Publicize – Results from my First Test

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I was testing out Publicize on multiple channels. I think the test was pretty successful. The Twitter feed here on the site does not show the post to Twitter, as advertised – which is good, because otherwise you would see the post, with a Tweet next to it telling you the post was there. As I’ve mentioned before, Twitter is less of a reader and more of… something else. One of its better uses being perhaps its ability to feed into other things, like the WordPress sidebar, or Facebook. More on that below.

I ran into one snag: When shared on Tumblr, the blog post then kicked in the automatic share there – effectively, Tumblr’s version of Publicize. This resulted in two Tweets. The one from Tumblr also ended up in the sidebar here on the blog. It looks like my Facebook had been logged out on Tumblr, otherwise I imagine it would have ended up there twice as well. This was easily solved – I have turned off these automatic shares on Tumblr, but am still linked in where I should be able to share when I want to from within Tumblr.

From here, I have some further thoughts on Publicize… check out what I’m thinking, and then maybe let me know your experiences with it! (Also, I have just learned how to embed a tweet: http://en.support.wordpress.com/twitter/twitter-embeds/…)

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Internship: Done! Now what?

Hello dear readers!

I have completed my Internship in Library Science, and am pretty proud of the final product. I built the base of a virtual collection of materials about the Treadwell Mines here in the Juneau area, and it now looks pretty excellent. You’re welcome to check it out and give me feedback in the comments below!

http://treadwellsociety.com/home/

Meanwhile, that means I am trying to get back to the rest of everything in my life, because I am now done with my Master’s in Library and Information Science! So I have some things I want to talk about, things I want to explore, so let me lay out some of what’s on my mind! Read more of this post

Time for a Rebuild

So I have been doing most of my blogging on my other blog, Comparative Geeks. And honestly, the schedule we have set up for ourselves has been great – we post three times a week each, my wife and I, and so I am writing much more often than I had been. Which feels at least a bit like the answer to the question of why a writer should have a blog.

So I could just write this one off and walk away, I suppose. But that’s not what I’m thinking. Because now that Comparative Geeks has traction and is off and running, it’s time to come back here. Because people are finding Comparative Geeks. With search engines, through WordPress, through Facebook and Twitter and Google+… the things I have learned have come together to a solid 20-30 views a day. Obviously, we would like to see that reach more, but that means more thinking and research and experimenting needs to happen… and that’s what this blog is for.

Because this is a blog about blogging and writing. Read more of this post

Standing in a room shouting: Rethinking Twitter

Meta! A Tweet embedded in a tweet as a blog post about a blog post.

Meta! A Tweet embedded in a tweet as a blog post about a blog post.

The other day, we were talking about social media, and especially about Twitter. And from my experience with Twitter so far, I remarked that Twitter is a lot like a bunch of people standing in a room shouting.

It’s a marketing tool, I suppose. I certainly use it that way, like most blogs, and like my professor recommended: tweet each of your blog posts. But the more people you follow, the more that reading Twitter is an insurmountable task. I looked away from Twitter while writing these first two short paragraphs: 7 new tweets.

I am finding that Twitter is not particularly a good place or way to read what people are writing and putting out there. Which begs the question, how should tweets be read?

What good does Twitter do us?

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Asking Questions on the Internet

Hello, Internet.

I am here today to discuss the Internet. And how sometimes, it can be a lonely, empty place.

One of the ways to tell how you are doing with a blog is getting comments. After all, it’s one thing to write stuff. Another to be followed, or liked. And yet another to have someone add and combine their thoughts to yours, to join in the discussion.

One of the main ways that we might incite this sort of a response is by writing a question. After all, the question begs an answer, right?

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