Shout out to Craig Settles :)

I met Craig last week at the Rural Broadband Conference in Redding CA. He is a sharp guy and a saavy twitterer.

http://twitter.com/cjsettles

Here’s his site. Go give him some love!

http://www.successful.com/

Social Network Removes 5,000 Users For Putting On Weight During Holiday Season

Even if this was satire (which it is apparently NOT) it’s not funny~ Michelle

Techcrunch.com:
No doubt seeking attention by making controversial decisions and statements, elitist social networking site BeautifulPeople.com says it has kicked out 5,000 users because other members signaled that they became too chubby celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

Social Media Revolution

With Fresh Funding And A Hollywood PR Firm, Will Ad.ly Define Twitter Advertising?

The Grim Spectre of Monetization of Social Media lurks, mwhahaha! The Twitter app I use already slips ads into my stream, and I find that I ignore them, like all other adverts. I, like most other users of the ‘tubes, have become immune to advertising and they are wasting their time! ~Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/20/with-fresh-funding-and-a-hollywood-pr-firm-will-ad-ly-define-twitter-advertising/

I’m still not sure if the Twitter stream is the right place to be for advertising, but with the way the company set out to make it easy for developers to build upon their platform with open APIs, it’s no wonder so many ad networks have sprung up since it got started. Its massive growth and the fact that the San Francisco startup is a media and celebrity darling probably helped in that regard, too.

One of the companies that is dabbling with advertising on Twitter – even if Biz & co seem to be reluctant to do some serious testing of their own – is Ad.ly, an LA-based startup that launched about a month ago.

More at the link!

FriendFeed not dead…

Remember what I said about how until the SM gurus figure out how to monetize these apps, most of them would die a lingering death: Behold. And I personally think FriendFeed is one of the creepier SM apps in the ‘tubes. Stalk me much, ya dig? Just Sayin’.~ Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/19/friendfeed-not-dead-just-in-a-state-of-chrysalis-says-co-founder/

This weekend, a number of people had things to say about the decay and seemingly inevitable death of FriendFeed. That included us, twice. While this was going on, the FriendFeed team remained largely silent, even on their own product. But today, co-founder Paul Buchheit has responded.

More at the link!

Facebook Pulls Groups Into The Stream

I’m not sure yet if I like this, have to think about it. Gets more interesting for business apps tied to groups.~ Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/19/facebook-pulls-groups-into-the-stream/
Facebook is giving groups a little more prominence by testing ways to bring in messages from groups into the main stream on your News Feed. Up until now, group activity has remained segregated from the main feed. But some people on Facebook are now seeing messages posted to groups they belong to from their friends who also belong to the group. And group pages themselves now have their own Wall of messages from members.

More at the link!

OK, so here’s a clip of the Dark Side of Google

I would not be appreciative of having my GV messaged indexed. This leads me to the statement I frequently make in my classes: there is no expectation of privacy on the intertubes. None. Nada. Zip. That being said. reading the TOS and using privacy settings, along with maintaining control of your public image by using common sense improves your chances on staying under the radar. But still. C’mon Goog. Follow your own mantra: Don’t be evil. Or at least use Wil Wheaton’s: Don’t be a d*ck.~ Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/19/the-best-of-the-google-voice-public-messages/

By now you may have heard that Google indexed quite a few user’s Google Voice voicemail messages, and these were showing up in search results. Despite earlier speculation, this actually wasn’t an error, Google was doing this on purpose for users who had chosen to share their voicemails somewhere on the web.

More at the link!

3 Ways for Business to Take Full Advantage of Facebook

These points are the same ones that I teach in my FB Basics class. Privacy settings are your friend! ~Michelle

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2009/10/19/3-ways-for-businesses-to-take-full-advanage-of-facebook/3

Facebook continues to grow in popularity with small business to the point where it’s no longer a matter of if you should be utilizing this platform as how. It’s really no surprise to me that Facebook is generally deemed more useful for the small business than other social media tools, such as twitter. The Facebook platform and applications are such that a business could feasibly build their entire web presence there – particularly now that Fan pages can be viewed publicly by non Facebook users.

So, the question I want to dive into today is this: What’s the best way to approach Facebook for your business?

More at the link!

Why Small Business Digs Social Networks

Our rural challenge is getting the business people online first, then utilizing free and/or low cost solutions to reaching their customer base and building community. i recently did a presentation with local Chamber of Commerce members about Social Media and encountered significant resistance to the amount of time it takes to learn and use. This is the new way of doing business, and people will get there. Cultural change is slow ~Michelle

http://www.internetnews.com/webcontent/article.php/3844121

Why Small Business Digs Social Networks

Nearly half of small businesses surveyed have profiles on Facebook and Twitter and use social media to promote their businesses.

October 16, 2009
By David Needle: More stories by this author:

Small businesses don’t always have time to futz with the latest technology, but a new survey indicates a good many of them in the U.S. have jumped aggressively on the social network bandwagon.

About 45 percent of 2,000 U.S. small businesses surveyed last month said they have a presence or profiles on Facebook and Twitter to promote their businesses.

More at the link.

Uh, WHY? iPhone, anyone? Or even Palm Pre? Smartphone? Netbook?

This device is nigh on useless. Sill trying to figure out who green-lighted this “singletasker”. ~michelle

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/13/wikireader-packs-all-of-wikipedia-in-a-power-sipping-portable/

WikiReader packs all of Wikipedia in a power-sipping portable

The new WikiReader is a $99 portable device from the Openmoko group that stuffs every Wikipedia article into a pocket-friendly traveling companion. While those of us entrenched in technology day in and day out may scoff at the idea of having Wikipedia at the ready (we all have smartphones, remember?), this is something that might be able to make some waves with baby boomers and/or the technically petrified.

I’ll have a hands-on/review this week [UPDATE: see below] but the basic gist is that the unit uses two AAA batteries, a low-power CPU and monochrome touchscreen, and standard microSD cards to house all the articles. It’s not a connected device, either. Everything’s completely offline.