Tag Archives: Web

Way back when . . . I first started blogging with WordPress.com in April of this year, I never changed my background from the Kubrick default theme. So for four months, my blog looked exactly like my husband Jack’s above.

HOWEVER, now that I know how EASY and how much FUN it is to see a more distinctive looking page, I wanted to help you beautiful your blogs as well. Take a look below at several of the student blogs created in ONE HOUR during class using these instructions and then STEP TWO: Choosing the Theme [or background].

You can click on any of the images below to get a closer look at the blogs. Below you’ll find directions how you can spice up your own Online Persona.

HERE ARE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sign into WordPress.com. [If you have not yet registered, then you’ll need to start with the previous post.]

2. The screen that pops up is the portal to your dashboard, i.e. where you make ALL the changes and additions to your blog. Here is Jack’s portal:

3. Click on the word DASHBOARD [beneath the title and to the lower right of the photo icon]. And the screen below appears:

4. On the left of this screen is a sidebar filled with great categories to explore, but for now Scroll Down to the word APPEARANCE. A little arrow brings a drop down box. Click on the word Themes. This brings the screen shown below where you will find 77 fancy free designs for your blog.

5. This step may take some time.

You can use the “Random” search,
an alphabetical listing of blog titles [which may only be helpful if you already KNOW the title of a blog design,
or do what post people do, select the “Popular” category.

When you see an icon that “talks to you,” click on the Kubrick theme or check out an entirely new theme. Below you can see the part of the Manage Theme screen with the “Preview” option below each thumbnail:

HAVE FUN!!

6. Here’s the one I picked for Jack ALTHOUGH he’ll probably change it later 🙂

I chose Ocean Mist because Jack likes Blue, and there is a Header Photo, which Jack can customize. Here is the way his Dashboard Manage Theme page looks now:

7. When you click on the “View Site” link on the top banner next to your Blog Title, you will get your new design. Here is Jack’s:

That’s all . . . for blogging Lesson Two.

In the future we will look at topics like (a) what to blog about, (b) what to put in your sidebar, and (c) features on your dashboard.

Of course you can already find tons of information on these topics all over the Web AND you can read WordPress.com Documents AND you can ask questions on the site Forums.

Lots of information is out there BUT here’s a caution: DON’T JUST READ . . . JUST “DO IT”

Twitter

So now you can Tweet . . . What comes next? Getting Started lessons continue:

September 30, 2009 Shari Weiss 10 Comments

You’ve played with Twitter and perhaps gotten past the “Emperor’s New Clothes” feeling that there’s a lot of Buzz about nothing.

You have gotten past that, haven’t you?

Let’s chat

Today’s Getting Started lesson is going to “resemble” a conversation . . .

However, since I’m the only one in the room, I’ll have to make up your part, i.e., the questions.

That gives me an edge — especially if I select only questions I can answer 🙂

Our Conversation Begins:

“Describe Twitter & what it does”

Twitter has often been described as “Micromedia’ or “Microblogging.” As a user, you are provided with a tiny notepad — think IM on your computer and text message on your cell phone.

What Twitter DOES: (a) forces the writer to be concise, but (b) allows messages about an unlimited number of topics for an unlimited number of uses.

What you DO: (a) decide Who is worth “listening” to, i.e., following
AS WELL AS (b) choose what you broadcast according to Why you have chosen to use this online tool.

for example: refer to objectives in previous lesson

Drive more traffic to your website?

Find out if your customers, and prospective customers are on Twitter: (1) Follow them; (2) Hope they follow you back; (3) In the meantime, engage them in conversations by using the @name function [after you have read their tweet]; (4) Offer VALUE with your own tweets — give them a reason to click on your website link.

Build a closer community feeling with your customers?

See answers (1) – (3) above, but this is your new (4) Your tweets should show that you are listening by offering sincerity and solutions — inspire trust and offer value from the relationship.

Establish or change your organization’s reputation?

This requires LOTS and LOTS of “communication auditing,” i.e. listening.
TIPS: (a) Go to search.twitter.com and begin by simply putting your company name in the search box. You will see a REAL-TIME [i.e. as it is happening] stream of the Tweets that mention your name; (b) Click on the icon; read the person’s tweets; follow him or her; and monitor their tweets.

LATER you will want to engage them in Twitter conversations. This is where the “community-building” will offer an opportunity to spread good will and good words.

Find out what your competitors are up to?

Again, search.twitter.com for mentions of those “others” in the marketplace.

Know how to find and hire the best employees?

