Comments on: Social Media is People (but more enriching than Soylent Green*)

By: » If you move, will they follow? Marketing the move of the Web Development Blog Update #1. | Web Development Blog: Heidi Adams Cool

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:18:48 +0000

[...] but not least, social media is people, and that includes LinkedIn. In the process of answering questions I've met several interesting [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:24:18 +0000

I agree stumbleupon is useful and I really need to start using twitter as a lot of my friends use it.

By: Johnathan

Johnathan — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:07:46 +0000

Those sites are all well and good, but they're all limiting themselves to fit older versions of IE. Imagine what we could do if IE was not here anymore? This article brought a smile to my eyes: http://digg.com/software/Mozilla_IExplorer_biggest_problem_in_advancing_the_Web "Mozilla: IExplorer biggest problem in advancing the Web. news.cnet.com — IE still doesn't remotely approach Firefox, but we do hope to see IE standards compliance and its modern features improved. The single biggest problem now in moving the Web forward is having to deal with people using back versions of IE."

By: Heidi Cool

Heidi Cool — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:21:57 +0000

Jan, Sorry to hear about your friends. Ideally sarcasm is applied with care and moderation. But it can easily slide into cruelty. Especially if it evolves into a competition like you describe. But as cruel as our species may sometimes be, I think there is also a lot of kindness in this world. Best wishes to you and your friends.

By: JanVerhoeff

JanVerhoeff — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:38:48 +0000

Soylent Green was the reality we all think we've escaped. Canibalism isn't just the physical eating of flesh. We've canibalized our own kind since the beginning of time. Today, I watched two people I love dearly ravage each other through conversational sarcasm. It's like a desease, once the competition starts, we don't seem to have the ability to stop it and sarcastic witt takes over and destroys relationships.

By: Heidi Cool

Heidi Cool — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:29:46 +0000

Thanks Melissa! Time is the critical element. None of us have enough of it, so we have to focus our energies where it counts. You've paid attention to your traffic and realize that Facebook and Reddit work well for you so it makes perfect sense that you should focus your attention there. My top referring site is StumbleUpon. I don't use it as often as I should but at least the toolbar makes it easy to thumb things up when I see them. I was always more of a Powncer than a Tweeter (I feel constrained by 140 character limits!), but I would still follow Twitter from time to time. I get some good leads there on articles I should read, strategies to apply etc. I've found that TweetDeck makes it much easier to sort through the stream. And now that Pownce is gone, it is a good destination for me to keep track of people I once followed on Pownce. For you I wonder if it wouldn't be helpful to set up a Twitter search on your topics of interest. For instance, if you do a Twitter search for SEO, you can then also subscribe to its RSS feed in Google Reader. Then you can just peruse it whenever you peruse your other feeds and if you see things worth replying to, you can do so then. FriendFeed is also a great way to keep track of the people you follow so that you can see what they are posting on a variety of services. In the end it's a matter of balancing priorities. We still have to work, eat, sleep, socialize, etc. So we just have to pick the social media tools that work best for us. Best wishes on finding the time!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:21:55 +0000

I know everyone loves Twitter; I just don't and I really don't have the time for it. I keep reading articles like yours and realize I must find the time. Stumbleupon obviously brings me a lot of traffic, but my best quality traffic is from Facebook and Reddit. I agree with Andrew on the title. Good job!

By: Heidi Cool

Heidi Cool — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:50:24 +0000

Thanks Andrew! Soylent Green popped into my head as soon as I'd typed "social media is people" so I immediately typed it as well. Then I pondered it a bit and wondered if it was too creepy or tangential, but decided to keep it for that very reason, it would get people's attention because they'd wonder what it was about. I'm glad you mentioned it because it is a good reminder that we're writing for people—not just robots. These days so many are consumed with the idea of ensuring that our keys words are in the right places for SEO, but it's worth remembering that other words impact our reader's choices. Happy New Year!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:24:23 +0000

I have to admit, it was the "Soylent Green" reference in your title that drew me in. (That's what a well-written headline is supposed to do, right?) Because I didn't think I needed to read yet another blog post about social media. But I'm glad I did. Good work.

By: Heidi Cool

Heidi Cool — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:57:12 +0000

Thanks Brad, It is a great bunch. I'm going to try to make it to the January meeting. I believe the plan is "taco night." Speaking of Cleveland and Social Media, Tech Czar, has come up with some interesting ideas on how we can promote social media in Cleveland. If you've not already read his article, The Cleveland Social Media Experiment, give it a read through and share your ideas.