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A Recap of my 1st Wonderful Year using StumbleUpon

Happy 1st Anniversary StumbleUpon

July marked my first anniversary being a member of the StumbleUpon Community. It has been an incredible year for me. I have met some wonderful, wonderful people. And, I have stumbled across and discovered some truly amazing websites. Sites that if it wasn’t for StumbleUpon I probably wouldn’t have come across them in the first place.

I spent this past weekend going through my stumbles over the past year. It was a lot of fun to see the sites and my reviews over the past year. There were tons and tons of Stumble-Reviews to go through…. After all, at the time of me writing this post I had stumbled 7,357 pages, 27 videos and 876 photos. It truly has been an amazing year.

I love StumbleUpon. I love it for so many reasons. Here you will find 113 things I have learned from using StumbleUpon

113 Things I have Learned from using StumbleUpon

Inspect all food before you purchase.

We could learn a lot if we listen to the wisdom of children.
That a Nintendo System can be completely homemade.
That Business Strategy Can Be About Love
Helped me Learn Sign Language
Learned to Identify where I was Sacrificing my Freedom
Multiplication Songs & Raps to help me teach my Children.
Mother Nature is AMAZING & Beautiful!!

That I can use my Local Newspapers to Promote my Blog Offline
That even the Busiest of People will Lend a Helping Hand to a Newbie
100 Painless Ways to Cut Calories
I can be a Positive Parent
You and I can Erase our Fears.
I can find awesome recipes using only what little ingredients I have at home.
How to Relieve a Bee Sting in under 30 Seconds.
I found out what Tarot Card I am. What Tarot Card are you??
Found Tips to Immediately Increase my Confidence.
There are certain things I need to remember when launching a new site.
That it only takes 90 minutes a day to become a better blogger.
There are special ways to draw StumbleUpon Users into your blog.
How to Run a StumbleUpon Advertising Campaign for my Blog.
How even Blogging can make a Difference in the World.
That a 5-year old can Deliver a Baby.
10 Things You Can Blog About On The Weekends
Creating a Sneeze Page can Propel Readers Deep Within my Blog
There is actually a time when Getting Lots Of Visitors To Your Website Isn’t Good.
There are at least 5 essential things you ought to know about StumbleUpon
PageRank can be explained with a Cool Graph.
Why Top 10 Lists are still the Best
Found out that there are 7 Easy ways to get more Weekend Traffic to my Website.
Tons of Fun Activities that Moms and Dads can do with their kids.
What it would look like if SEO’s mated.
Learned that I need a Seasonal Search Engine Optimization Strategy.
Found out that Social Media has a Direct Influence on Search Engine Ranking.
A Splash of Colo r can make me Smile

I learned that even I can open a Beer with a Lighter. Thanks for that Pat…. I love showing off to men in the Bar.
Saw what Google Search would look like if it was designed in Comic Sans.
Found Sphinn shortly after it was born…. another turning point in my professional life.
Avatar Optimization - Why Top Sphinners have photo avatars while top Diggers have graphic ones.
How I can deal with Criticism.
That there are unusual ways that I can use StumbleUpon.
I found that I love to learn SEO from Patrick with the Hitchiker’s Guide to Linkless SEO.
It sucks to be on top - the downside of Social Media.
I learned there are 10 Steps to Building an Online Media Empire
Muhammad showed me 4 reasons I should be blogging on weekend.
Found out how to get traffic & links from Popular Blogs…. thank you Maki.
Apparently, random funny pictures are good for my health.
Brian Wallace taught me taught me the Ode to StumbleUpon.
That I can become a Success in Online Networking.
5 StumbleUpon BuzzKills
That I can get help for Writer’s Block.
I even learned How to Read a Painting.
I found out that my good friend Brian Wallace thinks my StumbleUpon reviews are verbose. No worries, Brian…. I still love ya.
What I already thought was reinforced when I read that a Blogger can be successful by being nice.
I learned there is such a thing as Time Management when it comes to Social Media.
Learned to Optimize for Universal Search.
Kind of Morbid, but I found a web page that tells me how many people died the day I was born. Approximately 130,755 people died worldwide on my birthday.
The difference between SEO & SMO.
Pictures can help explain The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising, and Personal Branding
I was reminded what makes for a successful Blog.
Logos can be freaken funny!!
Which Hook Attracts the Right Fish?….. in regards to Link Baiting.
Dosh Dosh has taught me so much about the Importance of Social Media Marketing.
I learned that blogging is a lot like Sex.
I had no idea until I can across this page that there are 23 types of Social Media Users.
I learned that People in the SEO & Marketing Industries are some of the Funniest People I know.
Kim of Cre8pc showed me how to build a better website by writing about her son’s challenges with his sport, football. Such a loving post…. absolutely unforgettable.
There are ways to build traffic that have nothing to do with Google or SEO.
A Web Page of Words that Feel Good. Thanks Michael.
Found that Others Felt the Same Way about Sphinn that I did.
Tips to writing my Best Post Ever.
Tons of Free SEO Tools
Found out there was such a thing as "Social Media Hangovers".
Darren showed me how my StumbleUpon Profile put me on his Radar.
Learned how to divide my time for maximum exposure.
Size does matter when it comes to blog posts.
Stumbled across the best explanation of what it feels like to live with a chronic illness (PDF file).
A simple workout for Bloggers.
Why some pages don’t get stumbled.
The Importance of StumbleUpon categories.
I learned Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to babies.

