Facebook and Twitter are about communicating and people want to be heard.

Today’s Lesson

Blogging is the same.

Many bloggers will admit their real life friends don’t understand blogging, nor do they have an interest in what we’re blogging about.

Real life friends may think blogging is silly, a passing fad or even a waste of time.

But bloggers know, with having a blog, comes an audience whom we believe are interested in what we publish.

Via comments they validate us or expand on the topic and carry the discussion further.

It feels good to know we’re being heard.

In real life, where others seem to be consumed with their own lives, we may not get that. Hence, our blog becomes our voice.

It’s no wonder when our real life friends do read our blogs or the comments we’ve left elsewhere, they’ll often say, “I didn’t know that about you.”

Today’s Assignment

If a friend or family member read your blog or a comment you left on another site, would they be surprised and find out more about you and your interests?

Care to share?

However, with blogs and social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, our privacy could easily be invaded.

Today’s Lesson

It seems like everyone has access to a digital camera and with the ease of their use, snapshots and videos are being taken at an alarming rate.

We see them on Twitpics, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and on blogs; often with a description of who is in the photo.

These days it appears anyone is fair game for having their picture published online.

But, what happens if someone shares photos or videos of us without our permission? Is that an invasion of our privacy?

Although there are laws which are suppose to protect that which is published, it makes me wonder, due to the internet and all of the social networking sites, are we losing what we once held so sacred?

I’m thinking “maybe so”.

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

How would you feel if someone posted photos or videos of you online without your permission?

Would you feel your privacy was invaded?

Would you ask them to remove them?

Or is this even a concern for you?

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In recent weeks, news of the (2009) “Christmas Day Bomber” has been in the forefront.

In fact, it’s come to light the alleged suspect had been sending out warning signs for years by posting his feelings online.

In a report by Rueters

Abdulmutallab’s Internet postings on Facebook and Islamist chatrooms while he was at school in Togo and at university show a lonely youth struggling between extreme Islamic views and liberalism, according to the Washington Post.

Unfortunately it wasn’t until AFTER the incident on Flight 253 his writings were analyzed.

But, this isn’t uncommon.

Remember the shooting at Ft. Hood? The alleged suspect in that case had also allegedly published writings online.

Undoubtedly there have been many other cases of published warnings others ignored only to have some say, “If only….”

With blogs, chatrooms, forums, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace plus other social networking sites being so easy to access and publish on, many individuals who have “issues” are sharing warning signs. However, those warning signs are being missed.

Today’s Lesson

As bloggers we’re all over the internet. We have cyber friends all over the world, we follow links from comments and read dozens of articles as we’re researching. In fact, we never know what we may find or where our next click will take us.

But what happens if we land on a site that gives us a reason to question what’s written?

Should we quickly click off? Or, dig deeper?

If we feel the author of the words needs help or might harm someone, what responsibility do we have?

Or, do we have a responsibility?

Many of us will choose to mind our own business and not get involved, but by doing so, are we allowing others to harm themselves? Or, to hurt others?

Thus far I haven’t landed on a site where I questioned what was written, but I know it could happen.

What to do?

Today’s Assignment

If we land on a site or see a conversation in a chat room or on a forum that’s upsetting or suspicious, should we report it?

Or, is it best to turn a blind eye and just mosey on?

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Related articles by Zemanta

• Terror suspect’s online posts detail ‘loneliness’ (msnbc.msn.com)
• In online posts apparently by Detroit suspect, religious ideals collide (starting-points.blogspot.com)

Today’s Lesson

As many of you have noticed, I decorated my blog for the holidays.

Since I use a theme which has the “custom header feature”, adding the photo was simple. For the RSS widgets I searched for “holiday icons” and then recoded my widgets.

Listed below are a few new (to me) plugins I am testing.

1. First is Sexy Bookmarks by Josh Jones and Norman Yung which is visible at the bottom of each post.

   The Sexy Bookmarks plugin is easily customizable, looks good, doesn’t take up too much space and is positioned so readers will be reminded to Tweet, Digg, or use StumbleUpon, etc. to share a post.

2. The “Follow Me” plugin by WP Burn.com can be seen on the right of the page.

   This plugin is to remind our readers they can follow us on Twitter. The customization includes using different colors as well as different Twitter birds images.

3. The Wibiya toolbar can be seen at the bottom of the page.

   What I like about this toolbar is if you don’t want to clutter up your sidebars with an RSS feed, recent posts, etc., you can include them in the toolbar.This isn’t a plugin, but more of an add-on which requires an invitation. Just go to the Wibiya site and follow the instructions. In a matter of days you should receive an email from them and at that time you can set up an account and customize your toolbar.

4. Thanks to the suggestions from both Internet Strategist @ GrowMap and Betsy at Passing Thru I added Zemanta and Apture.

   In a nutshell, these two applications which work for all blogging platforms* make blogging easier and faster by suggesting photos, links, related articles, etc. for our posts. (Disclaimer: I’ve only tested them on WordPress.)

   Zemanta adds a interface to your dashboard from which you can drag and drop photos and/or links into your post as you’re writing it.

   

   Image via CrunchBase

   Apture adds icons which when clicked on, does the same.

   Zemanta also adds a “reblog” feature at the bottom of the post which makes cutting and pasting quotes much easier, plus and an option to add links to other posts which may be beneficial to our readers.

Thus far, the only downside I see to using some of the above applications is they do slow down the page load time.

Today’s Assignment

What are your favorite plugins or applications?

Care to share?

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Footnote: When using Zemanta on a self hosted blog, the Zemanta plugin must be used. For WordPress, the plugin can be downloaded here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Do you have a strategy for social bookmarking and crowdsourcing? (socialmedia.biz)
• Manage Your Social Networks In One Place With Pond (100 Invites!) (makeuseof.com)

A lot of good things have been written about Twitter. It helps to get your blog found, aids in social networking, expands your branding power, etc.

It’s also written that Twitter is another time consuming social networking tool.

Today’s Lesson

I haven’t joined Twitter yet. In fact, I’m rather hesitant about joining.

Here’s my thoughts. I join Twitter and start following a few bloggers and they follow me. Soon, my Twitter community starts to expand. My followers are going to be tweeting me (forgive me if I get the language wrong), maybe asking questions, etc.

If I didn’t answer a person’s question in a timely fashion, would they stop following me?

Would a lack of participation on Twitter affect my reputation in blogosphere?

Although my online presence might increase, would the time spent on Twitter be better spent on my blog, or visiting other blogs?

What if I were to get addicted to Twitter?

What do you think?

Today’s Assignment

If you’re on Twitter, what are its advantages and disadvantages?

When you sign onto to Twitter, it asks “What are you doing?” Do you really care what other bloggers are doing? Or is Twitter another numbers game?

Do you find you’re becoming addicted to Twitter?

If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, what’s stopping you?

I’m looking forward to your answers on this one. They’ll determine whether I join Twitter, or not.

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