Technorati Update

Forgot to mention that I finally remembered to go back to Technorati to see if I could actually claim my organization's blogs. Short story - yes, I was able to claim them. Slightly longer but more accurate version: Yes, I was able to claim them but it was mildly painful.

In fact, several of the things that I tried to do earlier on Technorati were ultimately successful yet mildly painful in the short-term. Tried to upload a avatar picture - Oh, sorry, the account section can't be accessed at this time. Please try back! Tried to modify verbiage describing one of the blogs - Oh! Hey, sorry about this but you've been kicked out of your account for no discernible reason. Try back later! I loved. . . L-O-V-E-D that they could make a cute little joke about not uploading any questionable images because it would cut into the time they need to improve the site (seeing as how they'd need to take that time to shut down my account or remove the image) considering that frankly the site does not appear, at this point, to be all that functional to begin with.

OK, I'm calm. I'm cool. I'm collected. And to be fair, it's not like I've tried out the other features that Technorati has to offer. But at this point, do I want to try them?

In the spirit of fairness, I would actually like to hear if anyone has had a good experience on Technorati. So far the most interesting aspect so far (to me) was the fact that you can track rising blog posts.

You can do something similar on Twitter, by the way, using something called TweetDeck. It has a little app called TweetScoop that lets you track Twitter traffic by keyword. Let me be clear, here - I NEVER actually click on the words rising out of the cloud. I use it more like a brain teaser. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was in TweetDeck and I see the word Starbucks in HUGE LETTERS, so I assume something is happening and, given the economy, I'm thinking layoffs. Sure enough I catch the story later on the evening news.

OK, so maybe occasionally I click on the tags in TweetScoop. But frankly TweetDeck has far more to offer than that. Srsly.

Just so I capture it somewhere, here is a link to Twitter slang. I still get confused in Twitter, but some of the people I follow (and some who follow me) are super nice and helpful, so it's all good. I still have a lot to learn, though. I think Twitter has a lot of potential, but I don't know if I have the attention span and/or time to invest to make it work.

And just to make this the longest post EVER, here is something that I discovered from a friend on Twitter: Monitter. It lets you do things like put in a zip code to see what people in your area are Twittering about, or search a keyword like volunteer, etc. Tres cool.

True Colors

If you are interested in appearances (and here I'm talking about the appearance of your online identity, brand, what-have-you) then run, don't walk, and download Colorzilla for your Firefox browser.

This little gem has incredible functionality (according to its website, at any rate), but I am still stuck on the bright, shiny object that is the tiny little color picker down in the lower left hand corner of the browser window. Find a color you like. . . could be from your logo, could be from a random image you find on the web. . . click on the little eyedropper, then click on the color and *BAM* you can now use that color wherever you can insert hex code.

Just double click the eyedropper icon once you've captured your color, and another screen opens up that gives you hue, saturation, etc. plus the hex code. Mischief managed.

Forget the days of eyeballing the color palate to try to match your colors. Been there, done that. I'm no visual genius, but I do like things to look consistent and eyeballing things is not the best way to make this happen. As I said, Colorzilla evidently offers a lot more than this (zoom, analysis, etc.) but in terms of graphic and web-based design, the little eyedropper pretty much rules.

Some other interesting color sites: Colour Scheme Chooser; Color Scheme Designer and Hex Color Codes. Interested in a little theory? Check out Color Matters. Just like everything else, I'm sure you can find countless sites about color on the internet. These are just a few that I found to be useful, so enjoy!

Facebook - Whoa

Well, I caved. I finally made a Facebook account. I'm trying to keep it social, since I figure anyone who wants to connect with me professionally can find me on LinkedIn. I briefly considered making two separate accounts (a good friend of mine just did this, in fact) - one for social, one for professional. HOWEVER, the time-sucking vortex that is Facebook is already becoming mildly addictive, and frankly I need one more account to monitor like I need to poke myself in the eye with something sharp.

Facebook is fascinating - I've reconnected with some great people from my past. It's also a bit. . . well. . . odd at times, especially getting friend requests from people I barely recall meeting once. Now, I know that there are some people who have a goal of making some incredibly large facebook friends list. I am not that person. I'd prefer to know (fairly well) the people in my list, and to be ok with them knowing random things that I feel like posting. I guess we'll see how this grand experiment works, eh?

Launched the second blog for my organization - this one for Volunteer Managers. This should keep me busy for a while (like I need something else to keep me busy. . . I have Facebook now, people!). I tried to add both blogs to Technorati.

I made an account. I verified the e-mail address. I tried to "Claim My Blog" by entering the blog address and, no kidding, it took me to a page that said "DOH!" and then something about the Technorati monster. Seriously. Undaunted, I tried several more times and finally couldn't even get Technorati to LOAD much less process anything. I ended up putting it aside for now (current status: mildly daunted).

It does make me wonder. . . did someone else claim my blogs already? I mean, I'm not gonna pretend to be the Blogmaster of the Universe or anything (cool title, though), but now I'm just a little worried. Or maybe the blogs are SO BAD that Technorati instantly repelled them? Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

Good news, though. This month the hits on our website are through the roof. I started noticing them going up when I started with the Facebook page. We were averaging anywhere from 25,000 hits to 35,000 hits a month through August 2008. Then - BOOM! - 40,000 hits in September. So far this month (mind you, it's not the end of the month yet) we have 48,500 hits to the website. Whoa.

What is really interesting, though, is that a lot of these hits are repeat visitors. We have increased our unique visitor count by around 200 per month and the visit numbers are pretty steady. If I'm reading this correctly (and no one would be more surprised than me if this is, in fact, the case), it means that more unique ip addresses are visiting our website, and those that visit are coming back for more. I take that as a good sign, really, but that doesn't mean that you should stop visiting the website (hahaha).

So You Want to Be A Nonprofit Social Media Genius

Here is an excellent presentation from Beth Kanter at Beth's Blog (and if you don't think she's a social media genius, Google Beth's Blog. Go ahead. I'll wait. She is in the number one spot on Google Search, right? 'Nuff said.). If I only have time to read posts from one blog, this is the one I read. Beth provides real world examples of integrating social media into non-profit mission and operations. She tirelessly shares information and insights about making it all work, return on investment, and she spotlights best practices.

Take a moment to review the presentation and let me know what you think!

How To Think Like A Nonprofit Social Media Genius

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmedia nonprofit)