How to find out if I am a Social Media Addict.
I can now say, "I Love You" in 100 different languages.
10 Commandments of Social Media
Chris Brogan reminds me that I need to recognize when to scale back…. I don’t need to say "yes" to everybody.
I found out Why Guys like Girls.
I came across a Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research for Bloggers
Finally I learned how to fold a fitted sheet correctly. Normally I use my arms to wound it up.
I learned how to Go with the Flow.
How to write a report that a client will "get".
I learned how to blog and work-off 600 calories at the same time.
That photos can say so much more than words. What do you think this photo is saying??

I learned that there is a difference between healthy and toxic love.
How to simplify my life with kids.
Even Digg can play some April Fool’s Jokes.
Found out ways to reduce stress.
Food can taste as good as it looks.
I located a bunch of great moms on Twitter thanks to Wendy.
I was shown a bunch of reasons why Twitter is a great Social Media Too l.
I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t only MY children who don’t recognize when the bathroom door is closed.
How to make a dollar stretch during a recession.
How to bury negative posts about you or your company.
Tamar with the help of Weezer shows me a thing or two about Viral Marketing.
More ways I came across to say, "I Love You".
StumbleUpon gets my mind thinking with a question that stumps me.

Little did I know that there was something called, "Blogger Imposter Syndrome". You can even take a test to see if you suffer from it.
How to Find the Perfect Image for your Blog Post.
I had no idea that cigarettes could teach me something about branding.
Kids can teach us how to be happy.
Learned that there are certain techniques that will make your blog or website sticky.
I stumbled across a thing or two about Link Building Optimization.
That I can actually SEO my site in less than 60 minutes.
And, apparently I will stumble into the happiness of my life.

Posted in Blogging, Humor, Link Love, Parenting, SEM, SEO, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Time Management, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0 Basics | 21 Comments »

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 |

I wrote a post regarding my avatar change on Collective-Thoughts. This post is a continuation of that. The avatar I had chose at the end of that post didn’t work out. And since my 6 year old daughter helped me come up with my final choice for an avatar I decided to write this post in the form of a Child’s Story, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

Image by Super Dave Chen

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

TheNanny612 was a Young Lady who spent much of her days Social Networking. She had her own land in her part of the Web 2.0 World.

Normally this Social Media Lady would had been content to go about her usual Social Networking, but on this day she chose instead to cut off her long curly hair. Knowing that once she did this she would have to perform the duty of choosing the right avatar for her part of the Web 2.0 World named Social Desire.

It was on this day that TheNanny612 Avatar Journey began.

TheNanny612 didn’t think the duty of choosing an avatar would be a difficult one. After all, what is the big deal, really? An avatar simply is a picture to help members of Online Communities know who you are…. is that really such a big deal?

So, TheNanny612 simply had her picture taken a few times with a cell phone. She chose the best of the batch of pics, cropped it and sized it perfectly. She made each picture into different sizes to easily accommodate the different requirements at different Social Networking Communities. The smallest Avatar size is 50×50 for Sphinn and StumbleUpon uses a 475×475 on its About page.

TheNanny612 Avatar #1

475 x 475	50 X 50

She really liked this picture, but it was so dark. She didn’t realize how dark until she had it resized to fit Sphinn’s 50×50 Avatar requirement. The size Avatar for Sphinn is so small & so dark that it is terribly difficult to recognize who the picture is of….. That will never do.

