Posts Tagged ‘blog’

Posted on August 11, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Does the World need an Anti-Social Media?

Guest Post by: Jay Dolan, @JayDolan. Jay is the founder, editor, and blogger for The Anti-Social Media blog.

I want you to know a secret: I love social media. When I started The Anti-Social Media, @TheAntiMedia, I choose the name to be different and controversial, not because I have a deep-seated hatred of the social web. I figured the strong title would grab people’s attention and draw them in. It worked. Then Wayne Sutton asked me this question:

Does the world really need an Anti-Social Media?

My little angry blogging bubble popped. Do we need someone to stop and say “This is wrong. Do it this way.” or “This website sucks. Use this one instead.” and even “Do your connections matter?”

I got back from my first vacation since I started my The Anti-Social Media blog, and I can firmly say yes, the world needs an anti-social media.

For all the good that comes from social media, there is an insane amount of crap produced. It’s like owning a car. As awesome as it is to drive around wherever you need to, you still are producing a ton of pollutants by driving it around.

Social media boils down to two things: Information and Entertainment. Amuse or enlighten. If you’re not doing that and being relevant to those who connect with you, what’s the point?

There is so much stuff out there to read and absorb, someone needs to be there to say, “Get your act together.” and “Stop saying, ‘Good Morning!’ every time you get on Twitter before 8 am.” We can use this technology for so much more than the next big marketing campaign or complaining about the terrible barista at Starbucks. We should be better than that.

The world needs an Anti-Social Media if only to make us step away for a moment, so when we look back we can see with much more clarity. There needs to be someone who makes us value each connection rather than jut build a larger and larger number.

On a web that constantly becomes more connected, I’m glad to be the voice of dissent that makes each connection worthwhile. If having my few friends who matter to me makes me anti-social, then I don’t want to know how your 1,000 friends make you social.

Connect with only people who matter to you. Make your content matter. Make sure you inform or entertain. Your numbers may not be as high, and you may seem like a weirdo on your social networks, but being anti-social to the masses will make the handful of connections you keep much more worthwhile.

Posted on May 7, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

4 new ways to integrate Twitter with your WordPress blog to increase vistor engagement

As many of you know tweeting a blog article or sharing a blog article among social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, friendfeed and GoogleBuzz are a great way to reach new visitors. But what if you want your readers to share a post without leaving your blog or just tweet a blog article and keep reading your other post. If so you may want to try a few of the options below. Here’s 4 new ways to integrate Twitter with your WordPress blog to increase vistor engagement.

1. Like it? Tweet it! plugin

“Like it? Tweet it!” is a jQuery-powered JavaScript widget that enables visitors to your website or blog to write a tweet about the site directly in a box displayed in the corner of the website, with a link to the site already embedded in the input field.

2.BackTweets Plugin: Display the best tweets that link to your posts (ok, not that new)

3. Blackbird Pie: Create a generate static HTML of tweets for your posts

4. Add Twitter Anywhere

Embed a Tweet Box on your site and help your users share what matters to them.

Happy blogging and tweeting!

Posted on January 2, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Looking for iPhone news? There are plenty of blogs for that. iPhonesinRTP.com is no more.

Back in June of 2007 I had this grand idea of launching an iPhone blog called iPhonesinRTP.com. The RTP part was for Research Triangle Park, NC. Meaning the blog was going to be about iPhone users and apps from the area, along with general iPhone and iPhone app news. Since the launched of the iPhone I have published over 255 post and have covered various local Apple events such the original iPhone launch in 2007, along with the iPhone 3Gs launch in 2009. Other blog entries included featuring iPhone wallpapers, tips and iPhone app video reviews.

For the readers of iPhonesinRTP.com I want to say thank you for your support but do to other projects, working at Twine Interactive and launching TriOut with @LawPower my time is very limited. Plus there’s tons of iPhone blogs and it seems like everyone is talking about the app store and covering niche apps on most gadget blogs. I’ll still cover iPhone news and apps here on SocialWayne.com from time to time and will redirect the iPhonesinRTP.com url to this post.

If you would like for me to review your iPhone app please email: pitches at socialwayne dot com .

2007 1st Generation iPhone launch at the Apple Store Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC

2009 iPhone 3G S launch at the Apple Store Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC

Binary Game for the iPhone screencast video review

Posted on November 15, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Blog Updates: Making your WordPress blog more Social

Usually on weekends I’m going through my email and trying to reach inbox zero before Monday morning but last night I decided SocialWayne.com needed a few updates. My primarily goals of updating SocialWayne.com was to make it faster, remove WordPress plugins I didn’t need and add social engagement. While adding a few social engagement features I may not have reached my goal of speeding up the load time but I’m hoping WP Super Cache will handle the rest. Either way, here’s what I done to SocialWayne.com to make it more social.

1. Wibiya toolbar


Wibiya enables blogs to integrate the most exciting services, applications and widgets of their choice into their blog through customized web-based toolbars.

