Am I A Twit 'Cause I don't Tweet?

                                                             
I just don't get it. I thought Twitter was for us regular people to follow celebs. I thought Twitter was for me to stay abreast of what my imaginary bff, Khloe Kardashian, was doing. Than I realized that millions of people use twitter everyday. Millions of  "regular" people. What the heck are regular people Twitting about? What the heck am I gonna Twitter about? Or is that Tweet about? Geez, I don't even know the lingo.

Man, I don't even know what I'd say. I'm not that interesting. I work, go to school and take lots of naps. And on a really exciting day, I might eat a whole box of Cocoa Puffs, but that's as cool as I get. So why would anyone wanna follow me? Granted, I know that eating a whole box of cereal is AMAZING but really. I don't think people want to follow me because of my love for carbs


I bite the bullet, go to Twitter.com and sign up. After all, I am trying to explore all things new media.


After several minutes, my self-diagnosed ADD kicks in, and I find myself spending more time designing my homepage than actually trying to Twitter...or Tweet. I look up a few celebrities because, well, who the heck else would I look up? Then, panic sets in! These celebs have millions of followers! Twitter is EXACTLY what I thought it was. A POPULARITY CONTEST! I haven't been popular since Tupac was alive.


How the heck am I gonna attract followers?


Stay tuned.

Wanna Be a Rock Star? Lip dubbing

Okay, let me say that trying to keep up with new new media is crazy! Every time I think I know it all, I discover something, well, new. Did you know that you can make your own music videos? More importantly, did you know that you can make those music videos and put your lip syncing talents to good use?


On December 14, 2006, the founder of Vimeo, Jakob Lodwick, coined the term "lip dubbing" in a video entitled Lip Dubbing: Endless Dream. In the video's description, he wrote, "I walked around with a song playing in my headphones, and recorded myself singing. When I got home I opened it in iMovie and added an MP3 of the actual song, and synchronized it with my video. Is there a name for this? If not, I suggest 'lip dubbing'."


Yes. It's that easy. Finally. We can all be rock stars! The cool thing about 'lip dubbing" is that you can film solo, or you can get a group of friends together and make a big production. Just take one of your favorite songs, film yourself, then dub over it in post editing with the original audio of the song and voilà!


"It’s kind of the bridge between amateur video and actual music videos," Lodwick says.


Here's a clip of my favorite. A video shot by a video production class at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington that went viral, drawing more than 10,000 page views on YouTube. The class made a video to one of my favorite songs, Outkast's "Hey Ya."





To read more of the Shoreline students story, click here:

When Technology Goes Wrong! Facebook Breakup

Be Careful!

Did You Know 4.0

New Media. Are we all addicted?

The other day, I left my house without my cell phone. Ahem. Excuse me. My Droid, and I almost had a heart attack. No. Really. I clutched my chest. I didn't know what to do. As I made my way down the highway, I seriously contemplated turning around and being late to work, just to retrieve my baby. My mind raced. The only thing I could think about was what I'd be missing out on.


How was I going to check my email? How would I be able to change my Facebook status? And more importantly, how could I make it through the day without celebrity gossip? Is Beyonce pregnant or not? Will Brad and Angelina adopt another child? These are all important things!


I held onto the steering wheel. My palms began to sweat. How could I survive one full day at work without my Droid? Forget work. Who works at work anymore? I know I'm not the only one that has hide in a corner to text my friends. Heck. I know I'm not the only one who has taken an extra long "bathroom break" just to read my friend's statuses on Facebook and Twitter.


"Sorry, boss. It must have been the beans from the taco I had for lunch."


I'm insane! Obsessed! Addicted!


This new new media has made me a crazy person. I love knowing that I am always connected. Work is tolerable if I can Facebook my friends and tell them that I'm having a crappy day. Life is never boring if I can play Angry Birds on my lunch break. Hey. I can even watch the news if I want. New new media is my new bff.


So, I ask the question. In a world of iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops, Twitter, Facebook and podcasts, is new new media an addiction? Can you live without your cell phone? Do you visit your favorite sites everyday? Can you leave the house without your gadgets?


I bet you're wondering if I went back to get my Droid. Well, I'm not telling.

When Technology Goes Wrong! Texting and walking is DANGEROUS!

I know that it is illegal to text while driving, but should it be illegal to text while walking?

What is Knowledge Sharing?

Knowledge sharing is a way in which regular people like me can share what I know (i.e. facts, tips, skills job leads or celebrity gossip) with friends, family, fans of my blogs or people that I encounter on message boards.


One way to make sure that you message is seen is through social networking. Social networking is the practice of expanding the number of one's business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals.


Another way to spread knowledge is through crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community through an open call.

Here are ten clever ways that people can choose to share their knowledge, just to show how every aspect of online commerce, research and even human interaction are changing.

Social Networking

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that people can use to find job/professional contacts. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to    maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business.

Twitter  is a social networking/microblogging service that allows its users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Users may subscribe to other users' tweets—this is known as followers and subscribers are known as followers.                          
                         

Facebook is a social network service that allows users to create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Users may also join common interest groups, organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics.  

Crowdsourcing  

Wikipedia is a web-based encyclopedia written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles. Users can contribute annoymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.

We Are Hunted is a music aggregation website that ranks the Web's most popular songs based on blogs, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, forums, peer-to-peer file sharing services and more. We Are Hunted aims to help listeners find new music and to help artists reach new audiences.

Crowdspring is a global marketplace for crowdsourced creative services. Crowdspring lets you post design projects or brief copywriting assignments, name your price, then pick from worldwide submitters. 

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website,users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media.

YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videosUnregistered users may watch videos, and registered users may upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos that are considered to contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users 18 and older.


  

Tumblr is a microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private.

Blogger is Google’s free tool for creating blogs. You can use blogs for everything from updating your friends and family about your life, giving your own advice column, discussing your political views, or topics that interest you.




Which one of these services do you use?