xkcd, one of my favorite geeky web comics, posted their second proportionate map of online communities: Online Communities 2. It represents the relative amount of social activity of various sites and programs as the size of fictional countries on a map. I wasn't surprised that Facebook is so huge, but I had no idea that […]
Smashing WordPress by Thord Hedengren My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is for the experienced WordPress designer, not the beginner. Although it does touch on some WordPress essentials, it's mostly a how-to guide for creating WordPress themes and plugins, and generally bending WordPress to your will. The book is laid out well, with […]
One of my favorite podcasts, Get-It-Done Guy (on the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network), just did an episode about email subject lines. Poorly written (or missing) subject lines are one of my pet peeves. Here are a few points from Get-It-Done Guy, which apply to messages sent by email, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other […]
When you log into Facebook, the first thing you see is the Home page, also known as the News Feed. This is a list of status updates, photos, links, etc. from your friends, pages, and applications. Each of these pieces of news are known in Facebook lingo as a "story". The News Feed is a […]
Practically any organization, whether it's a business, non-profit, or even a single freelancer, can benefit from social media. On June 16, Lakeshore Advantage hosted a social media lunch event with Jason Sadler, founder of IWearYourShirt.com. I went and listened to Jason talk about creating and growing I Wear Your Shirt, and how he uses social […]
On June 16, four West Michigan startups pitched their ideas to aimWest, a group of local professionals and technology experts. The startups are backed by Momentum, a Grand Rapids-based venture firm focused on web technology entrepreneurs. Each of the startup companies are using the web and social media for their fledgling businesses. Members of aimWest […]
Once upon a time, small businesses got along fine without the Internet. They relied on word-of-mouth and traditional media (newspapers, TV, radio) to help customers find them. As the years went by, small business owners discovered they were losing market share to competitors who had basic websites (essentially digital business cards) to direct customers to […]
Think for a second of how many links to websites you see each day. They come through email, Facebook, and Google search results. Especially if you don't recognize the name of the website, how do you know it's safe to visit? Google provides a first line of defense for search results by warning you of […]
It's incredibly important to use good passwords for websites, because they protect your accounts on email sites, banking sites, shopping sites, and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Although there are other ways people can get into your accounts, guessing or hacking passwords is still one of the most widely-used methods. Here are a […]
You know you should be doing more to protect yourself online, but much of the advice out there is overly-technical and confusing. Check out GetSafeOnline.org, a site providing plenty of straightforward tips for using the Internet safely. The site is backed by some big names, including the UK government, Microsoft, PayPal, and VeriSign. Here you'll […]
