Inspiration Bit

Many years ago I read a science-fiction story that reminds me of what we’re experiencing today. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what it was called, nor who wrote it, so if you can recognize it, please let me know. I’d love to read it again.

The story is about the future when someone has invented walls that people can switch on like a TV and see what their neighbours are up to. So naturally, everyone wanted to install those walls, and see what their neighbours eat, listen to what they talk about, how they’re dressed, what their rooms look like. Then people started getting jealous of what others had, and wanted really badly to be keeping up with the Joneses. Their behavour has changed drastically - they were trying to be perfect with their manners, dressing well, talking softly. All that was causing most of them huge stress - after all, we can’t be perfect and nice all the time. Fortunately, one day someone has invented a paint that could be used to cover the walls so that the neighbours can’t see through. Oh, what a relieve that was - everyone started buying that paint like crazy. So for awhile things got back to normal, but people got bored with that, they were itching to find out what their neighbours are doing, talking about, eating. So then someone invented another paint that can cover the anti-see-through paint and make it transparent again for everyone to see through….

Doesn’t it resemble a bit the way we live today? It certainly does to me, including the social aspect of our lives online. We even took it one step further - we’re willingly opening ourselves up to others, sharing stories, personal information, business and financial details, pictures, videos, we want to follow each others steps, and we actually update the world on what we’re up to at any given moment.

Two months ago we started an experiment - a collaborative Social Media Mega group writing project, so that anyone can share his/her experience with social networks and learn from each other.

Today I present you with over 60 submissions on Social Media Mega Project from 9 bloggers, which cover over a dozen different social networking sites. It will definitely take you awhile to go through all those valuable tips from the social universe, so be sure to bookmark this page and all those submissions that you can’t wait to read, on del.icio.us, share them with your friends on Facebook, Twit about them, Stumble, Digg, vote on Reddit, spin them on Sphinn, refer to them your fellow Flickrs. In other words, ENJOY:

Facebook

HOST: Ina from InspiringWear

• Gobala Krishnan from Easy World Press wrote about Getting Blog Traffic From Your Facebook Profile
• Simon from Yeepage.com shares his view of Top 9 Facebook Applications
• Jacob Share from JobMob offers us his article-review I’m on Facebook - Now what?
• Jeremy Lim from Marketing Ruined My Live brings us a very interesting, youthful, point of view in Facebook Ruined My(Social) Life
• We even got a contribution in Spanish - Cómo hago para estar en contacto con mis amigos? Facebook!
• in the latest issue of “Oprah Magazine” there was an article on Facebook as well You’veBeenPoked! by By Liesl Schillinger

Social Photography

HOST: Brian from Epic Edits Weblog

• In Social Media as I See It an amateur photographer pays her gratitude to one of the most popular photography sites, strobist.com, that managed to take the blog to the next level and turn it into a community of passionate photographers.
• In his contribution Blog Writing Project Iain confessed that Flickr gives him angst at first, but then realized that in reality it gives him “an opportunity, and maybe in time, inspiration”.
• Read Utilizing Flickr as a Photoblogging Tool to find out how to use Flickr as a blogging tool.
• Help me Flickr! I want to be a better photographer! is a must read post on how to get the most out of Flickr and improve your photography skills.
• Brian wrote an excellent guide on using photophlow: A Social Experience for Flickr Photographers.
• Twist & shout! is about another social photography site called Shutterchance.
• Virtual community becoming real is just one example of many how virtual friends and social networks are transcended to the real world.
• In the article Flickr is the key to my social photography experience Lilahpops recounts how Flickr helped to become the active member of this photosharing community.
• Audee warns us about Things to Consider Before You Join a Flickr Pool

StumbleUpon, MySpace and YouTube

Karen Zara from a1-fan-fun

• Steven Snell suggests Promoting Older Posts With Social Media
• Tibi Puiu gives us A Guide to StumbleUpon: Understanding and Beating The System
• Simon shares his personal experience in StumbleUpon: My Story So Far
• Tejvan Pettinger reveals Why StumbleUpon is Better Than Digg
• Isabella Mori shares her StumbleUpon finds on Frozen Pea Friday: Breast Cancer Info on StumbleUpon
• Karen Zara has also written her views on StumbleUpon, Networking At MySpace and Silent Interaction With YouTube Users.

Twitter

HOST: Isabella Mori from ChangeTherapy

• Carol from Alphablogs has posted a valuable find - Lee Lefevre’s great video on Twitter.
• Rhett ponders about our lives on Twitter with 140 characters or less.
• Karen talks about why Twitter may not be for everyone.
• Glenda thinks Twitter is much more than instant messaging. it’s about building community.
• Simon on yeepage has a mini-series on Twitter with a step by step approach on all you need to learn about this social network.
• Gregg has written his post about Twitter on yet another microblog, Tumblr.
• Sameer has written about Twitter stats and many other twitter-related posts.

