birthday wishes you get.” And he’s right! It adds to the quality of my life. That’s the part I like best…it allows my Facebook friends to be involved in my life. If they are entertained by my post, they tell me how funny that is. If they are sympathetic, I get a lot of “aw man, that sucks” comments back from my friends. Sometimes the insights I get from the comments on my posts are down right amazing! ”I would NEVER have thought about it that way! Thanks!”
Facebook has allowed me a way to express myself and let my friends and family know what’s going on with me. And it helps me entertain people and be entertained by people! I LOL (laugh out loud) every morning about someone’s post! It’s a great way to start the day…
I’ve also found it’s a (mostly) guilt-free way of interacting with my family and friends and keeping them informed without having to pick up the phone! Win-Win for me because I seem to be phone-phobic these days. (Is it just me or does everyone else find it a pain in the butt to hold that little instrument up to my ear for minutes on end?!?) Seriously! Feeling guilty that you haven’t sent your mom photos of the kids lately? Get her on FB! (My mom is 71 and she’s on FB. See…it’s not too late! Woo-hoo! Go, Mom!)
My friend Robert has a concern that if we Facebook each other all the time, we won’t have anything to talk about when we actually SEE each other. But, here’s what I told him (yes, over lunch face-to-face) — what I find is I actually have MORE to talk about when I sit down with a friend because…yup, you guessed it…”Facebook told me”! I know what’s been going on with them lately…I know what’s happening in their lives from their Facebook posts and I can ask them about specific things that have been going on in their lives…not just the usual “how’ve ya been?”, “how’s the job?”, or “how is the family?”.
Now Twitter…hmmmm. That’s another story! I can’t figure out the attraction. Can anyone explain it to me? Perhaps it’s because I don’t know that I know anyone personally who’s on Twitter (ya know?). Most of my friends Facebook (and, yes, that was used as a verb again).
But I see a lot of hype about Twitter. And every social media job I look at requires that you “Tweet”.
So what am I missing? What’s the big deal? I saw a book…Twitter For Dummies. I think I qualify! If you can help me out, please comment on this post and give us all an education here. I’d really appreciate the help! I want to understand it…I really do! And I’ve vowed I WILL figure Twitter out…even if it kills me.
So, are you ready to start you life by micro-blogging on a social networking? It’s very confusing at first but it’s really a lot of fun and is really useful for keeping up with the important people in your life.
Of course, I recommend Facebook because I love it and I know it. But someone please try Twitter out…so you can tell me what the deal is!
A Side Note: As I said, I just signed up for this blog on WordPress so I can begin to learn the technology. One of the add-ons is a “poll”. So, help me out here by taking the poll I added below and let’s see how this works. I’ll comment on the results next post.
More Information…
Coming Next: Racing Through the Blogosphere: Blogging Basics
Facebook.com. Just do it. All your friends are wondering where you are…
If you want to see a tutorial before (or after!) you try to set up a Facebook account, check out the GCFLearnFree.org Facebook tutorial. It’s easy to follow and comprehensive.
Wanna try Twitter? Let me know what you think!
And, of course, a Twitter tutorial that I haven’t had the time to watch yet (yeah, okay, you can read “taken the time to watch yet”). But jump ahead if you want…please!
October 16, 2009
RSS Reader or RSS Via Email — “Thanks, Bob. I’ll take door number two.”
From our last meeting….
Your homework is to think about what style suits your personality…
…if you want the “instant gratification” of just going to your email provider and seeing all of the content from your favorite websites and you don’t mind a lot more email, you’ll want to subscribe to RSS via email.
…if you want to be able to choose to see your RSS feeds when it is convenient to you and keep your email life separate, you will want to chose an RSS Reader.
Think about it…we’ll talk about Reader Vs. RSS via email in the next post.
Welcome back to my blog that I’m thinking of retitling: “Kathy Digs Up All the Cool Stuff and I Just Read It All”. Naw. Just kidding. But hopefully, you’ve been waiting with bated breath (and why does that sounds like something that no one would ever want to do?!?) to find out how to get RSS feeds into your world. So let’s dive right in…
If you have decided you want to subscribe to RSS Feeds, perhaps at this point you need some help deciding whether to access your feeds via Option 1 – an RSS Reader or, Option 2 – through your email.
But before we get into the first two options, let me throw another option for you. Option 3 – you may want to try it both ways for a while. That’s what I did. I just couldn’t figure out which way would be best for me because I recognized the convenience of having my feeds coming into my email server which was up all day, but I also realized that I may not want to have all of that information flooding in all the time!
So, you may want to try setting up several feeds to go to your email address AND a reader until you decide which way works best for you.
