Facebook changing online gaming and profits...

You should watch this talk on the future of games by game designer Jesse Schell.

Power of Social Media

We talk about ROI of social media all the time at work. This video shows some good examples. I can't help but think my kids school needs to do this to help raise money for programs, since it is a Charter School with limited funds

Web 2.0 Conference

Blue Cross of North Carolina (BCBSNC) sent me to a Web 2.0 conference at SAS Institute hosted by Ragan.com. I enjoyed learning about SEO, blogs, new technologies on the horizon, and how other corporations are using these tools to communicate with employees and customers.

Best moments at the conference:
David Pogue speaking about technology and singing a few song parities. Below is a tape of two songs he did at the conference. The second one about the RIAA is really funny.

Best resource I learned about:
http://www.everyblock.com/ - A way to find out about anything in your neighborhood

Best tool mentioned:
http://search.everyzing.com/ - Did you know you can search text from audio and video on the net?

Sites mentioned during the conference:

Tools

• http://www.blogpulse.com/ - A BlogPulse blog summarizing recent activity, trends, personalities and issues in the blog universe.
• http://technorati.com/ - Lists websites by their overall page rank and authority
• http://search.everyzing.com/ - Search online audio (podcasts, You Tube, Video)
• http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en - Setup email alerts on news or blog posts about a topic
• http://www.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en - Blog Search
• https://www.blogger.com/ - Blogging tool
• http://www.newsgator.com - RSS readers
• http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx - Feed Demon personal RSS reader
• http://friendfeed.com/ - Discover and share sites with friends
• http://qik.com/ - Streaming and archived video using your cell phone
• https://twitter.com/ - Service to communicate with others using short questions/answers
• http://www.yammer.com/about - Twitter solution for employees on an internal network
• http://digg.com/ - If used on public site to rate news, helps drive traffic
• Google Page Rank - Allows you to see the rank Google gives a page, determined by back links and content on site
• https://www.getdropbox.com/ - Store, Sync, Share files
• http://www.digsby.com - consolidates your social media tools in one place. From IM to Facebook.
• http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp - video training tool
• http://www.tubemogul.com/ - Send videos to multiple video sites
• http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki - Free wiki product

Tech Blogs

• http://www.engadget.com/ - Tech product review site - top blog site
• http://www.techcrunch.com/ - Reviews web start up companies - top blog site
• http://www.davidpogue.com/ - NYT tech reviewer

Company Blogs

• http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/ - GM blogs
• http://www.sun.com/ - Links to employee blogs on front page, over 400 bloggers
• http://blogs.thomasnelson.com/ - company bloggers listed on corporate site
• http://www.runningahospital.blogspot.com/ -
• http://www.bigmedicine.ca/stevencrimando.htm

Marketing and Social Media Blogs

• http://www.nevillehobson.com/ - Business and communications blog
• http://www.pr-squared.com/ - Social Media blog
• http://badpitch.blogspot.com/ - Highlights bad pitches PR professionals send to bloggers
• http://www.marketingovercoffee.com - Tips on marketing
• http://micropersuasion.com/ - Technology and communications blog
• http://www.christopherspenn.com/ - A visionary in new media with an intuitive sense for how marketing and community outreach

Video Blogs

• http://www.blogsouthwest.com/video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaHtA89RHUQ - Here is a video a B to B company did and it got lots of attention which increased page views and brand. This was successful because the video was on YouTube and linked back to the site. Video hosted on your own site have less exposure.
• http://bloggingheads.tv/ - video blog debate format, very cool. Could use for interviews as well

Podcasts

• http://forimmediaterelease.biz - For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report is the twice-weekly podcast of Neville Hobson, ABC, and Shel Holtz, ABC, a pair of communication professionals who think they have something to say.
• http://www.whirlpool.com/custserv/promo.jsp?sectionId=563 - Podcast to help build customer loyalty and brand awareness.

Resources

• http://www.bettermanagement.com/ - Better Management provides articles, webcasts, and conferences addressing Performance Management, Financial Management, Business Intelligence, IT management, and other critical business management issues
• http://sncr.org/ - The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank dedicated to the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society.
• http://www.stopblocking.org/ - The value of enabling social media for employees, both inside and outside the firewall, keeps getting reinforced by study after study, yet organizations continue to block access to external sources while resisting internal implementation citing excuses ranging from bandwidth and storage limitations to fears of diminished worker productivity.
• http://www.pitchengine.com/ - PitchEngine is the new social media release champion, and an indispensable tool in the new media arsenal.”
• http://www.davidpogue.com/
• http://social-media-university-global.org/ - Free classes on social media
• http://www.everyblock.com/ - BETA - search on info in your area
• http://www.fightthebull.com/ - Evaluate emails for BS
• http://www.domystuff.com/ - Outsource chores, sample of web 2.0 community

Kodak Gallery Slide Features

Slide show feature finally in Kodak Gallery.... KINDA. They make you link to slide.com, here is a test slide show.

Here is what they call a fun picture, you can add "Stickers and text" to a picture uploaded in the gallery.

Beaver

We signed up for Play School Disney. For $30 a year you get access to online games, educational stuff, and printed crafts for the kids. The cool part is the computer games are full screen with no ads and each week it is refreshed with new content.

Here is a craft we printed out and made. I was all excited to make this damn thing, took me forever to cut it out. When I was done the kids could care less. But hey, I was proud of my red beaver....