New Media Boot Camp

New Media Boot Camp can be used as a training manual for Web 2.0, Social Media, and other need-to-know communications tech stuff and is a good springboard to bounce off of into the rest of the blog. If reading the front page of kNow Media gives you a headache and sounds like crazy talk, then this Boot Camp page is a good place to start.

Beat the Gatekeeper

Social communications tactics, New Media tools, Social Media - what does it all mean? You may hear these words being tossed around like your a tourist in some parallel technoverse.

The truth is these terms can be summed up in one broad Web 2.0 definition found on my (everyone’s) favorite on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia:

“Web 2.0 is a term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web.”

All of the tools that people refer to when they are discussing New Media, Social Media, or Web 2.0 can be lumped under this definition. Once you have that in mind, the rest is a matter of keeping up with the ridiculous names that people tend to attach to their service or tool and figuring out exactly what your goal is.

Web 2.0 tools can be categorized by their functionality. What you will find is that Web 2.0 tools do not do things for you, but allow you to do things for yourself.

Here’s a run-down on some of the more mainstream categories of web 2.0 tools

Blogging

A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log“) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Wikipedia

Technorati is a tool that you can use to search blogs for content.

Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google and Yahoo. As of June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.^[2] The name Technorati is a portmanteau, pointing to the technological version of literati, or intellectuals. Wikipedia

Tools to create your own Blog

There are tons of other blog hosting services out there. A simple Google search will dredge up the most popular.

Video Tutorials

Getting Started With Blogger
How set up a Wordpress.com blog

Things to Consider When Blogging

Remember that you blog is your voice. The medium is very much like a diary - that you are airing to the entire world. Think carefully about what you are writing and remember that this is your voice to the world. If you are blogging for personal reasons, don’t forget that what you write can impact where you work. Even though it is your personal blog, if you identify yourself as an employee of an organization, your opnions could be construed as those of your company/organization. It’s not a bad idea to let your boss know that you are blogging if there is any chance of a conflict of interest.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works – such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video – in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”,^[3] or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Wikipedia

Tools to read RSS feeds with (readers)

NewsGator. Yes, NewsGator is still my favorite. It is stuffed with power tools for news junkies and it’s easy to use — even fun!
Bloglines Beta. Last year Bloglines only made it to number 4. Even though it is a great service, it was beginning to feel old fashioned and cumbersome. Now Bloglines has ad a face lift and a serious vitamin injection. Bloglines Beta is still the powerful RSS reader it was, only now you can make a personalized start page, choose between 3 views, drag-and-drop feed management and more. When this new Bloglines is out of Beta it will be awesome.
Google Reader. Last year I stopped using Google Reader because it was slow and unstable. This year it’s no longer among the experimental Google Labs products. It’s not even in beta, like Google products tend to be for years :). And since last year, Google has done much to improve the integration of their different products. If you use GMail, iGoogle, Google Documents etc, Google Reader is a natural and good choice.
FeedShow. This is a gem. FeedShow is easy to use, it has lots of cool features and absolutely no clutter. It isn’t exactly gorgeous, but it’s a very solid and powerful tool.
Rojo. Rojo used to be fun to use, but too often lately, the entire service has been down. Once or twice I could ignore, but it now feels a little unreliable to me.

Tutorials

Social Networking Services

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. Wikipedia

Popular social networking services

Video Tutorials

More items coming soon! - stay tuned.

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