TheNanny612 sighed as she really thought this was going to be simple. "Oh well.", she said as she moved on to the next stop.

She took a look at the first picture to see what the problem was and came up with a few of things.

To dark.
Little Contrast. TheNanny612’s dark hair against the dark chair. There was absolutely no contrast.
The picture was taken with a Cell phone. The quality of cell phone pictures aren’t always good enough to work with.

So, TheNanny612 decided that she needed to do things differently. She decided to do everything completely opposite from what she did last time.

She dressed in a white blouse and sat on a light rug in front of a cherry stained door. This is how the picture looked in its largest and smallest forms:

TheNanny612 Avatar #2

475 x 475	50 X 50

TheNanny612 was initially happy with this photograph. She likes the black and white look and the contrast is nice. But, notice how the picture changes when it is made smaller. The change in size makes it difficult to recognize that its TheNanny612 at all. She began to think that there will be no 50×50 avatar that will be easy to recognize, but she knew that wasn’t true. After all, her last 50×50 avatar was easy to recognize.

So, TheNanny612 went back on her search for the Perfect Avatar…. the Avatar that was "Just Right."

The problems with the 2nd Avatar?? There were a few…

It’s a lovely shot large, but when made smaller it is difficult to recognize.
The picture is simply to light. The black and white look washes TheNanny612 out. She will not stand out compared to others which is very important in Social Networking.
The contrast problem in the 1st photograph caused TheNanny612 to dress in light colors, but this did nothing for the photograph either.

TheNanny612 was truly frustrated. She asked out loud, "Why is this so hard?" All of a sudden it came to her…. she needed to figure out what made her original Avatar Memorable.

What made the Original TheNanny612 Avatar Memorable

An Unusual Head shot
Sepia - I didn’t use Black & White….. Sepia added a bit of color.
Side Angle
Not the entire head
Nothing much else in the background.

More determined than ever TheNanny612 decided to stick with what seemed to work with her original avatar. The most important thing to her was that the avatar needed to look just as good small as it did large. And, up until this point that had been TheNanny612’s struggle. She needed to stop posing so much & get back to basics…. get back to what worked for her in the past.

TheNanny612 decided to hand the camera to her 6 year old daughter and allow her daughter to snap a few random shots. Little did she know the perfect avatar would be taken by the young child.

TheNanny612 went through all the photographs taken by her daughter that day. She came across one that she felt would be a perfect fit if cropped just right. This is what she came up with:

TheNanny612 Avatar #3

475 x 475	50 X 50

The first first Avatar was too dark, The 2nd Avatar was too light, and the 3rd Avatar was just right!!

With each Avatar mistake TheNanny612 learned something and the final Avatar was the nicest in all the Land.

The Moral of this story…

Sometimes things don’t go well the first time around or even the 2nd. But, as long as you make each a learning experience then the outcome is usually good one.

The End.

Posted in Humor, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Tips and Tutorials, Uncategorized, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | 12 Comments »

The ABCs of Social Media

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 |

Social Desire will be featuring Guest Posts for the next few weeks. Today’s Featured Guest Post is by Mark Dykeman.

Image by Steve & Jemma Copley

Everyone’s got a Top Ten list, an 8 step guide, or some other how-to post to succeeding in social media.

This isn’t one of those posts. Not exactly. Not really.

OK, maybe a little bit.

What I’ve done is to take each letter of the alphabet and try to find one or two words that can be used to describe social media. I’ve tried to cover many of the important points and aspects of social media that I’ve picked up through my own activities. I hope you enjoy and find it useful.

The A – Z listing for social media

Ask/Acquire – social media is a place where we can ask questions and acquire knowledge; there are tons of great resources out there.

Bold – push yourself and test your limits. Try things that might have scared you in the past, either due to lack of confidence or experience. Be bold!

Communicate – it’s all about the conversations.

Demonstrate – show people what you know; help educate them. (note: I was very tempted to use the word "desire" here… )

Evaluate – absorb everything you can, but keep a critical eye open. As you meet different people you’ll gradually get a sense of who knows their stuff and who doesn’t. Don’t accept advice blindly – think it over and make up your own mind.

Friend – "friend" has become a verb in social media, where you give or are given permission to share stuff with other people. It’s a key component of social media, hence the word "social".

