Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Web 2.0 glossary
I'm looking forward to the upcoming Nten conference, where I'll be part of a panel on Blogging, tagging, flickring for the cause. As background info for Nten participants, I put together the following glossary of "Web 2.0" terminology. What's Web 2.0? Well, it's...
Social Signal in nonprofit blogging story
Today's Oakland Tribune features a story about nonprofit blogging. I'm quoted, but what's really exciting is that this is (I think) the first print reference to Social Signal
About this site
As you’re poking around the Social Signal web site, you might notice the cluster of red words in the right-hand sidebar. This cluster is called a "tag cloud". It represents all the tags that we use on this site: the keywords that we’ve assigned to different pages or blog posts to indicate what each story is about.
Our tag cloud is a visual representation of the range of content on the site. The tags that appear in the biggest letters are the tags that we write about a lot (like "SocialSignal" or "SocialBookmarking"). The smaller tags (like "blogher" and "workshops") link to topics that we’ve only written about once or twice.
You can click on any tag to see all the stories we’ve written about that topic — so the tag cloud is a handy way to navigate the site, as well as a quick picture of what we’re thinking about.
We decided to use a tag cloud as one of the main ways to navigate our site because tags are so central to the kind of work we do. For many of the projects we work on — especially web projects that build online communities by linking multiple web sites — tags are central to how information is organized, circulated, and discovered.
We think tagging is one of the most exciting ways for people to work together online. We hope that our tag cloud will be a fun way for you to explore how tagging works as a way to organize and link information thematically. And we hope you’ll use our tag cloud to learn more about tags and about tag-enabled services like social bookmarking and del.icio.us.
Online Community session at NetSquared North
Our first session at NetSquared North today covers online community engagement. We've started by sharing stories about online community projects we're working on now, including: Your Kamloops (Arjun Singh) site, blog, and mailing list largely one-way tools: typepad...
Live blogging today from NetSquared North
We’re live blogging today from NetSquared North, a gathering of folks interested in non-profit technology issues who are in town for the Northern Voice blogging conference. Check out the NetSquared North wiki here.
Our opening session decided on four topical discussions for the day:
10:10-11:20: Online community-building: blogging and beyond
1:00-2:05: Top 5 non-profit technology needs and the best practices for addressing them: non-profit capacity-building
How much is that Nazi in the window?
Yesterday we began our "seasonal shopping" -- the process of buying Chanukah gifts for our daughter, and Christmas gifts for her cousins. As we left Vancouver's fabulous Kidsbooks with our two-year-old and her new dreidel book, we wandered to the windows next door....
10 ways to keep online dialogue on topic
I've spent the past two days at a Ohio State for a conference on Building Democracy Through Online Citizen Deliberation, which has been a terrifically productive gathering. One session consisted of an interesting conversation about how to structure online deliberation...
Blogs and Dogs
For those of you who suspect that I'm having too much fun at work these days, let me note my upcoming participation in the Banff Centre's Blogs and Dogs workshop. This is a great chance to learn the basics of blogging, or push your blogging skills in new directions....
Mmm, RSS.
All I want for tagsgiving is a del.icio.us turkey.
Make your nonprofit more effective with RSS aggregation
TechSoup invited me to be part of their online event on Web 2.0 this week. Since I was on call for a discussion about social bookmarking and aggregation, I put together a short overview of how aggregation can help nonprofits, and another on how social bookmarking can...
The Harvard Business Review
Web 2.0 glossary
I'm looking forward to the upcoming Nten conference, where I'll be part of a panel on Blogging, tagging, flickring for the cause. As background info for Nten participants, I put together the following glossary of "Web 2.0" terminology. What's Web 2.0? Well, it's...
Social Signal in nonprofit blogging story
Today's Oakland Tribune features a story about nonprofit blogging. I'm quoted, but what's really exciting is that this is (I think) the first print reference to Social Signal
About this site
As you’re poking around the Social Signal web site, you might notice the cluster of red words in the right-hand sidebar. This cluster is called a "tag cloud". It represents all the tags that we use on this site: the keywords that we’ve assigned to different pages or blog posts to indicate what each story is about.
