Posterous 101

If you are using multiple media outlets to create an online presence for your company--or even if you are just maintaining your own personal lifestream--Posterous makes it easy to get content where you want it.

One of the things about social media is that each platform does its own thing well. Flickr and Picasa are designed around sharing photos. Twitter is structured for SMS posts (140 characters or less). YouTube and Vimeo are for video. And the list goes on... And while it is wonderful to have all of these services that host our content so well, most of us who live and breathe social media find ourselves managing multiple accounts. But what if we didn't have to? What if a single service brought all of the elements all together?

Posterous started out as a simple blogging platform that has now become a vehicle for posting to everywhere simply. In fact it is so simple that you don't even have to sign up for an account. You can simply send an e-mail with the content you want posted to post@posterous.com and voila! your posterous stream has begun. (Of course, you will likely want to claim your account to give ownership to the content posted so you can manage it.) The ease of Posterous is that it works via e-mail. You send text alone or attach photos (jpg, png, gif), video (avi or mpg), mp3's or documents (doc, pdf, ppt) to your e-mail and they are posted in real time.

How to use Posterous

Say, for example, say you want to post a simple blog post with an image. In your e-mail, make the subject your title line. Make the blog post your e-mail text. And attach the photo you want posted with your content. You can even tag your post by adding ((tag: tag1, tag2)) to the subject line. That's a double parenthesis, the word 'tag' with a semicolon, then the tags you actually want to use and close double parenthesis. Once you hit "send" a few seconds later the content is formatted and goes live. You will want to delete your e-mail signature or type #end after the text you want posted.

What makes Posterous different from Blogger or Wordpress--who also let you post content via e-mail--is that Posterous will not only post the content to your Posterous page, but also to every other account you have linked to it...Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, etc. Making it very easy to manage all your social media sites through a single outlet. Of course, you won't always want to post the same things to all of your accounts, so Posterous has an option for that. To post everywhere, you would send to post@posterous.com. To post only to twitter, send your e-mail to twitter@posterous.com. Flickr? flickr@posterous.com. Your blog? blog@posterous.com. You can even combine them: facebook+blog@posterous.com.

Smart Posting of Content

One of my favorite features is that Posterous is "smart" when posting your content. Content over 140 characters sent to Twitter is shortened as a link. MP3's that are posted (simply by sending as an attachment with your e-mail) are put into a player so that the post shows up as an easy to press "play" button. Photos are resized to be web friendly, and video is transcoded to a flash player that shows in your browser. (They host the file so there is no work to do.) URL's are posted as a link, but if you send a YouTube link, Posterous automatically embeds the player.

When you post multiple photos via email, Posterous automatically creates a gallery of those images. If, you’d like all your images to appear inline in the same post, just add this exact syntax to your subject line: ((nogallery)).

Easy Analytics

Posterous makes it easy to track traffic on your site. You can use their dashboard to monitor site views and page views per post. You can also add in your Google Analytics Domain ID in the settings portion (Manage -> Edit Settings) of your Posterous account. You can also track your RSS feed using Feedburner. Once you burn your Posterous RSS feed, you can paste the new feed URL in the Feedburner box (below the Google Analytics box).

Using Posterous with Multiple Contributors

Posterous is easily used as a community site. Simply click "Manage" at the top right of your Posterous account, then select the "Contributors" tag. Enter the e-mail addresses of the people you want to invite and Posterous will invite them. They will send content to post@nameofsite.posterous.com. Your settings can allow contributors posts to go live immediately or be moderated by you. You even have the option of giving the site a group profile--which allows you to show a different profile and photo of your blog from your own.

How Much Does it Cost?

As with most social media platforms, Posterous is free. Expect advanced features to be released in the future to allow the team at Posterous to make some money.

Of course I highly encourage you to take Posterous for a test drive, simply open an e-mail, type in some content, and hit send.

© Cathy Hutchison 2009

Webinars 101

While working as part of the team for the GDA Presents webinars, I really could have used a "Webinars 101" synopsis. Since I didn't find the synoptic version I was looking for, I thought I would create one...

A web conference (or webinar) is a presentation live via the Internet. While desktop video conferencing is great for smaller groups with bi-directional communication, webinars are primarily one-way with a speaker presenting content to a large audience.