Give – contribute to the body of knowledge with your own thoughts, ideas, tips, tricks, critiques, and others. It’s not valuable if you keep it to yourself.

Help – as per give, take the time to do favors for other people. Answer their questions; show examples. You get a lot back from this, even if it doesn’t happen immediately.

Ideas – social media contains some of the coolest parts of higher education – the discussion and refinement of ideas.

Join – if you’re going to be social, join groups that interest you. It’s all about relationships.

Knowledge/Learn – this K and L go together like peanut butter and jelly; learn stuff, increase your knowledge.

Mentor – help a beginner and you could have a good friend for life.

Name – names are important, doubly so in social media. Meet people, remember their names. They’ll do the same for you!

Open – be as transparent as you can. Consider different points of view, as well. Speak respectfully, but freely.

Passion – that burning sensation isn’t an, um, infection, it’s the power of love and desire when you discover something that you love to do.

Question – questions drive social media. Why? Because we all want to find answers!

Reveal – tell the world about yourself to the extent that you feel comfortable to do so. People want to know something about their follow social mediaites!

Share – as with giving, sharing means doing things that don’t just benefit yourself, they benefit other people as well. Give credit where credit is due and share the rewards!

Teach – again, show people what you know and we all benefit.

Understand – this is critical, because language is an imperfect means of communication. It can be very easy to misinterpret someone else’s writing, especially if it hits an emotional hot button. Make sure your reactions are tempered by understanding so that you know what was really meant within a communication.

Vigor – show some life there, sparky!

World – it’s a big world out there and social media will expose you to places that you never knew existed.

X-Ray – look inside and see what’s really happening. Don’t be fooled by exteriors or pretenses. Get the real story.

Yearn – satisfy those self- actual cravings, at least temporarily, through social media participation. But stay hungry – there’s always more.

Zen – practice, be mindful, and learn constantly as a path to enlightenment (of sorts). You might not become a spiritual master, but these principles can still lead to fulfillment in social media.

Social media from A – Z – there it is. I hope you were paying attention because there’s a test coming up!

(Of course, the test never ends… )

If you enjoyed this post check out more of Mark Dykeman’s work at Broadcasting Brain, his blog about communication and social media.

Posted in Blogging, Guest Posts, Humor, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Tips and Tutorials, Uncategorized, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | 12 Comments »

The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Caught my Brainwaves!!

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 |

(The following story is a teeny tiny made up)

This morning as I was surfing my usual Social Media sites I took notice to something that was very familiar. It was my avatar. The avatar I use on all of my Social Networking sites. But, it wasn’t on one of my usual Social Networking sites. Then I took a closer look and I saw that the Title of this particular post was called, "Q&A With TheNanny612". What?! I didn’t agree to any interview!! I didn’t answer any questions!! Oh, Wait! Did I? Oh, no….. wasn’t last night just a nightmare?!

As I was sitting quietly Sphinning and Stumbling as usual. This crazy, freaky looking brain guy kept popping up on my laptop asking me questions. I was nice to him the first few times he appeared. I simply said, "No thank you", "Not interested", "Don’t want any". Finally, I screamed, "Leave me the F**K alone and get the H**L off of my computer!!!". I thought that did the trick because I hadn’t heard anymore from him, until……my computer crashed!!

"Damn it!!" I hate when this happens right when I’m trying to Sphinn this Rock’n Search Engine Journal post!! UGH, now Marty is going to get it first!! He’s always up my butt to sphinn things before me!!"

As I was working on trying to get my laptop back online it appeared to be juicing itself to come back up again, but instead that freaky brain guy is back on my computer again. This time I couldn’t get rid of him or turn the computer off at all. And, he kept chanting, "I’m going to catch your brainwaves, Nanny. And, there is nothing you can do to stop me!! I’m going to catch your brainwaves."

The next thing I remember was waking up the morning with a huge headache and feeling a bit violated. But, for the life of me…. I couldn’t figure out why. That is until now……

Mark Dykeman of The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog caught my brainwaves and has plastered my thoughts all over the front page of his Blog.

Okay, okay…. maybe this story is a bit of an exaggeration and maybe I even changed the story a teensy tiny bit. But, I got you reading, huh?!

Anyway, Mark at The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog Interviewed me and the entire Q&A With TheNanny612 is over at his Blog. So, please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for the great interview, Mark.

