Social Media - A Force for Good (video)

Marin, CA Teacher Librarian Tom Kaun recommended a panel discussion on "Social Media as a Force for Good" with Twitter and LinkedIn founders and UK author/activist Stephen Fry. It was well worth the time (1.5 hours).

Stephen Fry said he got the most joy from Twitter about a year or so ago when he decided to use Twitter as "verbal post cards" for a trip to Africa to do a story on Rhinos. He suddenly got thousands of followers and started to realize the power and potential of Twitter. He also pointed out that humans are emotional creatures and need to communicate. Writing -- even on Twitter -- is a literary form. Twitter is an instrument of free speech.

Biz Stone (CEO/Founder, Twitter) said early on he saw how Twitter was used for "Tweet-ups" (like "meet-ups") to organize events or meetings. People in a conference session would tweet that a different session was more interesting, and lots of people like a flock of birds would leave the first session to go to the better session. Similar use of "Tweet-ups" for raising money for a charity, to do good. Biz said Twitter was created to do good.

Biz also said Twitter was created with mobile devices in mind, and mobile devices are growing way faster than desktop computers. Re: Twitter as news media -- it is good for breaking news, but journalists are better for putting news in context.

LinkedIn's Reed Hoffman, in commenting about social media trends, said "you haven't seen anything yet." "Web 2.0 is power to the people, a '60's expression." Social networking sites are platforms upon which other sites are built ("platforms" rather than "features" on a site.)

source: http://www.stephenfry.com/2009/11/19/social-media-force-for-good/

Search Engine Optimization - SEO

The Wall Street Journal is a long-time favorite. The Personal Journal Section is a treat. Today, in addition to the Personal Technology column by Walter S. Mossberg, there was a very enlightening and useful item by Julia Angwin. "It's a New Me (As Seen on Google)" addressed search engine optimization (SEO). She consulted with a SEO consultant Rhea Drysdale at OutspokenMedia.

Here are some tips to make unwanted items move further down the list and more current or preferred items to appear at the top of a Google search of your name.

• Link your online presences to each other. For example, if you have a website and two blogs, be sure they are linked. [Link your LinkedIN page to your blog -- to your bibliography on your work or professional association's website -- to your Twitter -- and so on. This blog links to my LINKEDIN profile.]
• Submit articles that show off your knowledge to key websites. Rhea suggests Squidoo.com, eHow.com or Google Knol and calls this a branding opportunity. First check out these or other sites to see if they are sites you'd want to contribute to!
• Keep checking. Julia warns us that "constant vigilance is required." It is easy to lose control of your ranking. Large businesses have their search results monitored full time!
• Website design - don't overdo the graphics in favor of descriptive words. Use text terms that Google can easily categorize when searching the Internet -- web crawling.
• Web or blog "title tag" needs to have text that describes the page to a search engine. This is also known as metadata. [Notice that the title for 2CoolTools now has a longer subtitle thanks to this tip!]

Thank you for the tips, Julia Angwin and Rhea Drysdale. Hope my one post joins many others to keep your SEO in good shape.

Are You LinkedIn?

Has a friend or colleague invited you to be LinkedIn? Over the past two years, I've been invited to link to a growing number of individuals and as a result, I've started to explore the social network. One of my very tech-savvy colleagues says he uses LinkedIn as his Rolodex.

For those who are active outside of work in leadership positions in professional associations, non-profit programs, school site councils/PTAs/coaching, and such, this can a good forum for getting recommendations and recognition. What a good way for non-profit leaders to commend their outstanding volunteers or award winners. For example, in addition to recognition of the Library's or YMCA's volunteer-of-the-year in the organization's newsletter and website, the same recognition sentence or paragraph can be copied and pasted into a LinkedIn letter of recommendation to the volunteer. Nice!

As individuals retire or lose jobs, this is a network that keeps you connected with those who you have worked with over the years. It is a treat to get a message from a former co-worker that you knew 10 or 20 years ago when you lived on the other side of the country or world.