Stars in the Blogosphere

A Look at evernote.tumblr.com

This is a blog that I've been visiting recently to get tips and trick on using Evernote, a note-taking/note-sharing program that I use on my Macbook and Blackberry (cloud computing!). The blog itself is called "Ron's Evernote Tips".

It looks like this blog is the official tumblr of Evernote, though it has a single personality representing it, "Ron".

Ron posts small tip and tricks that can be used while working in Evernote. Many tumblers comment on the posts with questions or comments, and Ron does a great job of interacting with them. His goals are helping the tumblr community learn how to use Evernote more efficiently.

I would say this blog is categorized as a "Help Blog" or "Tips & Tricks Blog". It could be referred to as an Instructional Blog. It is somewhat organized with archiving and a few post tags, but it could use more tags to help users search through the different types of tips and tricks. The posts aren't daily but they are all very helpful, meaning that this blog doesn't abuse its posting privileges. 

Ron's Evernote Tips at www.evernote.tumblr.com

How to be Popular: On Social Media

Brogan outlines an arsenal of social media tools that can be used to increase the scope of audience and to make your blog more personalized. I didn't realize how many different platforms are out there to assist you in making yourself known on this cold, dark void known as the web. In fact, it makes it seem like the Internet is one big party, and these are different networking tools such as business cards (LinkedIn). Facebook can be used to give a business a personality just as much as it gives people a personality. Twitter can act as a "hub" of news and information about your company in short, 140 character broadcasts. Personally, I think it''s awesome how Brogan uses Tumblr accounts as "scratch books" to jot down text, audio, images and video.

tumblr logo credit: tumblr.

Get Wiki With It:

We talk a whole lot about wikis in Social Media Management, but honestly, they are the backbone of the new internet. Nearly every site that I connect to is a form of a wiki. One of my favorite wikis is Brickipedia which is all about Legos. I visit the site somewhere around 5-12 times a day to check if there are any new brick shapes and colors being unveiled. It isn't a Lego(R) sanctioned site, nor is it official, but it is a collaborative sharing of information about one common hobby, building Legos.

Projects like this are very much worth the time and effort. These people that are contributing content to wikis in order to inform the masses are HISTORIANS! They are doing the good work of man and recording history! Okay, I'm possibly over reacting, but without wikis, we would be susceptible to information edited by a few instead of approved by all.

Brickipedia is a very organized wikia with over 19k pages! I'm sure at least a couple hundred people contribute and organize the site!

TWITTER PLUS

Blog 2

Tweet Tweet. Tweet Tweet. Man, isn't Twitter such an awesome social networking site?
Here's mine:

 Now there's a lot of things I love about Twitter.
1. I use Twitter mainly because it is a short-form way of getting information and social statuses from my friends. It's also a way to communicate to people on a certain level.
2. It's functional for my use because it's easily accessible on my phone, which is the device I use 24 hours of the 24 hour day. I like the simplicity of the 140 char limit, but sometimes people say the most mindless things that I could care less about.
3. I would add a better video feature, where you could watch linked videos on a video player right in the middle of the tweet. I think most devices are capable of this and it would make watching videos that friends tweet much easier.
4. One thing I dislike about Twitter is the heavy promotion. I realize it's a free service, but the adverts are more intrusive than on "It that shall not be named" (facebook). Also, Trending Topics used to be a great feature of this social site, but now it's gone to rubbish.
5. Although Trending Topics have gone down the crapper, it still represents a very collaborative feature of Twitter. In order to get a Trending Topic to the face page of Twitter, it needs to be tweeted by literally MILLIONS of people. That means that MILLIONS of people have to be tweeting (talking) about the same thing, or idea, or place or whatever. I think that's incredible. When I see a Trending Topic worldwide, I know that it must be near global news headline status.

Now let's talk about Google+....

  This is my Google+ page. It's alright. I kinda, sorta use it. I maybe have 20 friends that I'm connected to right now, compared to my 700 on Facebook, but I still like it better.

