Tuesday, June 29, 2010

"Don't follow the money, follow the behavior"

A good logo for our world - as it looks today. As for tomorrow, wait and watch - on-line, of course.

Google Voice for writers

In many respects, Skype failed to turn into the must-have for businesses, being rather used mostly for person-on-person communications/or, in some cases, for a lot of spams of various kinds. Now, Google is challenging a bit the market with Google Voice in a very multifunctional way (the demo is a very good mix between description and creativity). In fact, I am more and more convinced that practical insights and creative thinking are more and more indispensable for our professional success, either we are exclusively business-oriented or with a humanist/not necessarily for profit profile. Starting and restarting again, some of the main treats of our world.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Vimeo

If in the domain of "writing" networks I consider myself at the intermediate to advanced level, the audio-visual aspects are strictly limited. I use youtube for very limited and personal reasons - watching some free movies or music or some documentaries. But, as in the last months I am more and more interested from the very practical point of view on the visual aspects, I am exploring new areas and opportunities. The newest one for me is vimeo, a community for creative people and creators.

There are two options for the subscribers: the free - for "casual creators"- and the paid version, for those who need more space to upload and more networking opportunities. Basically, it is functioning as any other open social network: you could subscribe to the channels you are interested in - documentary, or short movies, various competitions and festivals - you could add friends and be part of discussions, you could share your own works. After a short look, I concluded that, in comparison with youtube, vimeo it is more tailored and less commercial, with a highest opportunity for developing online learning classes. Me, for example, I didn't hesitate any second to register for a photography video class I am waiting to explore in the coming days. Looking farther for new opportunities and exposure!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

YouTube branding

Five useful ways to use YouTube for branding purposes. As in any other cases of open platform, it is not enough to be present, you need a voice and a coherent and consistent message.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Foursquare

It is a completely new domain for me. As in the last months I focused more on developing the writing skills and getting best advantages out of Twitter and Facebook, I avoided to enter too much into details. But now, found a very good presentation about this network and I am exploring the options. At least, to be aware of the opportunities, trying to integrate it as part of future projects.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Top Five Social Media Mistakes

of companies. I recognize all of them in the ways in which the business environment is approaching social media. But, even hard to believe, it is not a game or, if considered so, it costs more and more.

Monday, June 14, 2010

On Twitter

While preparing a short presentation for a webinar on Twitter for businesses, I found a couple of interesting links aimed to improve the use and efficiency of this micro-blogging tool.

http://twitpic.com - used for posting pics
http://www.twitalyzer.com - measuring the connection between activity spent and the influence
http://tweetwaster.com - measuring the time spent on Twitter
http://www.twitblogs.com - it's offering you the possibility to post more than 140-character

http://www.twitterlocal.net - is connecting you to local businesses in your area
http://beta.twittervision.com - localizing tweets around the world, via a Google map

http://tweetmeme.com - the hottest links
http://www.whoshouldfollow.com - for finding the last trends in followers
http://www.twerpscan.com/en - for avoiding scams

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/twitter - latest in terms of Twitter news

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Online and recession

Online is still an emerging and not fully explored market, covering a wide area of opportunities. Easy to use and less expensive, it offered an important niche in times of economic crisis. And a good platform for creating standards and content for the professional-targeted dialogue.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The cost of social networking

an agent maybe pessimistic, but not less realistic view. I still keep a positive note about social media, as an amazing tool for improving yourself and your perspectives. As in life, you got to know when to stop and where to go next and why.

Publishing questions

discussed at another webinar attended the last week, organised with several editors and publishers, by Writers Digest University.
A short outlined of the most interesting:
- How efficient is the self-editing? You always need another clean pair of eyes to read and have some critical inputs about your manuscript. It could be a friend or somebody you pay for. Up to your resources, you could ask for a full lecture or just for some fragments you feel insecure and unhappy about.
- Is self-publishing affordable? From the financial point of view, yes. From the point of view of your efforts, you need to dedicate a lot of time as you are the one and only doing the design, editing, promotion and PR plans, marketing strategy, even selling. I
- How do you write a memoir? A memoir is different than an autobiography and should be organised following the usual novel writing rules, with tensions, characters with voices and profiles and so on.
- How useful is social media for a writer? You need an online presence, but having in mind a limited efficiency and a use according to your well defined aims. For example, Twitter could be good for marketing, Facebook for events and blogging for creating content about your work. In my opinion, I would use all of them, at various paces. You could post some fragments of your manuscripts online and then tweet it to a list of followers among which you have publishing agents. Or, even to find some other authors as well to whom to start a conversation and, why not, to give you some suggestions.

Freelancing success

Again about ideas gathered at a webinar, the last week, with Eric Butterman, about "Freelancing for more money".
So, there are:
- first of all you have to be very organised - the first advice in any kind of success-driving activities: schedule carrefully the working days and the time for making your documentation and the interviews. Whatever great writer you are, without a proper organisation you will fail (mostly in our current world, when speed is one of the successful key-words).
- technically speaking, be prepared to be contacted and to be in touch with your editors: available internet connection and phone
- be able to communicate efficienty with your editor: concisely and with enough content for rising the interest
- identify what kind of subjects you gonna cover. According to Butterman the most popular topics are: health, entertainment, business, technologies, travel
- be able to slice your subject and to find possible further developments, up to the various target audiences of the media you want to write for. Diversify your sources and angles and be able to get easier a lot of articles - and money, of course.
- exercise your pitch-writing capacities
- start promoting yourself - create your own clips, make a website, even be ready to contribute for free for various platforms
- if you do not have too many - or at all - assignements, you could choose a transition period to your freelance life, during which you will test your capacities and your chances.
And, good luck!

Mind mapping exercises

for those in need for speed blogging (including myself).