I came across this excellent post listing all sorts of Social Media sites and their various uses. A common misconception about SM is that all of the facilitation platforms are the same and can achieve the same functions. This is a definite myth. There are many sites that can be used for various functions, and can often even compliment each other. Jeanne and I use Twitter religiously, and it facilitates traffic to this blog, we've also started a network on NING, which you should all join! Many bloggers use flickr to show off their photos. Experimenting with the different formats of Social Media can be time consuming, but its like unlocking trophies on your PS3, it feels SO good.
In addition to this blog, you can currently find us on:
Twitter
NING
Facebook
..and eventually many more!
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Be Your Own Brand - But Tell Us About It!
Once I was once just a voice in the crowd. Now I am my own brand.
This is the power of Twitter and social media. It used to be that branding oneself was done in a boardroom full of high powered executives with all the money, all the resources and all the Armani this side of the Atlantic. Your brand was chosen for you based on what would sell, and how easily you could slither into those leather pants in that high powered Cola-sponsorship ad.
Well my friends, the times they are a-changing.
It is no longer just pop stars and fast cars that have the accessibility to brand themselves. Thanks to social media, we all have that choice. It may take a lot of leg work and a little pizazz, but each of us now has access to a platform which allows us to choose how we present ourselves to the world. As a writer, I now have the opportunity to show you who I am, allow you some insight into my world, or tell you a story. Not only can I brand myself any way that I choose, I can create a new brand if I don't like any of the existing products!
Perhaps I'm waxing philosophical here, so I'll try to bring it in. What I'm getting at is that we are interested in hearing your Social Media love stories. How has Social Media changed your life? How has Twitter provided direct success? Motivation? Community? We want to to hear your firecracker of a story, your fail-whale of a tale. Tell us how you fell in love with Twitter, or what Social Media has done for you lately. Tell us what your dreams are for the future.
If you would like to write a guest post for this blog on how Social Media has changed your life, please email us at SMwriters@gmail.com we can provide you with a topic to write about, or if you have an amazing tale that is dancing on the tip of your tongue, let us know. We can't wait to hear from you!
This is the power of Twitter and social media. It used to be that branding oneself was done in a boardroom full of high powered executives with all the money, all the resources and all the Armani this side of the Atlantic. Your brand was chosen for you based on what would sell, and how easily you could slither into those leather pants in that high powered Cola-sponsorship ad.
Well my friends, the times they are a-changing.
It is no longer just pop stars and fast cars that have the accessibility to brand themselves. Thanks to social media, we all have that choice. It may take a lot of leg work and a little pizazz, but each of us now has access to a platform which allows us to choose how we present ourselves to the world. As a writer, I now have the opportunity to show you who I am, allow you some insight into my world, or tell you a story. Not only can I brand myself any way that I choose, I can create a new brand if I don't like any of the existing products!
Perhaps I'm waxing philosophical here, so I'll try to bring it in. What I'm getting at is that we are interested in hearing your Social Media love stories. How has Social Media changed your life? How has Twitter provided direct success? Motivation? Community? We want to to hear your firecracker of a story, your fail-whale of a tale. Tell us how you fell in love with Twitter, or what Social Media has done for you lately. Tell us what your dreams are for the future.
If you would like to write a guest post for this blog on how Social Media has changed your life, please email us at SMwriters@gmail.com we can provide you with a topic to write about, or if you have an amazing tale that is dancing on the tip of your tongue, let us know. We can't wait to hear from you!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Twittastic! The Evolution of a Love Language.
Since I became a Twitter junkie a little over a year ago, I've had to learn yet another new language. Technically, I'm mono-lingual in the traditional sense. Yes, I can ask where the bathroom is in both French and Spanish, but conversationally I only speak English without embarrassing myself. In the online world, however, where I can exist with my avatars as a reflection my residual self-image (thank you Morpheus), I speak several languages, and Twitter is one of them.
With the rise in popularity of social media, almost everybody knows the common words and phrases. "Status Update" "follower" "tweet" but once you truly immerse yourself in the culture of the social media forum of your choice, you begin to notice common trends, abbreviations, words, and even punctuation that can nuance 140 characters with all manner of meanings and subtext. One of my favourite trends is that of hashtagging for emphasis. If you've checked out either mine or Jeanne's feeds, you will notice we both make use of this device frequently. The original purpose of a hashtag was to create an instant link that can be used to follow a topic. For example, if I were to tweet this:
"I'm so excited to watch #TeamCanada play in the #Olympics today"
You would be able to click on both "TeamCanada" and "Olympics" and bring up all tweets that have those words tagged with a #. A few of us have chosen to take this idea a little bit further, using a hashtag to emphasize even the most obscure word combinations, in order to prove a point. For example:
"I've been working on this scene for six hours. #NewbieWriterFAIL."
Technically this defeats the purpose of tagging a common thread and adding your thoughts to the collective. It does, however, create a cheeky way to add a subtext to an otherwise boring tweet, and if you use Twitter like I do, to ask your community for assistance without having to phrase a direct question. If I were to tweet this, I could guarantee I'd get at least two or three replies and possibly a direct message from my writing community asking what I was struggling with and if they could help.
My point is, don't be afraid to immerse yourself in a culture even if you don't understand it right off the bat. If you can handle yourself with an open mind, it will always be worth your while. If there are any questions regarding Twitter Lingo in the future, I'm sure Jeanne and myself would be happy to translate wherever possible.
With the rise in popularity of social media, almost everybody knows the common words and phrases. "Status Update" "follower" "tweet" but once you truly immerse yourself in the culture of the social media forum of your choice, you begin to notice common trends, abbreviations, words, and even punctuation that can nuance 140 characters with all manner of meanings and subtext. One of my favourite trends is that of hashtagging for emphasis. If you've checked out either mine or Jeanne's feeds, you will notice we both make use of this device frequently. The original purpose of a hashtag was to create an instant link that can be used to follow a topic. For example, if I were to tweet this:
"I'm so excited to watch #TeamCanada play in the #Olympics today"
You would be able to click on both "TeamCanada" and "Olympics" and bring up all tweets that have those words tagged with a #. A few of us have chosen to take this idea a little bit further, using a hashtag to emphasize even the most obscure word combinations, in order to prove a point. For example:
"I've been working on this scene for six hours. #NewbieWriterFAIL."
Technically this defeats the purpose of tagging a common thread and adding your thoughts to the collective. It does, however, create a cheeky way to add a subtext to an otherwise boring tweet, and if you use Twitter like I do, to ask your community for assistance without having to phrase a direct question. If I were to tweet this, I could guarantee I'd get at least two or three replies and possibly a direct message from my writing community asking what I was struggling with and if they could help.
My point is, don't be afraid to immerse yourself in a culture even if you don't understand it right off the bat. If you can handle yourself with an open mind, it will always be worth your while. If there are any questions regarding Twitter Lingo in the future, I'm sure Jeanne and myself would be happy to translate wherever possible.
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