Our tag cloud is a visual representation of the range of content on the site. The tags that appear in the biggest letters are the tags that we write about a lot (like "SocialSignal" or "SocialBookmarking"). The smaller tags (like "blogher" and "workshops") link to topics that we’ve only written about once or twice.
You can click on any tag to see all the stories we’ve written about that topic — so the tag cloud is a handy way to navigate the site, as well as a quick picture of what we’re thinking about.
We decided to use a tag cloud as one of the main ways to navigate our site because tags are so central to the kind of work we do. For many of the projects we work on — especially web projects that build online communities by linking multiple web sites — tags are central to how information is organized, circulated, and discovered.
We think tagging is one of the most exciting ways for people to work together online. We hope that our tag cloud will be a fun way for you to explore how tagging works as a way to organize and link information thematically. And we hope you’ll use our tag cloud to learn more about tags and about tag-enabled services like social bookmarking and del.icio.us.
Online Community session at NetSquared North
Our first session at NetSquared North today covers online community engagement. We've started by sharing stories about online community projects we're working on now, including: Your Kamloops (Arjun Singh) site, blog, and mailing list largely one-way tools: typepad...
Live blogging today from NetSquared North
We’re live blogging today from NetSquared North, a gathering of folks interested in non-profit technology issues who are in town for the Northern Voice blogging conference. Check out the NetSquared North wiki here.
Our opening session decided on four topical discussions for the day:
10:10-11:20: Online community-building: blogging and beyond
1:00-2:05: Top 5 non-profit technology needs and the best practices for addressing them: non-profit capacity-building
How much is that Nazi in the window?
Yesterday we began our "seasonal shopping" -- the process of buying Chanukah gifts for our daughter, and Christmas gifts for her cousins. As we left Vancouver's fabulous Kidsbooks with our two-year-old and her new dreidel book, we wandered to the windows next door....
10 ways to keep online dialogue on topic
I've spent the past two days at a Ohio State for a conference on Building Democracy Through Online Citizen Deliberation, which has been a terrifically productive gathering. One session consisted of an interesting conversation about how to structure online deliberation...
Blogs and Dogs
For those of you who suspect that I'm having too much fun at work these days, let me note my upcoming participation in the Banff Centre's Blogs and Dogs workshop. This is a great chance to learn the basics of blogging, or push your blogging skills in new directions....
Mmm, RSS.
All I want for tagsgiving is a del.icio.us turkey.
Make your nonprofit more effective with RSS aggregation
TechSoup invited me to be part of their online event on Web 2.0 this week. Since I was on call for a discussion about social bookmarking and aggregation, I put together a short overview of how aggregation can help nonprofits, and another on how social bookmarking can...
OneZero
Vendetta of the week: Twitter ponzi schemes for building followers
Twitter friends and followers are more than statistics. They’re real relationships, real people. When we get so obsessed with the number that we’re willing to entrust the following process to a ponzi scheme, we’ve lost sight of the purpose of this — or any other — social network: to connect us, and to help us communicate.
Twitter quickstart: 10 ways to make time to Twitter
Whether you’re an ambivalent Twitter newbie or a chronic tweeter in the throes of a growing addiction, your tweeting is going to take time that you’re currently using for something else. Here are my suggestions for activities you can pare back on — or give up entirely — to make room for tweeting.
Twitter quickstart: Effective twittering in 5 minutes a week
If you’re new to Twitter, you want to quickly eliminate the five sure signs you’re a Twitter newbie. Here are some quick ways you can follow people, attract followers, and keep your feed regularly updated — all in less than five minutes a week.
Twitter quickstart: Your first 21 tweets
If you need to stake a claim to your Twitter identity, but you don’t know what to tweet about, here’s an easy way to get your Tweeting underway. You don’t need to look like the world’s most longstanding Twitterer (after all, Oprah just started tweeting last week!), but an empty Twitter feed is just, well, a little forlorn.So I’ve taken the liberty of writing your first 21 tweets for you.