Moving on…Option 1 – an RSS Reader
A feed reader (you will also see them called “news aggregators”) is software that allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds from a lot of different websites. It not only brings new content to you, but it also organizes it for you.
There are a lot of readers available to download to your computer like (to name just a few) Amphetadesk, FeedReader, and NewsGator (which integrates with Outlook). There are also quite a few web-based feed readers including My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader. One thing you need to note here is the difference between these two types of readers. The first three are computer-based programs…the kind you download to your computer. The last three are web-based which means you log into a website and access it from there…no downloading involved. So, Step One is to decide which type of reader you want…a reader program on your computer or a web-based reader.
Once you decide on Step One, Step Two is to pick a specific reader. Most of my search engine results for “RSS Feed Reader” put Google Reader at the top of the list. This made it a no brainer for me because I already have a gmail account. Since it also seems to be a popular reader, that works just fine for me. Sold! I went to Google Reader, read the sign up instructions, and got myself a reader. You can do the same for the reader you choose. Do a little research until you find one you like.
Step Three is to actually sign up for the feeds….to find sites that make their web feeds available from a their site (usually know as “syndicated content”) and add their feed to the list your reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.
Again, Wikipedia helps us with the definition and purpose of one of these terms, XML…
A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URL or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.
So, look for the RSS feed symbol.
You may already have a list of sites you regularly visit that you know you want to subscribe to. Visit those sites and look for the RSS feed symbol or a link labeled “RSS” or “XML” and follow the instructions for your reader…it’s basically the press of a button usually. Also remember to just pay attention when you are surfing the web to see which websites have content that you may want to subscribe to.
Another option I used to my advantage was social networking! I knew, based on one of her status updates on Facebook, that my friend Karen has been using Alltop (a web-based reader that arranges all of your feed selections on the page and lists the five most recent headlines of the information sources, as well as their first paragraph) as her reader. So I asked her to share her list of links. She sent me a link to her Alltop site and, from her list of her favorite sites, I found a lot of websites that I was also interested in and I added them to my Google Reader.
If you don’t have a friend who feels like sharing (or knows HOW to…stay tuned for the Social Bookmarking post in a week or so), you can go to Alltop.com anyway. The Alltop website has tons and tons of sites and topics to choose from.
Note: This is another advantage to using a feed reader. The “social” part of using the reader is that you can share your list of feeds. This can be a real advantage, not only for just helping a friend find some cool sites, but if you are part of a specific social organization. Imagine a group of special needs teachers sharing their lists of feeds among themselves…what a resource list that would be!
Option 2 – RSS Via Email
If, after working through the pros and cons, you don’t think you want to sign up for an RSS reader, that works too. As I said earlier, another option is to have your RSS feeds come to your email server. If you have an email provider that supports RSS, this will probably be the easiest way to get them via email.
Outlook, iMail and Gmail (to name a few) all support RSS feeds. And if you keep your email up all the time or check it frequently OR if you just don’t see yourself logging in to yet another program or site, this is probably a good option for you. If you use any of the above three programs, check out the More Information section at the bottom of this post for links to tutorials on adding RSS Feeds. If your provider isn’t one of the three I covered, please search “RSS Feeds” in the Help section of your provider’s documentation to see if they provide RSS support. It’s usually a pretty simple process.
If your provider doesn’t support RSS feeds or you just want your feeds coming to your inbox, some websites will allow you to enter your email address to add an RSS feed to your inbox. Most sites don’t do that, but you can still get around it with this free web-based program, FeedMyInbox.com. Once you’ve created an account, it’s as simple as going to FeedMyInbox.com, entering the website you want to subscribe to and your email address and clicking the Subscribe button. Voila, you have information in your email box!
So, now you have RSS feeds coming into your life. You may find it is a huge quantity of information flooding into your computer if you subscribe to a lot of sites. It could be overwhelming at first. I suggest you start with just a few so you can get used to the process. Once you learn to organize your feeds, you’ll be able to pick and choose what you want to see based on the time you have any given day and you will probably feel comfortable adding to your repetoire to get more information that is helpful and interesting to you.
And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog and share it with friends! : )
One last thought…
…one thing I found about subscribing to RSS feeds is that I am a more interesting person. I am informed about what’s going on in the world and I have more educated opinions than I’ve ever had…because I have more current information!
And I can hear some of you thinking from where I’ sitting…”oh, goody, more opinions from Kathy”!
Peace baby…
More Information…
Coming Next: the topic of the next post really will be Micro-blogging and Social Networking. Think Facebook. Think Twitter., I promise this will be the real subject next time…no side trips.
More Information on Google Reader:
Here’s a comprehensive video by Andy Wibbels that walks you through signing up for Google Reader.
Or try a text version…How to Use Google Reader like a Rock Star by Matt Singley from the Mashable website (which is a social media website that you will probably find interesting if you’re getting into this subject).
