Current Feed Content from 6 Oct 08 08:54
Online Collaboration Tools - New Technologies And Web Services - Sharewood Guide Oct 5 08
Sun, 5 Oct 2008 10:11:00 GMTIf you are looking for web-based collaboration tools to manage your team projects, share your screen with other people or have web-conferencing sessions, I have picked some really cool new online collaboration apps for this issue of the Sharewood Guide.
Photo credit: Erik Reis
Here the full set of online collaboration tools for this week:
- Scribblar: Engage in web-conferences with your team, featuring audio calls, text-chat and whiteboarding
- Mikogo Skype: Select one or more Skype contacts and share your screen, remote control and share files with them
- TeamTexting: Send emails and text messages to your group
- ShareYourBrain: Submit an idea for your project and see what other people can suggest to you
- Convos: Organize your team by assigning tasks, sharing files and more
- Kadoo: Create your personal page to share images, videos and documents with 10GB of total storage space
- MatchBoxCalendar: Schedule all of your appointments and let people see them
- PokeTalk: Call any mobile or landline for free using your phone and Internet
- Scribblar
Scribblar is a web-conferencing application that you can use to collaborate with your team. You can have live audio conferences with other members, while engaging in multi-user whiteboarding sessions and text chats. You can also use Scribbler to brainstorm ideas, review works, share images and files, and more. Free to use.
http://www.scribblar.com/ - Mikogo Skype
Mikogo Skype is an extra plug-in for the popular VoIP software that lets you have free screen sharing sessions and free phone calls all in one. Simply by clicking on any Skype contact, you can instantly invite them into a Mikogo session, and you\'ll be able to share your screen in real-time with up to 10 participants simultaneously. While sharing, you can change presenter, remote control, pause the transmission and transfer files. Free.
https://extras.skype.com/1672/view - TeamTexting
TeamTexting is a free group messaging platform that lets you keep in touch with your team. Just create a group and invite people to join it, and start sending messages to the group: people will receive the message via email and SMS, and wait for them to reply. No matter how many team members you have, you will be charged for just one text-message. Free.
http://www.teamtexting.com/ - ShareYourBrain
ShareYourBrain is an online brainstorming platform that you can use to submit ideas and make other people review them. After you describe the project you are working on and make a detailed request, such as what would be the best name, people will provide their ideas and comments about it, and you will be able to monitor and select the best ideas in real-time. Free.
http://www.shareyourbrain.com/ - Convos
Convos is an online project manager application that allows you to effectively organize your team. You can invite people into your group, and start scheduling appointments with the other members, share files, assign tasks and more. The free version enables you to create two groups with up to 50MB to share your files and documents. Paid versions available.
http://www.convos.com/ - Kadoo
Kadoo is a personal webspace that you can use to share files with other people. After you create your page, you can start sharing files, photos, videos and even bookmarks, with a total storage space of 10GB, deciding what people in your contact list can see. The service is completely free to use, registration is needed.
http://www.kadoo.com - MatchBoxCalendar
MatchBoxCalendar is a shared calendar application that enables you to schedule all of your appointments. You can add as many events as you want in a single day, which will be reminded to you via email or RSS, and invite people to actually see your appointments to schdule what is the best day and time to meet with them. The service is free to use, registration needed.
http://www.matchboxcalendar.com/ - PokeTalk
PokeTalk is a web service that lets you have free international calls using the Internet and your phone. After you register, all you need to do is to provide your and your friend\'s phone number, wait for your phone to ring, and you\'ll be automatically connected with the other person, wherever he is in the world. You can have up to 50 calls per month, to both mobile and landlines phones. Free, registration needed.
http://www.poketalk.com/
Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi and Robin Good for Master New Media and first published on October 5th 2008 as "Online Collaboration Technologies - New Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Guide Oct 5 08" ...Media Literacy: Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media by George Siemens - Oct 4 08
Sat, 4 Oct 2008 09:30:24 GMTHow do you know whether the information you are searching for online has been verified and comes from reliable sources? Are you getting into the mass-media habit of taking for granted whatever you read online? Is your critical evaluation attitude miserably fading?
Photo credit: Stephen Downes
George Siemens, MasterNewMedia official guide to education technologies and media literacy, scouts and reports from his ongoing research key future scenarios where the increased adoption of collaborative approaches and more effective learning styles unveil a new way of managing, and living successfully during these fast changing times.
Here all the details:
eLearning Resources and News
learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends by George Siemens
Innovate: Downes on MOOCs and CCK08
Over the last several weeks, we have seen a substantial amount of conversation on open education, open teaching, and accreditation. Rather timely then that Stephen Downes\' article in the latest issue (free registration required) of Innovate is focused on our Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course. He details how the course is set up, technologies used, participant contributions, language translations, and other delivery modalities (in Second Life, for example).
Recordings of Previous Presentation...
