What is taking my attention away from the blog?  Here is the list

• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which I am writing a literature review for the thesis.  Once the thesis is complete (hopefully next May or June) I will have a second masters degree in Communications.
• Toastmasters District 31 Conference this upcoming weekend.  You may see some blog edits regarding this event and I will post a review next week.  I have been holding back on talking about some of the tools I want to cover at the conference to not give it all away.
• Baby showers!  I have three people in my life who are having babies over the next three months.  I have to finish some projects and give the gifts at a shower and the Bris for the boys.
• Thanksgiving!  I am going to Miami for the holiday to spend time with family and friends I have not seen in a while.  I am really excited for my trip, but it’s a week long trip.

So, there is a lot on my plate.  Be ready for some reductions in my focus on this blog.  It will all go back to normal in December.

I have been thinking about how social media has helped with communication because of the hurricane earlier this summer and this snow storm.  We don’t always talk about how helpful Facebook, Twitter and smart phones are until something like this happens.  I have spent most of the past few days posting pictures on the damage around my area.  I posted things to twitter about things that are closed and areas to avoid.  I have been checking in with friends on facebook, G+ and more.  I have spent most of today offering people hot showers.  Most of these people don’t have electricity, but they have smart phones and are using them to keep people informed about their status.

I remember, after Hurricane Irene, doing similar things.  My father came into town as part of a group reviewing the government’s preparation and response to the hurricane.  He was so excited about the stories he heard from Vermont residents about how Facebook helped them check in with family they couldn’t find.  The cell towers remained active after the storm and it allowed them an easier way to rebuild their connections.

The power of social media may seem mundane most of the time.  We use it for a lot of silly things like sharing pictures of cats, whining about the world and sharing too much information about ourselves.  Still, the true strength of these systems comes to light in emergencies.  I will take millions of cute cat pictures and annoying videos to know that I can find my friends and family when something bad happens.

Second, there was MySpace and for a while it was just the same as Friendster.  Then people started signing up for it.  I liked that I could add some HTML code to my profile to make something special.  I liked that bands and musicians were on it and they allowed you to post their music to your profile.  Soon I got tired of posts being spam or thank yous for adding a friend.  I didn’t find myself really connecting with people.  What finally sent me away was a mix of people’s crummy HTML coded profiles and the fact that I was working with college students who were already on Facebook.

Third, is Facebook and it took a while for people to discover it.  I deleted my MySpace account well before it lost popularity.  I did it about the time Facebook opened itself up to more than people associated with colleges.  Libraries were excited to be in facebook as a way to promote things to students.  Many of my friends quickly signed up for Facebook accounts.  Once the important people had Facebook accounts, I left MySpace.

Here we are at my Fourth social networking tool and it came just as I was ready for something new.  I am not annoyed with the people in Facebook (like I was in MySpace), I am annoyed with Facebook.  I like control over my social network.  I don’t know how their algorithms decides top posts or what is an important post.  I hate having to hunt to make my account the way I like it.  I typically weather their changes well.  I rarely complain about Facebook, but this has the feeling of just being too much.

I am not alone and people are looking to Google+ as the next social network.  I think you should get an account and play around with it.  At the same time you have to be aware of how it is different.  First, you can follow someone, but they don’t have to follow you.  Second, someone can follow you, but you don’t have to follow then.  Third, people are not using it to connect with people they already know, but to connect with people who share their interests.

This idea of interest connection comes from these circles you can set up in the network.  Each person you follow goes into one or more circles.  You can share with just specific people, specific circles, your entire set of friends, an extended group or you can share with everyone on the web.  These various levels are great for control.

Where has G+ not gone yet?  There is some frustrations with their API (what allows all these social media tools to talk to each other).  You can do things like click +1 on blog entries.  They do internal sharing well like posting pictures from Picasa or sharing items from Google Reader.  What I can’t do yet is post from a tool like TweetDeck (I can post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more from this application).  I can not set it to automatically post on G+ when I post to this blog.  This being said, they have been very responsive to these requests because I am not the only one looking for them.

Right now you should look into G+.  It is not ready to replace Facebook, but it gives you a whole new group of people who want to connect to you because you are interested in the same things as they are.  Make sure you list your interests on your profile so people can see what you may have in common with them.

You can find me on G+ under Sara Marks (librarygurl@gmail.com).  I post a lot of silly stuff, but every so often I have an insightful moment.

This video makes so much more sense than anything I can explain.

You can still vote if you want me to cover a specific topic:

The other speaker in the technology track is focusing on promotion of yourself through social media.  My session is going to focus on how social media can help promote Toastmasters and small organizations.

