Social Media
Delicious Del.icio.us
Michael | July 7, 2008
I’ve been alternating between Firefox 2 and 3 for a few weeks now and I have to say, it’s really frustrating.
I love Firefox, and especially version 3… unfortunately I also love my addons.
One of the issues I’ve run into through the beta of Firefox 3 is that most of my addons wouldn’t work… I found a hack, but it causes some stability issues 
So I’d rather the makers of these addons would update them!
Am I being demanding?
The Frustrating
I realized today that Del.icio.us has finally updated their Firefox plugin to be compatible with Firefox 3. They may have done this a while ago for all I know, unfortunately, for some reason, the automatic update addon function wasn’t finding the new version.
I don’t know why it was released in this way, but despite already having the older version installed I had to go to the Firefox addon site and search for the new version and install it manually. Not a big deal really, but if Firefox (or del.icio.us for that matter) had informed me that I may have to reinstall the newest version manually, I would have done it long before now and been less frustrated (the Product Manager in me would like to take this time to explain Usability 101… Don’t make the customer think! Make it EASY to get upgrades and new products and hard to leave!)
On the other hand, now that I know (.5 of the battle my childhood hero used to say), there is a beacon of hope for all the other addons I have installed that aren’t currently working with Firefox 3. But now I’m going to have to go down my addon list and check one-by-one… not a big deal… but frustrating.
The Good
The good news is that Del.icio.us wins in a big way. Once I recovered from the frustrating realization that there really was a new plugin available, and spent some time poking around the new features I have to say I’m really happy!
1 - Speed
This is what it’s all about now-a-days right? In our clones of clones online world there’s often little to distinguish one service from another… So if you can’t make it unique, make it fast! Maybe it’s just me (I work off two monitors and a laptop; and rarely visit myspace or facebook because they are in the annoyingly slow to load category), but I leave sites if they take too long to load, and the del.icio.us plugin in FF2 was, at times, painful.
I have a system to naming my del.icio.us bookmarks (likely one only I would understand at a glance, but it works for me!) and I found typing in categories in the old plugin tended to take a loooong time to filter.
Not so on the FF3 version! Type in your category and the expanded results appear instantly! No waiting, no frustration, awesome!
2 - Sidebar Bookmarks
I reference my Del.icio.us bookmarks all the time and this is the first FF sidebar that I’ve really found useful; sortable, searchable bookmark results - by both category and individual bookmark - I doubt I’ll have to visit my del.icio.us account again!
3 - Status Bar Icons
Del.icio.us drops a few useful icons down in the status bar. I listed this as good, because it was a good idea, but for me, it falls into ‘the bad’ for a couple of reasons (see below)
The Bad
1 - A Toolbar!?
A toolbar!? for 2 buttons? Arg - kill it! Thanks but no thanks Del.icio.us! If you only use Del.icio.us periodically, you could just turn the toolbar on and off when you are ready for it, but I bookmark everything! toolbars take up valuable real estate and this one is frivilous. Using the Customize feature (right-click your toolbar and click ‘Customize’) I just dragged the new Del.icio.us buttons to another toolbar I already have open and then turned of the Del.icio.us toolbar (right click the toolbar again and choose “Delicious toolbar”)
2 - Status Bar
While I applaud the use of Status bar icons, I would prefer the ability to customize them. I use the Del.icio.us ‘Tag’ icon most frequently and that’s the one I would want in my status bar… but I can’t do that (yet anyway… anyone from Del.icio.us read me blog?!
The Score
The Toolbar is silly, but easily thrown out and the status bar additions were a good idea, but not flexible enough.
Realistically though, I use the Del.icio.us addon mostly for tagging and in this Del.icio.us has seriously improved (in my opinion). And I’m pretty sure I will be making use of the new sidebar in the near future!
Verdict : If you use Firefox, have upgraded to FF 3, and you use Del.icio.us (even once-in-a-while) you NEED to get the new plugin!
