6 posts tagged “blogs”
(Crossposted from www.c4chaos.com)
My previous solution was to use stand-alone word processors, and even Gmail and Google Docs to compose longer blog entries and cut-and-paste them into the blog editor. Most of the time it works because blog editors now support rich-text HTML formats. But not all blog editors render the formatting correctly. Also it's cumbersome to use different web applications, because I had to switch from one browser tab to another just to copy-and-paste my entry.
Enter, Performancing. It's a FireFox plugin that sits neatly at the bottom of your browser (via split window). This means that you can tab to your different blogs and copy-and-paste away. As a bonus, it supports popular blogging API such as Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger, and more so you can automatically publish your post to multiple blogs. Another BIG thing I like about Performancing is that it supports raw HTML editing. This makes it easier for me to add and preview embedded objects like videos and audio players in the blog post.
Perfomancing is still VERY useful for social networking blogs which don't have a blogging API that is supported by Performancing, e.g. MySpace, FaceBook, Vox, and Zaadz. As an example, I composed this blog entry and automatically published it to my Typepad blog. Using Performancing, I can easily crosspost to my Zaadz and Vox blogs by copy-and-pasting. It's perfect for crossposting as well as composing original entries on your other blogs. The editor sits at the bottom of the browser, you can hide/unhide it easily, and you can save multiple “Notes” for later posting on your blogs. And did I mention that it's FREE?
There are a lot of functionality that I haven't covered. So give it a spin and discover them for yourselves. I'm already happy with the features I mentioned above. It's enough to make me improve my blogging mojo.
To sum it up, Performancing is My New Favorite Firefox Add On.
Performancing by Performancing
Performancing is a full-featured blog editor that sits right in your Firefox browser and lets you post to your blog easily. You can drag and drop formatted content, including images, from the page you are browsing and take notes as well as post to your blog.
The session begins…. I'll be posting real-time blog updates on zBlog:~C4Chaos so please check the updates there, or feed from tag = BBS2006. Also check out ~my Flickr stream: tag = BBS2006.
(Crossposted from zBlog:~C4Chaos)
A week from now I'll be attending the Blog Business Summit 2006 Conference here in the Emerald City. I'll be representing my blogging-self and Zaadz. I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of corporate and personal bloggers and speakers
and learn more things about the technology and business domains of
blogging. Will take lots of notes and photos. Needless to say, I'll be
blogging from the conference to share with you a thing or two. Kosmic Blogging is about to go mainstream ;)
(Crossposted from www.c4chaos.com)
I've been blogging for almost three years now. I've met a lot of people online and offline because of my blog. I landed a cool job because I blog. Yet my blog is still virtually invisible within the vastness of the blogosphere. I'm really serious whenever I say that I think I only have around ten (10) frequent readers. If you look at the comment section of my entries for the past couple of years, most of them (like 90%), are Zen-like in their emptiness. No big deal. That didn't stop me from keeping on. I'm still at it going strong. I even have three interconnected blogs to prove it. I don't call them ~Ubiquitous Nirvana just to be cute.
But even with my experience with blogging, I always continue to learn new things from people who've been blogging for a while. Case in point: The 120 Day Wonder: How To Evangelize a Blog by the uber VC Wizard Guy Kawasaki. In it Mr. Kawasaki listed his blogging tips, in the context of his marketing experience. I find some of his tips very useful, while others I don't resonate that much with, simply because my approach and intention for blogging is different than his.
For example, one of Mr. Kawasaki's tips is to think of your blog as a “book” not “dairy” – to present your blog as a “product.” That's a cool advice to make a blog of higher quality than the blog next door. However, in my case, since day one I've never thought of my blog as a “book” or a “product” that I'm out there to evangelise. My blog is primarily for expression. It's more like snapshots of this stream of consciousness. It's neither a diary nor a book, but it can also be both. I make extensive use of tags and categories to organize the streams into sub-streams in order to have clearer context when read from a higher vantage point. But I don't plan them ahead. I just let the context and the connections between context happen over time. I have more trust on serendipity than my own ingenuity.
Another tip from Mr. Kawasaki is to ”answer the little man.” This is another useful advice. I also find myself talking to the “little man” before I blog something of significance. What is the value of this rant? Am I just trying to make myself look cool on this post? What am I trying to accomplish with this essay? Is this post compassionate or would it create more suffering? However, there are times when I just post whatever. And there are also times when the “little man” is wrong. This is my blog you little man! Shut the f*ck up and just let me FLOW!
Then again, Mr. Kawasaki's tips, as useful as they are, are not for the majority. There will always be bloggers who would rant and destroy rather than create value. There will always be bloggers who would focus more on themselves rather than ideas. There will always be bloggers who would focus more on ideas rather than themselves. And there will always be bloggers who would do all of the above. That's because bloggers go through stages of moral development. And so their blogs too.
(Crossposted from ~C4Chaos@Zaadz.com) Check out this cool interview with Chris Anderson (The Long Tail dude) over at Typepad. Here's one awesome quote guaranteed to pump up all Kosmic Bloggers out there. How do you think blogs fit into the Long Tail economy? Exactly! Can't wait to read The Long Tail book. It's now sitting on my zBook:Bookshelf. Kick ass and be still. ~C (for Chris Anderson's Long Tail rocks!) 
Thirsty
Uploaded by Lopez1 on 10 Jun '06, 12.36am PDT.