Here are some reasons why I don't use G+ as frequently:
1. I don't use it as frequently as Twitter because my friends are not on Google+ that much. They all joined and then never logged on again. Even though everyone who is accessing their Gmail account is also logged into G+, they don't bother talking or even posting anything.
2. I think G+ is different from Facebook because it integrates many more features in it that Facebook didn't (until they saw Google add a feature, then they added the same one). Plus, (haha) Google owns Gmail, Youtube, Calendar, Images, News and pretty much everything that people on Facebook post. All of those aspects are integrated wonderfully into G+
3. The site is doing everything perfectly, it's just a matter of getting people in my "social circle" to be more active on the site. Google made many changes in the beta stages. In fact I was a beta user and suggested some changes. They run the social network perfectly, it's just a matter of popularity.
4. I'm not done-zo with this bad boy, oh no. In fact, I hold a fairly strong belief that Facebook will crash and burn eventually after it's IPO and everyone will come running back to G+ and all of its glory.

Roll Tribe!

Blog 1

Chris Brogan asks me: "Just what the heck are you doing with that blog, mister?"

"Come on, Adrian. Get it together."

And I say, "You know what, Chris Brogan? I wanna be heard. I want to see the laughter and hear the tears of my audience as they read about my life. More importantly, I want to stand out from everyone else on the World Wide Web so that when somebody scans over my internet presence known as Dead Parrot's Society (so silly) they walk away thinking, "That kid doesn't have a life, but I think he's pretty neat. I would hire him for my multinational company."

So what's the relationship between what I want from my blog and my goals? Let's take another look at my goals.

Some goals for me by the end of this quarter:
-Maintain a sexy-lookin' blog.
-Make my online profiles more private and clean.
-Learn how to manage multiple accounts.

(Before we continue, I want you to know that I'm not a shallow person. I like blogs of all shapes and sizes. But personally, I love a good sense of design.)

What makes a blog look good?

Hey hey hey, I didn't say I was the king of design and my blog is the hottest block of text on campus, but it's a work in progress. Like MCK once told me, 

"Font and color are fun to play with, 

but make sure your readers can actually read your posts.

 You can have a creative flair if you want, but do it appropriately."

-MCK

So there's a start to spicing up that blog of yours. Or how about Google's different gadgets? I've added Twitter gadget to my profile, so you can see what I'm saying when I'm not necessarily sitting at a computer, but when I'm on the go. I've also added a Google+ +1 button to the bottom of this page so that all my G+ homies can get Dead Parrots Society to go viral. Please click it if you have G+!!!!

Another goal of mine is to clean up my profiles, so I'm going to try not to ****** swear, and keep the nudity to a minimum.

No swearing?!?!

Dead Whats??

Captain's Log: Date: March 29, 2012A.D.... I've been stuck in this cold, lonely place for nearly 3 hours now. Water source is low, food source has depleted. I've begun nibbling at the leather shoelace of my Clark's for nutrients. There's nothing left to do besides survive and think. Maybe the occasional cry for help, but that hasn't worked.

But thinking has.

Yes, although I'm locked in a place that nobody wants to be at on a Thursday evening, and with the rapidly dropping temperatures of the infrastructure, I could still make progress on one thing: figuring out who I am.

Who am I?

I call me Adrian. That's a literal English translation of "Me llamo Adrian". That's right, I know a hint of Spanish language. I can't dance, and I make that known every weekend. I can roller blade, but I don't have very many opportunities to flaunt my skills.

Two of my favorite hobbies are Facebooking and Twittering. Those are hobbies, right? I joined Social Media Management because I'm not sure how to go about hiring a manager for my social networks. It's hard enough keeping in touch with 800 people, now I have another 300 that want to listen to what I have to say on Twitter. I figured M.C.K. might want to be a part of the Adrian Andrade Management Team. Or my fan club, either one.

O.K. Let us be real, I really wanted to learn more about social media and how it's used by companies and businesses. I believe that in the future, the way a company reaches out to its consumers is going to be mainly through social media, and nowadays knowledge about social marketing is a very valuable asset. 
Some goals for me by the end of this quarter:
-Maintain a sexy-lookin' blog.
-Make my online profiles more private and clean.
-Learn how to manage multiple accounts.

Long-term goal: Get Kimmy K to follow me back

In fact, I think that's why I'm a media major. I want to learn the business of media, kind of like that class, Business of Media. I'm driven by finances and budgets, I've even took a spreadsheet out to dinner once. It hasn't called back...

I just broke free of the mighty RTVC beast, so I have to go now. Enough with eating my shoes, I'm going to Casa.