Technorati Tags:mark dykeman, shana albert, thenanny612, interviews, humor, blogging, social media, sphinn, social networking

Posted in Blogging, Humor, Interviews, Social Media, Social Networking, Sphinn, Web 2.0 | 6 Comments »

51 Favorite SU, Sphinn, Twitter & Facebook Posts of 2007

Friday, December 28th, 2007 |

Photo by luc legay

2007 will be ending in the next few days and 2008 will be beginning. It has been an amazing year for me. It was In 2007 I became very involved in Social Media Activity. I am looking forward to 2008 and everything that it has to offer, but before I can simply say Hello to 2008 and Goodbye to 2007 I wanted to list my favorite posts from all of my favorite Social Networking sites…. StumbleUpon, Sphinn, Twitter, and Facebook. *Keep in mind that these posts are my favorites and nothing official.*

Favorite StumbleUpon Posts of 2007

StumbleRank - Ranks the Top StumbleUpon Users.

A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon: How to Build Massive Traffic to Your Website - Maki of DoshDosh wrote this mini guide on StumbleUpon because he thought StumbleUpon has enormous potential in maximizing brand exposure while fitting nicely with a long term site building strategy.

How to Use StumbleUpon for Your Business: The Definitive Guide - Tamar writes this great post for 10e20.com.

The Why, How and Who of Marketing in StumbleUpon - Garrett French writes this very in depth post regarding StumbeUpon and using it for Marketing purposes.

Building Your Blog With StumbleUpon - A ProBlogger Guest post by Skellie showing how to use StumbleUpon to increase your Blog Traffic.

Stumbleupon mathematics for stumblers - Tim Nash gives us his thoughts on how he believes the StumbleUpon algorithm works.

How to Use StumbleUpon to Promote - David Risley of WebbyOnline explains in detail how to Use StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon Will Love Us Even When Google Doesn’t - Brian Wallace writes about the effectiveness of StumbleUpon.

5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon - Cameron Olthuis writes for Search Engine Land showing you how StumbleUpon is a great way to bring large amounts of traffic to your site…. at times even bringing more traffic than digg.

How to Set Up a Domino Effect of Traffic - Vandelay Design writes how he greatly increased his traffic by setting up a Domino Effect with StumbleUpon.

25 Reasons You Get Thumbs Up - Andy Beard comes up with a list of 25 reasons why you might get a Thumbs Up on StumbleUpon.

Analysis: StumbleUpon’s Top 50 Stumblers - Glen Allsopp felt there wasn’t a lot of information on StumbleUpon on how to become a Top Stumbler. Glen researched and posted his findings.

6 Reasons to Love StumbleUpon - Marty tells us the 6 reasons he loves StumbleUpon.

Writing for StumbleUpon: High Impact Content “Above the Scroll” in Four Easy Steps - Muhammad Saleem points out that with StumbleUpon having your important content above the scroll is extremely important.

How Important is StumbleUpon? - Rose Sylvia shows us how to use StumbleUpon to its fullest.

Favorite Sphinn Posts of 2007

Sphinn - The Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using - Rand writes in detail 10 reasons why Every Search Marketer should be using Sphinn.

Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites) - Tamar writes this excellent post about Social Networking Etiquotte.

Why Sphinn Needs a Dumbass Button - Digg has a "bury it" button…. Greg Boser suggests a "Dumbass Button" for Sphinn.

Fool Proof Sphinn-Bait Tactics to Reach the Front Page - Kelvin Newman writes in detail how to reach the front page of Sphinn.

A 5 Pack Of Sphinn Interviews - Todd Mintz Interviews 5 members of the Sphinn Community.

How to Dominate Sphinn in 4 Easy Steps - David Harry comes up with the Sphinn Domination Plan.

The First (un)Official Sphinn Awards - Day 1 - Jeff Quipp at Search Engine People offers days 1 of the (un)Official Sphinn Awards…. freakin hilarious.

The (un)Official Sphinn Awards Part 2 - David Harry Holds Part II of the Sphinn Awards at his site and it is equally as funny as Day 1.

A Very Beginner’s Guide to the Sphinn Network : Tips and Tricks - Mack offers up some tips to New User’s of Sphinn.

Sphinn: In Depth Traffic Analysis And Advice - Matt Jones did his research and offers his traffic analysis and some Sphinning tips.

