shawn farner|*feeding* the social web obsession

Since the traditional sidebar blogroll takes up a lot of room, I’ve decided to devote a whole page to bloggers I find interesting.  You can find the VIPs link in the navigation menu.

If you’re a Central PA blogger and you aren’t listed, shoot me a message on Twitter (@shawnfarner) or send an email to shawnfarner[AT]gmail{DOT]com.  Chances are, we’ve interacted and I just don’t know your blog address.

The VIPs list is in no way an authoritative list of who is great and who isn’t.  There are tons of blogs that are probably fantastic, and once I find them, they’ll be linked as well.  If you’d like to recommend your own blog or someone else’s to me, feel free to contact me!  To those bloggers whose blogs I read - thank you for the great content.

I want to give a thank you shout-out to Colette Cope, who got my blog listed on PennLive.com!

To find me, go to PennLive.com, click “Local” and then look under “More Local Blogs”.  Or I suppose you could just keep coming the way you always do, via my feed, a bookmark, Facebook or whatever else.  I’m hoping this brings in a few new readers, but we’ll see!

A few days ago I wrote a post about why I’d rather be here than in Silicon Valley.  While people there are more apt to become early adopters, Central Pennsylvania’s rate of adoption for new technology is much slower.  This basically makes those of us blogging, tweeting and FriendFeeding here the Robert Scobles, Louis Grays and Darren Rowses of the area.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

Now we’ve taken another step forward.  blogHarrisburg has been online previously, but today received a sweet new redesign that takes it to a whole new level.  What is blogHarrisburg?  Basically, it’s a web site that aggregates all the posts made about the area by local bloggers and places them conveniently onto one site.  This will do worlds to promote blogging in the area and will put much deserved eyeballs on some of the great work that local bloggers are doing.

Speaking of local bloggers and Twitterers, you can meet some of them Thursday (5/22) at the blogHarrisburg/Twitter meetup!  It’ll be going down at Appalachian Brewing Company on Cameron Street in Harrisburg from 6-9 PM.  I usually play volleyball during that time, but I’m going to try to make it anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll be looking at a promising Central PA web site that hopes to be your one stop for event information - Spotobe.

Of course, a lot of me wants to say yes.  Scobleizer interviews some pretty high-profile people in the world of technology.  He also gets to fly all over creation.  He has a multitude of eyes and ears hanging on his every word.

Unfortunately, I feel that being fully immersed in the startup world and the ever-changing landscape of the web has put him out of touch with those who will make or break many of these ventures; the every-day guys and gals.

That isn’t a knock on Robert at all.  I’m totally envious of what he gets to do, and if things go my way, maybe one day I’ll have as many eyes and ears on me.  You can call my BS if you want, but if I had to choose between being a voice among tens of thousands of voices in the Valley or being one of just a few here, I’d choose here.

I’m located within spitting distance of a state capital that is severely lacking in web presence.  There are not many people on Twitter in Harrisburg - how else would a college student be able to chit chat with local news reporters at will?  We have very few serious bloggers, but these bloggers consistently scoop our newspaper writers on a regular basis.  There aren’t many people here who get it yet, and to me, that’s exciting.

Those few of us bloggers/early adopters that do exist here have the opportunity to do something great, something not a lot of people can say they’ve done.  We have, in our hands, the opportunity to transform an entire city.  We have the chance to completely change the way this city communicates, consumes media and sees the world as a whole.

I would guess that 97% of Harrisburg’s citizens have never heard of Twitter.  They’ve never heard of FriendFeed.  Some might think that Google is the only search engine in existence.  These people use email, AIM, Myspace and Facebook.  They read their favorite sites using bookmarks, not RSS feeds.  They find new music through the radio and word of mouth, not sites like Last.FM or Pandora.  The early adopter pace is just too fast for them to keep up.

I do not look down on these people at all.  Many early adopters seem to think highly of themselves for having been on something “first”, before it was cool.  I do not think that way.  For me, these people are not a heavy anchor holding us back.  Instead, they are the sails.  When they flock to a service, then you know you have something special.

I look foward to helping introduce them to this new world.  And Robert, next time you go to Tel Aviv, save me a seat?

Guess who’s back?

I’ve scrapped my earlier plans of taking a course on campus at IUP in favor of taking an online class and coming home early.  Not only does this mean I get to enjoy nightly volleyball, I also get to start work immediately on my various projects.  I’ll get to start posting more heavily for WebpageFX and I’ll also get to work on (re)launching Be of Service.  Even more, I’ll get to roam about Harrisburg, eat sushi with cool people, Tweet-up with my fellow Central PA Twitterfolk and write more about this area.