In a webinar, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. The thing that makes a webinar different from simply watching a video presentation is the real-time aspect. Webinars are typically an “event.” The content is presented live and there is opportunity for Q&A from attendees.

Webinars can be a valuable way to present content to geographically diverse audiences or for local audiences to receive content from geographically diverse presenters. Also, webinars can be an effective way to gather groups around topics about which they are passionate.

What to look for in software

There are a variety of webinar host providers such as GoToWebinar, Cisco’s Webex, Confertel, AdobeConnect, GatherPlace and others which vary greatly in pricing structure and features.

On the pricing side, some charge a flat rate on a monthly basis, others charge per attendee and for some the minutes involved are a factor. Some services allow you to have participants register and pay their own fees. (You can charge more for the presentation than the actual cost of hosting.)

Another influence (especially for international participants) will be the method used for the audio portion of the presentation. Most of the services give the option to participants for connecting via VoIP (voice over internet protocol) which requires a microphone and headset or using a call in number to receive the audio by telephone. (Depending on the country, the telephone option can be very expensive for the participant.)

While attendees will access the webinar via their browser, most will typically need to load a plug in the first time they attend. When selecting a service, you will want to go through a demo to make sure the process is intuitive—not just on the attendee side, but also on the organizer/presenter side.

Planning your webinar

It is helpful to look at the webinar in three phases: promotion/registration, the event itself, and follow up. The best hosting software offers support for all three phases including automating registration and reminders, easy tools for the presenter and response surveys to attendees.

While you can host sporadic webinars, those with the best traction are typically part of a series so it helps to think of your sessions holistically. So, you might ask yourself:

- What is the purpose of the webinar? Would it work better as a series?

- Who is the target audience?

- How many should be in the series and how frequently should they occur?

- What is the optimal time frame for the people I would like to attend? (Note that bridging time zones will be the limiting factor here.)

- What is my promotion strategy (frequency of communication, outlets, etc.)?

It is probably significant to mention that you have to provide content that will draw an audience. Even if you do not charge for the webinar, time is a valuable resource for your participants. The content has to have value to them or they won’t attend. Spending time “thinking like your participants” (or better yet asking your desired participants) is absolutely essential for success.

Phill Martin, Director of Education for NACBA has hosted Webinars for membership over the past seven years. Phill recommends beginning promotion no more than two weeks before the session and says that most attendees won’t make the decision to register until the day of the webinar, so don’t be discouraged if there are no early results.

Most software handles the invitation and reminders once participants register via the weblink.

The Event

There are multiple roles in the event: organizer, presenter and participant (attendee).

While the organizer and presenter could be the same person in sessions of 25 people or less, for larger groups, it is helpful to have an organizer separate to the presenter. The organizer can monitor the participants and answer questions (typically sent in via text) and allows the presenter to focus solely on delivering the presentation.

Presenters will essentially be sharing their computer screen allowing them to show content from virtually any program: MSPowerpoint, a web browser, document, spreadsheet, photo file, video, etc.

GoToWebinar allows you to easily schedule a practice session prior to your event which can be very helpful for your organizer and presenter to make sure that things run smoothly prior to the event. Note that there are differences in support for Mac and PC. Find out where the gaps are ahead of time because you will likely have mixed platforms on both the attendee and presenter side.

One of the best things you can do for your audience is to set expectations up front. Quickly explain the format of the presentation, how Q&A will be handled and what control they have in the presentation (if any).

Though webinars are presentational, most of the webinar hosts/software allow you tools to engage participants. For example, some hosts allow guests to “raise their hand” which enables presenters to ask questions and ask for a “show of hands.” Most have a text feature which allows participants to text questions to the organizer. Some have polling features which allow participants to click their screen and answer a question with the posting of results in real time. GoToWebinar even allows you to put up a blank screen and allow some participants access to drawing tools.

Be disciplined to keep your webinar to the scheduled time frame. You won’t be able to get the same sense of engagement (or lack thereof) that you get with a live audience. It is important to fulfill expectation.

Follow up

Most of the providers offer reporting on your audience and the registration information (including questions you select for the registration process) are reported back to you.

Some offer features allowing you to record the webinar which gives you the option to either use for archival purposes or to redistribute.