Recording conference presentations seems to be a given. Great way for people who couldn\'t attend an event to still benefit from the various talks given. Also a great way for presenters to relive mis-spoken words. Several recent presentations I\'ve delivered are available online:
- Leading Learning - On Becoming: The cognitive and social impact of technology (.wmv file)
- Madison conference - Curt Bonk links to both of our keynotes at Madison from August... and our panel on Web 2.0 and scholarship.
Learning Communities and Learning Cities
Education is generally confined to institutions. Learning, on the other hand, is a continual, ongoing experience, running a range from formal to informal, organized to emergent, self-organized to planned.
As institutional lines continue to blur, concepts of learning communities and learning cities become more attractive (and realizable): "Neighbourhoods, villages, towns, cities or regions that explicitly use lifelong learning as an organizing principle and social / cultural goal in order to promote collaboration of their civic, economic, public, voluntary and education sectors to enhance social, economic and environmental conditions on a sustainable, inclusive basis."
It could probably be better said with less words, but the idea of entire communities and related webs of libraries, museums, and other societal institutions forming the basis for a new integrated view of learning is quite attractive.
Tradition and Emergence
Click on the image above to open the presentation
I\'ve posted the slides for a presentation I\'ll be delivering to COHERE\'s Blended Learning conference later today. Topic: Tradition and Emergence.
History of Educational Technology
Click on the image above to open the presentation
The educational technology field is almost disdainful of its own history. This is most unfortunate. We have much to be thankful for in the early innovators of the last century (and even beyond). Given the tremendously rapid pace of technology development today, I\'m concerned that even the little history we have will vaporize.
Which is why I\'m quite excited about a new initiative with SCoPE, Richard Schwier, and the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba: Building a Virtual Museum of Educational Technology. We all agree that museum is not the best word, but it will do for now. We are running a three week online seminar (Oct 1-21) devoted to the theme and planning ways that we can get a larger group involved.
Please join in the conversation! Rick\'s current master\'s class will be tackling the museum as a project, but we\'d love to get more classes, groups, or people involved. The recording of our first session is available.
Journalism and the Internet
In education we are facing similar concerns that news media has faced for over a decade - how can the mass of amateurs online possibly recreate the authority and value of the news industry? Who will do the hard work of investigative journalism? How will we ensure that the information shared is credible?
William Dutton asks similar questions in Journalism, the Internet, and Empirical Research. He emphasizes that many concerns exist not only in internet journalism but in the information consumption habits of people in any media. In the process, he offers a fairly broad (but shallow) overview of areas needing more research...
The Next Internet
It\'s generally a good idea to listen when Google starts to talk about how it sees the next stages of internet development. Even more so when it is Vint Cerf speaking on behalf of the company. In a short post, he offers a (very) small glimpse of a future where the internet is integrated into all areas of our lives. Apparently, we\'ll be able to do our laundry through a browser. I\'m just not sure how I\'ll do the sorting :).
Visualization
iCharts is a fairly new entrant into the data visualization space. This particular service allows people upload Excel documents and create / share interactive charts. Related - Gapminder continues to offer some of the worst URLs possible, but some of the nicest graphs for comparing data from different regions around the world.
Photo credits: Innovate: Downes on MOOCs and CCK08 - Stephen Downes Recordings of Previous Presentation... - Reeltoreeltaperecorder Learning Communities and Learning Cities - University of Waterloo Journalism and the Internet - Radu Razvan The Next Internet - Tony Phillips Visualization - iCharts
Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on October 3rd 2008 as a weekly email digest on eLearning Resources and News. About the author
To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge". ...
Online Marketing Trends: Brands Meet Blogs - State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Fri, 3 Oct 2008 09:25:19 GMTBrands and blogs unite... almost. It\'s not a match made in heaven yet, but the trend is heading in that direction. According to Technorati\'s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, an increasing number of companies are reaching out to bloggers to harness the power of the blogosphere to build their brands. In fact Technorati states that "one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates."
Photo credit: Mario Lopes edited by Andre Deutmeyer
This marketing trend reflects the reality of the blogosphere - that it is already being used as a way for individuals to voice their opinions about the brands and products they love (or hate) - and brands are finally catching on. "More than eight in ten bloggers post product or brand reviews, and almost nine in ten blog about the brands they use."
And it seems that there is no gender preference when it comes to talking good (or bad) about brands. Both "men and women are equally likely to blog about products or services."
As further testament to the strength of the blogger\'s voice, traditional media is turning to the blogosphere for information. "37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post." And before the next decade is up, this trend is likely to graduate from its place on the sidelines and take traditional media\'s place as the "primary source for news and entertainment." The success of celebrity gossip sites like Perez Hilton is testament to that fact.
