Social Networking...Keeping It All Together!

In order to capitalize on the social networking phenomenon, you need to ask yourself some questions....

Who are you?

What are you looking for?

Where do you want this machine to take you?

Why are you here?

When will you have the time?

How do you exchange your ideas?

I am sure you know this but there are oodles and oodles of social sites out on the web to join, and though your first inclination may be to jump on as many as possible, if you become part of too many you will never keep up! Your efforts will be diluted and counterproductive. The idea is to connect, build mutually beneficial relationships, and enjoy a little self expression.

Are you a music buff, does your business fall into or compliment the music world? Then you may like one of these:

Bebo * Imeem * Pandora * Ijigg * Last.FM

http://www.social-music.info/

Are you an art or photography connoisseur, or perhaps you are trying to promote a creative business endeavor? Here are a few sites for you:

Flickr * Stumbleupon * Mixx * Squidoo * Myspace

Are you a news or information addict, does your business provide a service that would be benefited by the exchange of information? Then here are some sites to check out:

Digg * Reddit * Del.icio.us * Mixx * Twitter * Plurk

Are you part of the video revolution or would video help your business? Then these sites may interest you:

Youtube * Vimeo * Seesmic * Dailymotion * Break * Stumbleupon

Are you looking for business collaboration and networking? Then pop on by a few of these:

LinkedIn * Plaxo * Startupnation * Zoom Info * Biznik

I haven't even scratched the surface with this list, I could literally go on for days maybe even months listing social and networking sites. So how do you choose which to join and spend what little time you have on? Your personality, motivation, business style and/or type will dictate which social sites you should sign up for.

Whichever way you go the trick with these sites is to know the website's demographic, to be active, and like the name says BE SOCIAL. If you are not meeting people, creating rapport, and establishing mutually beneficial relationships these sites will not help you. Like high school the more popular you are, the more people you will meet, and the more visible your business and website will be.

Finally do not fake it until you make it, the posers are easy to spot, and they will eat you up and spit you out. Don't waste your time, if you can not be there and be real find another way to market yourself and your business.

Here are few more sources you may want to check out:

Wikipedia Social Website List

http://www.mobile-social-network.info/

http://www.social-travel.info/

http://www.social-tv.info/

Brought to you by: GetSmartWomen

Windows Live Writer...A Blogger's BFF

Nothing excites me more than when I find something that makes my life easier-ok well almost nothing, I do like chocolate, Thai food, long walks on the beach (I need to get out more). This need to simplify, systematize, and ease my over encumbered lifestyle made me the Get Smart Tech Chic that I am today. I work hard but it's also about working smart, and when I find something that helps me reach my work less play more goal, I have to share it.

Let's talk about Windows Live Writer, some of you may already use this cool tool and some of you may be anti-establishment Down with the Man types that don't go near Bill Gates is taking over the world Microsoft gadgets. Well I am in, maybe not love, but deep infatuation with Live Writer, it has made my blogging, article writing, and website updating so much easier!!

This one tool allows me to create a blog post offline in the format of my blog, then publish directly to my blog-works with most major blog services, without going through a bunch of convoluted steps. I can also insert hyperlinks, pictures, maps, videos, tags, etc., and all from this one little FREE program. Now not all blog platforms are supported, ActiveRain for instance is not supported, and those blogs that are embedded in a website are usually not compatible for the one click publish feature.

What you can do though is change the view and copy and paste from there. So what do I mean by change the view? No it's not an everything looks brighter with your shades on reference. What I mean is that you have four views, web layout and preview (this is blog layout and view), normal (basic Word format), and html. So you can write the post/article publish to Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, etc., then convert to html for your website, ActiveRain, Trulia, or other random blog platform. Last but not least, you can switch to normal view to place your masterpiece on those article distribution sites.One stop shop is what I call that, isn't it Grand!!

Now that I have told you all the great things....there is one thing I am not keen on and that is the insert video plug-in. It will only allow you to insert web based videos not videos that are stored on your hard drive. Now for the most part your videos are probably acquired from and stored on the web, but for myself we have tons of Get Smart Women instructional videos that start on our external hard drive and then move to one of our web sources so I want to be able to do both. Yes I know I want it all-I want my cake and I want to eat too! I never understood that saying if you got the cake of course you want to eat, what are you just going to stare at it?

Anyway for now if you use Live Writer your videos have to be stored in the big web world, Youtube, Helloworld, Screencast, Seesmic, Vimeo, where ever you have them or you can add an extra step in by publishing without the video and then going to your blog and inserting the video there. This feature may change they seem to be adding new plug-ins all the time, like the Google gods and their constantly improving gadgets, they understand that to stay "cool" you need to have more and more accessories tools.

