Freedom of speech in the blogosphere – the role of RSS

Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is what drives the blogosphere. It is what enables bloggers to be both the reporter and the publisher. It provides a mechanism for the bloggers at Council Blogs to have an avenue for publishing, a way to broadcast to the world. It also gives us bloggers a mechanism for readers to subscribe to our pearls of wisdom. From my speaking engagements I find RSS the least understood aspect of social media. The underlying programming techniques of RSS paved the way for interactivity, which in turn paved the way for social media applications to spawn and grow. With RSS, now instead of one AP wire, we have a million AP wires. With so much information at our fingertips, the challenge for future generations will be how to discern credible sources. As small business owners we should be happy that with the internet and social media we have the freedom to interact closely with our customers. We have a generally untapped resource at our disposal. During your Fourth of July holiday you may want to consider how the freely flowing information could impact a stronger relationship with your customers. At the cyber wigwam we would like to hear about your successes in using social media for your business. Feel free to comment below.

Looking Forward, when will Facebook top out?

Looking forward to the end of 2012, Facebook will probably hit 1 BILLION users. Then what? With the recent email shenanigans will people start looking for other networking sites more trustworthy? At 1 BILLION, roughly half the people on the internet will be on Facebook. A year and a half ago this was more like a third of the internet was on Facebook. The growth in the user base of Facebook is quite interesting over the last few years. Here at the Cyber Wigwam, the bloggers are wondering what’s next? What makes a social networking platform attractive for all types of users. The ability to interact is what we consider the number one feature of a social networking platform. Pinterest is an interesting phenomenon. Lots of pictures, mixing pictures, lots of color, not necessarily a lot of dialog. What would make the ideal social networking platform? Share your desires and ideas below.

Remember to tag your posts in 2012- The Year of Findability

At Council Blogs we consider 2012 the year of Findability. Every week we highlight advances in SEO as part of our blogging club meeting. What can you do to make your site findable when people are looking for your talents or services? It’s easy for us bloggers - TAGS!! Here at the cyber wigwam the bloggers have all moved their Tags widget on the WordPress editing page up under the Publish widget so we don’t forget. Our three item list that Gayle has engrained:

1. Unique Content free of Bad Stuff
2. Images
3. Tags

Think of tags as aids to search engines during classifying your blog post. Tom Johnson has a wonderful and extensive, 51 part series on Findability on his site, click here. Tags are equally important in your YouTube video. As bloggers, content is king, but tags are the scouts that bring in the visitors in the first place. So, don’t forget to include your tags. Remember: Content is King, Tags are IT when it comes to SEO!

We always love to hear from the blogosphere. Feel free to comment and interact with our club below.

Bloggers limbering up for Memorial Day

The bloggers are busy this week leading up to Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day began as a tradition after the American Civil War. Generally, the canon is symbolic of the conflict. How does a canon get from installation to installation? At the time of the Civil War the canons were pulled by horses, 6 to be exact. A battery was made of 6 canons and the accompanying caisson and repair wagons each requiring 6 horses. The two wheeled unit between the horses and the canon is called a limber. The limber also had a box that carried the ammunition. That ends up being a lot of horses. The photo is a little scratchy but you can get a sense for all the horse flesh required to move a canon battery. It doesn’t take quite as much horsepower to get the blog posts rolling with our motivated bloggers at Council Blogs.The bloggers all have their posts connected to Facebook from their wordpress sites. Feel free to comment on the blog posts here. Enjoy your holiday weekend.

2,279,709,629 ways to like the internet

As of April 30, 2012 the number of users on the internet was estimated to be 2,279,709,629. In the U.S., 80% of the population is estimated to be on the internet. We now have easy access to the growing number of potential customers on a global basis. The beauty of the internet is that it is relatively inexpensive to have the ability to get in front of those 2 billion users. Here at the cyber wigwam the bloggers know how much exposure you can get by appropriately tagging your consistent blog posts. Council Blogs has defined 2012 as the year of Findability. We are all working on and having great success with increasing our findability using various techniques. Generally, it is being smart about your title and tags on your wordpress blog. Read what the bloggers are saying here on this and their blogs. Feel free to comment and subscribe to the bloggers you like to hear from.

Social Media Spring Cleaning – Time to clean out those blog drafts

Here at Council Blogs it is easy to have an accumulation of post drafts. With spring in the air it is time to review your list of posts and see if there are some drafts that could be published. At the Cyber Wigwam the Chief sent Running Tweet out to count the drafts on the Council Blogs list. He came back and reported 38 drafts out of 100 posts. Lots of cleaning!! Get the brooms out. Remember the blue button on the lower right that says “Publish.”

February 29, 1900: Microsoft changing history?

These partying men from 1876 might have wondered in their drunken stuper that somebody in the future will get the leap year calculation wrong. Well, of course they were having such a gay time they were hoping for more leap years. Maybe one of them passed that thought onto their heirs at Microsoft. I have a personal connection to the 1900 leap year (or should I say lack thereof). My great aunt was born on February 29, 1896. She was famous in our family as she didn’t have a chance to celebrate her birthday until she was 8 years old. There was not a leap day in 1900. Since Julius Caesar started leap days every four years to keep the calendar synched with nature we found he was a little off. 1500 years later the Gregorian calendar aimed to fix the crude adjustment by adding some more rules. Anyway, the outcome is that 1900, or any century year for that matter that, is not evenly divisible by 400 is not a leap year. Microsoft didn’t investigate it well enough and the calculation inherent in Excel is wrong. They mistakenly show 1900 as a leap year so changing history unbeknowingly. Apparently, they feel it is too much effort to correct it so future generations can debate about the reality or the virtual reality of Microsoft. Luckily, at the moment, WIkipedia sets the record straight with a well defined definition of the calculation. Will the 21st Century Shakespeare say, “Beware the Ides of Microsoft?” More on that the next post.

Did Lincoln say, “A penny for your thoughts?” 4,900,000,000 thoughts?

4.9 Billion, yes,  Billion, pennies were minted in the U.S. in 2011. That’s twice as many as the number of people on the internet. In 2010, the number of internet users worldwide crossed 2 billion. The bloggers here at the Cyber Wigwam realize that sharing your thoughts is the way to build your reputation in the blogosphere. Social media is all about being social. What better way to be social than to share your thoughts with the world?

Valentine’s Day, 2012 – What’s new in the blogosphere?

The state of the blogosphere this Valentine’s Day shows that bloggers are active in Social Media as well as posting to their blog. Google+, Facebook and Twitter are the popular choices for bloggers. Here at Council Blogs, along with WordPress, our bloggers also like LinkedIn. We had a special advanced class delving in-depth into Linkedin. In the blogosphere the stats show that most bloggers are big into Social Media:

Consider Frequency as the Goal for 2012

One of the best goals you can have in 2012 is to have a plan for regular updates of your blog. At Council Blogs, all the bloggers have a well thought out, well strategized, robust marketing calendar that they are currently updating for 2012. Here at the cyber wigwam you can get a copy of your 2012 planning calendar by going to this link over on the lept like a blog site and signing up for the newsletter. Once you are a subscriber you can download the planning claendar.  The pundits in the blogosphere all agree that frequency and consistency are key to developing your following. In small business the more we can have a strong relationship with our customers the better off we are going to be. Having an established frequency of update gives your followers a sense that they are well connected with you and can count on hearing from you. Consistently sticking to your publishing plan gives your followers a sense that you are organized and diligent about communicating with them.