The FASTForward Blog. By Jevon MacDonald One thing that I am noticing more lately is the the value a single feature or tool has in different contexts. A successful social tool will have a community of some sort as its foundation. Flickr, Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter are all examples of social tools with community underpinnings. When these sites were first successful, it was not obvious that their communities were especially divergent, but as time has gone on, each one has become more and more unique.
Like tribes, the communities have learned to defend themselves, co-operate to accomplish goals and each has found implicit and explicit ways through which they welcome new people. This trend might seem obvious in retrospect, and I am sure it has been talked about before, but I get the sense that it is something that is blindsiding most users. In the past, a lot of us had Facebook and Twitter connected, so that when we updated our status on Twitter, it would also update on Facebook. 3- Twitter is manic. How to Use Social Media to Land the Job of your Dreams. Twitter Hearts Space Science Blogging | Astroengine.com - Stumbl.
Twitter Theme Days Helps To Organize Sharing. By Susan Serra of Hansen Living (may be temporarily offline at the time of this posting). She blogs at The Kitchen Designer and can be found at Twitter @SusanSerraCKD. At last the weekend came, and I decided to see what this Twitter concept was all about that I had been hearing of. I looked, I thought, I read and then read some more. Suddenly, I plunged in and became a follower and soon, a follow-ee. It occurred to me that weekend, that, as a professional in the kitchen and bath industry for many years, Twitter is absolutely perfect for sharing the knowledge I have of my profession. Facts concepts information experience ideas descriptions images I thought it might be interesting to gather some or all of these various ways of sharing my knowledge and organize them during the course of ONE day, to be focused into ONE subject.
For example, one day’s tweets had a subject of “Social Kitchen Design Day”. Any business has a very wide assortment of topics to share information on. Sorry Twitter, Facebook Is The Data Gold Mine. I have been writing a lot about Twitter and Facebook lately. This is because I have started to see some trends in the way people are using the sites, and Facebook has been in the news lately. Sometimes, you write a post that makes a lot of sense, like my Twitter data mine post, and just a few short weeks later realize something better may be on the horizon. The Future of the News Ecosystem. I've known Steven Johnson's work since reading Mind Wide Open. I missed his talk at SxSW, but thanks to the connection with the topic and idea, I am now reading it on his blog. [hat tip Bruno Giussani] In our conversation last week we talked about we media and the question of what would happen to the democratic process if journalists didn't have work anymore.
In the past, we also discussed whether we would pay for news in a form different than newspapers. We could have some form of freemium, as suggested first by Chris Anderson - perhaps free general information, then a cost for a deeper dive. This was also the finding of an AP-sponsored report on the news consumption of young-adult readers. These are the two issues at play: what happens if newspapers disappear as businesses? In fact, the main question Johnson asked in his talk (and post) is what is the future of news itself? The other example Johnson shares is that of political news. Surviving elements of the old system, changed.
Browser Hacks: Last Week's Top Five Greasemonkey Add-ons (F. Your browser doesn’t have to be the boss of you – if you’re a Firefox user there are a wold of different ways you can change how it displays your favorite websites. One of the most powerful is Greasemonkey, a plug-in that lets you install other little plug-ins (“scripts”) that change the functionality or appearance of a wide variety of sites. Greasemonkey is easy to use, fast and powerful. Most scripts are hosted and discussed at Userscripts.org, but that site can be a little overwhelming. In the past week, 375 scripts were added or updated. We looked through them all and picked out the best 5. Below we’ve also posted a screencast that will get you started harmlessly hacking your browser with Greasemonkey in under 5 minutes. How to Use Greasemonkey RSS readers can click here to view the video below. Thanks to Screencast.com for hosting the video above.
Now What? There are a lot of must-use Greasemonkey scripts that have been published before this week. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Twitter Hearts Space Science Blogging. It’s Friday Saturday [get comfortable, this turned into a long post], and I’ve been bogged down with a HUGE project I’ve been keeping under wraps for a couple of months (you will find out what that’s about on Monday), so I’ve been blogging in fits and starts. All going well, I’ll be back up to speed on the growing list of space news on Astroengine.com and the Universe Today very soon.
