livefreerange.com will be going through a bit of a revamp in the next few weeks and a big part of that is related to content. I have to confess that I haven’t been exactly practicing what I preach when it comes to content planning and sharing (ahem) so it’s time to “Eat That Frog” :D
At a recent Tech Talkfest event titled “Hack, Play, Learn” the lovely Stef Lewandowski talked about a platform his organisation Makeshift recently launched called Help me write. It’s a great way of asking your audience what they would like to see more of and also gives you an easy method of prioritising your writing. I’ve already listed a few ideas for my upcoming posts and would love for you to vote for your favourite. If you have a burning question which isn’t on the list, please feel free to leave it in the comment section below and I’ll add that baby on there!
Some of the ideas listed have come out of recent training sessions and conversations with clients. Nothing gets me on my soapbox more when training than the idea that you need to be an expert in everything digital in order to take meaningful action. Half the problem for companies is employee confidence. There are so many opportunities for great content creation beyond the marketing department with just a little bit of training and permission.
What else is going on?
If you work in education, you’ll be interested in my upcoming series of “how to” articles and videos for SecEd. It’s a series of 6 beginning with “How to use Facebook with your students” and covers a range of topics from online safety to staff training and development.
I’m really excited about a guide I’m working on for MakeitCheaper.com. It’s all about using social media for small businesses and covers beginner, intermediate and advanced activities. If you have any top tips for businesses getting started with social media please share them in the comments or tweet them using #SocMedSME. I’ll include the best ones in the guide (with your permission of course).
Despite this being one of the most exciting pieces of work I’m likely to do over the summer, I can’t really say much more about this last thing than… what do employers want? If you have any recruiting responsibilities for your organisation, I’d love to hear from you. All I ask is for you to complete a short online survey and potentially a brief telephone interview. It’s all in the name of improving training for young people so, you know, well worth your time.
Get in touch!
In short, I’m going to get my behind in gear to produce some more great content for you and all I ask is that you help me out by commenting / voting / tweeting / prodding / waving… pretty much however you want to get my attention.
The lovely Emma Cossey and Fran Swaine joined me this week for a live Q&A on the topic of Digital Media over on Google+ Hangouts. Questions covered included:
What are the biggest barriers for organisations who want to use social and digital media?
What is your favourite social media dashboard and why do you use it?
Do I need to use Google Plus? What is good about it?
SEO – Help! What do I need to know about SEO?
How do I get more comments on my blog?
We had such a great time and are really looking forward to running our next discussion. We didn’t get a chance to answer all the questions we were asked (Sorry Sally, definitely talk about Facebook competitions next time) so we have plenty left to talk about.
Before we decide what theme we should go with for our next Q&A, it would be great if you could post any theme requests or questions below. What have you always wanted to learn more about from the world of Digital Media? What do you find confusing, interesting or just think deserves a bit of air time?
–x–
From the video – links mentioned in our discussion:
I don’t know about you but when I’m working on a big project and I find myself glued to my computer for a few days, I like to have some background entertainment to keep me going. Sometimes it’s a bit of Radio 4 action but more likely nowadays is a cheeky bit of Geek & Sundry:
Where else would you find a 30min programme dedicated to different types of board games?!
Another YouTube channel keeping me from tearing my hair out at the moment is Nerdist, particularly their celebrity bowling series. Even if you’re not a Dr Who fan, this one is comedy gold:
Finally, back on Geek & Sundry, there’s a new Tuesday Hangout series with science fiction authors. Really interesting if you’re an aspiring writer, but equally entertaining if you’re a fan of the genre:
I love the Hangouts and think they work really well. They’re great for interest groups and definitely worth considering for organisations who want to build more engagement with their brand. You can now record and stream straight to YouTube from a live hangout:
Video is such a great resource, from “how to” to vlogging to background entertainment. How are you using video? What are your favourites?
I can’t tell you how much it pleases me when my two worlds of craft and technology come together. There are so many websites that help to fuel my craft addiction, here are my top five:
I use StumbleUpon for many things, craft is just one of them. If I’m feeling crafty but not sure what I want to do a quick play with StumbleUpon never fails to spark an idea.
The obvious one and for good reason. Like StumbleUpon, I use Pinterest for many things but it’s great for craft patterns and ideas. I tend to take inspiration from a few sources then make something to my own design and Pinterest is great for that.
This is like having your uber knitter nan in the room with you. So much great advice in the forums, free patterns and project tracking. It really is the most essential site for beginners and experts alike.
I took up knitting again after inheriting my mum’s knitting patterns. My sister handed them to me with a look of “well I’m not going to use them” so I knew I needed to make sure they didn’t go to waste. Where did I go to remind me where to start? You know the answer.
