Posted 09.27.2009

Getting Social Media to Work for You (Part 11: Facebook)

I’ll be honest. I hate Facebook.

  1. As a web developer, I would like to think that I can easily find my way around Facebook. Instead, I feel absolutely retarded.
  2. It’s (yet) another inbox that I have to manage.
  3. Facebook’s privacy policy and Terms of Use drives me crazy!—In one of their recent policy updates, anything that you upload to Facebook automatically becomes their property. Excuse me?!
  4. Security Issues

I’m not the only one…

But, the thing about Social Networking is that in order to build a network, you have to be where your friends are—and most (if not all) of my friends have a Facebook account. Unfortunately, that’s the only way that I know to get in touch with some people.—I know that’s what Zuckerberg is counting on. Blah!

On to more important things…

This series is supposed to be about how I use Social Media. Complaining about it, isn’t helpful. grin

I use Facebook from a completely personal level. As I said before, that’s the only way that I know to get in touch with some people. I am only friends with people on Facebook that I’m friends with in real life.

Where I struggle with Facebook
I am (still) not addicted to Facebook.—which makes it difficult when that’s the only way some people communicate. It’s gotten me in trouble before when I’ve missed event invitations, or, when people rely on Facebook to communicate important pieces of information.

I’m not the only one experiencing frustrations. Within the past couple of years, TechCrunch has reported a decline. Honestly, I don’t know how much of that to take seriously. But, at the very least, it appears to be news worthy.

This concludes Part 10 of 11 completed parts of my 11 part series on how I use a variety of web services:


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Posted 09.23.2009

Getting Social Media to Work for You (Part 10: Dropbox)

Dropbox is a service that allows you to post files online, making them more accessible to you and others.

How it works

  • Go to getdropbox.com
  • Click on the “Download Dropbox” button
  • Install dropbox on your computer.

Now, whenever you put something in a designated folder on your computer, it will automatically upload it online. If you have the program setup on multiple computers, it will automatically sync with that computer as well. Additionally, you can right click on the folder and share it with someone else.

Why I prefer DropBox over Box.net (or any other service, for that matter)

I love, love, love the syncing feature with Dropbox.
This service has been perfect when I’ve been working on something at work and want to take work on it at home. I’ve also found it extremely useful in maintaining my web templates.—Let me explain. When you build a website, there are several things that you do over and over everytime: setting up folder structure, linking blueprint stylesheets and jquery, setting up default css styles, etc. I keep all those templates in my dropbox folder. Whether I start a site at home or at the office, I always have the most recent versions of those templates at hand.

Sharing
My team has also used Dropbox. It’s been great when we’ve collaborated on a project or needed to share resources. One person “owns” the folder and shares it with everyone else. That folder, then, appears on everyone’s computer.

Price
I was subscribing to Box.net at $19.99 a month for 15 GB. (Granted, they have different price points and $19.99 is the highest level) But, compare that to $9.99 for dropbox where I get 50 GB?

Playing Devil’s Advocate

Box.net is more of a collaborative environment than box.net. For freelance clients, I’ve created sub accounts for them to access my box.net account. They have limited access where they can upload files to a folder, add comments, and manage version control. The client loves it.

This concludes Part 9 of 8 completed parts of my 11 part series on how I use a variety of web services:


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Posted 09.17.2009

Posted 09.17.2009

Getting Social Media to Work for You (Part 9: Vimeo)

I use Vimeo to upload all my videos. I definitely prefer it to YouTube.

In my mind’s eye, accurate or not. MySpace is to Facebook as YouTube is to Vimeo. (Yes, I did pull out the high school SAT analogy!)

Why I prefer Vimeo over YouTube

Playing Devil’s Advocate

One thing that YouTube has that Vimeo can’t compete with (yet at least) is numbers. The audience for YouTube is obviously much larger than that of Vimeo. If your goal is to get your video in front of as many people as possible, then you’d be spinning your wheels with Vimeo. On the other hand, if you’re hosting videos on your portfolio site and trying to find the best looking option, Vimeo is the way to go. Again, it all comes back to audience.

I posted some of the videos that I created for this past summer a few weeks ago, however, you can check out more of my work on my Vimeo account.

This concludes Part 8 of 7 completed parts of my 11 part series on how I use a variety of web services:


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