shawn farner|*feeding* the social web obsession

First off, I’m going to give credit where credit is due.  This great idea is not one of my own - it belongs to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.  Darren thought it would be great if all his readers were not only connected by his blog but also by the multitude of social networks on the internet.  The ProBlogger Social Media Love-In was born, and by the looks of it, was an incredible success.

I’d now like to replicate Darren’s idea in Central PA.  Some of us have met at Tweetups, some of us have commented on each others blog, but do we really know how much we have in common with one another?  It’s probably a lot more than we think.

Here’s the deal.  I’m going to list all the social media accounts I have.  If you want, you can add/friend/subscribe to me - don’t be shy.  What I want YOU to do in the comments is the same - list your accounts on social media sites.  Everyone can then add one another and we’ll be a much more networked group.

My social media accounts:

Twitter
FriendFeed
Facebook
Myspace
Plurk
LinkedIn
Digg
Last.FM
YouTube
Flickr
Brightkite
Upcoming
Dopplr

Let the games begin!

It is known now that Verizon Wireless has dropped 1938 Media from its VCast service.  What are the most followed people on Twitter and Friendfeed saying?

________________________________________.

It’s okay to be on the wrong side of a tech argument, but it seems that no one wants to be on the wrong side of this story.

Almost every summer, we take a journey down the Susquehanna River on suspect rafts and camp on a random island.  Since we do this almost annually, I’ve decided it should have a name.  Islandcamp it is.

I’ve also decided that I should try to chronicle our little adventure this year.  While uploading pictures and videos after the fact is fun, I like the idea of updating real time much better.  I’ve started a Tumblog to do the job, but I’ll also use this post as a hub by embedding the Tumblr code into the post itself.  Check below for updates!  (hopefully it works)

I just started today at Ritter Insurance Marketing doing IT work, and I’ll just come right out and say it - I’m totally flabbergasted.  This company knows how to embrace technology.

They are equipping every employee with dual monitors, realizing that two workspaces ultimately allows work to be done more efficiently.  They are also hooking employees up with wireless keyboards and mice - less cords make a world of difference as far as I’m concerned.  They have a Jabber server installed and each employee has a Jabber client installed on their machine.  Every employee is on each other’s buddy list, allowing communication to be quick and silent.  This eliminates shouting across the office, buzzing through on speakerphone or actually interrupting someone in person.

If you are looking to make your office more efficient, take some notes from this company, but lend an ear to a few more of my suggestions.

1. Migrate from Exchange/Outlook to Google Apps for Domains. Email and calendars accessible absolutely anywhere, no VPN required.  Google hosts it for free.  How can you beat that?
2. Reach out to the world. Start a company blog, interact with your industry on social networking sites, take a video camera around your office and upload the video to YouTube.  It is undeniable that most people would rather deal with humans than with a faceless empire, given the choice.
3. 20% time. I’m a big fan of this Google idea.  Basically, one day out of a week, an employee can work on whatever they choose.  I know this is more useful to a software company, but there is a ton of upside to all kinds of businesses adopting it.  It is never a bad thing to get an employee brainstorming.  Great things can happen.

I doubt many companies will adopt 20% time, but hey, worth a shot.

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.

In my first encounter with Google Notebook, I’ve compiled a list of links for almost all the plays we’ve covered in class.  There are also some of the time periods and genres thrown in for good measure.  The links all point to a plot summary of some kind, so you can do what I’m going to do and give them all one more lookover before the test.

Without further ado, the glorious link to ENGL 217 final exam nirvana.

I suppose we’ll find out in due time.  It allows you to send money back and forth without fees tacked on.  Pretty sweet.

If you sign up before May 15, they’ll add $25 to your account for free.  You are free to then transfer that money to your bank account or request a check.  If you’ve ever wanted to make $25 in two minutes, this is your chance.  Sign up using the link below.

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.