Technorati Tags: FireFox Addons, Delicious Firefox addon, Delicious review, browser-firefox-addons
| 3.6 (2 people) |
Topics: FireFox, Social Media | Comments
Building - or is that growing!? - Sprouts
Michael | February 1, 2008
I love what the team at sproutbuilder.com has put together. They’ve barely launched and have been struggling with server-load issues but the product is incredible (or remarkable as Seth Godin may say)
Basically, if you know what you’re doing (and I don’t!) you can jump in and create great flash widgets for your site in just minutes… it took me an hour to do the widget below!
There are a few things I really wanted to do, and the functionality simply isn’t there yet, but OMG! I am amazed at what these guys have accomplished with this…
It’s times like this that make me sit back and spend a couple minutes thinking about how I likely would have reacted if I could go back and tell myself (around 1980-85) about this product…
A time when I was using a Tandy 1000TX with 24 meg hard drive (I’d convinced my dad to upgrade from the 12 meg hd despite the salesman insisting we’d never need more than 12 megs of space!) and struggling to get my first 1200bd modem working so I could access a local BBS that had great .gif based games :)I never would have believed myself…
Go check out sproutbuilder today! (or take a look at their blog)
** update - having issues displaying the flash within wordpress… wondering if it’s just me
| 2.9 |
Topics: Blogging, Social Media, Technology | Comments
Twitter and Social Media
Michael | January 25, 2008
A new friend on Twitter, Christine Taylor, or MouseWords as I know her on Twitter (if you are on Twitter you should friend Christine!), recently asked me a few questions after I live-Twittered the birth of my third kid…
A daughter, born January 11!
I’m going to dig (that’s dig with a single ‘g’) into the whole social media question more in the coming weeks and thought these questions were as good a place as any for me to get started…
Why Twitter our child’s birth:
This was our third child and one of the things that we noticed the first two times through was that there were always people we forgot to phone right away.
Social media provided a great way to remedy the problem.
From my cell phone I uploaded images to my flickr account, and sent regular updates via twitter.
I also setup my twitter account to forward to my facebook profile status.
It turned out to be a great way to include our family and friends (new and old) through the whole process without having to worry about who to call next!
An unexpected side benefit was the fact that it was really exciting for us to read the real-time encouragement and congratulations sent back to us via facebook and twitter (funnelled back to my phone via text messaging).
We were really happy with how it turned out and happy to share with everyone!
What is your opinion of Social Media’s influence on society in general?
For the general public, Social Media provides a variety of great and fun tools to stay connected with friends and family as well as connect with lost friends and acquaintances. I think SM services are getting more savvy all the time and we’re going to see more and more platforms that ‘do it all’, which will be a good thing; preventing us from having to log into 10 different sites to check up on all our friends.
From a business point of view, Social Media is becoming more and more valuable as more of the general public integrates their lives in the social web. SM is quickly changing the way we look at and think about media and its influence on our buyers.
Look at it this way… When most people make a purchase, it’s an emotional decision, and logic generally only enters to justify the transaction. As a company, we need to connect with our customers more powerfully than our competitors have in order to create a brand loyalty that will see people through a transaction. The better the connection we’ve made, the greater the emotional tie people have to our brands; and social media provides incredible ways to communicate and connect directly with the people who are already looking for us.
I like to tell people that in the wild pre-internet days companies would communicate with their customers via ads, in print, TV or radio; a communication style that isn’t unlike standing on top of a soapbox and yelling through a bullhorn, hoping your voice will be heard by the right people. All the advances, and globalization of TV and Radio that occurred by the end of the last century didn’t change any of that… they just provided bigger and bigger bullhorns to yell at audiences through.
But SM HAS changed all that. Social networks and social media and the internet in general allow us to find the people who are already interested in us and our products; talk to our customers one-on-one; and even proactively find disgruntled or dissatisfied customers instantly!
