Monday, October 8, 2007
The spreading of social media
Heard today that a new social media site, ViewPoints.com, has just come on line. Like all good new social media sites, this one has a focus and is breaking into relatively new territory: Social Reviews.
The concept is simple to anyone who has ever created a profile on any social media site, so I won't belabor that point. What I will rave about is their use of the "I am" tags, which is simply brilliant. When filling out your profile, they give you the chance to choose several statements about yourself in different context. In the "About my Work" category, you can say that you are a movie star, a college professor, a CEO... lots of different choices. Think you have one better? Add your own tag. Then do that about 20 more times and you've developed quite the tag repository about yourself.
Armed with that information, the system then suggests tags to you that may be relevant to the reviews that you are writing. How cool is that! Very helpful to others who are reading your review to help them understand if you are the same type of person that they are.
All and all, I found the site easy to use and friendly. Looks like a lot of thought was put in to this one, and I think they'll do well. Heck, I've already created my first review.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
New Social Media Discoveries
I've made a few discoveries in the last few days. So rather than waxing philosophical on this fine Saturday afternoon, I thought I'd share them with you.
Shelfari seems quite cool. Thanks to Brad P. for pushing me in the direction. In a nutshell, it's a social network for book lovers. Explore, share, friends... all the classics, but all centered around books. I made a group for Podiobooks.com fans, too.
Zachary R. then asked how it compared to Goodreads. Very similar. Goodreads has less of a Web 2.0 fill, but actually has more activity. So another Podiobooks.com group was formed there, too.
And I finally understand that TextMarks is not a Twitter-clone. You could use it that way, sure. But it's true power comes with the dynamic calls and SMS broadcasting. Still pondering the best way to utilize this, but I've set it up for me and for Podiobooks.com just a placeholders for now.
I wish Twitter would let me send mobile updates to more than one account. But it won't, and I get it. Why? Because I've set up a Twitter profile for NJ's high school hockey team (Hamilton Huskies) as well as his travel U16 midget team (Thunder on Ice). I'm really enjoying using Twitter as my update medium and archive for the games, even if not many people are following. Trouble is, I have to hope the rink has wifi, since I can't do phone updates to multiple accounts.
So how are you spending your weekend? Found anything worth noting?
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Life as a professional trailblazer
I'm a bit less manic than I was last night. Many things on the day-job side of life managed. Tonight it's all about fun-job stuff that's been piling up too.
As I wrote that sentence, I almost wrote "professional" life instead of day job. But that doesn't work, as it must mean that things outside of my day job are less professional. Not true. At least, it doesn't feel true.
Does it take a paycheck to be a pro?
Does it take an advanced pedigree of some sort?
What if the things you are trying to be a pro at don't come with paychecks, or if you are a trailblazer? What if you are a professional trailblazer? Maybe we need some sort of certification program for that...
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
I feel like Flash Gordon...
This is me in a manic mood I've finally realized that I've been piling and piling and piling things up, leaving them stuck in various folders Well now it's crunch time, as I've fallen behind on some key projects So it's time to hunker down and get it done Couldn't have come at a worse time, as I had to get estimates for the body work on Sheila's jeep and sort out a mess with the dry cleaners Hey, when did Twitter get a new look Well, no time to worry about that right now, and I really don't have time to post this Lots of work ahead of me tonight to dig myself out of this cave Will make for a tired boy tomorrow, but a caught up boy And as Sigler says, sleep is for pussies.
That'll teach me. Let me be lesson to you all.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Knowledge versus opinion
When I was a young man (a boy, really) I hungered to know things. It was important to me that I have an understanding of things and how they fit in the larger universe as a whole. I wasn't particularly good with fixing or building things (and I still am not), but I was pretty good at remembering facts and figures, as well as breaking down complex and abstract ideas. I was once asked by a childhood friend what I would wish for, and I replied "to know everything".
Now that might have been a stretch, because I wasn't big into studies and was happy to skate along in school rather than buckle down and crack the books. There were many things to learn outside of school, not just within the hallowed walls of the pissant schools I attended.
But now that I'm an adult, I make my living by telling people what I think, which is very different from what I know. I know a lot, but I rarely get to directly apply that hard-and-fast knowledge in my daily life. Instead, much of what I do relies on my experiences and intuition. Today I'm paid pretty well to tell people what to do -- and I can't say for certain that I know what the outcome will be.
And of course I see the obvious correlation between acquiring knowledge and synthesizing that down to the thoughts and opinions requested of me. But at the end of it all, I'm still telling you what I think, and rarely what I know.
Is that wisdom? Finally?
Get a private and local phone number with Jangl
Prior to leaving for the PNME last weekend I played around with this new thing I saw called Jangl. While at the PNME, I met up with Chris Breshears who works with the team that put the tool together. This is one of those things I was instantly enamored with, but my conversation with Chris got me even more stoked. Here's the headline: Sign up for a free account and start using it. It's about to get a whole lot cooler.
If you are already bored of me talking about it, check out this video to get a fast-pace summary of what it does. And if you are already using Jangl, you can follow that link to get a groovy Jangl button to put on your site. I added one to my Contact page, since this post won't live on top for ever.
Curious what the hell this is? It's a way to keep your privacy when giving out your phone number. And even better, your callers get a free local number with which to call you. Doesn't matter if they live in Memphis and you are in Nome. The system does one better and gives you a local number to call them back. And it's all free to use. And no one has anyone's 'real' phone number. But 'real' phones ring.
If you still aren't convinced of the value, that's OK. It took me a while to get it. But I like what they are doing and what they are planning on doing, so I recommend you get a login already. It's free. Or at least try the service. Heck, I'll be your lab rat. :) The fancy looking phone up there should generate a local number for you that will call me. It'll go to voice mail, so don't worry about waking me up. It's cool.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Five O'Clock Shadow 76
Today was a good day. I haven't been feeling like I've had many of those lately, so it was a welcome change. And rather unexpected, as I may have pulled 6 hours of sleep out of the Friday-Sunday insanity that was the 2007 PNME. Not to mention that ETOH-laced sleep isn't nearly as helpful as "true" sleep.
But after all that, the day was good. And it's not like the things in the day changed. Clients continue to be clueless, inane questions were answered in email, day-job challenges were increased because of my Friday absence... nothing there that you would point to as really positive.
I chalk it all up to the total recharge I got from the PNME. I feel better about myself, the world and my place in it. Oh yeah... and I don't particularly mind you sharing it with me either. Of course, all of that is subject to change.
Off to work out. And watch Heroes. Two more things that should continue the good mood.
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