More Information on RSS Feeds Via Email:
Outlook: A post from a blog by Doriano Carta (a fellow WordPress blogger) on How to Add RSS Feeds to Your Outlook.
Apple iMail: A blog from EHow on How to Add RSS Feeds to your Apple Mail.
Gmail: A link to instructions from Gmail on how to add RSS Feeds to WebClips in your inbox.
FeedMyInbox: A short piece from WebWorkersDaily about FeedMyInbox.com. To learn more about FeedMyInbox and to create an account, click on the How Does It Work?
October 14, 2009
Taking a Detour: Making Sure You Don’t Miss a Thing!
I know the last post indicated that this post would be about micro-blogging and social networking, but (yea!) I’m getting comments asking how people can keep up with my blog. And maybe by now you’re also thinking, “How can I make sure I don’t miss an installment of Kathy’s Exploring Social Media blog?!? If so, I can help! ; )
Today, we’ll take a step away from our exploration of the types of social media for a minute to explain RSS Feeds so that, if you’re interested, you can have a way to keep up with this blog that requires almost no effort from you. This information will also help you keep up with new content on other blogs or websites you regularly visit.
So, again, let’s visit our friends at Wikipedia for a definition of RSS.
RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.[2]
Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader”, “feed reader”, or “aggregator“.
To translate into layman’s terms a little bit, RSS is a way for website to deliver regularly changing content to their site to you AND it’s a way for you to keep track of the changing content of your favorite websites.
If you are a person who visits several sites on a regular basis (say, CNN.com, craigslist, weatherunderground and volunteermatch), perhaps you can already see the benefit to using an RSS Feed to get updates from those sites automatically. In the “old days”(or, if you’re like me, right now), you had to bookmark your favorite websites in your browser and manually return to each site on a regular basis to see what was new. With RSS, you save time by having the content come to you. (And, as a bonus, you retain your privacy by not having to give out your email address to subscribe to each sites email newsletter. Woo-hoo!)
The most beneficial thing about this whole scenario is that you get relevant up-to-date information sent to you for you to read when it’s convenient for you.
Basically, you can tell a website to let you know every time they update. If that seems like a lot of information, you are so right. Particularly for some large websites like news websites that update content many times a day. However, most large websites give you the option to subscribe only to departments on their site that you are interested in, so that cuts down on unwanted information.
Still confused? Think of it like this…it’s like having a magazine subscription. But, the magazine that is delivered to you, instead of coming to the mail box at the end of your driveway once a month, it is delivered to your RSS Reader or into your email when the website is updated.
It’s a way to streamline the information that you get from the web.
So, you’ve decided you want to check this RSS thing out. What do you do first?
The first step is to decide if you’re willing to use an RSS reader or if you want content to come to your inbox.
Hmmmm….
Okay, a few thoughts about the pros and cons of both…
Using an RSS reader will add a step to the process of accessing your RSS feeds. However, if you already don’t care for the number of emails you are getting already, you may find a reader more to your liking because it will allow you to read content when you are ready by signing in to your reader. (For those of you who have a gmail account, you’ve already taken step one to getting a reader…one of the most popular readers is Google Reader.)
On the flip side, most email providers are set up to handle RSS feeds. Normally, there is a separate section for accessing your RSS feeds that prevents your inbox from being blasted with content from every site you subscribe to. So you won’t get the email from your boss, the email about the e-gift certificate Aunt Jenny is sending you for your recent birthday and….28 updates from Time.com.
Your homework (you didn’t ask if there was homework, Rod…just about tests!) is to think about what style suits your personality…
…if you want the “instant gratification” of just going to your email provider and seeing all of the content from your favorite websites and you don’t mind a lot more email, you’ll want to subscribe to RSS via email.
…if you want to be able to choose to see your RSS feeds when it is convenient to you and keep your email life separate, you will want to chose an RSS Reader.
Think about it…we’ll talk about Reader Vs. RSS via email in the next post.
More Information…
Coming Next: RSS Readers and RSS Via Your Inbox — Thanks, Bob. I’ll Take Door Number Three!
For more information about RSS Feeds watch the Commoncraft video on RSS. It’s 3-minutes and it’s great!
Wanna jump ahead and sign up for Google Reader? Here’s a comprehensive video that walks you through signing up.
Or if you think RSS Feeds via email is for you and your email provider doesn’t handle RSS Feeds (or you don’t know if it does), here’s a short piece about FeedMyInbox.com.
A note…I will discuss some simple basics of getting RSS feeds in Outlook, iMail and Gmail in the next post if you want to wait on this step…OR you can do an internet search and probably come up with some great tutorials yourself if you don’t want to wait on the next post!