You can read the full report on how brands are interacting with the blogosphere below:
Brands Enter the Blogosphere
Brands make up a major part of bloggers\' online conversations. More than four in five bloggers post product or brand reviews, and blog about brands they love or hate. Even day-to-day experiences with customer care or in a retail store are fodder for blog posts. Companies are already reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates. Bloggers believe that blogs are being taken more seriously as information sources.- One in five bloggers don\'t think that newspapers will survive the next ten years.
- Half believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years.
Brand Discussion In the Blogosphere
Discussion and opinions about brands are a major part of the blogosphere.
More than eight in ten bloggers post product or brand reviews, and almost nine in ten blog about brands that they love (or hate). Interestingly, men and women are equally likely to blog about products or services.
Marketers are catching on that the blogosphere is an important place to be — one in three bloggers has been approached to be a brand advocate. Of those, more than six in ten were offered payments of some kind.
Bloggers Are Gaining Credibility
Perceptions of Blogs & Traditional Media
There is a general sense that blogs are being taken more seriously as information sources.
37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post. Half of bloggers believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years. Bloggers are less bullish on the prospects for traditional media — one in five bloggers don\'t think that newspapers will survive the next ten years.
The Time That Bloggers Spend With Various Types of Media Is Radically Different From the Average U.S. Consumer
Time U.S. Bloggers vs. U.S. Adults* Spend with Media (hours/week)
U.S. bloggers spend almost
- 3.5 times as long on the Internet as they do watching television.
- Twice as much time online as U.S. adults 18-49.
- One-third as much time watching television.
Bloggers Are Active Web 2.0 Participants
Blogger Participation in Web 2.0 Activities
While they are online, bloggers are participating in a variety of Web 2.0 activities.
Bloggers are generally the first to learn about new web technologies and applications, such as RSS and Twitter. On average, bloggers participate in five of the ten Web 2.0 activities listed, with one-third regularly conducting more than seven Web 2.0 activities.
Among Bloggers, Other Blogs Are the Most Influential Form of Brand Messaging
Types of Advertising and Content that Entice Bloggers to learn more about Products and Services
Even non-blog web content is more influential among this group than traditional media sources.
Twice as many bloggers look to other blogs compared to TV, print, or outdoor advertising.
The Future of Blogging
Bloggers peer into their crystal balls and prognosticate:"Andy Warhol said that in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. His point was that we would shift from having a few famous people for a long time to many famous people for a short time. I think the number of blogs will grow, but the average life span of a blog will shorten." Scott Sheppard - labs.blogs.com
"There will be more blogs used in education, particularly among K-12 students and teachers. Bookmarks will merge with blogs for those of us who use our blogs as note-pads or filing cabinets. Blog archives will be viewed as a rich source of cultural history. Blogs will be a means for more collaborative team work. People will expect businesses, media, and print organizations, even government organizations, to have some form of blog, in order to promote communication. Blogging will also help to provide insight to businesses about their consumers." Lynn Marentette - interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com
"This is just the beginning for blogging. People are getting better and better at this skill set, quality is improving, and we will soon have millions of people generating great content around the clock." Brett Bumeter - softduit.com
"There's a lot of sploggage out there now, and tons of \'make money\' type bloggers which glut the playing field. It makes the searching and finding of good content difficult. I think the individual or group blog or blogging group networks will simply be a part of the warp and woof of the Internet. There's no better way to communicate with a large number of people than blogging." Amos Dettonville - mostbloggers.blogspot.com
"Blogs will eventually morph — some will break off into hybridized news sites, others into password-protected ‘personal diaries, ' with others going on to offer products and services (home businesses)." Dave Lucas - dave-lucas.blogspot.com
"I've loved watching how some of the Big Dog corporate bloggers adopt the characteristics that make the best personal blogs so effective: personality, passion, smarts, usefulness, humor. Blogging and other forms of social media are changing corporate-think and driving a revolution in how companies do business." Debbie Weil - debbieweil.com Blogger and author of The Corporate Blogging Book
See also:- Blog Trends And Statistics: The State Of The Blogosphere 2008 - The Technorati Report
- Blog Topics And Bloggers Motivations: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- The Typical Blogger Profile: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- Blogging Tools And Techniques: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- Making Money With Blogs: Trends And Statistics From The State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Originally written and prepared by the Technorati team and first published on September 27th 2008 as "State of the Blogosphere 2008 - Brands Enter The Blogosphere". Reprinted here in full with author permission. ...Making Money With Blogs: Statistics And Trends From The State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Thu, 2 Oct 2008 09:00:12 GMTCan you make money from blogging? The answer is an unequivocal "YES!" But if you\'re the average blogger, you don\'t want to quit your day job yet. On the bright side, though, you can buy each member of your family an iPhone. At least that is what Technorati is saying in their State of the Blogosphere report. The median annual revenue for a blogger is $6, 000.
Photo credit: Mario Lopes edited by Andre Deutmeyer
Now if you\'re reading this and thinking, "Hey... I only make $200 annually. What am I doing wrong?" Don\'t worry, you\'re not doing anything wrong. These figures are skewed by "the top 1% of bloggers who earn $200k+" per year.