Social media strategy and tech tips, now available through Firefox search
Grab the Social Signal Firefox search tool and get access to all of our great social media resources from your browser’s search bar.
3 great options for Twitter and delicious integration
Tweeting web links is one of the simplest and most effective ways to offer regular, useful info of value to your followers. While you’re tweeting those links, you can also bookmark them in delicious.
Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin
Hearing Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Innovation reminded me of a blog post I wrote last year after attending a talk by Michael Axelin, V.P. of Softlines Design and Product Development at Target (and fellow Oberlin alum). Both talks helped me refine my own thinking on how social media can support business innovation — a key benefit of social media that is neglected in favor of a pure focus on marketing.
3 steps to jumpstart your corporate Twitter account by moving friends and followers from other accounts
If you’re using multiple Twitter accounts, you don’t have to start each one from scratch.
JSTOR DAILY
Vendetta of the week: Twitter ponzi schemes for building followers
Twitter friends and followers are more than statistics. They’re real relationships, real people. When we get so obsessed with the number that we’re willing to entrust the following process to a ponzi scheme, we’ve lost sight of the purpose of this — or any other — social network: to connect us, and to help us communicate.
Twitter quickstart: 10 ways to make time to Twitter
Whether you’re an ambivalent Twitter newbie or a chronic tweeter in the throes of a growing addiction, your tweeting is going to take time that you’re currently using for something else. Here are my suggestions for activities you can pare back on — or give up entirely — to make room for tweeting.
Twitter quickstart: Effective twittering in 5 minutes a week
If you’re new to Twitter, you want to quickly eliminate the five sure signs you’re a Twitter newbie. Here are some quick ways you can follow people, attract followers, and keep your feed regularly updated — all in less than five minutes a week.
Twitter quickstart: Your first 21 tweets
If you need to stake a claim to your Twitter identity, but you don’t know what to tweet about, here’s an easy way to get your Tweeting underway. You don’t need to look like the world’s most longstanding Twitterer (after all, Oprah just started tweeting last week!), but an empty Twitter feed is just, well, a little forlorn.So I’ve taken the liberty of writing your first 21 tweets for you.
Social media strategy and tech tips, now available through Firefox search
Grab the Social Signal Firefox search tool and get access to all of our great social media resources from your browser’s search bar.
3 great options for Twitter and delicious integration
Tweeting web links is one of the simplest and most effective ways to offer regular, useful info of value to your followers. While you’re tweeting those links, you can also bookmark them in delicious.
Using social media to drive business innovation: insights from Guy Kawasaki and Target’s Michael Axelin
Hearing Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Innovation reminded me of a blog post I wrote last year after attending a talk by Michael Axelin, V.P. of Softlines Design and Product Development at Target (and fellow Oberlin alum). Both talks helped me refine my own thinking on how social media can support business innovation — a key benefit of social media that is neglected in favor of a pure focus on marketing.
3 steps to jumpstart your corporate Twitter account by moving friends and followers from other accounts
If you’re using multiple Twitter accounts, you don’t have to start each one from scratch.
THE VERGE
Creating a family social media policy
The ongoing conversation in our home about how to use social media — and in particular, how to do so in a way that is both safe and enjoyable for our kids — has helped us evolve a de facto social media policy governing how we engage with social media as a family. I decided it was time to go from de facto to actual, recorded policy. Use our policy as a jumping-off point for your own.
10 ways academics can use Twitter
M.H. Beals has a terrific overview of Social Media for Researchers and Academics, based on a one-way workshop held at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services in Edinburgh. Her post provides a great roadmap of the different ways academics can use...
The social media obituary
His real break came as a stuntman in the Hollywood movie “On the Beach,” about survivors of a nuclear war, which was filmed in Melbourne, his hometown, in 1959. It starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. “He watched Gregory Peck do 27 takes and thought, ‘A...
Who would you be without the Internet?
Without the internet I wouldn't be able to write. In the realms of pre-internet media, one either comes to the publisher/editor/gatekeeper with mad skills and gets published, or he gets a generic pink slip with a one-line apology. You can't use this system of...