Tag Archives: Social network

Hootsuite

Posted on by under Facebook, reviews, social networking, software, Twitter

All right, you know about my love affair with software. And you know I love exploring new stuff. You also know I hate online versions of most things. I don’t like Google Docs, don’t like online blogging clients (HOORAY for Windows Live Writer, I says!), and generally don’t like online clients for things like Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s an exception: Hootsuite.

Hootsuite is a social networking update dashboard which allows you to update your Twitter, Facebook and other social networking accounts from a single interface. If you’re familiar with Digsby, it’s a similar idea, except in an online format, and doesn’t include a chat client.

Hootsuite lets you update your Twitter account and your Facebook account at the same time with the same message. But its most powerful feature is the ability to update both accounts (or others you’ve added to it) at a future date and time.

As little as five minutes can be used as a buffer, or any time in increments of five minutes. You can also choose a day in advance. For writer buddies, this is useful for tweeting about upcoming book releases and announcements which take place on a specific day. So you can pimp your book release on the release date if you want, and do it on the day you GET the release date. Very cool.

Or, if you know about something happening, you can update your Facebook account status with the information far in advance of knowing it. Very convenient, and this has many business and promotional uses for pro bloggers or web-presences.

The drawbacks include not being able to EDIT the information in a pre-dated tweet or status update. I can’t see any way to delete one once you’ve scheduled it, either. So be careful to make sure the information you’re including for future updates isn’t going to change between when you schedule it and when it actually updates.

Check out Hootsuite and see if it can work for you. I’ve been using it a lot to announce and promote my #FridayFlash pieces. Because of my situation and the limited access to the ‘Net I have right now, Hootsuite works great for me. It lets me update the account(s) I want and I don’t have to be online for more than a few minutes to input a lot of updates for later posting. Very cool.

Hope you had a great weekend!

-JDT-

©DarcKnyt 2010
All rights reserved

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A New Rejection Form

Posted on by under comments, Facebook, life, netiquette, publishing, random thoughts, social networking

All right, I don’t expect to win any popularity contests with my winning personality and charm. I’m pretty open and blunt and those things don’t make friends and influence people. I’m pretty cynical and jaded, too, and those things don’t make for someone others want to cuddle up with. I understand that, and in recent years I’ve mellowed as much as I twitter_blockcan. Time will mellow me further, I’m sure, and like a good wine, I might continue to get better. (Or just turn to vinegar. We’ll see.)

At the same time, I don’t expect someone who’s never had any conflict with me, never met me, never had any communication with me of any kind, in any way, in any circumstance, to have a problem with me.

Does that seem unusual? Is that unreasonable? I expect to have problems with people who know me. The better they know me, the larger a problem they’re likely to have with me. I know that, I accept that. If we do happen to be friends, it may just be a matter of time before I tick you off or offend you or insult you. Okay, I’m aware of that. But for someone to take a distaste for me and display it electronically without ever talking to me before having an issue with me?

Well, I’ll leave it at “I’m baffled.”  And I know it’s me, because the same person doesn’t seem to have a problem with my wife.

It’s worse than what I’m painting here too, because this person is respected around the Internet within the publishing industry. It’s a literary agent, actually. And that scares the holy crap out of me. I’ve managed to blacklist myself with someone in the industry already and I haven’t even finished my first manuscript yet.

I’m doing my best not to panic, but I can’t figure out what I’ve done to make this person angry, especially in this arena of electronic communication. Did something spam from out of my account I wasn’t aware of? Did I inadvertently broadcast something negative? Did I accidentally offend with something I’ve said?

Oh, it all harkens back to Linda’s “be careful what you say on the Internet!” post. I’m sure I didn’t do anything directly to that person, and I’ve never, to my knowledge, mentioned this person by name in any electronic way. Maybe I complained about the agent/gatekeeper process one too many times. Maybe they think it’s offensive that I feel the way I do about them. Whatever the case I can’t find out because somewhere, somehow, this person has banished me electronically. I only found out by trying to connect with them. That’s it. I had no idea until I tried. Others can, and one Facebook friend suggested they were being “pre-emptive”. Gracious, really?  What the heck?!