However, as it’s the end of the week, I feel like posting my thoughts on Twitter, a microblogging platform that has become an invaluable tool not only for my science writing, but for meeting wonderful, like-minded people… Yesterday, I received a direct message on Twitter saying, “Will you please stop tweeting about songs you like. It’s annoying! Stick to posting space links, that’s why I follow you.” (Yes, I did think about posting his name, but I will take the politeness high-ground and respect his privacy.) To Set The Scene… I didn’t sign back in until the following November. Getting Personal In Conclusion. SuperNews! Twouble with Twitters // Current. To Our Faithful Current.com Users: Current's run has ended after eight exciting years on air and online. The Current TV staff has appreciated your interest, support, participation and unflagging loyalty over the years. Your contributions helped make Current.com a vibrant place for discussing thousands of interesting stories, and your continued viewership motivated us to keep innovating and find new ways to reflect the voice of the people.
We now welcome the on-air and digital presence of Al Jazeera America, a new news network committed to reporting on and investigating real stories affecting the lives of everyday Americans in every corner of the country. You can keep up with what's new on Al Jazeera America and see this new brand of journalism for yourself at Thank you for inspiring and challenging us.
We are incredibly proud of what we have been able to accomplish together! – The Current TV Staff. Logic Emotion: Brands Will Learn By Doing. Get Over It. What was my strategy when launching this blog? How about when I started using Twitter over two years ago when most people dismissed it as a fad, trend, and a tool for narcissistic individuals who wanted to tell the world what they had for lunch? My strategy? I wanted to learn by doing. I made mistakes, I also got some things right. I got a crash course in web metrics seeing spikes in blog referrals or comments when I would publish a particularly helpful visual, and less activity when I wasn't adding enough value. I'd see additional followers on Twitter built over time and even some growth spurts when someone with influence recommended me. Same goes for blogging. I recently came across a Forrester blog post which provided some actionable insights on P&G's "Digital Hack Night".
From Forrester's E-marketing blog (findings on P&G Digital Hack Night) "Social media is a full time commitment. Brands, companies, businesses and individuals are going to learn by doing. The new version of WordPress for iPhone (and iPod touch) app is now live and available for download in the iTunes App store. This version has a lot of fixes/enhancements that many people (including me) have been waiting for. I’ve been playing around with version 1.2 for a little bit and here are some of my first impressions. New Features (and Some Comments) Landscape mode with extra wide keyboard This is probably the most desired feature for this application simply because it is physically painful to type a full length blog post in the iPhone portrait keyboard. I am glad that the portrait keyboard restriction is now a thing of the past!
When this feature is enabled, all photos attached to the post will be resized to be no larger than 640×480 to save space and publishing time. Bug in Version 1.2 I know that you are thinking, “already?” Go grab it! You can get the WordPress for iPhone (and iPod touch) app for free at the iTunes App store. Howdy! Surviving Matrix Management - Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness. By Gill Corkindale | 11:33 AM June 19, 2008 Matrix management has been around for 40 years, but there have been few challenges to its efficacy and viability.
Most writers and management theorists remain convinced that a matrix approach is superior to a hierarchy, but is it really the only alternative? Are there different ways to manage – for example, a truly integrated hierarchical/matrix system or do we need to think about a different system altogether? Let’s take a look at a few fundamental questions to see if matrix systems are shaping up to the challenges of 21st century business. Key challenges How do you lead in the matrix? How do you work in the matrix? What are the possible effects of the matrix – on people and organizations? What is the future for the matrix? What do you think? SXSW09: The Future Of Social Networks. iPhone 3.0: Push Notifications, Copy and Paste, MMS, and More - Apple today previewed a new version of its iPhone firmware, as well as a new version of its SDK for the iPhone.
Among the highlights of the announcement were the availability of a new homescreen, MMS, copy and paste, and the long expected arrival of push notifications. Developers will now also be able to sell in game accessories and subscriptions through Apple's App Store. iPhone developers will be able to download the new firmware today, while the rest of us will have to wait until it is released to the public later this summer. From what we have seen, owners of the original iPhone will also be able to update their phones, though according to Engadget, some features like the advanced Bluetooth functionality and MMS will not work on the original iPhone because the hardware simply doesn't support it.
Overall, Apple will give developers access to over 1000 new APIs. New Homescreen Highlights Copy and Paste Apple will also finally support MMS. New and Better Apps: Calendar, Voice Memos, Stocks. AlertThingy Goes Head to Head with TweetDeck - ReadWriteWeb. AlertThingy is an Adobe Air desktop application that was originally released specifically for the aggregator and social commenting service FriendFeed. To everyone's surprise, in releasing the second major update to the application, British-based development company Howard Baines has revamped the tool entirely to feature integration with nearly every major social platforms -- except FriendFeed.