I am working on finding a way to set up an event in Four Square for the conference.  It can be done, but I am a bit stuck on permissions because I don’t run the hotel.  I am also going to be promoting a twitter hashtag for my session so keep an eye open for it!

Groupon is one of many new group discount and coupon websites.  There are tons out there that offer you a deal of the day at a steep discount.  As a consumer I love these websites.  I get emails daily (sometimes more than once a day) with a deal for travel or local business deals.  The discount is that I pay a set amount and get a set amount in exchange.  For example, pay for one ticket, get two.  Pay $25 and get $45 worth of goods.  Score a deal for me and I feel awesome.

As a business… well, let’s just say things haven’t been so great.  Merchants have been complaining.  While they may get a great response to the offer, actually keeping up with the demand proves to be more difficult.  I have heard stories of buyers waiting until the last minute to redeem their discount and being upset when a business, especially spas or service oriented offers, can’t accommodate the number of requests they are getting.  Businesses are loosing money because they have to accommodate high number of people who bought the deal.

These sites do allow merchants to put caps on how many they offer, but it doesn’t solve all their problems.  Some merchants may underestimate their response their deals get.  Even putting a cap on doesn’t mean you won’t deal with the “at the last moment” problem.  Last year so many had problems that a study from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University found that 32% did not make a profit.  That was over a year ago.  Complaints are still being reported in the news.

If you have a service to offer or a product to sell beware when choosing to offer a discount through Groupon.  Make sure you do things like set a cap.  Be ready for poor tipping and prepare for the deadline rush.  Make sure you know laws about gift certificates in your state.  In my home state of Massachuetts, for example, legally all gift certificates much be useable for 7 years.  In neighbor state New Hampshire, anything with less than $100 on it has no expiration date.  Make sure you set a cap.  Be realistic and ask yourself how much can you really provide.  Tell the site what you need to make this worth your time.  If they cannot accommodate you then reconsider it at this time.  They may change options and rules based on merchant demands so keep checking with them.

These websites are a great way to promote a product or service you offer as long as you make it work for you.

Cloud computing is a more reliable storage option.  The idea is that your data is sitting out there in the web, up in the sky, like a cloud.  You connect to it via the internet and it is always the most current version of the data.  No more trying to remember which is the most current version.   This is important if you work from multiple computers or you are often collaborating on a document.  You can or a group can connect to the system you are using and access the data.  Some tools, like Google Docs, actually allows you to see live updates as they are being made.  I have watched as one person makes the change we are discussing as we are agreeing to the change.

Yes, there are security issues.  Most systems are fantastic about backups.  I have never lost anything in the 2 years I have been using the cloud for storage.  I make multiple backups though.  I still keep things on my computer, on multiple cloud systems and on external drives.  Nothing is perfect, but compared to drives this is much more secure.  You may want to keep financial or health info on something more private.

I will be covering a number of the various cloud computing options out there.  What do you like to use?

Checking in earns you stickers.  These stickers can be for checking in a certain number of times or making comments.  A number of publishers, record labels, movie studios and television networks are making limited-time stickers available.  For example, when you watch a show the night it airs you could earn a sticker just for that episode.  NBC, Fox and CW are really taking advantage of Get Glue stickers.  The best part of stickers: they are real.  Unlike other check-in sites, Get Glue actually prints and sends you the stickers.  You can order them once a month and you get a sheet of stickers sent to your door.

A number of companies have even offered discounts on merchandise for checking into something.  Ellen DeGeneres is donating money to a charity when people check into her show.

How can you use it to promote yourself?  If you have something like a podcast then you can allow people to check in to it with one of their widgets.  These can easily be added to a blog as long as the blog allows Javascript (WordPress.com does not, for example).  You can get the code on their webpage.  You can also see a great video about how to make it work.  Notice it on his webpage too!  You do need a URL on the Get Glue website.  Jesus Geek also has a great video on how to get your podcast listed on Get Glue.  If you just want to support an idea or a book you can make sure your widget link goes to that instead.

Share other ideas of how you are using Get Glue!

This article is so short because I have been in Chicago for a few days for training.  I thought I would post a shorter, fun example of the way QR codes could be used.

As much as I love Google Maps, I always wonder what buildings I am looking at.  Satellite technology only allows us to see the top of buildings.  Street view does allow you to see some things, but not everyone looks at that feature when getting a map.

Last week Mashable shared this cool idea: roof top QR codes!

There is now a company that will install a QR code on your building’s roof.  What does the code in the article go to?  You tell me. My scanner couldn’t pick it up from my computer screen.  I would love to know if it works for anyone.