20 Top Sphinners You Should Know - Here is a list of 20 Sphinners and their sites that you might not know, but should.

Sphinn Google Gadget - As if I didn’t adore Pat of SEOish enough he comes up with this amazing Sphinn Google Gadget.

Favorite Twitter Posts of 2007

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide - Caroline Middlebrook puts together a very detailed guide to Using Twitter for Marketing.

Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR - Lee Odden puts together a great post with tips on using Twitter as a Marketing Tool. Lee’s community offers tons of wonderful Twitter Tips!!

The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users - Bren at Slacker Manager offers tips and advice for Successful Twitter Wanna-be’s.

Eight Ways Twitter is Useful Professionally - Anne Zelenka offers 8 ways to use Twitter Professionally.

Use Twitter To Boost Your Marketing Strategy, No Really - Chris Bennett offers his ideas to user Twitter as part of a Marketing Strategy.

The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter - Sharon Sarmiento suggests focusing on these 5 smart uses of Twitter to keep from falling into the Twitter abyss.

Is Twitter TOO good? - Kathy Sierra writes this post showing her struggle with Twitter…. In this post you can see her struggle with Twitter being a waste of time and the rest of the world chanting Twitter’s wonderful goodness.

Twitter vs. Pownce: Who Pwns? - Tamar takes a close look at Twitter and Pownce and compares the two.

Twitter is Paying My Rent - Marshall Kirkpatrick writes how he uses Twitter to come up with stories to blog about. At the time of this post 6 out of his 7 last posts wint to the front page of Digg… the same stories he came up with thanks to Twitter.

Twitter CAN be Useful! Who Knew? - Due to Twitter coverage of the fires back in October Jennifer Laycock saw an incredibly useful way to use Twitter….. Her brother and his wife were able to subscribe to the Twitter Feed and quick and easy access to instant updates as they drove across the country safely.

Favorite Facebook Posts of 2007

The Facebook Marketing Bible: 24 Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook - If you are looking on exactly how to Market on Facebook this is a "Must Read" by Justin Smith.

12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally - Judi Sohn explains why Facebook can be a great addition to your web working toolbox.

How to use Facebook to Promote your Blog - Brian Wallace compliles some tips on how to promote your blog using Facebook.

Not many people know this, but I invented Facebook - Lyndon says, Let us all rise up and shout, “I INVENTED FACEBOOK.”

Your Private Facebook Info Isn’t So Private - Lisa Barone shows why adjusting your Facebook privacy settings may not be enough to keep people from seeing inside your Facebook Windows.

Seven Steps to Graphing Your Facebook Strategy - Dave McClure offers an indepth look at Facebook. This is a great post for anyone new to Facebook.

A Successful Facebook Marketing Campaign - Social-Media-Optimization.com compares a successful Facebook campaign (Target) with an unsuccessful campaign (Walmart).

How to Develop a Hit Facebook App: 29 Essential Tools and Tutorials - SoftwareDeveloper.com comes up with Resources to help you build a successful Facebook app that users will love.

You too might be a Facebookaholic, if: - Dave McClure gives us 17 hints that we might be a Facebookaholic.

Who needs Google? Facebook’s stealth ad system - ValleyWag gives us the details on Facebook’s Ad System.

Mash Pets, SuperPokes, Vampires, or Zombies? What are Your Social Network Ice Breakers? - Mark Laymon shows us how he uses certain Facebook applications to "Break the Ice".

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked - Ok, this post is one of mine. Sorry, I just crack myself up.

Is The Horde At Facebooks Walls? - Tim Nash writes this post for Clicks.ws. on the how-to’s of Advertising on Facebook.

Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Facebook - Jeremiah Owyang tells us what we need to know about Facebook as a strategic marketing channel.

Technorati Tags:social networking, social bookmarking, stumbleupon, sphinn, twitter, facebook, 2007, social media, social media marketing

Posted in Facebook, Humor, Link Love, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Twitter | 19 Comments »

My Love / Hate Relationship with Social Media

Monday, December 17th, 2007 |

Photo by Fabbio

I love you so much I hate you!! Or, I hate you so much I love you!! Oh boy, is my head Sphinning!! I keep Stumbling over things and getting Mixxed up because my head is totally in the Social Media clouds. Let me explain my battle a bit…

I love you, Social Media…. Let me Count the Ways:

