Blah Blah Bleric

Elearning and PowerPoint

Three things capture my attention these days: Twitter, Screenr and PowerPoint 2007. Tonight the trio came together beautifully, and what resulted on my monitor screen was enough to make me lean-in and pucker.

Yes, I kissed the screen.

Really it started with email. We can't leave email out of the blog highlights so much. It's just not fair. Email provides valuable aggregation and alerts. So, I checked my email and joy: new Twitter followers. To Twitter.

Image by thekenyeung via Flickr

Twitter is the best thing since someone figured out how to write messages on sliced bread. I can't love the tool enough but I've tried to here and by telling everyone about Shel Israel's amazing Twitter-inspired book Twitterville (note: the book is about so much more than Twitter: it is a must read for social media fans and businesses).

My newest follower is Bryan Jones (@elearningart). With elearning in his life, I was following back within seconds. Adrenaline rush. Serotonin. Dopamine. I retweeted his tweet about battling an LMS. And then I saw that he had made a video with Screenr.

My eyes rolled back into my head as I clicked the link to the video. The video is good. It shows a neat trick, very useful to developing elearning videos. But what I learned from it will save me countless grief and swearing. There is a selection pane in PowerPoint so that you can hide assets. Incredible. I have needed it so badly, working with layers of animation, and Twitter, Screenr and PowerPoint gave it to me via @elearningart.

PowerPoint 2007, so much more robust than the 2003 version, is an invaluable authoring tool for creating elearning. I use it everyday and know lots of tricks and shortcuts. But the one in this Screenr video popped into my life just after a work week ended with major maneuvering to master the layers of my animations. Here is the wonderful, brief video:

Yes!

Marketing Is Not Evil

It's true: Marketing Isn't Evil

 

Something about marketing always bugged me. It wasn’t anything tangible at first. I just recognized an alarm on my radar whenever certain marketers targeted me.

 

It is certainly not the infomercials or the endless-scrolling-but-never-tell-you-exactly-what-or-how-much website ads. I get a kick out of the actual material, the catch phrases and the tiny disclaimers that results are not typical.

 

But the notion that someone can analyze me and determine by my age, gender or zip code what I might buy, makes me cringe. I imagine that my address or phone number gets sold in secret back alleys, and the buyer strokes his cat in a big chair and prepares the pitch—perhaps aware of one of my weaknesses. *zoinks*

 

Marketers get access to data, and that knowledge gives them power. Power, by the way, corrupts. Unchecked, marketers can use their data and power to manipulate, even coerce. The evidence is all of those ads and infomercials that prey on weakness—oh and the ones that tell outright lies.

 

It happens. Hence my radar alarms. *doom & gloom organ chords*

 

And, it also doesn't happen. *birds twittering*

 

Marketing is not evil. Responsible, honest people who market conscientiously are out there. And bad marketers can be swayed to the good side. In fact, in today's global market, powered by social media, marketers can be in constant check. In other words, score one for the market, who control marketing with conversation.

 

Sure, internet carpetbaggers are rampant. For now. But the more connected people become and the stronger their tribes, the more dishonest, preying marketers will be exposed. When the dishonest web pirates are exposed, fewer and fewer people will buy their garbage.

 

The dishonest will have to clean up their act and learn integrity. A little honest business never hurt anyone. Ethical business practices build trust, ultimately building a more solid business and brand.

 

Through Twitter, blogs, blog comments and other social media, the internet community—you and I—can communicate with never before seen efficiency. For example, MyTweeple allows Tweeters to “ding” spammers (among the most evil of marketers). MyTweeple was developed by @swhitley, Shannon Whitley, who you can follow on Twitter today.

 

I think internet scalawags will all be exposed, forced to play it straight or leave. You probably know some good marketers out there, or you are one of them, or maybe you see other ways that the global community is ferreting out the rascals.

Eric Matas Minneapolis, MN	Mobile: 612-385-7510 ericmatas@hotmail.com
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Posted via email from Eric's Preposterous

The Only Prescription is More Twitter

If there was a field of wild flowers atop a grassy hill on which Twitter could run, in slow motion, with open arms toward a similarly open-armed, slow-motion running passionate lover, that lover would be me.

I've tried to do the middle school guy thing and play it cool. But this is officially my love note to Twitter (that I will have my best friend deliver for me). *Blush*

I sort of admitted in a recent tweet that steals a hysterical phrase from a Saturday Night Live skit--th one in which Christopher Walken wants more cow bell.

 

For all you new and emerging Twitter fans, here are three great tools to help you get the most of your Twitter experience.

TwiTip - a blog on all things Twitter, helping you know what to do and what NOT to do. TwiTip comes from Darren Rowse (@ProBlogger) from ProBlogger Blog Tips.

Tweet Adder - a "set it and forget it" tool that can do techy work for you, so you just have to write fun micro messages.

Featured Users - an easy way to get yourself out there in the Twitter community. Great idea for bloggers and website owners. Very ideal for anyone who is branding themselves (and who isn't?) or a business.

Even though there is advice out there, have fun with the trial-and-error nature of new tools like Twitter. Just call the first year your beta version. And remember to follow me @tweric!

Oh, and I've written about it here and here, but once again, the best book out about Twitter is Twitterville by Shel Israel. If you read one book about social media, global communities and Twitter, read Twitterville.

14 Bus Reflections v3

On the first night of class, Composition I, the unsuspecting students of @tweric (AKA @compscholar) discovered that they would have to sign-up on Twitter.

 I made it an assignment worth 100 points.