Oh well. Too late now. I wonder if I should reach out find out what’s wrong? On the other end of that, however – I’m blocked, so I can’t.

Interesting, no?

-JDT-

All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.

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Using Social Networking for Gain

Posted on by under art, authors, blogging, Facebook, hobbies, publishing, random thoughts, social networking, Twitter, writing
Facebook, Inc.

My buddy Sherri has done something sort of interesting over on Facebook recently: she created a fan page for herself.

She’s not boasting about her readership or anything, but she took a step toward the day when she does get published and will have fans.  She can use it to promote her books, and generate interest in future projects, etc.  It was an interesting idea, and I wondered if it was a wise move to have one ahead of time.

See, since FB is one of the social network buzz-word sites, I wondered if you could generate fans there by having a fan page.  You might create some interest in what you’re doing, getting the word out about being an artist, writer, creator, whatever.  Generate some pre-emptive interest in you, your writing (for us writers, at least), and maybe pull in some people who might be potential fans if and when we get published.

Trouble is, I don’t know too much about it.  I don’t know how to promote myself on Facebook or anywhere else, and marketing isn’t my forte.  So I haven’t made the step yet.  Heck, I don’t even have a finished manuscript.  (Still editing, remember?  Yeah, I forgot too.)  So I’m not sure I could use it to good effect, even if I could figure out how to create one (or meet the qualifications if any).

Still, I wondered.  And I often wonder about Twitter too.  I know I’m not using that resource to full effect, and I won’t be able to really get into it until I actually have something I want to do with Twitter to promote myself.  I know plenty of authors don’t get into social networking, but we’re talking about people like Stephen King (who doesn’t involve himself in any social networking of any kind).  For little bums like me, I need all the help I can get.  If social networking is a way to generate some buzz – because my blog only goes so far – I probably need to think about it.

What do you think?  Anyone here on FB who’d be willing to “become a fan” on Facebook?  Are you savvy with how to use that for self-promotion, or have you utilized it to get the word to the world about something you’re doing?  And Sherri, how’s that coming along for you?  What can you do so far with your fan page?

Any experiences you have, I’d love to hear.  Thanks!

-JDT-

All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.

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Sucking at Social Networking

Posted on by under blogging, Computers, Facebook, friends, friendship, random thoughts, social networking, Twitter
Facebook, Inc.

Yeah, I’m so not good at this social networking thing.

I have an LinkedIn account, and I’m there because it’s supposed to help you make connections with other people who might help you get a job or know someone who might connect you with someone who might know someone who might need someone who does what you do in their industry.  Or something.  I can’t handle it.  You’re supposed to be able to get recommendations from people there on work you’ve done in the past.  But when I ask people for recommendations they run screaming in the other direction.  It’s supposedly has a great job search and posting feature, but I’ve had zero luck with it.  And while I appreciate having the account, I don’t think I’m doing it right somehow and can’t make it work well for me.  I feel like a redneck hayseed who just found a piece of alien technology and is trying to figure out whether it’s a tonsil cleaner, an anal probe or something else altogether.

I have an account with Twitter, too.  Guess what?  I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with Twitter.  I can follow job accounts and I do, but they’re usually pretty generic.  I haven’t found one yet I could actually apply for.  In the meantime the most use I’m getting out of Twitter is monitoring the activities of people I know who actually have lives and do things they can update about.  Me?  Not so much.  I bust out with the occasional #5secfic update because those are fun, but for the most part?  No one cares what I have to say or what I’m doing.  “I’m sitting around imitating a manatee out of water.”  “I’m watching myself gain weight while scouring the Internet job boards and looking for free pr0n sites.”  “I’m about to go to the bathroom and, based on how I feel right now, it might be a while.”  These are not things people want to read, y’know?  Go figure.

