Social Media Mayhem

I’ve become addicted to microblogging. It just happened and I have no regrets. Technology is supposed to make life easier, but at times it can make your head spin. As I consider the personas I maintain online, and the varied content I publish, it becomes more important to look for methods to create efficiencies.

Let’s see…

I microblog most using Twitter. But now I’m seriously considering to primarily post to Pownce instead.

Thanks to a tip from Vinny, I now use TwitterFeed in order to post on Pownce and have it update Twitter.

Twitter in turn shows up in the RSS feed for Jaiku along with RSS feeds from the various blogs I publish, plus my Flickr photos and YouTube videos. (I love Jaiku, but my circle of colleagues just isn’t there.)

I also have LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, MyBlogLog, Technorati and more linking or aggregating RSS feeds.

If I wanted to go nuts, I could use Tumblr, Twitku, Twitter Groups, Yahoo! Pipes, TubeMogul and scores more.

That begins to scratch the surface of me online, but you know what? It’s enough.

Before you step into this rat hole, and have to jury rig your online presence, create a sensible plan and stick to it. Know where your audience or circle of colleagues/friends is and be there.

Let me know what you think.
-Roland

[Image source]

Make Great PowerPoint Decks Not PowerPoint Dreck

I write many PowerPoint decks each year. When I start a new one, I shut the office door, light candles, draw a pentagram on the floor then summon the Beast to glide my mouse and guide my fingers across the keyboard.

When the smoke clears, I emerge with a twenty-slide document of digital dreck.

Feeling frustrated, I dug out something I remembered by Seth Godin. (Seth is a marketing subject matter expert that I’ve followed since the 90′s.)

Here are Seth’s five rules you need to remember to create amazing PowerPoint presentations:

• No more than six words on a slide. EVER.
• No cheesy images. Use professional images from corbis.com instead. They cost $3 each, or a little more if they’re for ‘professional use’.
• No dissolves, spins or other transitions. None.
• Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never (ever) use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have.
• Don’t hand out print-outs of your slides. They’re emotional, and they won’t work without you there. If someone wants your slides to show “the boss,” tell them that the slides go if you go.

I used to have this mentality that as a document, it needed to act like documentation – citing every detail for historical reference. Truth be told, I’ve improved, but I know I can do much better.

In real world practice, I realize that the clients I present to are so overwhelmed that they never open the document again. Sometimes never at all to begin with.

So here are my PowerPoint writing tips:

• Write, re-write and re-write again. Brevity is key. Be ruthless to distill down your thoughts to a simple sound bite. Embellish with spoken word.
• Come up with creative ways to display your ideas graphically instead of as bullets — A chart, graph, funnel, Venn Diagram — whatever it takes. Edward Tufte is an excellent source of inspiration for expressing details in a visually comprehensive way.
• Have a cover sheet with a title, date and name of the person(s) it’s for. It drives me crazy looking at old decks and not having a clue who they were for.
• Include a Next Steps slide with specific action items, dates and responsibilities.
• Include all the contact information for the relevant team on the last slide. That makes it easier for the client to figure out who to talk to.

Please add your suggestions and let me know if you find this useful.
Thanks.
-Roland

What’s Pownce?

Three popular social/micro blogging apps are: Twitter, Jaiku and newly launched Pownce – all addictive platforms for sharing presence:
– what I’m doing
– observations
– links to useful resources

Twitter is simple to post and view messages via Web browser, SMS, IM, client app, widget.

Jaiku expands on the idea and allows you to aggregate RSS feeds and create channels.

Pownce allows you to create groups of friends and push a variety of media to select users depending on the relationship. Imaging sharing audio files privately with select people you know will appreciate it. Pownce definitely takes the best ideas of the existing applications and builds upon them.

Personally, I find it easiest to use Twitter and find people I want to follow or interact with. Jaiku and Pownce are more restrictive in that sense. Pownce (in beta) raised the bar in service offerings.

Will I switch? It’s to early to say. Pownce needs to come out of beta and demonstrate what type of mobile capability they’ll have. I love Jaiku, but Twitter is so darn easy to use. Plus there’s the dilemma of abandoning the current platforms after time spent building relationships there. We need to see what Twitter and Jaiku will do to upgrade and compete.”

Related articles:

Promote your personal brand with Twitter, Tumblr and Jaiku

Resources for your habit

Leo Laporte does a great explanation on the Net@Night podcast episode 27. (Starts at 24 minutes in)

Feedburner Pro Stats and MyBrand Are Now Free Services

Just a month ago, Google acquired Feedburner, making many in the blogosphere happy since it almost ensures this great service will remain for some time to come.

Per the Feedburner blog: “Beginning today, two of FeedBurner‘s previously for-pay services, TotalStats and MyBrand, will be free.”

Feedburner‘s basic services were great for providing a consolidated feed, regardless of flavor (RSS, Atom, etc.) TotalStats provides a bit more in-depth reporting on exactly who is using the feed and how it is being read.

Feedburner‘s MyBrand allows you to use your own domain name as the feed url in place of this standard format: http://feeds.feedburner.com/myfeedname

Thanks Google!