Archive for July 2009

Anyone interested in improving their writing skills will want to check out Mary Jaksch’s mega-list of writing tips on Copyblogger. 73 Ways to Become a Better Writer presents a list of suggestions from the blog’s readers. Here are the top ten:

1. Become a blogger.
2. Use self-imposed word limits.
3. Accept all forms of criticism and learn to grow from it.
4. Read what you’ve written over and over, until you can’t find any more problems.
5. Show what you write to a trusted friend for feedback.
6. Outline. And then write to that outline.
7. Edit, and edit again.
8. Live with passion.
9. Be open, curious, present, and engaged.
10. Take a break between writing and editing.

Wall Street Journal columnist Alexandra Levit writes for Mashable about How To: Deal With Social Networking Overload. She presents a four-step plan to keep up with your social media universe:

1. Ask Yourself Why
2. Consider Your Purpose
3. Create Boundaries
4. Communicate Your Plan

Universal McCann has published Wave 4 of its Power to the People report on social media which has been tracking consumer Internet usage since 2006. For this study UM questioned 22,729 active internet users in 38 countries between November 2008 and March 2009 “making it the largest global analysis of social media usage.”

According to the report, users are increasingly focusing their digital lives around social networks such as Facebook, Orkut, and MySpace. They are still taking part in photo sharing and blogging, however they are now doing it via their social networks. Other findings include:

• Nearly two-thirds of all active internet users have spent time managing a social networking profile, and 71.1% have visited a friends social network page.
• Video watching is now at 83% amongst active internet users.
• Mobile internet usage has now reached nearly a fifth of all active internet users. Seventeen percent now access internet on the move as well as at home, work or college.
• Widgets continue to thrive with 34% of social network users installing them for their own use and 24% installing them to impress visitors to their profile page.

via ReadWriteWeb

Jenny Levine has written another comprehensive Library Technology Report on the topic of gaming in libraries. Gaming & Libraries: Learning Lessons from the Intersections takes a look at common themes being shared by librarians and includes five case studies.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Lessons We’ve Learned from Society
Chapter 3: Libraries, Videogames, and Civic Engagement
Chapter 4: A Powerful Draw Beyond Youth Culture
Chapter 5: The Benefits of a Planned Approach
Chapter: 6 Gaming as Fundraiser
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Finding More Lessons

Samir Balwani at Mashable posts about 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business. This helpful article discusses five social media marketing initiatives which can be easily implemented by small businesses such as:

1. Local Social Networks
2. Blog or Social Hub
3. Twitter
4. Facebook Fan Page
5. Custom Wiki

David Spark at SocialMedia discusses the Top three trends in social media distribution, which presents some interesting ideas for engaging users including:

1. Connect your content to existing social networks
2. Distribute content through advertising networks
3. Build relationships with contests

eMarketer has published statistics which reveal that 41.6% percent of Twitter users use the microblogging application to keep in touch with their friends. Other findings include:

• Secondarily, men were interested in finding news and women in updating their status.
• Users under age 35 were more interested in broadcasting their status than their senior counterparts.
• Older users were more likely to use the service for work-related purposes.
• More women interacted with friends, family and celebrities than men, but men were more likely to follow bloggers.

Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, writes for Mashable about How To: Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn. This helpful post discusses ways to use the social network to attract jobs and build a successful network. Here are his four main points:

1. Brand your profile
2. Develop your network
3. Position yourself as a leader
4. Leverage LinkedIn as part of your unified brand strategy

Schawbel has also written guides to building your personal brand on Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter has launched a getting started guide for businesses who want to learn how to effectively use the microblogging app. Twitter 101 includes everything from specific case studies to Twitter terminology and even offers users the option to download a set of slides in order to train others on using Twitter. The guide is divided into the following sections:

• What is Twitter
• Getting Started
• Learn the Lingo
• Best Practices
• Case Studies
• Other Resources
• Download the Slides

Ruth Reynard, Dean of Faculty Services for Career Education Corp, writes for Campus Technology about creating effective learning communities using social networking websites in Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities.

“Much has been written recently about the impact of social networking tools in teaching and learning and how educators can build on the skills of their students in using these tools. My discussion here does not negate that good work but introduces the idea that social networking is only the beginning of a longer and more complex process of socially constructed learning and ultimately collaboration and knowledge building. That is, if educators only integrate the ability of students to connect and socialize, deeper points of learning will be missed. While good teaching and learning rests on effective relationships (Cummins, 2000), in an active learning community, those relationships should evolve into actual idea exchange and knowledge construction.”

Dana Oshiro at ReadWriteWeb posts about Seven e-Learning and Teaching Resources. This useful list includes services such as Edmodo, the private microblogging application for schools, YouTube EDU which aggregates videos and channels from colleges and universities, and LearnHub, a network where schools can create their own virtual classrooms and students can complete assignments.

Eight libraries throughout New Jersey, the NJ State Library, the NJSL Talking Book and Braille Center and Gold Mobile are taking part in a 6-month pilot program to determine the effectiveness of using mobile technologies to provide library services. They are targeting teens and parents of young children, and are offering text messages in both English and Spanish.

ReadWriteWeb puts together a guide to 7 Free Alternatives to Photoshop With All the Bells, Whistles, Filters, & Layers. This helpful post provides test photos comparing what can be accomplished with each of these tools as well as a quick run-down of what each application includes and lacks.

Lisa Hoover at OStatic blogs about Five Open Source Apps For Writers and Authors. These programs help authors do everything from manage multiple storylines, develop scripts, format academic papers, and create newsletters.

via What I Learned Today

Josh Catone at Mashable puts together a starter guide to Twitter with Twitter for Beginners: 5 Steps for Better Tweeting. These are his recommendations, be sure to check out the full post for his helpful explanations.

• STEP ONE: Find People You Already Know
• STEP TWO: Find Like-minded Users
• STEP THREE: Find People in the Area
• STEP FOUR: Get a Desktop (or Mobile) Client
• STEP FIVE: Learn the Ropes