So now the Smart Gal rating 4.5 out 5 Smart Gals here:

Ok Brandon Turner from Microsoft is trying to get 5 out 5 Smart Gals, what they won't do for the extra half...can't do it until I try out the Soapbox but here is the comment he left:

"With the newest version of Windows Live Writer(was released this week) you can upload videos from your harddrive, they go Soapbox(MSN Video). This is just a preview release, so if you find any bugs, feel free to contact me. For more information on the new release:http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/"

Google Translator Widget

Come One...Come All!!

Ok, so I was on Krapsody's blog the other day seeing what's up and looking around I saw this translator widget (if you're questioning what that is, take a gander over to your right, scroll down a bit-yep you got it, that is a Google Translator widget) and as you can see I had to have it. So I Googled it, found it, and then put it on my site. I like the mini version over the big daddy in your face one.

If you do not want or can't put this handy dandy little tool on your blog and/or website there is still the free online translation tool I talked about a while back so you can use that. I just think this tool is less labor intensive and a lot more versatile-just me though.

This is the freak that I am, I have been getting a kick out of clicking on the translator to see my blog in French, Spanish, etc... (probably going to skew my site stats-duh!) I had no idea I wrote so beautifully in those other languages-I am quite impressed with myself!

I am not sure how much it will be used but because I want everyone to be able to hang out on this blog I thought it was a nice addition to the page. As a side note, according to Lijit (check out the map icon also located on the right side) I did have some viewers from Calcutta-sorry no Bengali translation...bummer, Luxembourg-oh yeah we have French and German for you buddy, San Paulo-nice we have the Portuguese for you, Tripoli-dang no Arabic, and so on and so forth.

So we will please some but not all, but well that just sums up life doesn't it.

Alrighty then so on this tech toy I give it 5 out 5 Smart Gals (Oh yeah that's right top ranking-this is mostly because it kept me entertained for a good 20 minutes today)

Cost FREE....entertainment value PRICELESS!

Why I Like Lijit.com

Lijit is a “personal” search engine it is a tool that allows people to see what you are up to in the big beautiful social Internet world! It covers social and group associations, all of your content, blog statistics, and your blog buddies.

So let’s break down what I like about each area:

Social & Group Associations - Lijit is a handy way of showing people where you are at and how they can find you. The widget is easy to create, you can put it anywhere, and it doesn’t take up much room.




My content – This portion really falls in line with the social & group associations, by clicking on the icons you can go see what I am digging, stumbling, favorite(ing), Twitting, etc. You can also use the search box to search through my blog posts. The thing that would make this a bit cooler would be if you could use the search box and it searched all my social sites as well as my blog for content. It would also be cool if they could add Ted.com I love that site and Qik.com so I have another reason to get a new phone (hint, hint).

Blog Statistics - I like this feature most of all. I am a visual person and I have control issues like clear cut organization with cool graphics, Lijit has that and more. The site shows you page views, top posts, searches, and where readers came from. The where is the coolest because it not only looks at where on the Internet you are coming from but where in the world. It breaks it all down with summaries, charts, graphs, and pictures – yes I am a nerd and proud of it!




Blog Buddies - I haven’t really availed myself of this feature, it includes your blogroll, any blogs you want to watch (Google reader does this for me), blogs in MyBlogLog communities (easier to pick thru than MyBlogLog), and other Lijit users (I don’t have any Lijit buddies).

Search Engine - I hadn’t checked this feature out much until I wrote this post but it is kinda cool if you know what you’re doing with it. You can put in search terms and it will first search my blogs and then you can also search the web (web portion powered by the Google gods). I know that a couple of people have used it because my stats told me so! Whoever you are I hope you found what you were looking for, thanks for not trying to look up porn!

Support – Initially I wasn’t too happy with their support because I couldn’t figure out how to get to them quickly (it’s that instant gratification control thing I have). Then one day I got frustrated because I couldn’t figure out how to get Lijit to recognize MyBlogLog and Flickr, in my frustration I blasted a b*#^chy twit/tweet, whatever. It said something like, “Lijit is p#@^*ing me off and the worst part of it is that it’s probably my fault” well within minutes Tara from Lijit Twitters me. So sweetly too; “I saw your twitter can I help you?” Once I got over my shock and Big Brother conspiracy moment I got her to help me, and I apologized for slamming them on Twitter (my mother told me my mouth would get me in trouble one day)!

