Social Networking, Bookmarking, and Sharing

by Kristi on February 8, 2010 · 7 comments

One of my commenters last week asked about the difference between social bookmarking and social networking sites. I think of social networking sites as ones where you can communicate directly with other members, where as social bookmarking sites are ones that you can add bookmarks to be shared with other members without as much direct communication.

There are sites that are definitely considered one or the other, but some sites offer both bookmarking and networking features. Here are some networks that can be used for both purposes.

Twitter

Favorite Tweets on Twitter
Favorite a Tweet on Twitter

Social Networking Features
Follow Twitter users
Status updates to all followers
Direct public messaging through @replies
Direct private messaging to users following you

Social Bookmarking Features
Save tweets in your Favorites to share with everyone

Most people think of Twitter as simply a social networking site. But one of the most popular things to share in the 140 character status updates are links to websites. If you have a lot of followers, chances are you have seen one or two tweets with links to articles that you would like to come back to later.

This is where Favorites comes into play. You can easily save tweets by clicking on the star. This will effectively bookmark the tweets in your Favorites section for later. I’m not sure if there is a limit to the number of tweets you can save in your favorites, but at the moment, I can access over a hundred favorite tweets from a year ago.

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Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & a Cute Cat Commercial

by Kristi on February 5, 2010 · 19 comments

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, a Japanese cat commercial, and what’s coming up on kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

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How to Use Twitter to Generate Writing Ideas

by Kristi on February 4, 2010 · 24 comments

Have you ever been stuck on coming up with writing ideas for your blog, niche site, or a client? Twitter can be a very valuable tool when it comes to generating writing ideas, if you know how to use it. Here are some ways to come up with content topics using Twitter.

Follow People in Your Niche

Twellow Directory Search Results
Twellow Directory Search Results

One of the best ways to find out what is important now on a particular subject matter is to follow the top people in your niche. The authorities on any given topic (most likely the users with a high amount of followers) are going to be writing or at least sharing the latest articles and news on your topic.

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Becoming More Accessible on Social Networks

by Kristi on February 1, 2010 · 35 comments

Everyone uses social media in their own way. While some people want to be connected with everyone, everywhere, others would rather keep certain profiles private for friends and family only. The following is for those who want to be found on social networks, or for the networks on which they want to be found.

Why You Want to Be Found on Social Networks

Think of your profile and activity on social networks as creating brand recognition. At the recent Social Media AZ event, the keynote speaker talked about how having a catalog on your coffee table increased brand awareness. Sure, that catalog may sit there for months and months, but one day when you are ready to purchase something that the company sells, that catalog will probably be in the front of your mind and lead you to hopping on the company’s website or going into their stores to do your shopping.

The same thing can be said of social media. One day, you may realize you need to brush up on your SEO, and the first resource that comes to mind is the SEO expert whose tips have been coming through your Twitter timeline. Alternatively, someone could be reminded to visit your site after seeing your name pop up in their Facebook news feed, simply thanks to your recent activity. Any reminder of your presence online could translate to a hit to your website, comment, promotion, or even a new client.

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Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup, Best Week Ever & Timelapse

by Kristi on January 29, 2010 · 29 comments

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, the best week ever, and what is coming up next week on kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

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Mobile Blogging – How to Make Your WordPress Blog Smartphone Ready

by Kristi on January 28, 2010 · 32 comments

Since I got my new HTC Droid Eris, I have been comparing two different plugins to make my WordPress sites more mobile friendly – WordPress Mobile Pack and WPtouch iPhone Theme. Both get the job done effectively – it is just a matter of whether you are looking for something simple or something with a lot of features.

WordPress Mobile Pack – Simplicity

WordPress Plugin Site ~ Plugin Homepage

WordPress Mobile Pack was the first plugin I discovered while surfing another WordPress blog on my Droid. It basically allows you to setup your blog in a mobile format with four basic theme colors (black, red, blue, and green). Here is what my Dofollow resource site looks like on the Droid using WordPress Mobile Pack.

Homepage using WordPress Mobile Pack
Homepage using WordPress Mobile Pack

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Best of #SMAZ – Blogging Tips, Social Media ROI, & SEO

by Kristi on January 26, 2010 · 40 comments

One of my goals for 2010 is to attend some events / seminars / conventions pertaining to blogging and social media, and today was a great start as I attended the Social Media Arizona event in Tempe. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I only found out about it last Friday, thanks to Annette at TwoZen Productions. So, without further ado, here is a story of my day at #SMAZ.

Almost Not Making It

The excitement of the day started an hour before the event actually did. I was right on schedule, planning to leave my apartment at 7:20am for the drive out to Tempe. Ok, I admit, it was about 7:22 when I got into my vehicle, but 2 minutes late isn’t so bad. What was bad was the noise my truck made – or didn’t made, to be more appropriate, when I turned the key in the ignition – the sound of a dead battery. I had to wake up my hubby, drag him out into the cold, and get him to jump start my battery. Then off I went, jumper cables in the back just in case she didn’t start again later in the afternoon for my return home.

Giant Rabbits

Even after leaving fifteen minutes later than planned and dealing with traffic, I still managed to make it to MadCap Theatres just a few minutes after 8. As I walked out of the parking garage, I saw some rather large bunnies that I had to get a shot of with my new Droid, which has one of the best cell phone cameras I have ever used.

Giant Rabbits and a Fountain in Front of MadCap Theatres

Ok, enough about my morning, now onto the good stuff about blogging, social media, and SEO trends for 2010.

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Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Midwinter in Sweden

by Kristi on January 22, 2010 · 22 comments

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, Midwinter in Sweden, and what’s coming up on Kikolani.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Continue Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Midwinter in Sweden

11 WordPress Plugins to Analyze and Increase Traffic

by Raz on January 20, 2010 · 55 comments

Who doesn’t like getting some extra traffic and more page views? We all love it, don’t we? Here are 11 WordPress plugins which should help you in various ways, from “tracking activities of your visitors” to “greeting them personally” so that you can achieve your goal of getting more traffic.

YARPP

This posts plugin will help you to increase page views of your website. Once installed, it will show links to other posts related to a current post at end that could be useful for your visitors by introducing them to other relevant content on your website.

WP-Email

This plugin will add a small “Email this Page” link at the end of your posts which your visitors can click and then send link of your posts to anybody.

Search Meter

This plugin is very helpful if you already have a search box on your blog. When activated, this plugin would start recording all terms your visitors are searching for, and the results they are receiving. It will reveal popular searches on your blog and unsuccessful searches with no results so you know what your visitors are looking for. With the help of this plugin, you can also show your readers the most recent and popular searches.

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How I Got 200 Subscribers in My First Month of Blogging

by Henri on January 18, 2010 · 34 comments

This is a guest post from Henri Junttila, a freelance blogger. He runs the Wake Up Cloud, a blog about self improvement and achieve what you truly want in life. Subscribe to his feed for more awesome articles.

Maybe you’ve seen me around. Maybe you haven’t. In any case, I have been blogging for just around one month. During this time I’ve connected with many and enjoyed the journey.

A lot of people think there’s a secret to growing your blog fast. There are a lot of factors that come into play if you want to get more traffic, subscribers and even fans. Let’s have a peek at those, shall we?

Mentor

The first thing I always do when I want to learn something new is to find someone who’s already doing what I want to do. My mentor at the moment is Chris Garrett who has been immensely helpful in answering my questions.

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