I’d also like to give an honourable mention for Flickr. I hate the interface but it is a great place to find pictures of different types of crafts and a fabulous source for Guerilla Knitting.
If you’re into craft you’re probably also thinking “wait, what about Etsy“. I love Etsy, it’s great for buying unique gift or selling your own hand made creations. This post is meant for inspiration and sharing ideas which is why I haven’t included it but it is a great site none the less.
What are your favourite sites for crafty inspiration?
GUEST POST: Tom Bishop - Why getting people to read anything at any cost is not always to be applauded
Fifty Shades of Grey has obviously been getting a lot of coverage in the press, and one particular article that caught my eye was this one, in the Guardian. Now, let me make one thing clear: as long as people enjoy it and are entertained by it, great – I have no interest in the “don’t read that read this” arguments, since I know full-well my tastes don’t really suit everyone. Having said that, the same half-arsed argument, ie – “if it gets more people reading, it must be a good thing”, is all-too-frequently rolled out, allowing people to justify reading Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter, or any other flavour of the month/year/decade book, while prize winning books grow dusty and yellow on their shelves because they can’t find the time, energy or inclination to begin to engage with something more substantial. Again, I may appear to be skirting a fine line with intellectual elitism, but for me there are three main problems with that argument:
1) Those people who don’t normally read might not be so impressed/thrilled/entertained by whatever fodder is currently all the rage, and might reasonably conclude that this reading malarkey is a waste of time. This may not seem like a big deal, but if the argument in favour of uber-pop literature is that it gets people reading, putting them off reading altogether is not a great outcome.
2) It perpetuates the myth that reading is somehow a more intellectual pastime than appreciation of any of the other arts, which is evidently bullshit – it’s all about subjective response to someone else’s attempts to create something. I’ve played computer games far more intellectually stimulating than some books, and vice versa. Your mileage may vary, but I defy anyone to compile an absolute hierarchy of art, and it’s downright presumptuous to imply that all “people who don’t normally read books” are in some way intellectually disabled and in need of some kind of gateway book to kickstart the enrichment of their awful lives – though in some cases that may be true, the generalisation is (ahem) morally repugnant.
3) It utterly lowers the bar for authors: why try to write a great book when you could write a successful one? With the publishing industry in the state it’s in, you can appreciate why any print house would want to grab a runaway bestseller with both hands, but long-term they’re just diluting the market, and you obviously can’t sell lots of books to “people who don’t normally read books”. Those of us who *do* normally read books will find ourselves increasingly faced with a dwindling selection, as publishers look to find the next lowest common denominator, and authors look to gain their attention. It’s the same thing that happened in the music and film industries, and obviously we still get some outstanding films and music, but the environment of those industries means that the few that do make it have invariably had long, hard struggles and many failures to get there – who knows how many exceptional albums and jaw dropping movies have never been made, because the people who could have made them have given up hope in the face of ambivalent producers or A&Rs;who simply want universal themes in primary colours?
It’s bad business, smug and misplaced elitism, and bad literature – but if it tickles your fancy, that’s fine. Really, it is: read it, enjoy it, and tell your friends what you thought. Just please don’t try to dress up your guilty pleasure in a cloak of artistic or social merit, because that’s simply ridiculous. Also, while we’re at it, it’s worth pointing out that not ALL of the classics are completely inaccessible; so if you do find yourself regularly reading these unusually hyped books, and little else, why not try something like carbon offsetting, and make yourself read something a little more challenging after each slab of cheeky escapism? Better yet, join a book club. Or not – if all you want from books is some light entertainment, good for you. But if not, there’s no need to wait for the next herd-approved* text to come along.
Following a couple of prompts (thanks @Skipinder & @SuchPrettyEyes), I’ve finally managed to sit down and have a play around with IF This Then That. In the words of my husband “why didn’t I think of inventing that!?”
The site lets you connect your accounts from across 47 options in order to trigger actions. Essentially, each channel becomes a “this” or “that” with the first action triggering the other.
Connect up to 47 different accounts
You create your own “Recipes” which are private or can be shared if you think the combination would be useful for other users.
So far, I’ve set up my Instagram pictures to be automatically saved to a Dropbox folder, twitter mentions to be added to Storypad for Storify (great for building brand engagement stories), new WordPress posts to go to LinkedIn (not revolutionary, I can set this up easily already) and lastly my YouTube favourites are being sent to Dropbox.
I particularly like the range of applications available to users. It’s incredibly easy to set up your Recipe’s and although some links are easily managed with other existing programmes, IFTTT significantly opens up the field, upping the control and customisation to incredible levels!
There are many, many reasons to celebrate yesterday’s Cybher 2012 and I felt really honoured to be involved. With such a wide choice of sessions, catering to an array of expertise and tastes, delegates each had their own unique experience and opportunities from their day. Bravo!
