Collaborative and Distance Communication Tools

Collaborative and Distance Communication Tools

I love Skype.  The reason why I love Skype is because you can take it with you whether it is on your iphone, ipod, laptop, smartphone, just about any mobile device can have Skype on it.  It is so mobile and accessible…all you need is internet connection.  The article I read was quoting the NY Times and how video conferencing is used for online therapy.  I never would have thought to have a therapy session online, but it if works, I am not going to knock it.  The article I read questions the NY Times legitimacy of the article.

“While I have no idea the kinds of problems Ms. Weinblatt is seeing a therapist for, I don’t think they are the same kinds of problems that many people seek therapy for. How many people would be comfortable delving into their childhood abuse or deep, dark depression while lounging at your friend’s pool?”

Skype takes geography out of the equation for therapy.  Would you use video conferencing on Skype to reveal your inner most thoughts?  Read more at http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/09/24/skype-away-online-therapy-is-still-exciting/

My second article focuses on Second Life.  I will admit, I have tried it but I got bored pretty quick…not sure if that is due to short attention span or lack of entertainment.  The article in Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm) focuses on how people make money by being avatars in the virtual world.   The author proceeds to say:

“Oh yes, this is seriously weird. Even Chung sometimes thinks she tumbled down the rabbit hole. But by the time I visited her simulated abode in late February, I already knew that something a lot stranger than fiction was unfolding, some unholy offspring of the movie The Matrix, the social networking site MySpace.com (NWS ), and the online marketplace eBay (EBAY ). And it was growing like crazy, from 20,000 people a year ago to 170,000 today. I knew I had to dive in myself to understand what was going on here.”

Users pay a monthly fee for the privilege of playing.  Users also hold full ownership for their Second Life creations.  Is it me, or is this just a bit too far fetched?  You decide.

Blogging

Blogging

I am not one for blogging.  I did it while in India to keep my family and friends updated since there was such a time difference.  I do not know what makes a blog successful because I am quite the novice.  So, I decided to go to good ole Google and search for articles on blogging.  I went to http://www.bloggingtips.com/2011/10/24/bring-new-readers-to-your-blog-by-comment-posting-in-early-days/ and learned that there are plenty of ways to boost your readership, but they focused on comments and commenting early in the game.  They suggest to not only search for content on the like of Twitter and Facebook, but to also keep your content up to date.  They also mentioned timing your comment for just the right moment.  Try not to be on a high traffic site because there is a high possibility that your comment will be overlooked.  Post a good and productive comment, make sure that your link is visible, and keep the conversation going.  By paying attention to when you post and what you post you can increase your readership quite a bit.

The second article is about the top 100 blog tips from http://kisswebmaster.com/top-100-blogging-tips-all-time/.  I like it just because its tagline is “keep it simple stupid.”  For some reason that just warms my heart.  The #3 tip is to use WordPress.  I feel like a loser because I only use WordPress for my online portfolio.  All my other blogs are on blogger.  I wonder what this says about me as a blogger.  They also mention to blog daily.  I seriously do not know how people can write a “new post” everyday. ..maybe I need to manage my time better.  Here are just a few of the tips they provided:

1.    Optimize your blog to Search Engines

2.    Learn about your Competitor Blogs and Improve yourself

3.    Take Blogging as a business and spend more time for it

4.    Chose the Right theme for your Blog

5.    Don’t allow people to Copy your Content – Warn, Punish them

6.    Make Unique and Fresh Posts

7.    Think Different , Do Different – Write what other bloggers missed to write

8.    Avoid too many outbound External Links

9.    Reply to all comments made in your blog

10. Use ‘All in One SEO Pack’ Plugin if you are using WordPress

11. Don’t blog with the only aim of Making Money

12. Spend time tweeting your Posts (you can use Twitterfeed)

13. Write Pillar Posts

14. Link to Others blog’s post

15. Reduce the number of Blogroll Links

16. Make your Text font attractive and readable

17. Take care about your WordPress theme design (color blending and all..)

18. Include a Top Searched Keyword in your Blog Title

19. Discover something new and post it

Organizational Uses

Organizational Uses

As most of you are aware, I spent the summer completing an international internship with an NGO (a fancy way of saying non-profit outside the USA) in Pune, India.  While there were networked with many other NGO’s in our area.  The first article I read is about social media and non-profit organizations.  I found it quite interesting how they quickly identified the challenges non-profits face in a very social media minded world. 

“An astounding 97 percent of nonprofits are using social media, far surpassing even the business world,” says Nora Ganim Barnes, co-author of a study released last year by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research.

The article gives tips like don’t delegate a campaign to an intern, measure everything, integrate social media, and get help with content.  Having interned for an NGO, I can say that the tips and suggestions are a 100% spot on.  Social media needs strategic planning to be successful.  You can read the whole article at http://philanthropy.com/article/How-Nonprofits-Can-Use-Social/126402/.

The second article I found on CNN.com.  It details how Iceland’s president is using social media. 

"This so-called social media has transformed our democratic institutions in such a way that what takes place in the more traditional institutions of power -- congress, ministries, even the White House or the presidency and the cabinet in my country -- has become almost a sideshow," Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Iceland's president, said in an interview with CNN on Thursday at the PopTech conference here in coastal Maine.

He continues to say that social media is “transforming” politics in such a way that traditional democracies won’t be able to keep up.  Others say that social media protests are healthy.

“Grimsson, an even-spoken figure with Bill-Clinton hair and a charming Nordic accent, said protests organized by social media and technological developments are healthy for society, whether or not that offers him much in the way of job security.”

It is interesting that there are such opposite views.  You be the judge read the entire article at http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/21/tech/innovation/iceland-president-social-media/index.html?iref=allsearch

The Big Seven

The Big Seven

The first article I read was from the New York Times.  It focused on new magazine publications that focus on Twitter, Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn.  The focus of the magazines is to educate small business owners on social media.

 

Eric Yaverbaum, associate publisher of the magazines, says “he and his partners see an opportunity to use the print magazine format to reach some business owners trying to learn more about the digital world. “

“Small-business owners and entrepreneurs are all trying to figure social media out,” Mr. Yaverbaum said. “Print magazines help make the information accessible to them. There will be great success stories and useful information.”

I think that this is a great forum to help small business owner’s learn more about social media and how they can apply social media to their businesses.  You can read more at http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/a-print-focus-on-social-media/?ref=socialnetworking.

The second article I read discussed how effective social media tools are in the business world.  They mentioned that the larger the company the more imperative social media was for the company’s success.  I really liked how they mentioned the following:

“ ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'. A business can offer tools and technologies that support more effective collaboration or that try to engage with customers, but it's up to those individuals to take the steps required to interact. So it's important to really think about what you are trying to achieve by using social media and plan your strategies/implement your tools carefully.”

 The article goes on to say how you have to be careful when using social media.  It can be distracting and time consuming, but it can also be proactive and incredibly effective.  I really enjoyed this article because it pointed out the positives and negatives of social media.  You can read the full article at http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/over-half-of-orgs-consider-social-business-imperative-to-success-socbiz-013160.php