SM will likely never replace the 30 second spot (TV commercial), but any company that doesn’t invest a little time and energy to at least BE where their customers are, are going to find themselves losing out to their more savvy competition who realize Social media is an increasingly integral part of any marketers toolbox.
| 2.9 |
Topics: Conversations, Lifehack, Social Media | Comments
Future of the Press Release
Michael | October 14, 2007
My mini-holiday is quickly coming to an end (will be back in the office on monday) and I’m trying to get my brain back in the game tonight by catching up on some RSS reading (shhh. Don’t tell my wife!)
Unfortunately, typical to my partially type-A personality, my light reading quickly became heavy research on a couple of fasinating topic and I find myself not wanting to turn off my computer at 2:30 AM.
Where am I going with that? The fact that I don’t have enough time (or energy) for a long post for starters…
Second, my brain has been almost completely occupied with Social Media related topics since I attended the BigSeminar last week and I know it’s going to be difficult getting back into my irregular groove in the office on Monday. Meaning, in part, that I’ll have to use this blog to get some thoughts out of the way this week.
One of the big ones that has been bugging me and you should therefore expect to read more about, (I suppose that’s a bit presumptuous of me - you will come back and read more won’t you?) is the whole concept of a Social Media Press Release.
I’ve seen both good (both long and shorter examples) and bad ones recently.
One of the questions that I am interested in is what is the core of the future Press Release. Is it something that demands conversation and interaction? Something that caters to Social Media outlets? Something that delivers traditional Press Release speak in a flashier document?
Don’t overthink this! I think the better approach is simply the same direction I see marketing, advertising etc heading in general.
That is, to stop force feeding a general audience marketing and business propeganda using a very particular channel and start offering specific audiences access to great free content via the channels they already prefer using.
The result will foster conversations between the right people and groups while providing the toolbox full of goodies they need. It’s a slam dunk and lightyears better than a traditional Press Release.
I think one of my favourite aspects is the fact that, while a lot more work to compile, it could become a destination all on it’s own. Unlike a traditional Press Release that you have to get right once then send it out, the future Press Release could be an evolving and dynamic entity that could be released early and evolve along with the associated product (or whatever the PR is about). Of course a robust RSS feed would be mandatory and enable interested parties to follow the progression/release/evolution of your product.
Food for thought.
I want to discuss this more in the coming weeks and would love to know your thoughts on the future of Press Releases! Where do you think their going? What will work, and what won’t? Have you seen any good, or bad examples lately?
| 2.9 |
Topics: Press Releases, Social Media | Comments
Future of Social Media
Michael | October 2, 2007
Do you see Social Media as the platform of the future web? Or just another tool, integrated into the infrastructure?
Let me know what you think and I’ll write my answer in the comments later today.
| 2.9 |
Topics: Conversations, Social Media | Comments
Social Media Quote of the Day
Michael | October 1, 2007
Social media is a cult of generosity. Share everything you can with the world.
~ Shel Isreal (from Geof Livingstone)
| 2.9 |
Topics: Conversations, Errant Thoughts, Social Media | Comments
My Love/Hate Relationship with the Internet and Social Media
Michael | September 26, 2007
It’s true; the Internet, new media, social media etc… All of it… Bah, it frustrates me sometimes.
This coming from a guy who generally spends anywhere between 10 and 12 hours a day staring at a computer screen… Regularly has in excess of 20 tabs open per Firefox browser (often having two browsers open to handle the organization better!)… and both works, and plays in this industry.
First, what’s there to love about the Internet and Social Media?
Actually I could talk about that for a long time and I’ll likely lose you before I’m done so let’s just look at a few of the big ones:
- Democratization of Data, Media and Public Expression
- The never empty cornucopia of ideas and information readily available
- The near-complete levelling of social strata and class access
- To borrow from Wendy Harman, the ‘Realness’ caused by social media (even when it’s fake!)