But that\'s not to say that you can\'t make a living through blogging. In fact, as soon as you hit the 100, 000 unique visitors per month mark, you can call your boss and tell him he can take those TPS reports and shove them up his... well you get the picture. The average income for this group is $75, 000.
So how do you join the elite ranks of the blogging profiteers? Well if you live in the US you better turn to your European or Asian brethren for advice. Europeans make, on average, 75% more from their blogs then Americans do. And Asian bloggers are sitting on a 50% margin over their American counterparts.
And if you don\'t advertise, you are in the minority... but just barely. According to the report 46% of bloggers don\'t have any sort of advertising on their blogs. While the reasons why these bloggers don\'t advertise may vary, it has nothing to do with lack of know-how. Bloggers will be glad to know that they "are savvy and self sufficient" according to Technorati. And "when they are ready to accept advertising they will have no problems figuring out how to best approach it for their blog."
To find out more, you can read the full Technorati report after the jump. Enjoy.
Blogging for Profit
Blogs are an increasingly attractive platform for advertisers. The majority of bloggers we surveyed have advertising on their blogs. Marketers realize that bloggers are creating high quality content and attracting growing, loyal audiences.
Bloggers with advertising are more sophisticated in terms of their use of tools, advertising platforms and even events to build reader loyalty. They also invest more resources (both time and money) in their blogs. We also analyzed the differences between the top 10% of bloggers in terms of ad revenue compared to the average blogger. Overall, this group exhibits the above behaviors but to a much higher degree.
Among the bloggers who currently do not have advertising on their site, the most common reason is lack of interest. Very few said that not knowing how to set up advertising was a barrier to accepting ads on their blog. Bloggers are savvy and self sufficient, so when they are ready to accept advertising they will have no problems figuring out how to best approach it for their blog.
The majority of bloggers have advertising or another method of revenue generation on their blogs. On average, professional and corporate bloggers are more likely to include search ads, display ads, and affiliate marketing. One in four bloggers uses three or more means of advertising.
Do you have advertising on your site, or receive cash or products through the following means?
Among bloggers who have advertising on their blogs:
- Two in three have contextual ads (such as Google AdSense).
- One-third of bloggers have affiliate advertising on their blog.
- One in five negotiate directly with advertisers.
- One in ten sell advertising through a blog ad network.
How Bloggers Manage Advertising
Ad clutter, lack of interest, and low traffic numbers are the top reasons why bloggers do not have advertising on their blogs. Among the 48% of bloggers who currently do not have advertising on their site, the most common reason is lack of interest. One in five bloggers don't feel like they have a critical mass of traffic to their blog. Other reasons that bloggers do not have any advertising on their blogs include:
Reasons why Bloggers do not have Advertising on their Blog
Other (12%) reasons why bloggers did not have any advertising on their blogs included:
- "I could only endorse something I was really passionate about that might benefit one of my causes."
- "I haven\'t made much from it in the past."
- "I live in a country which has impossible tax rules."
Average Annual Revenue is More than $6, 000
Posting by Technorati Authority
Click above to enlarge picture
The average annual blogger revenue is more than $6, 000.
However, this is skewed by the top 1% of bloggers who earn $200k+. Among active bloggers that we surveyed, the average income was $75, 000 for those who had 100, 000 or more unique visitors per month (some of whom had more than one million visitors each month). The median annual income for this group is significantly lower — $22, 000.
Bloggers with advertising invest an average of $1, 800 annually in their blogs. U.S. bloggers earn an average of $5, 000, though bloggers in Asia earn 50% more on average and European bloggers earn an average of 75% more than U.S. bloggers. High revenue bloggers skew the mean revenue. The median revenue for U.S. bloggers is $200 annually (and the median annual investment is only $50).
Bloggers Are Enjoying CPMs on Parity with Large Publishers
Posting by Technorati Authority
Active bloggers receive Cost per Mille (CPMs) for advertising on their site on par with large online media publishers (although the median is considerably lower). Some very targeted blogs are enjoying double-digit CPMs.
High Revenue Bloggers
The top 10 percent of blogger respondents earned an average of $19, 000 annually.
- Three-quarters of these successful bloggers are male.
- Four in ten are self employed (twice as high as the average blogger).
- They are also more likely to be professional or corporate bloggers.
See also:- Blog Trends And Statistics: The State Of The Blogosphere 2008 - The Technorati Report
- Blog Topics And Bloggers Motivations: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- The Typical Blogger Profile: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- Blogging Tools And Techniques: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Originally written and prepared by the Technorati team and first published on September 26th 2008 as "State of the Blogosphere 2008 - Blogging For Profit". Reprinted here in full with author permission. ...Blogging Tools And Techniques: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Wed, 1 Oct 2008 08:53:28 GMTHow do you blog? Which tools or techniques do you use to keep your content always fresh and updated? Even if you got ideas, layout and a catchy title, this is just the easy part. Creating a blog is now something you can do in just a few clicks. The hardest part comes right after.
