Posts Tagged ‘how to’

Posted on June 9, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

5 How to use Google Wave YouTube videos to watch for better understanding of real-time collaboration

Google Wave has been out now for little over a year and depending on who you ask it’s a great tool or it’s a flop. Personally I’m a big fan of Google Wave and use it almost daily with my partners. Note I said with my partners because collaborating with others is the number one way to use Google Wave in it’s current state. Yes you can take notes, make a to-do-list, or write blog post in Google Wave but to really understand the power of Google Wave it’s best to use it working with a team on projections.

Often I’ll Tweet how much I like Google Wave and then I’ll get a response like the one above or that people are trying to compare Google Wave to another social network such as Facebook or Twitter. Google Wave does have friends list/contacts and you could look at the inbox as a wall but I don’t think that’s the correct approach. At one point I remember saying that Google Wave could even replace email. I still think it could but for right now Google Wave is all about collaboration.

To help users learn how to get more out of Google Wave, Google created a series of getting started YouTube videos. Here are 5 how to use Google Wave Youtube videos if you’re new to Google Wave.

1. Meet Google Wave

2. Managing your inbox

3. Google Wave: 15 features

4. Replying to waves

5. Editing waves

Do you use Google Wave if so how? If not why not?

Posted on January 11, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

9 practical ways to use Google Wave for business

It goes without saying that to some Google Wave was one of most overhyped technologies to launch in 2009. From being called a failed product to users widely complaining about how to just use the platform. And we’re not talking about just the average users, even some of the social web elitist such as Kevin Rose who tweeted “playing w/google wave, what does this do exactly?” and Robert Scoble who tweeted “I don’t like Google Wave and am avoiding using it until they make major UI fixes.”

Other complaints about Google Wave have been that there is no real value to using it over other web services such as instant messenger. Plus there were hundreds of other blog posts asking will Google Wave replace Gmail/email or Facebook and what are Google’s long term plan for Google Wave. I don’t have all the answers to satisfy the frustrated Google Wave user, but I do know how I’m using Google Wave and I love it. I use Google Wave daily at Twine Interactive on various projects, and Lawrence Ingraham and I use it while working on TriOut. I also use Google Wave for event planning and blogging. How you ask? Here are 8 practical ways to use Google Wave for business.

1. Collaborative note taking:
Using Google Wave for collaborative note taking can happen in meetings or conference calls. Often I find myself taking notes in Google Wave then adding other team members to the wave to review notes and add feedback from the meeting.

2. Crowdsourcing conference notes:
Let’s say you’re at a conference and there are multiple sessions at one time that you want to attend. You can make a conference wave and ask a friend to take notes in Google Wave for the other session and add you to the wave. Also you can ask others in other sessions to add their notes to the wave too by just adding them to the wave.

3. Task List for application or project development
It’s easy to make a task list inside of Google Wave, but the best part about it is that you can easily have conversations about each task, including listing marking pros and cons of the task.

4. Shareable resource library
With Google Wave it’s easy to create an information list. You may already be part of a Google Wave that is full of links on how to us Google Wave. If you want to create a list of links about a project, just add the links to the wave and add other team members to the wave. Everyone added to the wave can also add their own links to the wave.

5. Unclutter your inbox
If you’re like me, you receive too many emails every day. Even though I do belive Google Wave will “someday” replace Gmail, you can have colleagues cut down on email and just contact you via Google Wave.

6. Low risk internal communication platform
Are you looking for a simple inexspenive way to communicate with all of your employee or coworkers? Or to share files with everyone in your department. Just create an internal Google Wave company policy and Google Wave can handle the rest as a bare bones minimal platform.

7. Customer feedback forum
If you’re designing a prototype or uploading a beta release of a product and would like to organize all of your feedback about various versions of the files, then Google Wave is a perfect platform to handle inline feedback. With postings in Google Wave that look like threaded comment, it’s easy to follow who addressed each comment.

8. Event planning:
Recently I was planning a social media club meeting in Raleigh, NC. Instead of emailing my partners I made a Google Wave with the details and added the team to the wave. I not only helped unclutter my inbox, but it served the purpose of our entire communication process by making sure we were prepared for the the event.

9. Lunch orders
Have you ever had to take a lunch order from your coworkers and you’re stuck being the one to write all of the orders down? Well no more. Just create a Google Wave and ask each one of them to add their order to Google Wave and your simple, self serve lunch order is done. As adoption increases, we’ll add restaurants to Google Wave to fulfill our lunch orders.

Basically if you have a project and you need to have some sort of collaboration, you can find a use for Google Wave for the project.

What are some of the ways you are using Woogle Wave in your business?

Feel free to add me to your Google Wave contacts by using: waynesutton@googlewave.com

Posted on October 2, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How are you using Google Wave? The comments talk.

A few days ago, I recorded a screencast of Google Wave and uploaded it to YouTube, then posted it here on Social Wayne. After the post a few lucky 100,000 users were granted access to Google Wave and reviews were written by both Louis Gray and Robert Scoble. As for the viewers of my screencast here on SocialWayne.com and YouTube it looks like they were left out but they still left comments about how they would use Google Wave. Below are a few of the comments.