- My ability to join conversations and ‘participate’ while living in a small city in the middle of nowhere!
Now for some of the things that regularly frustrate me in the world of Social Media:
- Even though I can join and maintain incredible online conversations while living in the middle of nowhere, I regularly find myself jealous of people living in the HotSpots of California and other larger urban areas who are able to connect with other people with similar interests in an offline setting through groups, unconferences, meetups etc. My conversations are largely restricted to the online worlds of Twitter, facebook, blog comments etc (which I’m grateful to have BTW!)
- Trying to stay on top of the quickly evolving social media landscape is both exciting and frustrating. I read once that one year of business online is the equivalent of 5 years offline. And I think the disparity is widening as the online world picks up steam.
- Trying to stay organized. Lifestreams, Datastreams, RSS feeds. We want to BE in as many places as possible (create your footprints!) but eventually it starts becoming cumbersome to manage all the data and various platforms creating them.
What do you think?
What do you love about the online world and where it’s going?
And what really chaps your @ss when it comes to Social Media and the online world?!?
(Photo Attributed to… oh wait, that’s my photo!)
If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed.
| 2.9 |
Topics: Conversations, Social Media | Comments
Why do we love social media?
Michael | September 25, 2007
Was just over at the the Buzzbin and read the interview with Wendy Harman of the American Red Cross. Social media is a forum that was made for non-profits and I’m always interested in seeing how they are taking advantage of available tools (read how the Red Cross is using Twitter to see what I mean!)
I love asking people what they like about the Internet, web 2.0 and of course the social web and new media and Wendy had a great answer:
I also truly enjoy the realness it encourages. I love the blurring of personal and professional personas, I love the democratization of media, I love the many gray areas it’s created in the world of intellectual property, I love its messiness, and I love the sheer gargantuan possibility for collective knowledge sharing. This is an exciting time. Plus, bloggers tend to be snarky and clever and funny and creative and I am easily amused by them.
Cheers Wendy!
| 2.9 |
Topics: Social Media | Comments
WTF is up with Twitter?
Michael | August 24, 2007
First, for all of those not in the know; What exactly is twitter !?
From wikipedia:
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” via SMS, instant messaging, email, the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.
Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them unless the sender has restricted delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through various applications. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA, Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.
Due to Twitter’s success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing(e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one source counted as many as 111 such “Twitter-lookalikes” internationally.
Tweets (Oh yes, there is a whole vernacular shift that comes along with this site!) are restricted to 140 characters. You really can’t say much in 140 characters, but Twitter helps out by automatically changing any enter URL greater than 30 characters into a tinyURL, allowing you to tweet, just a little more at a time.
It’ s own Vernacular?
What good is it for?
Twitter may be useful for groups, friends, work or families and there are even some fairly large mobs on Twitter. If you follow your friends, and they follow each other, you can quickly communicate group-related items.
Of course, there are no shortage of Twitter haters, and “…an RSS feed to every boring aspect of your friend’s lives,” according to Helen A.S. Popkin, MSNBC contributor… but really, what doesn’t have haters now-a-days.
Is Twitter useful for everyone? No, absolutely not. Is Twitter useful? Yes, absolutely, and in all sorts of ways.
Take this blog for instance… I launched less than three weeks ago. In those three weeks, I have had had about 50 visitors find me through the search engines :
Not too bad right?
But, during that same time period, I’ve had more people visit me from Twitter!
There’s a handful more of individual entries of people who came from other twitter pages.
And I tell you, the Twitter traffic was a lot easier to get! And while 60 or so visitors may not sound like a whole lot, remember, this has all been only 3 weeks, and the traffic is increasing along with my Twitter followers, which I seem to be acquiring in the neighbourhood of 2 or 3 a day right now.
What else?