Sweet.

By the way, is anyone looking to hit up Blogworld in September?  Las Vegas?  Let me know.

So, I’m thinking tonight I’ll be pulling an all-nighter.

I want to get a quick update in here before I start researching and writing my first blog post for WebPageFX.  I got an email from the big cheese there asking me to write about a specific topic (social networking for traditional businesses), so there’s a sneak peek at what to look forward to.  It’ll actually be nice to get that written and posted since it’ll get me on payroll for the week.  Keep an eye out for that post to be published sometime tomorrow.

Now, to answer the question you’ve probably had since you started reading this post - why will this weekend own my soul?  I’m booked SOLID.  I have to write a paper for African American literature.  Unfortunately, my weekend is also jammed full of Alpha Phi Omega activities (a fundraising project, walkout, Relay for Life and the initiation of our pledges).  Next week I’ll get a bit of a breather (four days) until I have another final.  Not sure how my schedule worked out that way, it just did.

I hit the $10 mark on CashCrate for the month, which is sweet.  Next month I’ll get a check for whatever amount I end up making by April 30.  Right now it’s at $10.25.  Pretty cool for not really doing much.

I’m still trying to figure out what to do with a lot of the web property I’ve staked my claim to.  I suppose this summer I’ll have more time to figure that out, but I really feel like I’m neglecting a lot of sites I was really excited about when I first launched them.  I’m thinking I might just do complete relaunches and keep myself on a schedule to juggle them all - maybe two or three posts a week for each.  We’ll see.

Okay, I should get started on paid work! :-P  Until next time, keep your tech glasses on.

Last week of classes!  Well, for most of us.  I’ll be hanging out at IUP until May 30 to take a LBST class about Iraq.  So in the “summer vacation” sense, I don’t have much of a reason to be excited yet.  I am, though, and I’ll tell you why:

I landed an internship!

It’s with a web design company in the Harrisburg area (Carlisle, to be more specific).  Basically, my job is this; blog about web design, internet marketing and social media.  Yes, I already do that, and that’s all the more reason to be excited.  To me, it isn’t even a job!  It’s a hobby I’ll be getting paid for.  So, here are two links to check me out on pretty soon:

WebpageFX
Keystroke Marketing

I have some conferences I’d like to attend over the summer, mainly Internet Week New York, Web Content 2008 and the New Media Expo.  I might try to drop a subtle hint to my new internship employers (pssst.. you should send me to those!).  The dates for those are June 3-10, June 17-18 and August 14-16, respectively.  If you’d like to keep tabs on me trip-wise, DOPPLR is the place to do it.

And please, please, join and follow me on Twitter.  And friendfeed.

Til next time…

As most of you know, I’m involved in a service fraternity on campus called Alpha Phi Omega.  This organization has been on the IUP campus for decades, and while its members have stayed current with technology, the fraternity itself could use a push.  Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to “Web 2.0-ify” Alpha Phi Omega, not only to benefit and grow the cause, but also as a case study for others to apply to their own clubs and organizations.

A transformation like this will probably not be easy to pull off.  There are already systems in place to take care of certain processes, and people are sometimes not open and accepting to change.  Here are a few examples of the way certain things are done currently:

• Meeting minutes are sent out via email
• Events (service, social, fundraising) are signed up for on paper
• Contact lists are either sent out via email or are distributed on paper
• A phone tree is currently in place to spread important information

There are a few other examples I could add, but the basic point is this: there are systems in place now that get the job done, but incorporating Web 2.0 would do those same jobs much better and much faster.

One area Alpha Phi Omega lacks in is web presence.  The fraternity’s territory online is staked out in the form of a Facebook group.  I’ve spent the last month and a half or so exploring the ways this could be improved upon.  One obvious solution is a web site, which I have in fact been working on and hope to complete in the very near future.  I’ve built the site using Wordpress, mainly due to its ease of use and adaptability.  In the future, I envision minutes not being sent by email, but instead being added as a post.  This would solve the issue of lost emails and would also unclutter many inboxes.

As far as signing up for events, I’m certain there is a web app that could make this a breeze.  It would be easy to simply create a Facebook event for say, a service project, but we then run into the issue of certain people not having a Facebook account.  I would also like to get those who sign up to go immediately on a printable list, making things much easier for whoever is in charge of the event.  If you know of such an app, fill me in!