It is important to decide your follow up methodology in the planning session so that you don’t miss opportunity and are able to get the full value of the webinar.

© Cathy Hutchison 2009

MS LoveNote

Yes. That's the Freudian slip I came out with when I was telling Russ, AD's "IT guy" how enamoured I've recently become of Microsoft's OneNote.

Yes, I know I'm about three years behind the curve on discovering this one, but it came as a surprise to me.

When I first loaded it, I thought of it as a note taking tool. Since I "scribe" my notes with illusrtations, AutoDesk's Sketch Book Pro wound up being a better tool.

However, at lunch the other day people were talking around the table about how they use it, and I realized the functionality of it is way more than simply taking notes. Though the OneNote software is simply an electronic notebook with dividers and sections and pages, here are the cool parts:

1) You never have to save anything. Once you type it, it is there.
2) It maintains source links from whatever you copy/paste from the web.
3) It has a snipping tool so you can easily screen capture and paste.
4) It has a recording feature that tracks with your meeting notes.
5) Flagged items appear in your Outlook as tasks.

Of course, my favorite part is in the application. One of my notebooks contains the flow of all of the notes of my day. People I talk to, tasks that need to be done, status of projects. Everything I need to write down is written there. So, three months from now, when Joe Smith calls me again, I can search for "Joe Smith" in the notebook and immediately have the notes from our previous conversation. (Pragmatically, each month has a tab and each day has a page with full pages of notes on a given topic slipped in where I need them.)

Information can be tagged and the notebook format of it allows me to easily organize every piece of information, every conversation, and every thought I have in a day.

Most of our office uses the electronic notebooks in a shared format for projects.

All in all, it is definitely worth a test drive.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008

So what is it with the whole del.icio.us thing anyway?

Okay, I have to confess I initially ignored del.icio.us thinking it would go away (mostly because it isn’t owned by Google). But in reading David Weinberger’s book, Everything is Miscellaneous, suddenly the concept—and the importance of it—made sense.

On the web everything truly is miscellaneous. The vast array of information, sites and concepts defies standard rules of organization. Still, people need to be able to find things.

Along came the concept of tagging. Tagging allows you to associate a word with an entry on a blog post, a photo or a website. Though web designers have used keywords since the creation of search engines, tagging is a more informal system. There are no rules, and people make them up based on their own way of mentally organizing things.

While most browsers allow you to sort your favorites into folders (allowing only one designation), del.icio.us allows you to tag your favorite sites. So instead of having to decide if churchproduction.com should go in the “church” folder or the “production” folder, you can tag it with both. For that matter, you can add a host of other tags such as inspiration, audio, video, lighting, random coolness, staging, resources, etc.

It also lets you see other people’s tags introducing you to other sites on the topic. With easy plug-ins for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Flock, del.icio.us allows you to add your sites with the click of a button.

Of course, my favorite part of del.icio.us has nothing to do with plug-ins, tagging or finding new sites. The best part is that I no longer have to scramble to get back all of my “favorites” when my husband, the computer consultant, arbitrarily reinstalls our operating system.

© Cathy Hutchison 2008

Geekipedia

Wired Magazine's Geekipedia supplement kept me company on the plane today. I read everything from Abrams, JJ to Zillow. Billed as the "list of essential people, places, things and trends to help you navigate the wired world," I have to admit, the supplement delivered.

For example, did you know Godwin's Law is the name for the likelihood of conversations on message boards to degenerate and end with a reference to Nazis? Or that craigslist.com founder, Craig Newmark, has never sold out and claims that "death is his exit strategy?"

Did you know about blogger, Fake Steve Jobs? Or which YouTube stars are crossing over into mainstream media?

The supplement also covers all the current acronyms like DRM (grr), RFID and UAV.

If aren't a Wired subscriber, I highly recommend popping into a B&N to pick up this month's copy for the Geekipedia supplement. It's an interesting read--even if you don't have 3.5 hours to kill on a plane ride. Or, as with all things Wired, you can access online at http://www.wired.com/wired/issue/geekipedia.

Experiential Video

One of my favorite articles is the one I did for Technologies for Worship Magazine on Experiential Video. It was the first time I'd really explored how technology could be leveraged to impact the worship experience in new ways.

If it interests you, here is the link to the text.