Mini Mantras – Which is Your Favorite?
I’ve seen these become pretty popular on Twitter as of late since most fit within the 140 character limit. I’m talking about mini-mantras. Small statements or phrases that are repeated over and over again. Take these for example:
- Be The Resource
- Conversation is a Behavior, Not a Commodity
- Mistakes Are Tuition
- It’s Noise Prior to Entry, Signal Upon Engagement
- Struggle Sits at the Doorstep of Breakthrough
Mike Sansone over at ConverStations.com has published his list of mini-mantras he has saved over time. After giving his list a read through, let me know which is your favorite or tell me one you enjoy which isn’t on the list. Also, do mantras help you at all either mentally or emotionally?
How To Breathe Life Into an Inactive Forum?
In my opinion, a forum is one of the best ways to build and manage communities online. Truth be told, I’ve actually found myself to have been addicted to forums at certain points in my life. I’ve actually made real life friends and business contacts from the various forums I’ve been a member of. These days, though, while I don’t feel compelled to checking for new posts every half hour, I still visit my favorite forums at least once a day to check on new conversations and reply to ones I feel I can contribute to.
I find that niche-based forums bring together people of like interest. But sometimes, this extends past interests. Long after i’ve given up on some hobbies, for instance, I still visit the forums I’ve been part of just for the conversations. Even if the technologies and software being discussed in certain forums had been long obsolete, some might still be active because of the virtual friendships formed.
Sadly, however, not all forums can survive the test of time. For one, members might move on to other interests. Or in the case of forums that mostly involve professionals and enthusiasts in certain fields, people can become busy with their own concerns.
I wonder what could help breathe back life into forums that have slowed down. Should the forum give incentives for new members (such as freebies like ebooks and other downloads)? Or maybe great content can be dug up and re-posted as fresh. Should the moderators get in touch with each individual member to check how they are? Or in the case of exclusive, closed forums, will being open to the general public help in revitalizing discussions?
I think netizens these days have grown to have very short attention spans, especially with character limitations like those imposed by certain microblogging services. Will forums survive in the long run?
How To Say No To A Friend
Skelliewag has a great post on one way to politely tell your friends no
There is a way to turn the experience into a positive for both people. Next time you have to say ‘No’, recommend someone else to help.
Make this someone you know online (or offline) or someone you would like to get to know. Not only are you giving the person a helpful recommendation, you’re potentially sending a new client (or reader, or viewer) someone’s way.
Not only does this make perfect business sense, but it’s a great opportunity to network with people as well.
Social Networks Of The Future
Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips posed an interesting question today. Will Websites be the Social Networks of the Future? Daniel makes three assumptions. The first is that most people will need or want an online presence in the future. I believe this to be a no brainer. At some point, people will NEED to be on the web in order to move up in the world.
His second assumption is that people like to own their own stuff. Now this is an interesting point in and of itself because currently, we’re seeing a ton of people producing content and hanging out on sites/profiles they do not own. Most of which could be deleted from the net at any time the company seemed fit to do so. When will the revolution take place where people end up going back to doing things they can control and own versus giving the breadbasket away. Or is this not an issue?
Assumption number three is that technology will evolve, bringing social features to any website. Here is where I see WordPress and MovableType setting the stage for this to occur sooner rather than later. It wasn’t long ago before Six Apart purchased the social networking service Pownce. Now, the software is already starting to show up in recent versions of MT to allow the software to be more socially oriented. On the other side of the aisle, it has been confirmed that at some point in the near future, BuddyPress will contain a bundle of plugins for the stand alone version of the WordPress software essentially allowing people to easily self-host their own WordPress powered social network.
All in all, Daniel is on to something. One of his assumptions is already coming true and I think one and two are the ones we have to wait for. I also believe it’s a matter of when, not if, these things occur. How about you though? Do you think that websites will serve as the social networks of the future?
Taking AllTop To A Personal Level
It was announced in an email on Monday sent out by Guy Kawasaki that the popular site Alltop.com would be launching version 3.0. This new version contains a slick new feature called MyAlltop that basically enables users to create their own personal collection of Alltop feeds. Each MyAlltop page that is created is public meaning all of them are shared. Each Alltop page you visit, the RSS feeds will have a plus sign in the top right corner. Clicking on this plus sign will add that particular feed to your personal Alltop page.
I can see how Alltop could be used as a simplified aggregation page for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with say Netvibes or iGoogle. I’m interested in knowing if you’ll be using MyAlltop or, if you use Alltop at all to keep tabs on specific topics?
Replace Donate Button With A Wishlist
I don’t link to him often but Jeremy Schoemaker a.k.a. Shoemoney had an interesting topic today in that, perhaps you should replace the “Donate!” button on your site with an Amazon Wishlist! instead. His opinion is that, the donate button with a set amount or one of those buy me a coffee buttons which is practically the same thing doesn’t really allow for someone to give back. While it might feel great donating a couple bucks to someone, personally, I’d feel great if someone were to purchase a product for me that I either want, or need.
I’ve donated some cash here and there to WordPress plugin authors but I don’t do it very much. Have you? Would you rather see a list of items that the person needs or wants and simply buy one of those? How has the donate button performed on your own site?
Can You Relate?
As I was watching the stream of information pass through my Twitter client, I noticed a particular Tweet that resonated with me. It goes as follows:
definetheline: The weekend used to mean ‘no work’. Now it means ’stop working on the things you don’t want to do, and work on the things you want to do’.
I can totally relate to that statement and I was wondering, can you?