Something Different This latest update, due out later today available now, sees the launch of "groups," putting the service in direct competition with the most popular desktop client for Twitter: TweetDeck. Where AlertThingy surpasses its competition, though, is in its integration of multiple social networks, the most significant of which are Facebook, Flickr, and Digg. Although TweetDeck's recent update integrates a column with a stream of your Facebook friends' updates, with AlertThingy you can create multiple groups of friends from multiple networks.
Limitations Conclusion. NetworkedBlogs: A Great Way to Share Your Blog Inside Facebook. NetworkedBlogs: A Great Way to Share Your Blog Inside Facebook In a special series on ways to use new tools to share and distribute content on Facebook, Inside Facebook recently wrote about how to import your blog into Facebook. For all of you that have already taken this step, it has likely been a great step in sharing and marketing your blog, especially among your extended network within the Facebook community.
If the “Import Your Blog” utility on Facebook has been helpful but not quite robust enough, a new Facebook app called NetworkedBlogs might be the solution for you. Describing itself as a “community of bloggers and blog lovers,” NetworkedBlogs offers Facebook users a more fully-featured way to follow and share blogs, all from within Facebook. Of course, NetworkedBlogs takes advantage of the power of the social graph — when your friends add the NetworkedBlogs application, you not only get to see what they’re writing and reading, but you get to share with them in kind.
Sponsored Post. Micro Persuasion: Twitter is Peaking. The Clip Report: An eBook on the Future of Media In the early 1990s when I began my career in PR there were clip reports. These were physical books that contained press clips. It seems downright archaic now but that’s how I learned about the press - by cutting, pasting up and photocopying clippings. My fascination with the media never abated. Today my role is to form insights into how the entire overlapped media landscape - the pros, social channels, and corporate content - is rapidly evolving and to help Edelman clients turn these learnings into actionable strategies. As part of this effort, I spend a lot of time with not only the social platforms but journalists and media execs. Today I am re-launching my Tumblr site with a new name, a new focus and a new format. It all kicks off today with a 15-page installment of The Clip Report. 20 Facebook apps to try | Webware. A lot is happening on Facebook. Not only are your friends telling the world what's going on in their lives, but the social network itself is changing.
It's more open now than before, thanks to the Facebook Connect program, and there are several good products that let you see Facebook data in new ways. You don't have to use Facebook.com to use Facebook anymore. Here are some of the best desktop applications. The newbies: AIR apps Seesmic for Facebook An Adobe AIR app, Seesmic for Facebook ( news ) uses Facebook Connect to let you update your status and view friend status updates without surfing to the Facebook site. TweetDeck TweetDeck is one of the most popular Twitter desktop clients, and now the app's developers are vying for Facebook dominance too. Windows Apps Facebook Desktop A Windows-only app, Facebook Desktop provides real-time updates, lets you see wall posts, view messages, and read friend requests. Facebook Tray Notify Sometimes, a desktop client just gets in the way. Mac Apps. How-To: Create a Unique Twitter Background. Twitter Now Growing at a Staggering 1,382 Percent. Introducing PageData - The Easiest Way to Track Facebook Page Me.
Facebook Now Allowing Users to Open Up Their Profiles to Everyon. Make sense of your site: tips for webpage design. Status update: the future of the web is here! You Don't Need A Social Media Expert, You Need A Good Marke. BBC News Video. TwittLink | Hottest stuff on Twitter. Facebook Launching New Home Page Today, Taking the Live Stream M. How To Effectively Follow 15000 People On Twitter Using These T. Plum Adds Groups to Compete with Facebook Connect. Heading to SXSW Interactive? 10 quick ideas to make sure it rock. Teach and then Reap | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Cons.
Don't Mistake PR And Creatively Earned Editorial For Sponso. Google Noticeboard. Own generic terms on Twitter to win at SEO | Blog. Member count: Not a measure of community building success | Comm. Dream: How The Guardian. Micro Interactions in PR. Seth's Blog: The difference between PR and publicity. Multi Platform Social Media - diagram-by-diagram | PERSONALIZE M. Tapping the Portable Social Graphs - Advertising Age - DigitalNe. Picasa Tip: Staying Posted on New Pics in a Snap!