End of the course, but not the end of what I know.

My Book & Magazine Publishing course is at it’s end.  That means so is my Online Magazines class.  I learned so much, and although it’s over in the classroom, I’ll continue to follow social networking trends and do my best to keep up with it all.

THINGS I KNOW HOW TO DO:

- online writing and editing
- basic content management using a CMS
- integration of image and graphic elements
- awareness and strategy for social media and social networking

It’s exciting and useful. World Wide Web: I’m here to stay

Netvibes and Web Routines

When I first created my Netvibes account, I was stoked.  I loved the idea of having all my web stuff in one place: email, blog subscriptions, music and video I love, twitter feeds, etc.  To think I could log in to one place and have it all there, waiting for me, was great because usually my online routine is as follows:

1. check gmail

2. check google reader

3. check hotmail

4. check twitter

So, I thought having it all in one spot would be awesome. However, I realized how tough it is to really get out of your routine.

What I love about netvibes is that you can virtually show your whole online world to the public. I can post all my blog subscriptions and twitter etc and have my friends see it all and comment, in turn making them a part of my world.  Connecting us all together so to speak.  This can be done through a PUBLIC page.

However, the PRVATE page is where the emails would be.  When I turn on my MAC my homepage is my gmail account so I’m automatically taken there first thing.  I could set it up to have Netvibes as my homepage but I always need to check emails first – for school and work stuff. If Netvibes was my first stop I’d be distracted with blogs and too much information. I need to focus if I’m replaying to emials and reading them carefully.

So I stopped using Netvibes as my one-stop-webpage.  I still have a public page open for all my friends to see but when it comes down to the intial idea of having it all on one page is out the window. It’s all about tailoring these programs to suit your needs.

Twitter Needs a Focus.

I’m feeling down and out about Twitter.  I still don’t feel like I’m understanding it/using it to it’s full potential but I think I may have come to a mild conclusion about it.

After reading this post by Melanie McBride and this other post by Kat Tancock, both about Twitter in the magazine world, I see how Twitter is indeed useful and beneficial but my conclusion is that it can only be those things if there is a purpose. A magazine Twitter page is good because there is a community being built – magazine readers, potential readers, and others interested in the topics at hand. But when it comes to using Twitter socially, I’m still feeling so unsold.

MY FRIENDS AREN’T THAT INTERESTING

As much as people are posting links to interesting things, it becomes a cluster and abundance of information that I really don’t feel inclined to check out. There isn’t a POINT or FOCUS.  I think Twitter for magazines, when used properly (see two links above) makes sense and can be successful because people know what to expect to some degree.  They follow the magazine because they know what the themes and content will most likely be, but when you add your friends because they are your FRIENDS, you don’t know what you’re getting and it makes clicking their links less desirable.

THE GOLDEN QUESTION NEEDS CHANGING!

Also, I think the Twitter question: What Are You Doing is completely irrelevant at this point.  That type of question ignites “doing laundry” answers which isn’t useful or interesting to anyone. Perhaps it should be a more stimulating, focused question, such as What Is Interesting You? What Should I Know? etc. Perhaps that way the Twitter posts can lead to more fulfilled users.

Music Hall: Bad Venue or Wrong Band?

I love live music and have spent a fortune on concerts.  It’s usually so worth it. I’ve been to almost every venue in Toronto, but until recently I had never seen a show at The Music Hall on Danforth Avenue. I was looking forward to it, after hearing the renovation was made and the place is amazing, but unfortunately I was very disappointed.

WordPress for Photobloggers, or, How I Learned to Spread the Knowledge

As I’ve mentioned before, I used to blog using Blogger. Not only myself, but ALL my blogging friends.  My very best friend is a photographer and for the past 2 years has been using Blogger as her online portfolio.  Frankly, websites are expenisve, and as students with crappy part-time jobs it isn’t in the budget to spend money on a personal website. Since having a place for all our friends to see her work was important to her – and us – she opted for the next best thing (as far as we knew) and created a simple photoblog.

Problems with Blogger for those who want to use it as a photo site:

No way to create a thumbnail page – annoying.

No sections or pages for photo themes – uuugh.

No navigation tool other than scrolling through the dates – double annoying.

and so on and so forth.

Sooo, now that I’m becoming more web savvy in my web class, it turns out I know a thing or two.  I told her she should set up a new, professional portfolio using wordpress.  This way she could create individual pages for specific photographs such as portraits, landscapes, people, wedding etc.  Not only can she create pages but the pages have space for all the images to be viewed as thumbnails. Once you click and enlarge a photo, the previous and next photos appear at the bottom left and right of the large photo for navigation and better view.

Since this space is so useful, she is going to use it as a destination for potential employers.  An easy and well organized site that is easy to use and visit.  You can see the updated site here.