People – I have met so many people from all over World. Many of these people I would consider a dear friend and/or Colleague.
Traffic - With the correct Social Media Marketing Strategies you can bring a lot of amazing traffic to your site.
This is Work?? - I can call Social Media part of my job, but yet it is so much fun.
Voyeurism - I can be a Voyeur and it’s okay…. Watching where my friends have been and what they did while they were there. (StumbleUpon, MyBlogLog, etc…)
Conversations - Conversations via blog comments, Instant Messaging, blog posts, facebook, twitter, blah, blah, blah.
De-Stresser - Take my mind off of my Stressful Work / Life.
Not all about Google - No longer have to rely on Major Search Engines for all of my traffic.
Keep Updated - Easy to keep up with new and updated information on the topics that interest me. RSS Feeds
Link Building - Building Links is fairly easy with Social Media and a lot of fun. No more emailing for link exchanges.
Creativity - I feel More Creative now than I ever was.
Sweet Dreams - I love Social Media so much I even dream about it at night while I’m sleeping.
Opportunities - Joined in on projects with fellow colleagues I have met online
Standing Out - Social Media Activities can make you Stand Out - A successful Article or Blog Post can do very well on Social Networking Sites which can make you stand-out in your Niche.
Social Media Fame - Having a Blog with a Readership can make you feel like a Superstar.

I hate you, Social Media… Let me Count the Ways:

Pressure of keeping up the Pace - Feeling if I slow down I will get lost and no one will be able to find me.
Inevitable that someone will be unhappy - This is very difficult for a people pleaser such as myself. Unable to make everyone happy. If you make someone unhappy you might hear about it in a follow-up post or a blog comment.
Voyeurism - Just like I can watch other people travel through the Blogosphere, people can watch me too. Knowing this makes me feel a bit weary about popping on to someone’s blog or StumbleUpon Profile too many times in a row. Not sure why, but it does.
This is Work!! - Social Media is very time consuming. And, even though it is a lot of fun it is so much work!!
People - Most people that I have met online have been wonderful!! But, not everyone is as nice. Some people pretend to be your friend because ultimately they want something from you. Don’t use me!! I hate that!!
RSS Feed Reader is Too Full - As I mentioned in #8 above I use a RSS Feed Reader to keep updated. However, my Feed Reader has become so full that lately I have been missing important posts. Because my Reader is so full I tend to read the Titles of the Posts to see what sounds interesting enough to read and landed up missing some really wonderful posts.
Poor Time Management - What little Time Management Skills I have had in the past have totally went down the toilet since I added Social Media Activity to my To-do list. UGH!! I think I’ve already complained about this in the past, huh?!
Productivity - Productivity on some of my other duties has begun to slip.
Sleepless Nights - Don’t get enough Sleep. Even my dreams are overcome by Social Media Activities.
Social Media Pressure - The pressure to achieve a certain Social Media Status or keep this status is incredibly intense. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy the fame due to the constant fear of losing it.

I will be following this post up with other posts detailing the specifics on each of these Love/Hate dilemmas.

Technorati Tags:social media, social networking, social bookmarking, sphinn, stumbleupon, social media marketing, blogging

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Humor, Mixx, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management, Twitter, Web 2.0 | 21 Comments »

12 Cool Analogies to Help Explain Social Media

Friday, December 7th, 2007 |

Yesterday I wrote a Post on Collective-Thoughts, Wow, Social Media is a lot like High School!! . It is a humorous look at how Social Media has many similarities to High School. Both Social Media and High Schools have Popular Crowds, Clubs, The Bad Boys, Rule Breakers, Goodie-Goodies, Parties, Peer Pressure, and Gossip. I hope the readers enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I’ve learned that using analogies is a great way to explain things that are normally difficult to explain. There are many people on the net that find Social Media and Web 2.0 very confusing. Analogies help explain something confusing to an individual by comparing it with something they already understand. So, here I have listed 12 articles that use cool analogies to explain different aspects of Social Media.

Join the Conversation or Break Into the Conversation? - Sean at Grin & Grumble compares Social Media being a Pool and Bloggers being the different types of swimmers in the Pool of Social Media.

The “symphony” of social media - Dee Rambeau at CausePlanet.org writes a creative analogy comparing a symphony orchestra with social media.

Why Corporations Should Blog (Hint, it’s not SEO) - Josh Hallett at Hyku uses your love for your significant other to prove a point.

