I’ve just posted my first poll here at Broadcasting Brain.
I’d really appreciate it if you take a moment to vote.
Thanks!
Archive for April, 2008
Poll and feedback
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008How to say the unsayable
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
What do you do when you feel like you need to say something but you just can’t find the right words to communicate it?
Telepathy would be so much easier, wouldn’t it? Gone would be the guessing games, the frustration, the hurt feelings and time lost due to misunderstanding. The perfect words wouldn’t have to be so perfect anymore when direct mind-to-mind communication, free of filters and barriers, could transmit any thought, feeling, or concepts between two or more people.
Credit: Writers block 3 by Jonno Witts
Alas, telepathy is currently impossible. We must rely on our five senses (smell, taste, and touch don’t tend to be used very often: at least not intentionally) to tell the story.
Given these constraints, it’s easy to understand that we can struggle with the right way to communicate something. We use different languages with hundreds of thousands of characters, symbols, and groupings to move information between minds. Sometimes we get the message across, sometimes we don’t.
But what do you really want to say?
What’s worse, sometimes we can’t even figure out what we want to say, even if the thoughts feel maddeningly close to the surface, just like we could snatch them up and start using them. Sometimes these words and thoughts will dive deep, scamper away, or otherwise evade our grasp. Instead of transmitting a meaningful message, we broadcast gobbledygook that even we, the author, don’t understand.
How do we get the right words out?
Read and comment day 2008
Monday, April 28th, 2008Maestro Chris Brogan has declared today (Monday, April 28) to be “read and comment” day across the blogosphere. Works for me!
However, in addition to searching and devouring, I’m going to point you towards some blogs that you might not have read before, with incredible blog ideas that you might find intriguing:
The Ominous Comma – brill British humour blog with equally good comments
DCR Blogs – awesome American blogger
The Love Blog – it might not be all we need, but we can always use more
Mimzie’s Musings – check out my previous Catch The Brainwaves Q&A with Mimzie in order to brace yourself get grounded
For that matter, why not check out my entire Blogroll?
Bon appetit!
Color Supplement – 27 April 2008
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
A light hearted look at social media for your Sunday.
Table of contents for The Faceless Four
- Color Supplement – 20 April 2008
- Color Supplement – 27 April 2008
7 unusual things about the author
Saturday, April 26th, 2008My social media friend Kim tagged me some time ago with a meme started by Shari Voigt where the writer must list seven unusual things about themself.
It’s a few weeks later, but I’m getting caught up now.
OK, Kim had to remind me about it, but better late than never.
Here they are:
- One of my front teeth is shaped like a molar- it has an extra piece in back that you can’t see.
- I have an extra sinus; showed up in an X-Ray when I was being checked out for braces, I believe. No idea if it makes any difference.
- I used to have the nickname “Spidey” when I played hackeysack – I only played it one summer, however
- I ran a 10k race when I was 19 – never did anything like that before or after
- I once drove a car through the inside of a narrow covered bridge at the same time that a utility truck was coming through. There was probably only a couple of inches of clearance on each side of my car. I panicked – I didn’t know what else to do except keep going. My friend, who was carpooling with me, kind of freaked out for a moment. I don’t blame him. Anyway, no harm done except to my friend’s nerves.
- I once ate a jalapeno pepper without changing my expression, although it felt like I had bitten into a sunburn. The people sitting near me say that I turned bright red.
- I only pulled one all-nighter during my entire university career – it was near the end of my final year. I guess they’re supposed to be more common than that.
Yeah, that’s it, then.
Dosh Dosh on Blog Comments
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Maki does it again over at Dosh Dosh with his latest post: Rethinking Blog Comments. I highly recommend his blog if you are interested in social media, Internet marketing, or blogging in general.
In summary, Maki advises his readers to think long term when commenting on blogs. You can use blog comments as a way to interact with a blogger and build a connection between the two of you.
I know from my own experience that I love it when people comment on Broadcasting Brain posts. Blog comments have allowed me to connect with other bloggers.
The downside of blog comments, especially if you’re an established blogger, is that your comment section will mutate into a gigantic bulletin board where any greedy soul will post just to get their name noticed, plus the backlink that comes from a Do Follow blog comment section. Maki describes one scenario where an internet marketer mass-posted the same comment at multiple blogs as a means to promote himself.
I’ll be honest: I’ve posted comments on some of the A List blogs as a means to get some exposure. Caroline Middlebrook and Darren Rowse have both written useful posts about ways to use blog comments to make contact with other bloggers. I figured, “Hey, if they recommend it…”
However, on the other side of good taste, there is the obvious link spammer, not unlike the gentleman that Maki describes in his post.
I’m sure that it’s a bit discouraging to know that some people are commenting on your blog just to get some attention for themselves.
However, if they are contributing to the conversation in some way, then I think it’s perfectly fine to give your commenter a chance to be contacted by other like-minded individuals. Most blogs were designed to allow the commenter to be contacted, after all.
Yes, it’s an opening that some people will try to take advantage of, but when you’re a beginning blogger, every little bit helps.
Maki wrote a great post, as usual, so please check it out, won’t you?
(And why not leave a comment here while you’re at it?)
(For that matter, why not subscribe… you never know what kinds of goodies I’ll be presenting here…
Tags: blog comments, blogging, dosh dosh, maki
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