My day was a mixture of pride, elation, inspiration, excitement and passion! It was truly awesome to be in a room with so many like minded people who were willing to share ideas, laugh at ourselves and encourage each other – brilliant.
I’ll be honest and say I would like to see more technology talked about at future conferences. As bloggers, we are part of the technology space no matter what we write about and we have a responsibility to encourage future generations of girls to get involved in STEM subjects at school and make technology a valid career choice. There is still a lot of sexism in technology (especially on the San Francisco start up scene) so it would be great to see some keynote speakers from the technology sphere.
So why was my day so special? It started with a great keynote from Zoe Margolis of Girl with a One Track Mind fame. We heard from the horses mouth about the opportunities (like being invited to talk on Newsnight about Slut Walk) as well as the discrimination and downside of being the girl behind the blog. It was so interesting and though provoking to hear her side of the media storm. A really great choice of speaker.
The first break out I visited was from the lovely Mark Solomon, blogger and author of Black Cab Wisdom (which I’m really enjoying!). It was a pleasure to hear Mark speak. I love London and I never get tired of starting random conversations with strangers at bus stops, commuters on the tube and yes, taxi drivers! What a lovely man and a real inspiration and example of someone who blogs for the love of it.
My second session was Pump Up the Volume with my friends The High Tea Cast ladies Sam Sparrow and Lea Rice. Now, full disclosure, I already think very highly of these women. However, I train people for a living and can honestly say that their session was a perfect example of how to run a workshop (a short workshop at that, given that they only had 40mins) where they established why we should listen to them, what they recommend and followed with practical examples and demonstrations. Just because someone is good at what they do, doesn’t mean they can train other people and these ladies CAN! I defy anyone to have left that session without feeling confident that they could create their own podcast. Really well done.
At one point during the break, I was fondled by a lovely lady who wanted to know the make of my bra (if you’re reading, I checked later and it was Freya). Palmers provided probably the most generous and useful goody bag I’ve ever seen (I’m particularly grateful for this as my hubby used a whole bottle of cocoa butter moisturising his new sleeve tattoo *grrrr*) and The Leather Satchel Co supplied possibly the best conference bags I’ve ever seen. Here is said hubby modelling mine (yes, it’s mine Simon – hands off!):
My husband @SimonBegg rockin my Cybher satchel
Despite the amazing freebees, it won’t be a surprise to learn that the highlight of my day was being involved with the Social Good panel. It was a great privilege to promote Half the Sky with Liz Scarff, Christine Mosler and conference organiser Sian To and to talk about how it inspired me to start Janie’s School. If someone had told me in Dec 09 that within a year we would have raised over £20K, built a school with facilities for over 400 children and that I’d then be talking about it at the first conference for women bloggers… you get the picture.
The response to our discussion was so inspiring and if only a fraction of the people in the room end up reading the book and taking action to protect girls worldwide, we will have done our jobs. My mum taught me at a very young age that education was the gift that no one can take away from you no matter what happens in your life. Reading Half the Sky gave me the opportunity to honour that memory and give hundreds of children the gift of education, not bad going really.
If you missed the session, please check out the book and take a couple of minutes to watch this video trailer of the upcoming documentary:
Another video shared during our session was from the awesome Girl Effect. Again, more about the solutions than the problems we face:
I took a cheeky wee break from attending sessions after this one but popped in to the Women Using Their Power for Good panel with Cat Turner, Lori Smith and Ryan Wenstrup-Moore. It’s always difficult to have this kind of discussion in such a large room and some really pertinent questions were raised just as we were wrapping up. I really hope some of the attendees from this session write posts we can weigh in on (maybe I’ll do one myself), especially from the perspective of “defining feminism today” and “I am a Christian and a Feminist”, really great ideas!
We finished the day with a presentation from WorldVision who do some awe inspiring work in developing countries to protect and support women and girls. I’m really excited to follow Sian‘s journey with them in Niger and no doubt will be tweeting about it in the not too distant future…
Phew! There is so much more I could say but I’ll finish by just thanking Sian so much for inviting me and by saying how excited I am to continue following the new friends I made and watching what amazing things we go on to achieve :D
Video Sharing: from marketing messages to stakeholder engagement was a seminar given by me for The Guardian Media Academy & Guardian Seminars. This presentation is a flavour of what was discussed and will hopefully give you some practical pointers on how you can improve brand exposure and engagement using video content.
Search Engine Optimisation: Ensuring your web presence is a success was a seminar given by me for The Guardian Media Academy & Guardian Seminars. This presentation is a flavour of what was discussed and will hopefully give you some practical pointers on how you can improve your website usability and performance.
What’s your experience of SEO planning? What tools do you use to ensure your plan is successful? Please share below.
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