Relevant links for January 11th through January 12th:
I know we are all enamored with widgets, social networks and alike, but it can become just a bunch of WORK! So I spent the weekend overhauling my tools, blog and networks to make it just a little easier. So to save YOU time, I’ve put together some insights I received from the let’s say – at least the last 7 days of work.
Tools
The right tools for the right job, not just relevant to carpenters, appears to be good for bloggers as well. I’ve been watching folks use tools on twitter, like [tag]twitterific[/tag], I’ve been playing with my bookmarking sites and just seeing how it might best be coordinated. My previous content management strategy very much had a herding cats feel to it. Here are some of the tools which I’ve centered on based on input from other folks:
Your Friends and Your Networks – Your TIME
Managing networks, bookmarks and actively participating is a bunch of work. So I QUIT! Sorta anyhow – I’ve centered on only a handful Facebook, del.icio.us, Digg and StumbleUpon (I only kept stumble since it’s a lightweight commitment). Last but not least – Twitter, I’m not sure why I like this so much, it is just fun – I think because it is [tag]iPhone[/tag] friendly and not that much of a commitment – getting the theme here? Social Media-Life Balance
Intelligent Design
Since I’m fundamentally a lazy cat, I really needed to step back and think about how I wanted my online experience to evolve. So I found myself just getting way into the constructs of understanding relationships, what smart folks do online, (this requires a bunch of reading) and what I really want to do with my spare time and why. So I mapped out goals, systems, tools and traffic patterns to understand where I should focus on delivering reasonably meaningful content to the marketplace and I realized I had an accidental architecture. I had bits of mediocre content flying all over this Arpanet.
So what did I do? I decided to literally diagram where I am, where my readers are spatially on the web compared to where I am and weighted “objects” on benefit, effort and a totally subjective cool factor. Yes, I think everything can be put into model. Once I did that I figured out my haphazard hairball or spaghetti online existence just wasn’t what I wanted. So where did I start? My blog and worked out from the brand nucleus.
This is what I have for now, I’ll keep thinking about it and if you have ideas or recommendations let me and my readers know.
So I continue to monitor my Google alerts around Top 5, I tracked top 12 (no traffic) and I tracked Top 7 as well – 1 hit in months. Readers are some of the most insightful folks and other writers do love their Top 5 list and more like to refer to other peoples Top 5 lists – creativity is alive and well! What qualifies as a reasonable list? Wit? Detail? A cool Title?
The most reasonable list according to many authors who linked to it, is the Top 5 SEO and Link Building Challenges for 2008 which have cluttered my inbox. (Uh oh – I have possibly broken the linking rules for good [tag]SEO[/tag]!) I’m so appreciative for the ideas of others, but I am continuously curious about what is of interest and what is not for readers, because while I appreciate that a good deal of words were written – I don’t know why so many people linked back.
The other list of multiple linking was the Top 5 Tips on Making Machinima, apparently a type of gamer movie thing. The most useful list I found was the Top 5 greasemonkey scripts to pimp my new GMail, but I don’t have any idea what to do with it. Wish I did as that FB GMail scripts, looks like a cool thing – maybe. Have you installed GMail scripts? Anywho, back to what you want to read or not, my random retort to a very challenging Canadian – Paul.
At Paulitics a very interesting Top5 List – Top 5 Things I saw in America which, as a Canadian, freaked me right out! First I say only 5? Then, I read them and I thought – really those 5? Fundamentally we have this thing called free speech in the US, it is some inalienable right thing, which was further outlined in a thing called the Bill of Rights and it appears 4 of your complaints are around that, which are fairly important things to American folk.
(tongue firmly planted in cheek for the majority of the rest of the post)
While I think your blog’s name is clever – I think your response is a little too Canadian. A little too “our currency is at parity and we can now buy the goods of the bourgeoisie without doing math” uppity member of the proletariat. A little too “can I get some mayonnaise for my French Fries – no Mayo?!?! How about some vinegar or gravy?” My response is really just in response to item #4, in your inverse ordered list:
A breakfast creation in upstate New York called “Stuffed French Toast”. What does “Stuffed French Toast” entail, you naïve non-American might ask? It’s French Toast (which, keep in mind is cooked in butter) stuffed with bacon, eggs and processed cheese (which they proudly call ‘American processed cheese’, I presume, to distinguish it from real cheese which could, after all, be French and/or offer unAmerican nutritional content). But here’s the kicker: on top of your “Stuffed French Toast” cooked in butter, you will find… a square of butter.
I don’t know what to say, except to create my own retort in the form of a Top 5 list.
Top 5 Reasons Stuffed French Toast Should be Awarded the most American Recipe Ever.
But I must say, I did enjoy Paul’s Marx-to-English Dictionary post, so I’ve added you to my reader, mainly so I can reflect on my Workers World days. Thanks for the list Paul and the fun, I’ll keep reading!