Nathan Driver said:
I’m looking forward to it just from the POV of project management. The next level of desktop sharing for project management. Instead of multi-layering IM’s – it’s an all in one.

cloakanddagger31 said:
If I had a google wave invite, I would use to work with my training organization to collaborate on lesson materials and instructions. I also work with another non-profit and because i am in another state, I would use it for administrative projects, meeting minutes and program development collaboration. It is great, I just need to get more users to create a google account. Thanks for the? screencast Mr. Sutton, it’s nice to see a bro on here discussing tech work.

luanlessa13 said:
I believe this will be great way to collaborate projects. Atleast I’ll use primarily? for that.

rouleduke86 said:
That looks really cool. I’d use it for business primarily. It’d be great to coordinate the Google Wave collaboration features with a Skype call. Or, it’d be great? to have a video feature on Wave…

Eleanor Thorne said:
I think we could use this in the mortgage industry to show people live examples of their costs? I’d be worried about the security though – but I might see a way to use this in a practical business fashion… thanks

T3CK said:
If I had a Google wave account I would use the account to stay in contact with fellow blogger’s in my niche and I would also you use Google wave as a documentation calibration tool with guest blogger’s for my site.

Evan Roberts said:
Not sure what I would do with Wave just yet, the concept of real-time editing of documents or whatever in the form of “conversation” is interesting though. Thanks for this screencast for those of us who weren’t cool enough for an invite lol

The Google Wave Screencast:

If or when you gain access to Google Wave, I can be reached at : waynesutton@googlewave.com

Do you agree with the comments above? If you received a Google Wave invite, since Wednesday how are you using it?

Posted on September 8, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How to use NetworkedBlogs and Facebook to increase blog traffic and engagement

If you manage a Facebook fanpage and a blog there’s plenty of RSS Facebook apps to help mashup the two such as Social RSS and Simply RSS but one stands out to me and that is the NetworkedBlogs Facebook app ( @networkedblogs ).

NetworkedBlogs.com is an extension of the NetworkedBlogs Facebook Application to make our user-generated blog directory accessible outside Facebook and provide more exposure to our blogs.

As I write this I’m wondering what took me so long to add this app to my Facebook fanpage but from my understanding having the NetworkedBlogs update a Fanpage is a new feature and it use to just work with Facebook profiles. Either way here’s how it works.

1. You add your blog to NetworkedBlogs app in Facebook. Think of it as a blog network inside of a social network.
2. Install NetworkedBlogs app on your Facebook fanpage
3. Add the NetworkedBlogs tab to your fanpage. ( I recommend renaming the tab to “blog” or the name of your blog.
4. Use the publisher to share your blog post with your Facebook fans. You’ll see that option when you click on share.

For a more detailed how to, read information on the NetworkedBlogs Facebook page guide here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/help_pages.php or How to Promote Your Blog with Networked Blogs Facebook Application

A few notes when configuring NetworkedBlogs that may stump some people is the initial verification process. One is that you are the blog author and the other is the publishing settings to make sure NetworkedBlogs has the permission to post to your Facebook fanpage or your FaceBook profile if you like. There are at least two way to verify you are the blog author. The first is by adding some html code to your blog to claim it or you could ask your Facebook friends to help you claim your blog. While the first option may be a little technical for some, I recommend it vs blasting out a message to your Facebook friends saying verify my blog ownership. But by asking your Facebook friends to verify you, you may pick up a few extra readers because it post a message on your friends Facebook wall saying they are now subscribed to your blog.

Now that you have your blog setup to post to either your profile or fanpage you’ll want to test the feed settings to make sure when you publish your blog that it will automatically update your wall. If the test works, you’re all set. Then the next time you write a blog post it will show up on your Facebook page.

Here’s where the engagement comes in. As I mentioned earlier NetworkedBlogs is like a blog network inside of a social network. As you start posting your blog post to your Facebook profile or page, other Facebook users can follow your blog which is the same thing as subscribe if they were using a RSS reader. Followers will receive updates and are able to leave comments when you publish a post, just as they would on any status update. Also when you visit your NetworkedBlogs profile you’re able to see your blogs popularity ratings and followers from Facebook.

NetworkedBlogs does have a few pro features for $4.99 a month that allows you to do the following:
1. Access to new features before everyone else. (oooh, ahhh)
2. A fan Broadcast Feature (blast time!)
3. Upload an image to customize your blog page ( hmm a shinny new blog image)

You can read more about the pro features here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/pro.php I may give them a try later but for now the free version works just fine.

The only complaints I have so far is that I’m not sure how often NetworkedBlogs app post updates to Facebook and is there a way to use Facebook connect and the NetworkedBlogs app to have comments on Facebook to show on my blog too. But beside that if you’re blogging and on Facebook I recommend using the NetworkedBlogs app.

Do you share your blog with your Facebook profile or Fanpage? If so how?

Posted on April 20, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How to use Twittie for the mac. It's fast, one column & awesome. Twitter after Oprah & what's makes a great Tinyurl service – episode 018

Today on Talk Social News we review Twittie @twittie for the mac it’s fast, simple & awesome. Plus Twitter after Oprah (@Oprah) & what’s makes a great Tinyurl service like bit.ly & idek.net.

The Video:

Tweetie is made by atebits Loren Brichter @atebits.

Tweetie Review and Screencast:

Tweetie is free to download and will be ad supported. To remove the ads, Tweetie’s registration will cost you $14.95 (2 week introduction price, after two weeks it will cost $19.95). More information here: http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/

@Atebits announces Tweetie for the mac is available to download 7:00 am EST

The podcast:
Talk Social News daily 018 – length 10:00 download or click to play:[audio:talksocialnewsdaily018.mp3] Subscribe to podcast in iTunes:

If you would like to sponsor Talk Social News email us at contact@talksocialnews.com. Thanks