I have a Facebook account too.  Initially, I really thought very little of it.  I joined thinking, hey, why not?  Can it hurt?  I tried to connect with my high school buddies at first, then I realized I don’t have any high school buddies, and for the love of Pete I never did.  I knew them; they knew me.  I was a loner in high school, and don’t even go by the same name.  A lot of these people have no frickin’ idea who I am or why I sent them a friend request, but they accepted anyway.  That’s weird.  But I keep (and will keep) my Facebook page because they have some cool games.  What the heck, right?

Yes, I stink at social networking.  I guess it’s because I’m not sociable.  Never have been.  These sorts of things are not for people who are introverts, melancholy and not sanguine.  I don’t fit; I’m the proverbial square peg being shoved into a round hole.  What about you?  How are you at socializing?  Are you outgoing and friendly and energized by contact?  If so, does social networking seem natural to you?  And if you’re more like me (not a hermit, but maybe more shy, reserved, introverted), do you struggle with the idea as much as I do?

Have a great weekend and God bless, all.

-JDT-

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Miscellany

Posted on by under dreams, Family life, friendship, Kids, life, random thoughts
Illustration of a scribe writing
Image via Wikipedia

Well … based on my hit meter over the last two days, you people aren’t especially interested in my Photoshop work or my thoughts on sub-genres within the horror field of writing.  Hmph.  See if I care.

So, I’ll update you on what’s going on with me.

I’ve gotten a couple of pretty interesting phone calls over the last couple of days about job openings.  I’m not sure where they’ll end up, but hey, it’s something.

I haven’t been on Twitter (actually, Digsby — if you’re not using it, you’re missing out) today yet.  That’s unusual, yes.

I found out one of the (many) vanity publishers which approached me a couple of years ago has gone belly-up, and it’s bastard step-child offshoot is replicating its behavior at even higher prices.  So check out Writer Beware if you’re a writer; it will save you LOTS of headaches … and money.

I had the weirdest dream last night.  In it, I was angrily scouring the cafeteria of a place I’d worked before.  Problem is, physically, it wasn’t the right cafeteria.  In fact, it was the cafeteria of a place I dreamed about a couple of months ago.  The decor was the same — sort of a beige-y brown color for the floor, with weak incandescent lighting, almost like a restaurant from the early ’80s or late ’70s.  While I was trying to get breakfast at five minutes to nine, the cafeteria workers were all telling me they stopped serving breakfast.  I scowled at them as I passed by the numerous counters serving different kinds of food, gesturing at clearly visible signs stating breakfast was served until nine a.m., and found a place that served pastries and donuts which they dipped in chocolate frosting.  I stood in line, not really wanting donuts because I’m hyperinsulinemic, and found a couple of friends I worked with on the actual job I had in the company where this unreal cafeteria was.  (To clarify: I ran into two people I worked with at this company, whose cafeteria this was supposedly but actually isn’t.)  I guess they were getting lunch, which made me realize I’d been waiting for this donut ass to serve me for more than two hours … somehow.  But the faces of the two people in my dream were exact replicas of the actual people they belong to, which is odd for me in a dream.  And I can’t explain it.  They wore shirts over their work clothes bearing the insignia of the company they joined when their contracts ended around the same time mine did.  They said they still worked at that new company.  So why were they in the cafeteria of the old company?  How’d they get in?  And I teased one of them as he walked away from me about how he promised to call and never did — he was supposed to help me get work and I haven’t heard from him since I last saw him on November 30, 2007.  He asked if I still had his number, and I remember thinking (in the dream) that, maybe, he meant it this time, since he wasn’t drinking when he reiterated his openness of receiving my call.  I woke up sometime after that, but I did get to watch the guy swipe my donut top-down into that rich chocolate frosting and give it to me on a piece of wax paper.  Weird.

My daughter got up seconds after I did this morning.  She scared the heck out of me coming into the living room while I was still disoriented and sleepy and trying to get my bearings, because they weren’t the cafeteria of the dream world.

And that’s that.  I don’t know if this will be more interesting, but there you have it — a mini-brain dump.  (That is, the dump is mini, but some of you will argue the brain is, too.  And I don’t think I can argue against you.)

God bless, all.

-JDT-

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