Of course, LinkedIn [Step THREE] will be your best source to act on this objective. However, you can tweet your job opportunities and then check our responders by their other online presences — as well as their personal tweet streams.

Discover trends as they are happening?

Here are some Twitter-related websites to check out the Trend Landscape:

Trendtracker

Trendistic – hot trends on Twitter

whatthetrend – what’s trending and why

Share your knowledge and expertise?

Here is where you can shine — and promote that “lustre”: Blog about your expertise, start a Squidoo lens, answer a question on Linkedin. Whatever you do, tell the Twitterverse with a teaser and a link in your Tweet.

Monitor the marketplace to see what people are saying about you, your products, and/or your industry?

Search.twitter.com ONCE AGAIN: Put in who and what and see what’s being discussed — and the tone of the discussion. Whom/what do people like, and what don’t they?

Learn how to be a better, more efficient, effective business person?

Love this one. Find smart people to follow; then click on the links they suggest; find time to read the information. [Bookmarking won’t be enough. Do you ever get back to those bookmarks?]

“And now, I want to know . . .”

Ooooops, time is up for today’s session. But don’t you have some homework to do?
And, besides, you can always add those questions to the comments, and we can look at them next time.

Happy Tweet Day

Facebook, Guest Post, Twitter

Our Future Around Facebook and Twitter — guest post from Gen Y-er Zahid Lilani

September 14, 2009 Shari Weiss 17 Comments

I couldn’t wait.

Sharisax Is Out There has been featuring a series of reviews on the book Putting the Public Back in PR, but one of my most conscientious SFSU students wrote this wonderful article on Gen Y and social media.

Without further ado, here is Zahid:

Guest Poster Zahid Lilani: Voice for Gen Y

Social Media has changed the way we communicate and stay connected. Not that it will ever replace face-to-face interaction, still it has become a popular way to communicate for Generation Y. 90% of U.S. adults are online and 80% of U.S. online adults participate in social media.

“Social Media is no longer the cool and fun thing that fascinates imagination with all the bells and whistles, it is more like a necessity for Generation Y.”

Who is the Generation Y? I am the Generation Y, my generation created Facebook and Twitter and my generation will dictate the future of social media.

The idea behind Web 2.0 or social media revolution was to change the way our generation communicates, we now decide what’s worthy, what to vote up and what to vote down. Being more well versed with Facebook and Twitter, this is what I think our future will look like:

Facebook ID Implementation Across Major Platforms

Most websites are implementing an excellent feature on to their websites, it is called Facebook Connect. In plain English, if you go to a website and have to register to login, you won’t have to create another user id and password. You will be able to connect using your Facebook ID and Password. Still in its earliest stages, most developers are implementing this concept into their programming because of the immense power of social media. You can read more about Facebook Connect here.

Twitter Household
The idea behind Twitter Household is that everything in your house can communicate with you if you provide it with the right tool. The tools are still in its early stages but the technology is already there, it is Twitter. If that was vague, here are couple of examples:

Laundry: The Washing Machine Hack, created by Ryan Rose, sends text message (SMS) notifications over Twitter when clothes are done. You can follow his Washing Machine here.

Power Usage: In future, if you are energy conscious or plain curious about the power usage in your household, you can use Tweet-a-Watt which will update you using Twitter on your power usage.

Both Facebook and Twitter are immensely powerful in what they can accomplish and with time they will evolve and become more mature. What do you think your life will be like around Facebook and Twitter two years from now? What else do you think you will be able to do on Facebook and Twitter besides information sharing and gathering?

Check out Zahid’s blog: his most recent post will help you convert your WP.com blog to a self-hosted one at WP.org in five easy steps.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Blogging

What to Blog? My story about Peter

August 2, 2009 Shari Weiss 16 Comments

Fathering a son: what's more important than that?

Many of my students have begun blogs, and their first questions seem to revolve around, “How do I get more readers?” and “How do I get people to comment?”

My standard answers have been these three:

* Comment on other people’s blogs

* Announce your new posts on Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and LinkedIn

* Enable a more user-friendly comment device.

However, after reading several of their posts, I have another simple answer — but, first, a story:

My Story about Peter

Several years ago, when I was teaching beginning journalism students at Southwest Missouri State, the students’ daily chore was to write in a log. And I read them.

Big mistake: both the assignment and me spending time reading them.

When left to their own devices . . . students wrote about such earth-shattering events as breaking up with their boyfriends and flushing letters down the toilet to buying a pair of boots at the mall to the scores of basketball games in the local conference. Needless to say, I was questioning my sanity for having asked for these papers.

Until Peter, that is.