Photo credit: Mario Lopes edited by Daniele Bazzano
The time you spend online does matter. According to Technorati\'s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, almost 50% of bloggers dedicate from five to ten hours per week to their own blogs. Via computer or via mobile, bloggers seem to understand the importance of using tools to provide their users with always new, updated content.
But frequently updates may not suffice. Is your content easily searchable on the Internet? Or you just rely on your aficionados to get good traffic? Bloggers know the importance of Google ranking and linking to other blogs to gain more authority. They know this is a good way to have people stumbling upon your blog while searching for their interests, and maybe find some other interesting stuff you have already published.
And do not forget about tags. Technorati\'s top 100 bloggers use targeted tagging to make sure their blog gets good results on search engines. Classifying the content of your blog with good, targeted keywords makes your content more easy to found on the Internet. Posts, videos, images, podcasts: everything can be tagged to improve its reachability.
So, which kind of blogger are you? Read further for some advices on how to improve your blogging experience.
The How of Blogging
We have discussed who the bloggers are, what they\'re blogging about, and the role of blogging in their lives. But what about the how? Bloggers invest significant time in creating and updating their blogs, as well as driving traffic and retaining their audiences.
One in four bloggers spends ten hours or more blogging each week. The most influential bloggers are even more prolific. Using Technorati Index data, we analyzed the posting and tagging behaviors of bloggers according to their Technorati Authority. Over half of the Technorati top authority bloggers post five or more times per day, and they are twice as likely to tag their blog posts compared to other bloggers.
From their use of RSS feeds, video, photos, and mobile updates, bloggers are also tremendously sophisticated in leveraging the available tools to make their blogs more robust.
Bloggers employ a variety of technologies to attract visitors. Top audience-building strategies include: listing their blog on Technorati and Google, commenting or linking to other blogs, and tagging blog posts so that they are more easily searchable. All of this hard work has paid off — half of active blogs attract more than 1000 monthly visitors.
Time Spent Blogging
Time Spent Blogging Each Week
Bloggers invest a significant amount of time in creating and updating their blogs, as well as other blog-related activities.
One in four bloggers spends ten hours or more blogging each week, and about half spend more than five hours weekly on their blog. Only 15% of active bloggers spend less than one hour per week on their blog.
Blogging with Help
Employ Any Staff For Blogging
While the majority of bloggers manage their blogs solo, among professional and corporate bloggers, one in ten pay staff to contribute to their blogs.
One in five corporate bloggers have paid full-time or part-time staff. Across both professional and corporate blogs, a higher percentage have unpaid help.
Technorati 100, Next 500, and Next 5000 Comparisons
Posting by Technorati Authority
We analyzed the Technorati index data to see whether higher-authority bloggers behaved differently from other bloggers.
Blogs with higher authority are typically updated more frequently than blogs with lower authority. The Technorati Top 100 blogs had more than twice as many postings in June 2008 as the next 500, and more than 12 times as many postings as the next 5000.
Posting Frequency
Technorati Top 100 bloggers are twice as likely to post ten or more time daily compared to the next 500, and 14 times as likely than the next 5000. Looking again at Technorati\'s tracking data shows how often the Top 100 bloggers post each day compared to the next 500 and the next 5000. The Technorati Top 100 are prolific, with 43% posting ten times per day or more often. Only 8% post once a day or less frequently, compared to 13% of the next 500 bloggers, and 22% of the next 5000 bloggers.
Technorati Top 100 bloggers Are Twice as Likely to Use Tags in Their Posts
Percentage of Bloggers who Use Tags
Tagging blog posts is another way of ensuring that people can search for relevant content within a blog.
Technorati\'s tracking data shows that the Technorati Top 100 bloggers use tags much more frequently than the next 500 and the next 5000 bloggers. The Technorati Top 100 bloggers are twice as likely to use tags in their blog posts compared to the average of the 5MM active bloggers tracked in June.
Broad Categories Are the Most Popular Tags
Technorati index data uncovers the most popular tags during the month of June. "News" was the #1 most-used tag by bloggers, appearing close to 200, 000 times over the course of the month.
General categories such as news, music, video, politics, and business tend to be the most popular tags.
Technorati\'s Top Bloggers Had Eight Blog Posts Tagged "News" on Average
Average Number of Tags / Blogger by Technorati Authority
Technorati\'s Top 100 bloggers use this tag more than two times as much as the next 500, and 19 times as much as the next 5000.
Shown here are some of the more popular tags and how many times those tags were used on average by the Top 100, next 500, and next 5000 bloggers. This data reinforces the fact that Top 100 bloggers use all tags more frequently than other bloggers.
