One of the reasons I hold so many meetings at Panera is not because of the food or service. Although that’s pretty good – the community backdrop is the offline picture of what we try to build in the blogosphere.
As people come in and out of the dining room, there are more than just pleasantries exchanged. Business cards, ideas, calendars, connections and even partnerships are traded and forged on the floor.
So, when people ask me for an offline example of how blogs work. I usually just raise my head; throw my arms open and show ‘ the Panera-sphere.
See you in the bread aisle.
I dig the new Twitter Search feature. A few quick searches found some old friends in new spaces.
It’s still missing one thing: a feed. I want to Search Once and Subscribe.
In a recent Fast Company piece, Robert Scoble writes about Twitter as The Next Email:
"Sales and marketing are lagging in seeing the potential here. When I
used all these services to tell the world that my wife and I were
expecting a child in September, I anticipated hearing from the world’s
largest consumer-products companies begging me to try their latest
diapers, food, car seats, and financial instruments. What came back?
Nothing."
Is everyone in "sales and marketing" supposed to follow Scoble? They can subscribe to his twitter feed. But why?
Using Robert and Maryam’s scenario above, a one-time Twitter search for "pregnant" and subscribing to the feed might have gotten P&G knocking down the door with offers.
A lot of cubicle warriors I know use Google Reader as their feed aggregator. My neighbors at CyberNetNews alert us of a Google Reader Notifier for Windows.
I’m still partial to GreatNews as a stand-alone app, but for those who use multiple computers or devices, the notifier is a handy tool
Think about it. New York. The 1st week of April. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Opening Day at Yankee Stadium? An Easter Parade?
I’m thinking about all this and Blogger Social ’08:
"Neither conference nor summit, it’s one weekend, held once a year, where the online marketing community descends upon a designated city for a weekend full of events designed to allow everyone to get to know one another better—and designed to give everyone free time to design their own meetups, too!"
Drew McLellan and Christine Kerley (C.K.) got their mouseket-ears together and came up with the idea. Others pitched in, including Cam Beck, Matt Dickman, Luc Debaisieux and yourself. Yes – you (and thanks!)
Start spreading the news, post about it today.
You should be part of it. Blogger Social is but a click away.
Here’s the skinny on April in New York. See you there?
This is a popular question. Tells me that video is going to continue to grow. Putting a YouTube (or any other) video in a blog post is as easy as copy-and-paste. In fact, it is copy-and-paste.
We’ll use a video I put on YouTube earlier this year as the example. The video is a short toot-orial on how to hyperlink an image in your post.
Once I find the video on YouTube’s site, I look for the code that I can embed in my post. It’s usually right next to the word EMBED. Here’s what it looks like at YouTube (click image to enlarge):
Then, I come back to my blog admin area and click on "EDIT HTML" – if you don’t do this, the code (not the video) will become part of your post:
You can always resize the video to fit your site or post. Here is a resized version of the video we’re using so that it fits neatly to the right of this paragraph.
You can use this same practice with SlideShare, Scribd and other content sharing sites. Just look for the code to EMBED.
One other note. Many RSS Aggregators won’t pick up the embedded video. So it’s always a good idea to place the URL right in the post. Like this:
RSS readers can view our example video on hyperlinking an image too.
UPDATE: WordPress users should read Char’s comment on disabling VisualEditor before pasting the code. Thanks Char!
Do you subscribe to and read your own feed? You should.
Where does the image show up? Is it interrupting a sentence? Too big?
Is your feed being delivered with jumbled code? Or 500 words in one paragraph?
Does that video show up in the feed (probably not)? Should you also put that URL in the post?
Subscribing to your own feed is like checking the window display in your store or counter. What does you customer (reader) see? Don’t just subscribe in one manner. Subscribe (and read) from Bloglines, Google Reader, GreatNews, NetNewsWire…all of ‘em.
In celebration of the Iowa State Fair, we’re offering virtual Blue Ribbons to various categories of business blogs. Here’s a review of our 2006 Blue Ribbon Bloggers.
We’ll start in the construction industry: Home builders, landscapers, plumbers, roofers…folks who build the things. Some notes on the way to the award:
There are others who have gone silent (Wright-Ryan) but must still be in business…right? Summer is the busy season, so maybe that’s why the sporadic posting.
Though Monte Hewitt might win the Blue Ribbon soon, we’re going with Northfield Construction Company due to their endurance, photos and how they combine their blog into the rest of their web presence.
Today marks the opening of the Iowa State Fair. Last year, I offered up Blue Ribbons in various categories of business thinkers.
This year, I’ll be focusing on types of business (retail, restaurants, hotels, etc). If you know of a business that blogs, one I may not be aware of, shoot me an email (link in the sidebar). The first ribbons will be handed out tomorrow.
The Iowa State Fair runs from August 9-19. Among those on today’s calendar are Iowa Bloggers The Nadas and the Iowa Beef Industry Council.
I have no idea how one of these things works, but I use it often (especially on weekends). Frankly, I don’t want to know how it works, only that it does work – and that it’s easy to use.
I don’t want to see the schematic drawings or code that it took to build it.
But here’s the rub — just because I don’t understand the technology or mechanics of it, doesn’t mean I don’t use it. In fact, I use it because it’s so easy and so comfortable.
Kinda Sorta Similar Posts:
- Forget About the Technology
- Were You Born With All That?
- Blogging: Easy as Email
- Can You Explain How a Microwave Works?
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