Digg and Reddit

HOST: Vivien from InspirationBit

• How To benefit from Digg by Tejvan Pettinger. Broken up in 13 easy-to-follow steps, Tejvan shares his observations on how to prepare your site for Digg. Afterwards he followed up this post with another article, which is questioning and reflecting on
  Is it worth Trying to Get On Digg?
• How To Get Onto Digg’s Front Page in 8 steps by Jacob Cass. Ever wondered what are the sure-fire techniques on reaching that coveted #1 spot on Digg? Jacob will not only share the secrets but also will make you laugh.
• Experience with Digg by Dexter. This is one of those no-luck-with-Digg-whatsoever articles which actually tell the truth about this social networking site.
• I’m Really Not a Digg Fan by Karen Zara.
  Now you too can join Digg’s NoFan Club, just head over to Karen’s post and share your reasons for not being Digg’s fan in the comments.
• Redditers – What They Tend to Do? by A u d e e. If you’re like me and still didn’t quite figure out how Reddit works and how to tackle that site, be sure to check Audee’s article.
• Can You Dig Digg?, where I contemplate about 8 things that I especially don’t understand about Digg and the obsession with it.

Technorati

HOST: Monica Hamburg

• Simon addressed the purpose of Technorati and how it works.
• In another post Simon shares tips on How to improve your Technorati ranking
• Kriz Cpec contributed his Secrets of Using Blogorati
• Monica has also posted responses to her Facebook query, so be sure to read the results on how bloggers use Technorati.

Sphinn

HOST: Simonne from AllTipsAndTricks

• If you’ve never succeeded with Sphinn, be sure to read Simon’s advise on How to reach the front Page in Sphinn
• Karen Zara briefs us with some Quick Notes On Sphinn
• Simonne gives us an honest and eye-opening review of what goes behind the scenes of Sphinn’s community.

LinkedIn

HOST: Isabella Mori from Alphablogs

• Simonne contemplates about Why LinkedIn And Pen Names Don’t Go Well Together
• Jacob has put together Gigantic Tips Guide for Finding Jobs With LinkedIn
• And Isabella has collected interesting LinkedIn Stories from her fellow bloggers.

Del.icio.us

HOST: Aaron Stroud from On Financial Success

• Simon from yeepage.com shares his Tips on how to use del.icio.us
• Simonne explains why she likes del.icio.us so much in her article They Used To Call It Social Bookmarking
• Karen goes as far as claiming that Del.icio.us Is The Best, so read to find out why.
• Jacob provides us with the Success Checklist To Hit #1 on del.icio.us
• Ronald teaches us how to Share Your del.icio.us Links With WordPress.

Squidoo, Mixx

HOST: Pearl from Interesting Observations.

• Lauren teaches us all there is to know on how to Use Squidoo to Drive Traffic and Make Money.
• Karen shares her Mixed Views on Mixx

Comparative Analysis of several Social Media sites

I’ve decided to list the following four articles separately since they cover various social networking sites:

• In Social Media In My Way Tibor Radványi shares tips on several social photography sites, such as Flickr, photographyVoter.com, Jumpcut and Animoto, Propeller and Squidoo.
• Socializing is about social media sites like Flickr, photographyvoter.com, stumbleupon, technorati.
• What is the best social media website? Digg, SU, Delicious, Reddit?, by Jacob Cass
• In my interview with a local enterpreneur, Social Media as a New Way of Doing Business, Rastin shares his experience with Flickr, Facebook and LinkedIn.

P R I Z E S / W I N N E R S

And now, roll out the red carpet, play a drum roll, the award ceremony begins. As promised, I’ll be awarding five bloggers who excelled in hosting their part of this mega project. Each one will receive $25 cash prize. And the winners are:

1. Karen Zara from a1-fan-fun for hosting the project on StumbleUpon, MySpace and YouTube. She killed me in a good way with her four hour Social Media marathon, where she contributed 10 articles to this social media mega project. Amazing!
2. Brian from EpicEdits for hosting the project on Social Photography.
3. Isabella Mori from ChangeTherapy for hosting the project on Twitter. She also hosted another project on LinkedIn
4. Ina from InspiringWear for hosting the project on Facebook
5. Aaron Stroud from On Financial Success for hosting the project on Del.icio.us

Congratulations to all winners! I’ll be contacting you shortly with your prize details.
And a huge, gigantic THANK YOU to Simonne, Monica and Pearl for hosting projects on Sphinn, Technorati and Squidoo, Mixx respectively.
And of course, a mega colossal THANK YOU to everyone who participated in this social media project, without you there would’ve been nothing - no articles, no valuable tips, no winners. Because of you there are no losers here, we all won by being part of this social experiment, by belonging to this great online community. And with your votes on various social networking sites we will be able to expand this community and make it stronger, so grab a cup of your favourite java or tea and start clicking - reading and sharing, voting and reading, click-click-click….

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