Trends Can Also Be Tracked by Looking at Tag Growth Over Time
Andy Murray, the Scottish tennis player who made it to the finals of the U.S. Open, saw his popularity grow once he beat Rafael Nadal on September 7, 2008.
Posts by Day about "Andy Murray"
Posts tagged "Obama" peaked during the Democratic National Convention, reaching their highest point on the day of his acceptance speech and the day following (August 28 and 29, 2008).
Posts by Day about "Obama"
Posts tagged "McCain" spiked on August 29, 2008, the day he chose Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mate, and then again during the week of the Republican National Convention.
Posts by Day about "McCain"
Sarah Palin had more tagged posts than Obama or McCain after her speech at the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008, confirming the intense interest about her across the media and the blogosphere.
Posts by Day about "Sarah Palin"
Bloggers Are Using Tools on Their Blogs
Tools Used on Blog
Bloggers are also tremendously sophisticated in leveraging available tools to make their blogs more robust or easily updatable.
More than eight in ten have a commenting system, archived posts, and have built-in syndication. Others use video and photos on their blog, or update their blog via a mobile device. On average, bloggers use seven of the 13 tools listed.
Among those with widgets, the majority of bloggers use at least four widgets on their site and two-thirds would include a widget with an ad on their blog.
Among those blogs with RSS feeds, three in four support full-content feeds.
How Bloggers Attract Visitors
How Bloggers Attract Visitors
Bloggers are savvy and resourceful in generating traffic.
Top traffic-building strategies include: listing their blogs on Technorati and Google, commenting on or linking to other blogs, participating in a blogroll or blog directory, and tagging blog posts so that they are more easily searchable. Active bloggers have learned a variety of techniques for attracting visitors to their blog, conducting an average of five different activities to attract visitors. 28% do at least seven activities.
Bloggers are also adept at linking to and from other sites — they have a median of 29 links from their blog to other web sites (with a mean of 3400), and a median of 30 links from other web sites to their blog (with a mean of 4800).
To Build Loyalty with Readers, Bloggers Create Events for Their Readership
In order to retain visitors to their blogs, sophisticated bloggers are creating readership events.
The majority of these events are in person, with one in five personal bloggers hosting an in-person event and one-third of corporate bloggers hosting an in-person event.
The Vast Majority of Bloggers Are Tracking Their Site Visitors and Monthly Pageviews
Only 5% of bloggers did not know how many monthly pageviews their blog received. All this hard work has paid off for active bloggers in terms of site visitors. Half of bloggers attract over 1000 unique visitors per month.
- Tool usage
- Google Analytics is the most common tracking tool (used by 2/3 of bloggers)
- Sitemeter and Statcounter used by one in five bloggers
- 42% use more than one service/provider for their analytics
- Over 100 different tracking tools used
Bloggers Are Investing Money
Select bloggers are investing significant money in their blogs (including hosting, marketing, staff, and paid contributors).
Bloggers with advertising invest significantly more money in their blogs than bloggers who do not accept advertising. The mean investment in blogs is $1, 000 over the past year. However, the median investment is only $50. European bloggers and corporate bloggers invest more in their blogs on average, as do those bloggers who have advertising support.
See also:- Blog Trends And Statistics: The State Of The Blogosphere 2008 - The Technorati Report
- Blog Topics And Bloggers Motivations: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
- The Typical Blogger Profile: State Of The Blogosphere 2008
Originally written and prepared by the Technorati team and first published on September 25th 2008 as "State of the Blogosphere 2008 - The How of Blogging". Reprinted here in full with author permission. ...Online Video Interview: How To Prepare Yourself For It
Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:32:54 GMTGetting ready for an online video interview? Find out how to set up your computer, webcam, lights and microphone for a perfect online video interview.
Though for a geek this may be simple stuff, if you are not a technically skilled person or if you have never done an online video interview, getting to know the basics of how to avoid making this become a nightmare is something I strongly encourage you to be familiar with.
In this short video I explain to you in straight, simple words, what you need to do to set yourself up for an online video interview.
How To Prepare Yourself For An Online Video Interview
Full English Text Transcription
Hi! This is Robin Good for Master New Media! You have been asked to have an online video interview? And you\'re getting stressed? All shaky just for that? Come on! I Know, it is something new because been interviewed online is not something that happens every day, but it is going to happen more and more. And I figured out what it takes for you to be properly prepared to do a video interview, with me, with anyone else. Doesn\'t matter what software or tool they use. The rules are always the same. So, I have taken note of what really counts and I\'m gonna give you some specific tips about what you need to prepare yourself for a proper online video interview when you are the one being interviewed.
