I Got Friends

Since I have been unemployed I have seen, heard, and read about social networking. There are a bazillion ways for us to communicate at the speed of a thought so we can react at the speed of a knee jerk. I am very excited about this new technology and want to engage. I am having a hard time of figuring out how to integrate these technologies into my every day life.

I would like to use social media with my circle of influence but here is my dilemma; my peers are duds. Yes duds! Most of them have a computer and use it for surfing the internet, shop or look up something medical. Only a few send emails and when they do it has, FWD:FWD:FWD and then the subject which is usually one of those urban legends. You know the ones that condemn you to eternal bad karma if you don’t forward to 15 more people. I have begged and pleaded to please stop sending me these emails but they continue to show up in my inbox. God…please help them figure out how to remove me from their distribution lists; which by the way, I am impressed they created a distribution list in the first place.

Now, I don’t know where my mind was when I set up a Facebook account, as Facebook is all about friends. I have friends and family and some who live out-of-state so I sent them a request to join Facebook. I thought it would be fun way to keep in touch and share what’s been going on with each other. I waited and waited and no one joined my Facebook page. I felt like the unpopular kid in school…my page had no friends ;~(

I tried to educate them on the functionality of Facebook and the benefits, like sharing pictures and videos. I got a lot of push back, as they didn’t want the whole universe to see their stuff. Here is another technology challenge…. They use cameras that use film. Then they go to Wal-Mart and use the kiosk to print out hard copies. OMG! This hurts me. So, I gave up on them and have all their kids as my Facebook friends. Now here is the reality with this; I know all the details of their day…really!

I would like to acknowledge, Jackie, Pam, Karen and Kay. These ladies have crossed the line and live wildly on the .net

Catching the Next Wave

OK..There is a huge wave coming and it is bigger then I thought. I just finished reading Groundswell and I really need to learn about and apply social media to my tool box. So, I have been digging around on the web to find out what kinds of social media are out there...OMG! There are so many different ways to organize, communicate, market, share and I am sure there is other stuff. It seems to me we have a couple demographics where professionally I could position myself. So in my efforts to chunk it all down categories and a sampling of what I have found. Here they are if you are interested:

Social networks:
Facebook - One of the many social networking websites, Facebook was originally confined to users with
college or university email addresses, it is now open to anyone and is currently one of the fastest growing
social networking sites. http://www.facebook.com
Myspace - A social networking website that allows users to post images, personal profiles, blogs, music,
and videos, as well as form networks with each other that span the globe. Still the # 1 social networking site.
http://www.myspace.com
Bebo: http://www.bebo.com
Hi5 http://www.hi5.com/
Ning: user created smaller social networks built around a subject or product.
http://www.ning.com

Social Bookmarks:
Del.icio.us. - A social bookmarking service that allows users to tag favorite sites and articles with
descriptive keywords, discover new content, and share their favorites with other users. http://del.icio.us
Ma.gnolia - http://ma.gnolia.com/

Social News:
Digg - A community based popularity website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication.
Users submit content and stories find their way to the front page (or not) through a democratic user-based
ranking system. http://www.digg.com
StumbleUpon – A web browser plug-in that allows users to discover and rate web content, videos, and
images, and to “stumble upon new ones based on previous rankings and ratings by friends and users with
similar interests. http://www.stumbleupon.com
Mixx – All of the content is user-generated, which means that they don't have an editor who decides what
you should find interesting. They make it easy for you to submit stories, photos, videos—whatever you find
interesting, informative, different or fun. You can also see—and vote on—the stuff that other Mixxers submit.
http://mixx.com
Reddit - A social news website where users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then
vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the Reddit home
page. http://reddit.com/

Search engines:
Mahalo - human powered search. Users submit sites and content managers approve/disapprove listings.
http://www.mahalo.com
Technorati - A search engine dedicated solely to indexing blogs, Technorati tracks the state of the
blogosphere, ranks blogs according to popularity, and lets bloggers see who is linking to them.
http://technorati.com/

Microblogging:
Flickr - A searchable social image sharing site that allows users to tag pictures with specific keywords and
descriptive terms http://www.flickr.com
Twitter - A social networking and microblogging service that allows users to post short updates (text-based
posts up to 140 characters long) through SMS text messaging, email, or the twitter website
http://www.twitter.com
Tumblr - Easily and quickly post and share anything you find or create. To make a simple analogy: If blogs
are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks. You can also look at tumblelogs as slightly more structured blogs
that make it easier, faster, and more fun to post and share stuff you find or create. Most tumblogs have no
comments. http://www.tumblr.com
Pownce – Send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. Create a network of friends and share
stuff. http://www.pownce.com

Blogs:
Movable Type – what we use in house to create all our blogs – http://movabletype.com/
Vox – Free hosted blog, that users need to log into comment on. http://www.vox.com
Wordpress – an alternative blogging platform to MT. http://wordpress.org/

Rss Reader:
Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader
Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/

Start Page:
Netvibes - Lets individuals assemble all in one place their favorite websites, blogs, email accounts, social
networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, widgets, and everything else they
enjoy on the Web. http://www.netvibes.com
Pageflakes - An easy way to discover and share your favorite things on the Web. Pageflakes has
thousands of widgets or modules including Facebook, a universal News Search, YouTube, Twitter, message
board, blog, and hundreds of RSS feeds to choose from. Design and create a page that you can have for
yourself or share with anyone you choose. http://www.pageflakes.com/

Events:
Upcoming – Upcoming is a community for discovering and sharing events. It can help you find stuff to do,
discover what your friends are doing, or let you keep private events online for your own reference.
http://www.upcoming.org

The Web of Technology

Today I created a blog, for what I don't know.

Years ago I re-entered the work place after a 12 hyades. In those 12 years I had totally missed out on the wave of technology and I almost stopped breathing. A warm hearted 20 something showed me how too enter my time into a computer. I had to embrace it or I wouldn't get paid. I promised myself that I would never be that far behind ever again.

I embraced email and then instant messaging and now it is social media.