(This article was orginally published on ~C4Chaos@Zaadz.com)
“The Friendster patent isn't a reason why I don't do social networks anymore. I simply find that they are annoying. I get TONS of emails asking me to join things like LinkedIn, Friendster, Orkut, and other social networks… I hate these things. Why? Cause I have a blog. My email address and my cell phone number are always on my blog. Why do I need a social network?”
That's Robert Scoble ranting his frustrations on social networks. Can't blame the guy because he's popular, so naturally tons of people would like to “network” with him and become his “friends.” Ditching social network is of course, Scoble's and anybody's prerogative. (And ditto on the Friendster patent. I think it's lame too.)
Social networking is a useful technology but it's not for everyone. But unlike Scoble, most people join social networks not to be found, but to find others who they already know, to link up with others whom they want to know, and/or to have those serendipitous encounters, in hyper-speed (as opposed to going to bars or walking down the streets). Of course these are all possible with blogging (as Scoble had implied), but not everyone likes to blog. A lot of people don't check blogs. A lot of people don't like to have blogs. Blogging is not for everyone. Unlike Scoble, you cannot just google other people and then have their email and phone number spit out on search results pages. Most people would be terrified to have their email and phone numbers on google pages anyway. Now this is where the usefulness of social network services comes in.
Social networks insulate
people from the vastness of cyberspace. Social networks offer tools
that help people find each other easier than googling one another. Most
social networks also offer tools such as blogging, photo sharing,
dating, meetups, calendar sharing, etc. that make it easier for groups
of people to organize things, share information publicly or privately
(within their network), or just to keep in touch with each other.
However, due to the explosion of social networking services, with each of them promising to give people the best social networking experience, it's easier for people to get lost in the sea of social networks especially if they've joined everyone of them. The trick of course is to pick the social networks that are right for you and stick with them. Some social networks have specialties (e.g. Flickr for photosharing, YouTube for video sharing, etc.) while others have the “good ole networking” theme (e.g. MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, Tribe, etc.). The more one limits the number of social networks with the same networking theme, the more one would benefit from social networks, and the less annoying social networks would be.
Allow me to use myself as example. I love blogging. Blogging has enriched me in a lot of ways. I've met wonderful people because of my blog. But I also love social networks because I use them to enrich my blogging and my personal life as well. I post pictures a lot on my blog so I use Flickr. Using Flickr also enriched my photographic skills because I get immediate and inspiring feedbacks from my Flickr network. I also keep a Friendster account to keep in touch with my high school and college classmates, friends, and relatives who are overseas (e.g. Friendster is more popular where my relatives live.). Also, most of my friends and relatives don't care about my blog, so I engage them in their preferred location in cyberspace. Since I already have a Friendster account, I didn't bother to be active on MySpace, Orkut, Bebo, and Tribe because they share the same social networking theme. I have accounts on those but I don't use them that much. I only use those social networks that serve my purpose. I only use those social networks that give more meaning to my cyber-existence.
Speaking of meaning, here is Anil Dash (Vice President of Six Apart) blogging about making something meaningful:
“If you believe that tools influence content, and I absolutely do , then the most important thing we can do with all this technology is to try to build tools that encourage meaningful expression. In fact, I'd say it's even stronger than that; One of our obligations is to build tools that help people connect with their friends and family in a meaningful way.”In the context of social networks, Anil Dash hit a key ingredient: meaning. Anil also asked this crucial question, “Is this damn thing making my life better?”
A lot of social networks out there play the numbers game, focusing on the number of members, page hits, ad spaces, photos, videos, and audio content, etc. The bigger the better. Nothing wrong with that. It's big business. The only time it goes “wrong” is when the “bigger the better” approach doesn't provide real meaning to its members anymore. Does more members in my network make my life better? Does more page hits on my profile make my life better? Does uploading cool music and videos make my life better? Does my hundreds or thousands of “friends” in my social network make my life better? What's my purpose of joining this social network in the first place? These are just some of the questions that we can ask of our social network service. These are the questions we can use to evaluate the meaning of our social network. These are the same questions I used to evaluate my primary social network of choice: Zaadz. And these are also the same questions I asked myself before I've chosen to work for Zaadz, because I want my social network, and work, to have a conscience.
Going back to our friend, Scoble, he may not like social networks but I think he's in agreement with Anil Dash when it comes to using technology to give more meaning and express our humanity. In his blog post, The Next Web is the Human Web, Scoble mentions that Web companies are now gearing up for “a bloggy Web,” – “A Web with real people talking about real stuff on it. Not a manufactured site that has no life. No soul.” I agree with Scoble, even if I'm not sure what his definition of “soul” is. I'm also in agreement with Anil Dash that technology should encourage a “more meaningful expression.”
Mark Cuban recently announced that “The Internet is old news and boring.” He's of course partially right since he focused on the “exterior” technology of the Internet. But the Internet is far from boring if you look at it from the “interior” point of view (e.g. psychological development of people using the Internet, or lack thereof) of the people who are impacted by this technology, because everytime we find some meaning, everytime we're empowered to make more meaningful expression, it takes away our boredom, replacing it with inspiration, creativity, and passion. I think Mark Cuban also implied it when he said, “Its the brainpower that is changing our world. THe internet is just a utility to deliver the digital bits they create.”
Blogging tools and social networks did wonders for me, as I hope it would do wonders for others. In the personal domain of expression, blogging is my tool of choice. In the collective domain of interpersonal and collaborative expression, social networks are my vehicles. Most social networks are now trying to marry the personal and the collective domains of expression by integrating blogging with social networking. This is ideal. But still, there are times when there's nothing more satisfying than having your own personal blog, where you can post anything that your heart desires, with passion, compassion, and awareness.
~C (for Collective expression)