2. Added Follow Me Plugin
A floating tab on the right that says Follow me that links to my Twitter profile.

3. Added/Changed Facebook Share Count Plugin

I had another Facebook Share Count plugin installed but I switched to the one created by Jess Stay

4. Updated: Easy ReTweet WordPress Plugin

I still have Topsy and Tweetmeme plugins installed and actived but I’m not displaying them.

5. Added Facebook Connect Comments

Sadly my blog theme doesn’t support Disqus therefore I’m using BackType and Facebook to for social comments.

6. Added ShareThis Plugin

I was using the Sexy Bookmarks Plugin but I can add google analytics to ShareThis therefore I’m making the switch.

7. Added Find Me On plugin

You know what to do.

8. Added Google Friend Connect Gadgets

If you look to your right on the sidebar you’ll see two new gadgets from Google Friend Connect. One always you to leave a comment about the blog or you could post topics that you would like for me to cover and the other is a poll widget. Speaking of the poll, if you have a moment, login and vote. I’m using the feedback for an upcoming blog post.

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There are a few more things I’ve done to SocialWayne.com and I’ll blog more about the Facebook Share plugins in the next few days. Let me know what you think about the changes and have a great week.

Posted on September 23, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Teaching Social Media at North Carolina Colleges

Last week I the opportunity to speak to a group of MBA students at NC State University about Social Media. Since the second half of 2008 I have been asked to either lead session or sit on panel covering various topics such as social networks, video blogging and using social media for journalism at Duke University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC). I have actually spoken at UNC 4 times in the last year and when I was asked to speak at NC State I felt as though I was completing the big 3 Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) university loop. (past speaking events)

I was asked to join a list of other guest speakers as part of MBA Social Media and Management class. A few of the other guest speakers includes Andy Beal, Joseph Jaffe, Katie Morse, Jeff Cohen and Polly Pearson covering various topics such as Blogging and micro-blogging, social networks, creativity, reputation management and B2B marketing using social media (schedule). My topic was social media etiquette, video and community building. The class was 1:15 long and to prepare I made a content outline and a list of questions to ask. One of the first things I told the students was that I wasn’t going to stand in-front of the class and talk for 1:15 and show them a bunch of slides. Not that there is anything wrong with having a presentation ready but if I’m leading a session on social media we’re going to be social.

A few talking points were:

• Why is video important?
• Example of video shows
• Best practices for creating online video
• Why online communities matter
• Comparing various communities
• Creating valuable content
• Conscious content posting

I’m glad I had an outline and was prepared but after an introduction from Professor Claudia Kimbrough, who introduced Chis Moody who then introduced me, I looked into the eyes of the students they all gave me that here comes another boring social media talk look. So then I decided at that moment to switch things up and as they say in the hip-hop world, freestyle it. I wanted to see what was on the students mind, what they have previously covered in social media and what was at the core using social media effectually. Therefore I asked the diverse room of students a series of questions about what happens during a period of time of online conversations between two new individuals using social media. The outcome was a relationship and trust using various tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Other topics we touched on were the value of location based sites like Brightkite, uses for Linkedin and Facebook fanpages. While discussing Facebook fanpages we talked about brand engagement and why it’s important for companies not to just post / push content but really make an effort to communicate with their fans. Surprisingly we spent very little time focusing on Twitter and more time on social networking etiquette and what role students online content and behavior could affect their future in the job market.

Near the end of the class I suggested they look at creating a social media policy and I did touch briefly on how much it doesn’t cost to launch an online video show. Then I showed the students Jeff Cohen’s daughter new video blog called Grace Talks about Food to where she’s talking about a Hannan Montana Cereal in a video on YouTube. The reason I showed the class the video is because it’s a classic example of how simple it is to create videos about any topic you’re passionate about and how brands should reach out to their customers who are online posting content about their products. In other words, I’m expecting Grace to get an email or comment from Disney soon.

After the class I thanked Professor Kimbrough for having me and Chis Moody for the invite. While I was leaving I was wondering what the students thought of the session and by the way of tweets, I think they enjoyed it. Take a look.

LindsayCrawford: Thanks @waynesutton for an engaging presentation! He knows his stuff!

MacMan34: sitting in class listening to @waynesutton talk about video, social media, & communities.

lshawtter4: @waynesutton Thanks for dropping by NCSU. Informative and energetic presentation!!

Before the class started I did recved a few tweets from Paul Jones @smalljones a professor at UNC about more Social Media classes being taught by him and Fred Stutzman @fstutzman which can be found here and http://ibiblio.org/pjones/jomc449/wordpress/ and that Richward Waters @rdwaters teaches another class on social media at NC State too on Social Media and Public Relations http://ncsupublicrelations.wordpress.com

For more information on the NC State Social Media MBA class, see the links below.
Class syllabus: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~cbk/schedule.html
Class blog: http://ncstatesocialmedia.wordpress.com/
Professor: Claudia Kimbrough @calliekuhn

Again I would to thanks to Professor Kimbrough and Chis Moody for the invitation. Chris also has a blog post with a few notes from my session that can be found here: How to ACE Social Media: Alignment, Control, and Engagement

If you had the opportunity to tell college students one thing about social media what would it be?