Walking the Talk – So it turns out that Lijit is using Twitter to get in touch with their members and for customer support. That is pretty cool…I like it! I am not sure how long they’ll keep that up, have you seen what people put on that site (well duh you just saw what I brilliantly put on there)? But it is pretty sweet that they are out there in the thick of things.

So be careful what you say on Twitter - they are watching….

Daily Motion Video Widget

I was checking out a site the other day and they had this great video widget, always looking for the next best widget I clicked on it. The “videowall” that is what they call it was from Daily Motion, France’s provider of online video content from both user-generated and media partnership sources. Basically this site is a much much smaller version of Youtube, like Youtubes 2nd cousin, but the cool thing about it is no company stamp and the video wall.

Videowalls let you display a group of videos on your site with a slick interface. You can display up to 81 videos in a Videowall. You can create Videowalls from a user or group profile page by clicking the "Create a Videowall" button, located in the profile pane just beneath the user or group description.

The videowall has so many applications for blogs, social sites, websites, etc. you can use the wall to display marketing and advertising videos, company profiles, or just fun stuff. The wall is small like most widgets (but it can get rather large, up to 81 videos- wow) which means it can be displayed in a prominent location on your site, so people do not have search around to find your video content.

A couple of logistical points:

· MAXIMUM ALLOWED VIDEO DURATION: 20 minutes
· MAXIMUM ALLOWED FILE SIZE: 150MB
· ADVISED VIDEO SETTINGS:
o MP4 (H264), MOV, WMV, AVI formats (many are supported)
o 320x240, 640x480 or 1280x720 resolution
o 25 frames per second (framerate or fps)
If you want to upload videos longer than 20 minutes or in High Definition, become a motionmaker

What is a motionmaker you ask?

A MotionMaker is a creative user who does not have any limits to the length or file size of videos they can upload. The MotionMaker’s videos may be featured on the homepage, within channels, or elsewhere on the Dailymotion site.

In order to join the program, first register under the appropriate creative user category (filmmaker, reporter, musician, entertainer, or extreme) and accept the special terms and conditions. Once you have registered, label one of your videos as “creative content” on the video edit page. Your video will be transmitted to the Dailymotion team, which will review it for compliance with MotionMaker standards in order to validate your status.

So get out there and make some of those cool video walls and let me know how it goes. I am still building mine it should be up soon, check back.

Blogs That Talk

So you are sitting down to write your blog, you have tons of ideas and you are ready to go, but then the idea of sitting down organizing and typing out your thoughts just seems too tedious for words! So what do you do? Well you could just do a video but for us ego driven women that is work in its own right. To do a video you have to do your hair, put your make-up on, find the right top, set the right lighting……

I like to mix it up a bit and find new ways to do things, really I like to find easier ways to do things, but new and easy go hand in hand for me. I started playing around on the internet, I really didn’t know what I was looking for, but then like a vision I found BlogTalkRadio.com. Interesting, I do not have to write or get gussied up and I can pull other people into my blog by interviewing them. New, easy, and it is free what more could a smart girl ask for?!

So what is it this talk radio thing, well low and behold it is a social networking website….surprise, surprise. According to the site you have the features listed below as part of your membership.

*Free Internet radio talk show: No software download Free.
*Shared Revenue Program. [banner and audio adds, host plugs]
*Live Chat: Lets hosts chat with listeners during and after live show
*Multiple participants: Receive up to 5 simultaneous guests/listeners on your show
*Promotional Tools: Copy and paste flash player and buttons to any blog or web site
*Show Archive: Saved automatically and available as MP3, RSS subscription or iTunes
*Reminders: Customized alerts by email or phone of upcoming shows
*Friends and Favorites; Collect listeners and add your favorite shows
*Customizable Profile: Add video, a blog, links to other sites or other widgets

What I like about this concept is that you can meet more people, mix up the drudgery of day to day blogging, and you do not have to worry about spell check. Nice!! Now there are some of you that are saying what am I going to talk about and who am I going to interview? My answer is the sky’s the limit! Have fun with this, get creative, hide in the anonymity of radio. Of course we will have to see if I can walk the talk because Get Smart Women has just signed up and we are working on our radio platform and schedule.

If the idea of radio listeners scares the bejeezuz out of you, there are other ways to put audio interviews and audio tracts on your blog or website. You can also have your audio transcribed and put that on your website as a downloadable resource. I wasn't kidding when I said the sky’s the limit…..so go crazy!!

Here are a few links to check out:

http://castingwords.com/

http://www.greatteleseminars.com/

http://www.mychingo.com/

http://recordedmoments.com/

http://thebasementventures.com/

http://www.helloworld.com/seeclearly/

http://www.audioacrobat.com/