Peter wrote plays and poetry. Peter analyzed the news. Peter shared intelligent conversations he had had with friends. Peter reported on books and articles he was reading.

And his writing was so flawless that I was envious.

But I loved reading his stuff and looked forward to every entry.

I was in awe of his talent and wondered what I could offer him.

So I went to several of my colleagues to ask their opinions; one comment stood out: “Peter’s stuff is good because he writes about things that are important and interesting.”

When you blog — and you want people to read and comment — WRITE ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING.

Why write about anything else?

Next post: The rewards of listening carefully

Twitter

Life on Twitter made easier than Life on Mars — Try Tweetdeck

May 20, 2009 Shari Weiss 5 Comments

If you love getting organized, you’ll love Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is the key that not only opens the door to greater accessibility but can make your entire Twitter experience so much fun — especially for those who love easy organization.

How Tweetdeck works:

1. Download Tweetdeck (TweetDeck runs on the Adobe AIR runtime. To use TweetDeck, you will need to install Adobe AIR first.)

2. Login and you will see THREE COLUMNS: One column is a list of the Tweeple you follow [ALL FRIENDS] with the most recent 100 tweets (including your own). The second and third columns are likely to be empty.

3. One of the empty columns is called DIRECT MESSAGES. When you SEND one of your followers a DM [direct message], it will appear in this column.

4. The other empty column is called REPLIES. Here you will see messages that mention your twitter name, i.e., @twittername, e.g., @sharisax. [An “advanced move” is to change this column, but that can wait for a later post from me or you can read about it within a blog called Twittercism.]

5. Now you are ready to take a look at the boxes that run along the top, beginning on the left above your columns. The first box TWEET will open up the text insert line that allows you to write your 140 character message. [The box turns red if your message goes over the limit.] The input line below the tweet line is used for shortening a long URL: simply type in the complete URL, click SHORTEN, and your smaller URL is inserted into your message. The TWITPIC box next to Shorten allows you to add picture files. When your message is complete, click your enter key and the message will be sent to Twitter.

6. Tweetdeck has many additional features, but you may want to play with just two of them before you begin further investigation. The sixth box from the left [after the Tweet box] is called GROUP. When you click on Group, another column pops up: ADD A GROUP. You are asked to name the group.

Many Tweeple use a column to separate the most interesting and important people they are following from the rest of the pack, so often this column is identified as A-List. You will see a “drop down” listing of ALL of the people you follow, and you click on those you wish to be in your “A-List” or whatever you choose to call the group.

When you are finished selecting group members, simply click on SAVE GROUP at the bottom, and then you will have a separate stream of tweets from group members. This makes it easy for you to “follow” a lot of people and not have to read through all their tweets to get to the ones you want.

7. The final “beginner’s tip” is the box to the right of Group. This is TWITTER SEARCH. When you click here, you will get an input box asking what you are searching for. You can try any topic, even your name. When you hit enter, another column is added with the Tweets mentioning the word or phrase (just as if you had gone to the Twitter Search site.

HINT: When I set up my first additional group and search columns, I thought some had “disappeared” because I couldn’t see them. Then I discovered the movable bar below the columns that allows you to move to the right or left to access all your columns even when they extend past your screen size.

NOTE: Additional sources: Chris Spagnuolo’s EdgeHopper, and here’s a site that answers Tweetdeck FAQ

FINAL SUGGESTION: These tips listed above are just to get you started. The Real Fun begins when you discover some of the functions on your own — So Download Tweetdeck and Enjoy!

Next post:What to Tweet About

Blogging, Twitter

Twitter 101: Be Choosy when selecting first Tweeple to Follow

May 19, 2009 Shari Weiss 18 Comments

The REAL, intrinsic, not-so-secret value of social media in general — and Twitter, particularly — is the desire to help others by sharing information.

Expertise, whether in the form of “raw knowledge” or super-research skills, is on the Net for the taking and, of course, the giving.

Lesson TWO: How to find people to “follow” on Twitter

1. Your first step, of course, should be your “plan” for Twitter. Is this platform just another way to text-message friends and family? If that’s the case, you don’t need my help. Simply convince your friends and family to get on Twitter and then you all follow each other.

2. HOWEVER, if your desire is to Explore the Technology and the Web at the same time, you will want to find Tweeple [i.e., Twitter users] who (a) know what they are doing on Twitter, (b) “tweet” about subjects of interest to you, and/or (c) have the kind of celebrity that you want to get close to.

3. WARNING: In the beginning, you ought to be as selective as possible in choosing people to follow. The more people you follow, the more messages you will receive — and, consequently, the more confused you may become. [Stage One of Twitter Use is Confusion. See previous post.]