- Ok. For what concerns yourself, where you place yourself, it is important you get yourself properly and comfortably sit in a place where you got some good light. This is the main problem everyone has got. You place yourself somewhere, you see, which does not look like it is dark, you think it is ok. No, that is not ok. You do not see it right now, but not only there is the sunshine out of here, but there is one, two, three, four lights going on here in all directions to make sure that the overall impression of my complexion and everything is very warm and cool. That does not happen automatically. At the very minimum, in a situation where you just need to do it just in time, just take one of those desk lamps and do not shoot it in your face. But shoot it in the wall in front of you. So kind of standing in front of the wall, that is possibly white- or light-colored and shoot a strong white light in front on that wall, so that you get some diffuse light on you.
- Second thing: frame yourself inside the webcam eye, the webcam lens, the camcorder that is shooting at you with your head. Do not go back and show all your body and all the stuff you got hanging on in the room, that is not relevant. You want to fill in the screen with just your face: from chin to the top of your head. You need to cut off nothing. And fill in with that. So you need just little background, and that should be as neutral as possible.
- Then remember: wherever the webcam is, look inside that eye. Look inside there. Do not look at the screen, at yourself, at the other guy, while you are talking and answering. Look inside the webcam. Turn your directions there and talk directly into it, as much as possible. Even if the guy is talking to you right here, you keep talking back to him back right there, you do not do all ah-ah-ah and then you ah. You just ah-ah-ah here the whole time.
To summarize:- Lights
- Framing
- Watching in direct
- and Talking clearly and direct.
- Do not rant. Do not go on too much on your own thing, telling your own story. You know, be concise. Give space so that this become more of a conversation, less of an interview.
- Make sure you avoid having your speakers up (switched on) on your computer.
- Use a headset. That makes you look kind of an astronaut, looks cool, technological: that is fine.
- Get a good microphone.
- Move the microphone away from being right in front of your mouth. When you get these microphones here, that come on front here like Michael Jackson, move them away from the front of your mouth and make sure it is not directly in front of where you are doing these noises. Because they will be felt. So, move the microphone out of the way. You will be heard very clearly. No matter what.
What else you need to:- Turn off your mobile.
- Turn off your real telephone.
- Make sure nobody is gonna ring at the door, at the bell and nobody is going to come and ask for help right now. Tell everybody in the office, at home, that you are doing a video interview for so many minutes: make sure nobody is going to disturb you.
- Make sure you got batteries running, enough tape, and those are the basics.
Finally, it is likely that if the video interview is going to take place via the Internet, your video interviewer will ask you to download a video conferencing tool like OoVoo or Sightspeed or VSee. Go ahead and install it and then add the "nickname" or email of your video interviewer in your newly installed videoconferencing tool contact list. Robin Good for Master New media. Talk to you soon. Ciao!
A Video Recording Backup Solution
When all else fails, you can always record a video contribution on your computer and then send it to your interviewer. If the above is too complex or cannot be realized for some other reason here is another simple solution: You can record your video answer to a possible video interview request asynchronously, by asking the reporter to send you ahead of time the questions via email and then by video recording your replies to them in this way:1. Get on a Mac or PC and load either Windows Movie Maker (PC) or iMovie (Mac) (These two software tools are free and normally come pre-installed on your computer). 2. Make sure you have webcam, headset and microphone connected 3. Record your video answers by selecting your connected webcam as the video source 4. Save the video recording and set the video quality level for final output at the highest quality level possible. This will generate a very large file. 5. Send your interviewer the recorded video file via one of the many free services which allow you to send huge files.
Originally written by Robin Good for Master New Media and first published on September 30th 2008 as "Online Video Interview: How To Prepare Yourself For It" ...Best Web-Based Image And Photo Editors - Sharewood Guide
Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:30:00 GMTWeb-based image editors are online tools that anyone can use to easily modify, resize, edit and crop digital photographs or graphics files, without needing to download and install any software.
Photo credit: Pixlr Interface
Digital image editors, are typically free, and, in most cases, do not even require a registration in order to be used: just select an image or provide its URL, wait for the system to upload it and start editing it. No matter whether you need to rotate, resize, crop, or adjust the color tone of your images, these web-based image editors are designed to simplify your task when it comes to such operations.
Basic key features are pretty much the same for all of these web-based image editing tools. Among these, here are my selected top traits for a web-based digital image editor tool that you can use to more easily select the one that could be best for you:
- Layers: Let\'s you have multiple layers on a single image, so that you can easily mix more objects together on the same canvas
- Registration Needed: Shows if you need to sign up to the service in order to start editing your images
- Advanced Selection Tools: Helps you select part of the image that you wouldn\'t be able to extract with traditional instruments
Best Web-Based Image Editors - Comparison Table
go to the table!