Marc Canter’s vision of the open social network - Chris at Particls Blog comparing Facebook and other Social Networks are like Shopping Centers.

Fly-Fishing Where the Fish Are - Ann Handley at Marketing Profs Daily Fix writes about fishing using flies was not unlike marketing using the tools of social media.

Social Media, the Pond Analogy and the Old Media Disconnect - sean at Scrollin’ On Dubs compares Marketing with the spreading of ripples in a glassy pond.

The Ethics Of Social Bookmarking - xrayspecs at The Internet Marketing Neophyte compares a new site to a piece of driftwood.

Social Media Marketing is Similar to a Fishing Tournament - Mark Laymon at Collective-Thoughts

Bookmarking Solutions: Quick Access vs. Long Term Storage - Jay White at Dumb Little Man compares Social Bookmarking to paper filing systems.

Advertising Tips (with Sex examples) - talisman.org explains what marketing is using Pick-up Lines and the such.

Online social networking, an extension to human evolution? Arun Radhakrishnan at TechRepublic talks about the relation between social networking and human evolution.

The Virtual world and the Real World - An Analogy - Karthik Vijayakumar at Water Droplets compares The virtual world to the real world.

Technorati Tags:social media, social bookmarking, social networking, analogies, social media marketing

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Humor, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Websites | 8 Comments »

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked

Friday, November 2nd, 2007 |

A Funny Look at my First Time Being Poked on Facebook

Anyone who is a fan of Facebook has probably been poked. Maybe you have even been lucky enough to be SuperPoked!! I know I have. Normally I am not a person to have been poked and tell, but I’m sure you can be trusted to keep this a secret.

I remember my first poke. His name was Michael. He was so sweet. He even asked permission before poking me.

He and I joined Facebook around the same time and both of us had no idea what being poked was like. We agreed to try poking each other to see what would happen.

I must admit, it was quite disappointing. I’m sure it was not Michael’s fault. After all, it was his first time too. But, I was left saying to myself, “That was it? What was all the fuss about?” He and I shared a nice conversation on each other’s wall after that. But, held off poking each other for a bit.

Then, something changed. I discovered SuperPoke. This changed everything. Once I tried SuperPoke I couldn’t stop. This was so much better than being just poked.

He and I have superpoked many times since then, but I must admit there have also been others since Michael. And, not just poking. I have been high fived, spanked, shanked, thrown out a window, goosed, body slammed, chest bumped, and drop kicked. I have even had a chicken thrown at me. But, there was something about Michael that kept drawing me back to him. I’m guessing it was because he was my first.

One lonely night after not hearing from him in a while I drunk dialed him. I’m pretty sure Michael was pissed. Either that or he was aware of my superpokes with others. Within moments after I drunk dialed him, I got a facebook notice that he took my sexy back. Oh, I was not happy!! I trout slapped him, threw a cow at him and even body slammed him. But, he just wouldn’t give me my sexy back. I wrote on Michael’s Wall demanding he give it back to me…. After all, it was the weekend and no girl should be without her sexy for the weekend.

What happened next I am not very proud of… I Dry Humped Michael via SuperPoke that night. Needless to say, I got my sexy back. A girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Don’t worry. I have since got Michael back for what he did to me that night.

"I hope the Vampire that I sent after you, Michael, didn’t hurt you too bad"

Technorati Tags:facebook, superpoke, humor, social media

Posted in Facebook, Humor, Social Media | 16 Comments »

Social Desire

Archive for the ‘Humor’ Category

A Recap of my 1st Wonderful Year using StumbleUpon

113 Things I have Learned from using StumbleUpon

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

TheNanny612 Avatar #1

TheNanny612 Avatar #2

What made the Original TheNanny612 Avatar Memorable

TheNanny612 Avatar #3

The ABCs of Social Media

The A – Z listing for social media

The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Caught my Brainwaves!!

51 Favorite SU, Sphinn, Twitter & Facebook Posts of 2007

Favorite StumbleUpon Posts of 2007

Favorite Sphinn Posts of 2007

Favorite Twitter Posts of 2007

Favorite Facebook Posts of 2007

My Love / Hate Relationship with Social Media

I love you, Social Media…. Let me Count the Ways:

I hate you, Social Media… Let me Count the Ways:

12 Cool Analogies to Help Explain Social Media

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked

A Funny Look at my First Time Being Poked on Facebook

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Shana Albert

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