 The students had to create a Twitter account and follow @compscholar to get an A. Three of the 24 already were tweeters, and they fumbled for their devices and followed me immediately.

 A couple others signed up during class, and one even instinctively began to "live tweet" our comp class. Nothing juicy, but these kids these days...give them smart phones and laptops and show them Twitter...they just go at it like it's in our DNA.

 There were some skeptics. A few grumbles. The smart-assiest signed-up as @forced2join (my personal favorite). Expecting some reluctance, I led off class with the riveting story of James Buck, whose one word tweet "arrested" inspired Shel Israel's new book Twitterville.

 The James Buck story, arrested in Mahalla, Egypt, appears in the introduction to Twitterville, which just hit the shelves, and is the best book about Twitter and global communities to date.

 As I ride the 14 bus into downtown Minneapolis, and as I remote blog easily through Posterous, I'm giddy with curiosity about how my students will interact with Twitter. And I am amazed that connecting worldwide is seconds away, which means I have no idea what I might be doing today.

 Eric Matas
Contributing Editor, Kidundated!

Posted via email from Eric's Preposterous

Screenr is Awesome

Screenr makes grabbing a screen and turning it into a tutorial very easy.

I use screen capturing tools all the time in my work (developing elearning). The tools typically involve launching bulky programs, going through many steps (record, add sound, edit), and then publishing.

Screenr streamlines the process so that you can truly create on demand videos.

I've wanted to create a simple, easy to make tutorial for branding a blog or website with a favicon. I had some trouble myself because I did not realize Internet Explorer only recognized .ICO files. I didn't even know what an .ICO file was.

After I figured it out, a friend asked my advice on buying software to create .ICO files for a favicon. But, there is no need to buy software! In this web 2.0 world, people are out there helping. So, with Screenr, I have already quickly and easily made the video that should help people make images, find the converter website, and create an .ICO file for their blog or website.

Once I created the video, I published it to YouTube and then copied the code to embed it here (I am sorry the sound is low; I was excited to try it and made it in a location that required me to talk very low):

Screenr is, of course, streamlined to Twitter so you can tweet about your new videos immediately. (I mean, why wait?) So, what do you think about Screenr? And when will you make your first video?

The Hero of Web 2.0

This is a tribute to a stranger. But, things have changed quite a bit, and truly "friend" and "stranger" mean different things these days...the days of Web 2.0!

The Inspiration

I just saw a post at SocialMedian.com about Robert Scoble.

The news is that Scoble--well known for his blog "Scobleizer"--is leaving his current job. I never knew he had a job, but I know a little about his blog and him. If you are into social media, video, blogging and such, you probably know who he is.

I am quietly a fan. So, I commented on the SocialMedian post:

"I love that guy. Never met him, but have seen and heard him on videos. He's like the objective correlative of web 2.0 for me. Especially with that tripod and camera. The super hero aspect: "Fearlessly shooting video anywhere he goes -- it's Super Scoble -- able to stream megabytes while tweeting, able to transport digitally to be on the scene at CES, at Google, or anywhere geeks are triumphing!

Ok, that's enough. No offense intended -- I truly admire the guy. And the triumphing geeks. Well some of them."

I follow him on Twitter and FriendFeed, but I don't know Scoble. But then one day I got a twitter email. It said _Scobleizer_ was following me! I felt proud. Yes -- the mighty Scobleizer was following me on Twitter. I win!

Well, not so.

The Impostor

I bounded forth to Twitter so I could send him a note of thanks. But @_scobleizer_ (with the underscores) was a fake.

Impostor!

Curse you impostor, who made my hopes and dreams rise, only to be crushed. Woe is me.

The Interception

Until *horns blaring* the real Robert Scoble did in fact follow me on Twitter!  I wanna think I earned it. Either from good tweets or pity. Well, one good tweet anyway. With pity in it.

After the impostor both thrilled me and slammed me, I tweeted about the fake Scoble and how Twitter SWAT had shut him down (or her). I also included a sad little bit at the end (see Twitter screen shot).

That was lunch time on January 23rd. By the end of the day, the real Robert Scoble was following me.

I'm no news breaker in the tech world, but I like to think that Scoble checks my twitter feed every morning as he gets ready to take on another day.

  
I guess that's my brush with social media fame. What's yours? Oh and by the way, here's the email about the real Scoble following me. Yes, I kept it!

                    

All Things Revolve Around Twitter

In fits and starts, I've started blogging. As any blogger knows, a blog can be a work in progress, and a blogging presence on the net even more so. But I like that. I like blogging and the evolution of the blog. I like the writing and the designing. And now I like the social networking and various social media that can, ideally, work in sync to establish a little web of my own spun in a cozy corner of the big family barn we call the internet.

After my first blog, which I co-author with my wife Betsey, I looked into this microblogging thing called Twitter and started a second blog that is just me (you are reading it right now). Then I added Facebook to the LinkedIn networking I was already doing. Then FriendFeed, which makes my GoogleReader more fun. Suddenly, the site and blog intergration seems to have taken on a life of its own. For example, when I tweet, it updates my status on Facebook and drops an entry in FriendFeed--this could happen on Social Median too, but since Facebook drops updates there, I thought tweets would be redundant. I wonder if anyone would notice...

Anyhow, I'm visual. So, I mapped it out a bit. And if you are visual too you've got to check out DebateGraph soon. Well my little corner web looks like this:

        

Interesting that Twitter is right in the middle.

I'd love some feedback from anyone who has savvy ideas for how to improve my network--add to? remove? streamline? Oh, and I'm looking for some good blogs to read...know any?