Web-Based Image Editors Tool List
- Pixlr
Pixlr is an online image editing application that anyone can use to modify pictures online. Without any registration you can jump in, open any picture and start editing it: you can resize it, crop it, apply effects and filters, use layers, and every other thing you would do using a normal standalone software. Pixlr is free to use with no signup needed.
http://pixlr.com/ - Aviary
Aviary is a web-based suite of image editing software, that you can use to edit all of your pictures without having no software installed on your machine. You can edit and resize pictures, create color schemes, edit vectors, apply effects, create fonts, and more. Currently in private beta it is free to use after someone invites you or you get accepted in the beta.
http://a.viary.com/ - Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is the web-based counterpart of the famous software based photo editing tool. This version, gives you 2GB of free space to upload all of your pictures and arrange them in galleries. But it obviously also lets you edit them: you can apply any kind of effect, resize, rotate, crop, adjust colors, saturation, brightness, and everything you would expect from a normal editing software. Free to use, registration needed.
https://www.photoshop.com/express/ - Splashup
Splashup is a powerful photo editing online software that allows you to edit your pictures online without even registering to the service. You can edit any type of image, and you can resize it, crop it, select different regions, use layers, add captions and effects, and more. When you are finished with a picture, you can save it in a different format to your PC, or simply upload it your favorite photo sharing system (like Picasa, Flickr...). Free.
http://www.splashup.com/ - Flauntr
Flauntr is a free online photo editor that you can use to edit your images easily and apply effects with one click. You can get photos from Flickr, your PC or online photo storage service, and edit it with basic and advanced features (resize, rotate, crop, captions, and many effects). Then, you can save them online on flauntR\'s free photo storage, Flickr, or share them by email. Registration needed.
http://www.flauntr.com/ - FotoFlexer
FotoFlexer is a Flash-based image editing tool, that you can use to edit your pictures online. After register for free, you can start creating as many photo albums as you want, in which you upload pictures that you can further edit by cropping, resizing, removing blemishes and wrinkles, changing eye color, adding captions, and more. It is completely web-based and free to use.
http://fotoflexer.com/ - Picnik
Picnik is an image editor that lets you quickly edit all your photos online. It helps you resize, rotate and crop pictures, but also fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye, or apply many special effects. When done, you can save your image locally in various formats, but also upload it directly on all major image sharing sites. Picnik is completely free to use.
http://www.picnik.com/ - Sumopaint
Sumopaint is an online Flash-based image editor, that lets you modify all of your images online with lots of features. Reminding Photoshop with its interface, Sumopaint supports layers, lets you apply filters, effects, create shapes, and edit your images just as if you were using a professional software-based editor. Free to use, no registration needed.
http://sumopaint.com/ - PikiFX
Pikifx is a web-based image editor that you can use to edit your images with no additional software. You can decide whether to use a picture from your PC or to provide a URL, and immediately start editing it. You can rezise it, crop it, add effects, borders and captions. When you\'re done, you can save your image in JPG, BPM, PNG, TIFF and GIF, email it, and get the HTML embedding code. Free to use with no need to register.
http://www.pikifx.com/ - FixPicture
FixPicture is a web-based image editor that you can use to edit and convert pictures online. Just pick whether you want to use the Flash or HTML version, upload a picture from your PC or provide the URL, edit your picture(resize, crop, rotate, mirrorand adjust levels), apply basic effects, and choose the output format(jpg, png, bmp, gif, tiff, pdf). Free to use.
http://www.fixpicture.org/ - PikiPimp
PikiPimp is a browser-based image editor, that enables you to edit your pictures with some basic editing tools. After you upload an image or type its URL, you are able to crop it, rotate it, set brightness, saturation, contrast, black&white, and more. It also offers many effects and tools, like sepia tone and captioning. When done, you can download the final image, and save it if you\'re a registered user. Free.
http://www.pikipimp.com/ - Dr. Pic
Dr. Pic is a Javascript-based online image editor that offers you some basic editing tools to modify your pictures. After you load an image, you can resize, crop rotate, add text, and even apply some basic effects to it. When done, you can export your image in different formats (JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP) with different quality settings. Free to use, no registration required.
http://www.drpic.com/ - LunaPic
LunaPic is a simple online image editor. Simply upload your photo or paste the URL, and you can start editing your picture. You can crop, resize, rotate, apply filters, add text, draw...but also add as many animations and effects as you want. If you like what you created you can save it or send it and, if you have an account, you can save your photos in your own gallery. Its is completely web-based and free to use.
http://www.lunapic.com/editor/ - Picjuice
Picjuice is an easy-to-use web-based image editor that allows you to modify any image online. Just upload the picture you want to edit, and it\'ll let you resize, crop, flip, rotate and adjust all of your images without installing any software. After all of the changes have been made, you can save the new picture in JPG or PNG format. Free to use, no registration needed.
http://www.picjuice.com/ - SnipShot
SnipShot is a browser-based image editor that lets you open any file from URL or PC, and to apply basic editing to it: you can resize, crop, rotate, enhance, adjust exposure and contrast, and apply effects. The result can be saved in multiple formats and shared with other people via email. Free, no signup needed.
http://snipshot.com/
Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published on September 29th 2008 as "Best Web-Based Image And Photo Editors - Sharewood Guide" ...
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