I'm always fascinated with the tools and techniques that are available to take advantage of social media and the Internet's vast resources. Here's one that I had missed up until now: embedding a Tweet (from Twitter) into your blog post.
The inspiration for this trick was the following Tweet from John Richardson, someone I follow on Twitter.
If you click on the link within his Tweet, you'll get step by step instructions for how to embed a Tweet, just like I did his. I must note, however, that my Twitter page and options look a bit different from what he describes. For example, on my Twitter page, it says "Expand" rather than "Open." But otherwise, it works just fine.
Why would you want to embed a Tweet rather than simply re-Tweet it?
One of the biggest excuses for not blogging more often is lack of time. Wouldn't it be great if we could create a blog post in minutes? How about seconds?
It can be done, if you know what you're trying to accomplish and you have a template or a formula to follow. Here's an example of what I have often done to create a post in five minutes or less.
Very few of us would want to play a sport where the rules changed in the middle of the game or where the rules were eliminated altogether. We like to know where the goals are, where the out-of-bounds lines are drawn and what's permissable and not permissable.
And yet, in the world of media today, that's pretty much the world in which we live. Journalists, writers, bloggers, authors and multi-media producers are all in a unique position to share or sell their ideas to virtually anyone at any time.
I often wonder what certain historic moments were like. What would it have been like to meet great men and women of history or live through their momentous times?
Well, we're doing it. I had that sense the other day. I told the story during a recent
speaking engagement that I was out early one morning to run in my neighborhood. Normally, I go to my local college track and run on the softer surface. To save time, I reverted to my old routine.
As I was walking back to my house during my cool-down, I saw the newspaper delivery man turn down my street. I hadn't seen him in probably two years. As I watched him drive along, it struck me how few newspapers he was dropping on the driveways of my neighbors. I could remember when newspapers would come flinging out of his window.
It hit me: I was watching history.
Glenn Beck
The acceleration of change seems to be getting even faster, especially when it comes to new media. I
speak on change and never run out of things to talk about. There is so much that's possible today that we couldn't even imagine a few short years ago. In some cases, even more recently than that.
PublishingI am now in the process of narrating a
new audio book through an arrangement worked out entirely online. I submitted the audition, received approval and am now well into production without ever having left my home or without ever having spoken to anyone.
Research in Motion has announced that its new tablet PC, the Blackberry Playbook, will go on sale April 19th. The parent company of the Blackberry smartphones is trying to go head to head with Apple's iPad, and it seems there is a lot going for this new device. Click here for an earlier post about what it can do. Pricing starts at $499.
Get my latest Audio Update.
In this edition:
This week in History
Curing the Ums and Ahs
Twitter Update (Whom am I following?)
Holiday Tech Trends
Click to listen (3:45):
Research in Motion has unveiled the latest attempt to cash in on the success of the Apple iPad. It's called the Blackberry Playbook. It's smaller than the iPad, yet appears to be large enough to display large amounts of data, photos or video.
It's not designed to replace one's Blackberry smart phone. In fact, it's designed to work along with an existing Blackberry account. Take a look at the video below for a bit more.
I'm not sure it'll actually rival the iPad, but at least RIM isn't standing on the sidelines.
I recently bought a
Kindle for my wife. She loves it, and I'm happy to move us both further along the path of technological advancement. But, I was amused and almost indignant when I saw the email from
Amazon that suggested we subscribe to the
Kindle version of the
Chicago Tribune.
The monthly subscription fee is $9.99. So, I checked to find out how much it would cost for home delivery. It amounts to $11.92 per month.
Let me get this straight. The Tribune will spend nothing on paper, nothing on ink and production costs and nothing on daily delivery and I save LESS than $2 per month for the Kindle version? Reviews stated that you don't even get the comics or crossword puzzle on the Kindle.
Then, I went to Amazon's web site and found that the Wall Street Journal on Kindle is $14.99 per month and the New York Times charges $19.99. Wow!
I'm all for newspapers charging something for their on line product. But it has to be a fair deal for the customer. In fact, I'd go so far to suggest that as many as three newspapers might be offered for a monthly price of $9.99. What do you think? Am I missing something?
Meantime, I'll continue to check articles on line for free. (
Disclosure: I am a former Tribune Co. employee).
I have to admit that I'm a reluctant user of Twitter. I struggled early on with the "waste of time" argument that many can make quite easily.
Recently, however, I have begun to use it more strategically and have found that even with my limited reach into the Twittersphere, it is a very effective social marketing tool. I can send out a Tweet and within minutes I've seen the traffic increase on my web site (wesbleed.com).
With that in mind, here are seven tips for getting the more from Twitter and helping your followers:
RSS Feed