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Pros and Cons of Twitter
Travel and Location Aware Social Networks
Little Traverse Bay and Nubs Nob in lights
Last weekend, I remembered just how much I love to ski.
My wife and I, my friend Matt and his wife, all went up to Harbor Springs, Michigan to ski for the weekend. While there, eating lunch in a packed Boyne Highlands lodge, I was suprised to look over to see an old friend from college sitting there eating lunch with her husband. We had a great reunion and got to chat for a few minutes, which was wonderful. It was right then and there I decided that everyone needs to be on a location or travel aware social network. YES! GO SIGN UP NOW!
Where Do I Sign Up?
I am glad you are reading this because I can tell you a few location and travel related social networks to rush out and sign up for.
Travel Related
Tripit – This is @khit ’s favorite service. It’s for the traveler who uses itineraries from companies and wants an easy way to track where you are, and when your friends will be there too! LinkedIn also has a widget you can add of your travels.
Dopplr – Its alot like Tripit, but the cool part here is that they give you a year end summary of your travel. You can see an example by looking at Obama and McCain’s travel schedules from last year.
Location Related
Loopt - It can tell you when friends are close by to your phone and if you want, when strangers are as well. Random meetups? Yes please!
Google Latitude – Googles new offering lets you know where your friends are based on their phones location.
Moximity – Makes things easier by pulling in your friends from your existing social network relationships on facebook or twitter vs. the hassle other location aware networks have by creating new friends within moximity.
Whrrl – This one focuses more on reviews of close by eateries than it does on finding close friends. I respect a great dive of a food joint, so if you are a foodie, I’d go here first.
Where – This is an iPhone app that more or less does everything you can think of related to your location. If you are one for gizmos and gadgets, this app is for you!
Conclusion
So now that you know where to head for these crazy fun location aware, location based, and travel related social networks, Go Join Em!
Hopefully we can meet up soon!
Popularity: 9% [?]
Lessons Learned after Blogging for a Year
Five Things to Know when Adding a Blog to an Exisiting Website
The other day I was chatting with a friend who has a website and he wanted to add live and archived video to his site. Problem is, his site is html only. Sure it looks amazing and has a super layout and graphics, but it takes too long to create new html pages to put any focus on the written content or the videos.
The 80/20 rule applies for websites too. Especially ones who have potential to share a truck load of content. We should be spending 80 percent of our time getting content out the door, and 20% on technical implementation. Content on websites helps you connect with your audience and engage them in conversation as well as keep them informed.
So what did I suggest to my friend? I told him to keep the existing website for now and cross-integrate the old content with the new using a content management system, which just so happens to be what I use; a free blogging software called Wordpress. But I didn’t want to send him on his way without a few tips, so here they are for all you!
1. Consider using the blog to replace the site
Is your current site have so much content it is just too much to change? If yes, just add the blog on, if no, seriously consider using a blogging platform to manage your content. Lots of people are using wordpress as a content management system for their entire site.
2. Enable your colleagues to create content
Wordpress lets you have many different logins. Don’t waste them! Give your boss and your coworkers a log in so they can help write posts! Make sure they understand how it works, and use the permissions to let them write, but not publish, so as the administrator you can control where the content goes!
3. Think of the site as the communications platform
If your organization is currently making fliers and PDFs for delivery via attachments on emails you are behind the times! Use that content to create blog posts and then an email news letter linking to the content you have been creating. Snail mail is good for PDFs, email is not. Technologies like RSS and content management systems make a great starting point for newsletters and communicating with constituents.
4. Start off with some solid content before going live
Problogger tells us we should have at least five posts created before we launch a blog. It takes some work setting up a blog so don’t let all that pain be for no gain. Many folks are just interested in starting a blog just because, make sure you have a purpose behind it.
5. Put the word out – Let them know its there!
I am sure you put a ton of time into getting your blog set up and ready to go, so don’t let it sit in the background! Put a link on your sites homepage, nay a link, a HUGE button! Also, let folks know in real life. Put it on your business cards, your email signature, everywhere your website is, hustle your blog! Let your customers know that they can interact with you!
With five tips you can only get so far. What would you have suggested to my friend? What have you suggested before?
Popularity: 12% [?]
Social Media at the White House and at the State House
President Obama was swept into the White House by using so many social media tools to engage voters. Now that he is in the White House, social media has been injected into all aspects of white house communications. Most notably by having a White House blog, embedding you tube videos on whitehouse.gov and creating the Citizen Breifing Book on change.govthe president-elect’s website, a way for you and I to influence policy at the highest level. No matter your political stance, the ability to get your idea to the White House is a win for the common person.
But how can web based tools be utilized at other levels of government? One great example of the use of online tools with a social aspect is the state of Kansas’ transportation department website: Kansas T LINK Calculator.
The calculator lets “you to create your own theoretical Kansas transportation program [by] developing [a] budget by making assumptions about current funding sources and choosing from a variety of potential new funding options [and] allocate funding on a variety of transportation modes.”
Basically the calculator lets you adjust where the money comes from and where it goes to in transportation policy by adjusting many different assumptions to achieve your personal best policy plan for the department. The site then lets you submit your plan so that the department can gauge public sentiment and understand the user’s values and priorities for setting policy.
It is a specific and real way that you can engage a specific state agency and provide feedback. The transparency President Obama jives on is one concept that lines directly to the principles of Gen Y and the relationship revolution.
I can’t wait to see how the government begins utilizing online tools as a way to increase efficiency and transparency to the government services area.
How do you think the government can get online and increase interaction, transparancy, and effeciency? The comments section is yours!
Popularity: 12% [?]
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