Pausing the Twitter updates on the blog

I'm starting to question the value of having a daily recap of my Twitter updates (Tweets) posted to this blog. It just doesn't look very good, and it goes against my idea of using Twitter as an "of the moment" toolset.

So I've turned off the updates. If you were enjoying them and want to keep getting the recap, add me as a Twitter friend. If you have no interest in joining Twitter but still want the updates, you can subscribe to my Twitter updates RSS feed.

And for those you you are happy to let Twitter pass them by, you now have to deal with less of this from me. I'll still post about Twitter from time to time, as I'm a big supporter of the application.

Five O’Clock Shadow 34

Five O'Clock Shadow 34

Originally uploaded by evo_terra

Hey, there's a change of scene. Today's pic comes to you from the lovely Detroit International Airport. I'm travling from Phoenix to Baltimore on my way to Balticon, a scifi-turned-podcaster convention. But I find myself with some extra time on this layover as the connecting flight (did I mention this was supposed to be a direct flight?) was delayed by an hour. And though I don't have wifi to upload, I can take a pic and write this.

I don't know how many science fiction conventions I'm going to make next year. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy attending conventions. But I'm becoming less and less of a scifi podcaster... heck, less and less of a podcaster at all, come to think of it. My 2008 attentions will focus more on new media, connecting and other things that grab my interest. I still hope to make many cons and conferences, but they probably will be new ones than I've previously attended.

Know of something really cool you think I'd enjoy? Let me know about it for next year. And you are on the planning committee for a convention, conference, expo or other event and you are looking for folks to come and present, I'd love to hear from you. And with luck, this bad travel karma will have left me by then.

Get your Virb on

Props to Mark Forman for the gentle reminder about Virb. It popped up on my radar the other day but I didn't pay it much mind. As Mark says:

It's like Myspace for adults

Mark is kidding a bit, as many of us adults (including him) have Myspace profiles. But Virb feels different. And it looks a whole lot better. How will it do? You never know until your try. Add me as a contact, and be sure to visit my huge list of places to see where else we might connect.

PS - Mark is starting a new project called A.Connector. I'm stoked that he gave me props and asked me for a recording. Look for it soon!

Five O’Clock Shadow 33

Five O'Clock Shadow 33

Originally uploaded by evo_terra.

Thanks to George from the One Minute How-To podcast for allowing me to be on his show. The topic was "How to Not Go Crazy with Twitter", but I'll give him first run at the material before I post the text here.

I really like George's show and think that anyone considering doing a podcast (or another podcast) should seriously consider the idea of "bite sized" content. It won't work for everyone, and I'm not suggesting that current podcasters change their format. Unless of course you are unhappy with the format. If so, change away.

Think about this: no one ever unsubscribed from a show because the episodes were consistently too short. They may unsubscribe -- or choose not to subscribe -- to a short show for a variety of other reasons, but I'd wager that it's not because the podcast failed to take up enough of their time.

So how long should you show be? You're asking the question wrong. How short should you show be? That's the right question. Make it as short as possible to get your point across and cover your topics -- and not a minute longer.

Five O’Clock Shadow 32

Five O'Clock Shadow 32.jpg

Originally uploaded by evo_terra.

Will you be my friend? I've written on this topic before, and I probably will again as I fully grasp the new and social media concept of friendship. And besides -- doesn't that guy look happy enough to become friends with?

Like many of you, I'm eager to sign up on the latest social media craze. Many -- if not all -- have some concept of friendship, where you add those folks you know and encourage others to add you. On the surface, what's the point? I already know who my friends are and don't necessarily need the validation of shouting my friendship to the world.

True. But if you think of the concept of friends more as connections, the power becomes a little more obvious. I'm really not interested in seeing every photo that my Friends put on Flickr. Nor am I interested in reading every single Tweet, checking out their Myspace profile after each change, or following them obsessively on Plazes.

However, I realize that some people will key in on certain social media sites as their preferred method of conversation. And likely, their preference may not match up with mine. So as a smart connector, it's my job to connect with as many folks as possible on as many social networks as possible, and make sure I give attention to each of those networks. As you can imagine, that's tough to do and it gets incrementally tougher each time you add a new place. Lords know I have plenty of places right now. So we'll see how I keep up. Today, I'm tackling Flickr.

And what we really need is for someone to develop a "six-degrees of separation" tool that works across many networks. I could plug in my Digg profile and the Linkein profile of Rick Klau (Feedburner), and the tool would search both of them and look for commonalities and opportunities. Now that would be a useful tool!

Five O’Clock Shadow 31

Five O'Clock Shadow 31

Originally uploaded by evo_terra.

As I bust my ass writing another Practice in Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies (since I'm really, really behind), I thought I'd talk about the two most underused ID3 tags. And by underused I mean "no one is using them but me".

First, the "grouping" tag. If you run a podcast network, association or band of idiots waving a common flag, this tag is the PERFECT place to brand the name of your association. Why? Well even though it's not one of the default displayed tags in iTunes, it's easily enabled and will allow your collective audience to group all of your network's shows together. Yeah. It's that cool. As long as everyone uses the same tag, obviously. And yes, we ask that all the authors on Podiobooks.com use "Podiobooks.com" as the grouping. Now you know why.

Lastly, the "compilation" tag. This little check box is super groovy to use if you are prohibited from keeping a consistent "artist" tag for all of your episodes. Maybe you do a short story podcast and use the "artist" field to add the original author of the story. Maybe you feature three songs from the same musician or band in the same file and like to include their name in this tag. Great. Go ahead. But know that it makes it nigh impossible to find the actual files in the directory structure of your listeners system -- especially if they use iTunes. But if you check the "compilations" box in your ID3 tagging software, all of them are automatically grouped together by the name of the Album (which should be the name of your podcast.) That makes it super easy to grab all of them and burn them to an archive CD.

Hey, I'm here to help.

Five O’Clock Shadow 30

Five O'Clock Shadow 30.jpg

Originally uploaded by evo_terra.

In what might be my biggest boneheaded OHMYMYGODPLEASECOMESTALKME move, I've signed up with Plazes. Why? I'm really not sure, other than it seems kinda cool. And you know me and things that seem kinda cool...

Additionally, I've been meaning to talk about the various "real" books I've accumulated from Podiobooks.com authors. I've been thanked in a few of them (you're welcome) but J.C. went above and beyond. On the back of this copy, in giant red letters, is "Evo Terra Special Edition". How cool is that? And if it makes it through to final printing, I'll squeal.