4. NOW FOR MY FIRST SUGGESTION: Access a Twitter Directory. You can Google “Twitter Directory” and find pages of directory listings, but for starters, why not go to Twellow, the Twitter Yellow Pages.

Look at the categories. Want a newspaper or reporter or blogger who Tweets about current events, for example? You’ll find hundreds.
Find a name that looks familiar or interesting and click the word “follow” on the left side of the listing.
The next screen will show you the latest Tweets from this source. If you want to follow this person’s tweets, you will need to be logged on to your Twitter account. If you forgot to log-in first, No Problem, simply go to the login box on the upper right, put in your name and password, and you will be returned to this Tweeter’s page.
Then simply click on the word “follow” below the photo or icon. And so forth . . . add as many people as you want, but as I suggested above, you might want to be choosy at first.

One “surprise” is that many people will automatically follow you when you follow them, but not everyone. I got a charge when Barack Obama followed me, but neither Hillary nor Al Gore did. You live and learn.

5) SINCE YOU’VE GOTTEN THIS FAR in today’s post, your next step might be to follow me.

You can see the kind of comments, i.e. “tweets” that I make BUT you can also see whom I follow. In the right sidebar where it tells you how many people I am following [353 today], click on the word following. Your next screen shot will list those Tweeple and you can follow the advice above to see any of the tweet “stream” of any of these people.

6) LAST TIP OF THE DAY: Try search.twitter.com. When the search box appears, write down a word or phrase like “dogs” or “future of advertising” or “project manager” or “employee engagement” or “Adam Lambert” — what or whoever interests you. Up will pop ALL the Tweeple who are Tweeting about your topic in Real Time, i.e., who may be posting about that subject right NOW.

If you like what you read, you may click on their icons and check out their tweet stream. If you like the stream, click follow.

POSTSCRIPT: Once you get going with Twitter, you’ll notice daily posts on How to Find Followers, and/or you can check out some of these sources: 14 Twitter directories to find new friends; 5 ways to follow good people on Twitter; Show this to friends who want to get started on Twitter.

Please let me know what works for you — follower-wise. And stay tuned for tomorrow’s lesson on Tweetdeck

Facebook, Guest Post, LinkedIn

Marketing student compares Facebook & LinkedIn for class back in 2009

May 8, 2009 Shari Weiss 2 Comments

**GUEST POST** San Francisco State University senior Roxanne Cobbs has been an active member of this semester’s public relations class — and has functioned as a very responsible leader for two small groups, the 2nd of which investigated the topic of “Facebook for Business.”

Roxanne’s group put together an excellent power point presentation, and she agreed to write a Guest Post for my blog. She told me she’s having fun observing the social media craze and hopes to play a role in changing the world of advertising.

Facebook is COOL, but it has a way to go to reach the polish and professionalism of LinkedIn

As the world of SM keeps growing, so does my desire to obtain more knowledge about it. Every day I learn something new, enforcing the message that I need SM in my life if I want to be cutting-edge in the business world.

Having just completed a group project advocating the use of Facebook for business, I’ve gathered some interesting tidbits to add to my ever-growing list of SM need-to-knows.

So why use Facebook for business?

One key reason is its viral nature. Facebook can further assist companies in finding their target market by browsing or searching personal profiles through keyword usage. It’s also great for advertising because of its amazing reach — 276 million members and growing daily.

Facebook has a huge assortment of business applications like the demographic filtering which allows extreme precision in targeting your desired market. Of the more than 15 apps we researched, I chose my top three to help you and your business:

RSS Connect

Promote your blog — with RSS feed you can add your blog or any RSS feeds to your wall, with feeds being updated automatically and easily shared.

IEndorse

Use this app to help build relationships and your personal reputation by sending and collecting endorsements, and then post them on your Facebook Professional Profile.

My LinkedIn Profile

Keep the networking system flowing with the use of this cross-promotion app. Input your LinkedIn url or profile name and a LinkedIn badge will appear on your Facebook profile.

Though my research taught me that Facebook can be a good SNS for business purposes, I remain by my opinion that LinkedIn is much superior. LinkedIn is a polished site that resonates professionalism. It lacks the clutter and distractions of Facebook, focusing solely on professional connections — and the experts available on the site. It is not a personal, social site with information about your friends and families, but rather a site where you can network with other professionals who can aid you in your business endeavors.

by Roxanne Cobbs

Click link for an upclose and personal view of the team’s research on Facebook for Business.

Next post: Social Media Strategy works in everyday life, too.

Sharisax Is Out There