Google Docs and its “publish and share” feature solves my issue with the contact list.  An excel spreadsheet can be added to Docs very easily and a shared URL can be distributed to fraternity members.  This link could also be included on the APO web site.  Not only would this provide a contact list that will never be lost, it is also incredibly easy to edit on the fly, ensuring members have access to the latest contact information.

As for the phone tree, I feel that somewhere, Web 2.0 provides a much better way to spread a message quickly.  I’ve been contemplating whether or not to introduce Twitter as a possible solution, though I have a gut feeling people would not like the hassle of signing up for an account and activating their phones to receive texts.  I would also be higher on Twitter if they supported AIM, but they currently do not.  Does anyone else know of a web app that allows you to add users to a list and simultaneously send them all a text message?

That’s all for now.  I will continue APO 2.0 every few days, highlighting the latest way I’m trying to bring Alpha Phi Omega up to date on newer web technologies.  If you have anything you’d like to add, feel free to shoot me an email (shawnfarner[at]gmail[dot]com), hit me up on Twitter (@shawnfarner) or simply leave a comment.

Hmm… not quite what I had in mind.  Summer is fast approaching, though, so I think it’s probably a good idea that I get things figured out as soon as possible.

I’ve already decided I’ll be hanging out here in Indiana a bit longer than I should; May 12-May 30, so I can take some LBST class about Iraq.  At the least, it’ll make my Fall semester much easier.  After that, though, things start to become foggy.  I’d like to go on at least one trip this summer, that is for sure.  At the same time, I need the money to fund such a trip.

Enter job!  One of the perks of this blog is that people can find me pretty easily.  One of my former employers (one of the sweetest jobs I’ve ever had) came across my site and asked me if I’d be interested in doing more work.  Fo ’sho.  Well, maybe.  If I can’t get placed in an easy job that pays better this summer, I’ll take it.  I should be okay on that front.  I only plan on working from June 1 til August 1, though, so whoever hires me needs to respect my authoritah.

What about my spare time?  Well, I’ve recently applied to intern for a small NYC start-up that has launched a service similar to Last.FM.  So we’ll see where that goes.  I also plan to (re)start a little project of my own.  Last semester I created Be of Service, which was going to be a blog about community service.  I’ve since decided to relaunch the site with a different focus - to organize service projects in the Harrisburg area and get interest volunteers in the area to help out.  I’ve submitted the idea to ideablob to see if it catches on, but who knows ;).  Vote for me if you want.

I’m leaving the month of August (until the 21st or 22nd, when I’ll be forced to return to IUP) for relaxing and vacationing.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to them!  I’m now going to return to apartment cleaning and Last.FM-listening.  Have a great night.

To start off, the food court on campus here (Folger) has the most terrible sushi on earth.  After having decent sushi over the weekend, Folger’s just doesn’t cut it.  One thing I noticed is that their rice is really, really wet, and they use a lot of it.  A lot of rice and very little of anything else does not make for good sushi.  Seeing as I’m probably the only person who buys it from them, they should improve it for my sake.

How many of you use Twitter?  You should start.  It’s terribly addicting, though I haven’t discovered any real solid use for it yet.  I basically just update it via the web or text message it with some random thoughts every once in awhile.  If you came to this post via Twitter, I’m obviously not talking about you. :-P  And by the way, follow.

Speaking of web apps, I’ve been playing around lately on Ustream.tv and blogTV.  If you have some time to kill and want to see people make fools out of themselves, those are pretty good places to start.  I’m still a big fan of YouTube, but I feel it’s a bit flawed in that it doesn’t offer any sort of way to go live.  Until they do, these other services will fill the gap.  Here are some pretty funny shows you should watch if they’re on:

• Verbal Diarrhea
• The Moses Chronicles
• Knoxville Cam

I really need to get my Last.FM account rolling again.  The last time I even logged in was in 2006, and it seems as though people still use it.  I swore it would be something that was cool for a little bit but would then die a quick death.  Me, wrong?  Who knew such a thing was possible?  Is anyone else still using Last.FM?

I might have to start an end-of-the-week roundup of the most hilarious Facebook status messages I’ve seen throughout the week.  That’s an idea I’ll kick around.  This one is just way too good to save until Friday, though.  Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Davis Ly:  “All that studying counts for nothing….. Does Temple not want me to Gratulate!!!”

You may now all go about your business.