I started using Twitter over a year ago (I think) back when it was fresh and new, and there were relatively few people on it still. One of the coolest things for me at the time, was the personal access Twitter provided to many leaders in some of the industries I’m interested in (Tech, SEO, Marketing, etc). At the time (and this is still happening, it was just a lot more intense in the beginning) it was quite easy to find a leader (a scoble, or laport for instance), follow them, and join in their conversations.
At what other time in history, in any other industry, through what other medium, have you ever had such incredible access to the movers and shakers ?
But perhaps the cooler still is the ability to be a fly on the wall and listen in to these people’s conversations, view their own surfing habits and basically learn what the gurus are learning.
Yeah, but what else?
If you happen to be famous, semi-famous, almost famous, or have your own podcast, radio cast, video cast, (or any other cast) then Twitter is just another great channel to announce, market to and tickle your followers. An example of this would be Cali Lewis.
Also, from the Guru side of things, Twitter gives you a really unique position to talk to a crowd of people on extrodinarily familiar terms. This is a huge benefit that you can’t really find anywhere else. (it’s really a revolution in the history of marketing!)
Yeah, but what about the rest of us?
Still not enough eh?
Well how about this… if you follow the golden tenet of internet marketing (Quality Content is King) and use twitter for more than sharing your dinner plans (or worse) then you are going to acquire followers. And while it may not be a mail list, they are still followers. If you continue to share interesting and useful information (in 140 character snippets) then your list will continue to grow, and that will help you when (not if) you promote your own sites through your Twitters.
How do you get started?
Well, for the next little while, join the Thiry Day Challenge and go through the pre-season material… you will find everything you need there I believe. After aug/sept 2007, go to Twitter.com and signup, it’s easy!
I could go on, but I’m getting tired and still need to listen to today’s Thiry Day Challenge material
Oh, I should also say…
If you are using Twitter, or know how to use twitter in a unique way, I would love to hear about it.
Likewise, if you absolutely despise Twitter and the sheer idiocy of sharing the most boring aspects of your lives with friends, family and complete strangers, I’d also love to hear from you too!
thanks!
| 2.9 |
Topics: Social Media | Comments
101 Alternatives to Tumblr
Michael | August 19, 2007
So apparently a large number of 30DC’rs have run into their first true taste of Internet Marketing… The Inevitable Crash.
Unfortunately it happens occasionally, and I don’t know a single successful Internet Marketer who can’t share a few horror stories of large operations being crippled because of some minute change online.
They say that the online world is moving and evolving so fast that 1 year of Business Online is the equivalent of 5 years offline in a traditional Bricks-n-Morter. That means you’ll inevitably also have to deal with an accelerated stream of issues and problems that will always need to be solved…
So don’t panic already
Grab the next article, open the next account, and run with it!
And in order to help a little I’m going to share some potentially useful resources. For now, just save this list somewhere for reference and pick and choose one or two if you need them
Unfortuantely this list is a little older, maybe a year old or so. I installed Windows Vista last weekend and haven’t restored all my files quite yet and this was the only one I could find.
I was going to go through the list and remove the resources that didn’t exist anymore… but I thought this would be a good macrocosm view/lesson of what is happening to so many of you right now… Every single resource on this list, I have used at some point in the past. And at least 10% of them don’t exist anymore.
Lesson: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket… use as many of these as you can, create good & useful content and most importantly, HAVE FUN!
My title is 101 resources but that’s just an estimate… I didn’t count them There are probably closer to 150 here. But once you delete the ones that don’t exist anymore, you are probably going to be closer to 101.
ALSO!!! This list is hardly the End-All-Be-All!! This is a start, or an example even, to show you how many options are available. And I am not posting it to distract you either… I recommend NOT spending much time with it right now. Just save it, or bookmark this page, and grab a resource if and when needed!:
Free Blogs and Pages
360.yahoo.com
Best-Blogging.com
Blog.de
Blogbeee.com
BlogBugs.org
Blog-city.com
BlogEasy.com Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Social Media | Comments