One of my favourite TV-shows as a child during the 70´ties was a very pedagogic program teaching the meaning of words. I realise this doesn´t sound very exciting, but not only would the nose of the main character Hedvig transform like Pinocchio´s everytime she pretended to understand a word, Hedvig also lived in a strange caravan in the forest with a speaking owl on the roof , and best of all, she had a telephone connected to a TV where she could SEE her sister when they where speaking. This seemed so cool, and I always dreamed to have such a telephone. Nowadays I speak quite frequently with my sister on Skype, but, honestly, we´re both still amazed that we´re actually able to do that "Hedvig-thing" and I´m often facinated how fast all this once science-fiction-things like computers and mobile phones with internet and social networks and picture-sharing etc. have come to be a normal part of everyday life for som many people. They´ve become so normal that it´s easy to forget that it´s also still a mystery for an even bigger crowd of other people.
Anyway, after just attending the first weekend for the Barbara Sher Coach Training, I today spent the whole afternoon trying to guide a fellow coach student into the magic world of Skype, yahoo-groups and other social media tools that Barbara insists that we all should use. It was a very nice afternoon, but we didn´t make it all the way, and while knowing she´s just one of MANY struggeling with this things I feel that I want to collect the most important sites - and some instructions - in one place. So, here´s a start - please tell me if I forgot something! (My comments are based on FAQ - freakvently asked questions)
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/
What´s it for? Most people have an account in their real name, so you can find and connect to just about anyone you ever met, and organize them as classmates, collegues, neighbours etc. The difference to just having people´s email etc. is for excample that by posting things on your own "wall" and checking the "Start side" (where you see what others posted on their walls) you can easily share information, and it will also make it easier to stay "updated" about what´s going on in other peoples lives. And if you want to spread the news about your blog, a concert or workshop you´re holding etc., you´ll ask your friends to help you!
You can also create a FB (=facebook) page for a company or organisation. With such a page, you cannot become friends with people, but you can ask them to "like" your page, and that´s kind of the same.
Read more here .
How does it work? Instruction videos on most things you need to know here
Twitter http://twitter.com/
What´s it for? A way to share information very short and fast, specially suitable for internet in phones, according to Wikpedia "a website,....., which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters..." Very often people just write something very short and post a link to a blog-post or facebook-page. Since everything written is so short you can scan a lot of information in no time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter#Features
Tweetgrid http://tweetgrid.com/
A search engine where you can see what people tweeted. It´s possible to search for up to 10 things at the same time! instruction videos here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuh64OHfpEk
Skype http://www.skype.com/intl/de/home
A telephone in your computer, with the video-possibility as extra bonus. To speak with someone else on Skype is free, if you want to call a normal phone you need to pay a little, but it´s much cheaper than most phone fees, especially when calling to another country. If you use Skype a lot, consider to buy the "premium" version, since quality and trustability for the free version is not always so good.
This is just one of many video tutorials on youtube: http://youtu.be/sodMDs7rEEk
Blogs http://www.blogger.com/home (easiest) or Wordpress, for example. Many website-creators also offer a blog service, but these are often just not so good...
What´s it for? Blog is a short form for WEB log, meaning a diary on the web. Compared with facebook or Twitter you can write longer, more like "articles" or "columns" if you like, compared with a website it´s more dynamic, and has a search function integrated so you don´t have to worry about how to organize your informaton - you can post something everyday if you want to, give it "tags" meaning different labels, and then it´s possible for people to search what you wrote on different topics for excample. Also people can comment on your posts (and you on theirs) making it possibly to explain your ideas further etc.
Gives you possibility to share thoughts and ideas more personal and informal than on a website. And a very good feature: People can SUBSCRIBE to or FOLLOW your blog, this creates a mailinglist totally automatic:-)
tutorial here http://youtu.be/ryb4VPSmKuo
Youtube http://www.youtube.com/
A place to share videos that has developped to be a wonderful source of information for just about anything! But also great if you´re just looking for a song or want to se how a special artist looks like. (You can even find karaoke versions of lots of songs if you want to try to sing yourself;-))
On youtube you can upload your own videos on whatever you want to show people. Also here, people can subscribe to your videos.
Tutorial how to upload videos here: http://youtu.be/9w-gQAwS2uc
Website/page so many web hotels availible, but a simple free one is Weebly http://www.weebly.com/ or if you want a more fancy site: http://www.wix.com/
What´s it for? When you have a company/organisation of some kind, it´s very good to have a website where people can find you and where you can send people who are interested in what you´re doing/offering. I personally consider websites should be on the web what a storefront/display window is for a "real life buisness". It should be tempting and awake curiosity, but it must also be easy to find the information wanted, like when is it open, what do you offer, how do they get in contact etc. The style (colours, pictures etc.) should "match" what you´re doing, kind of showing the personality of your buisness:-) (ok, now I got excited, one of my special interests as I do web design... just dont have my site up right now:-( )
Tutorial for weebly here: http://youtu.be/aMF6nS-lhoo
Yahoo Groups http://de.groups.yahoo.com/
An easy way to create a forum where people who share an interrest can get together and discuss, share information etc.
finally, once you´ve got all this tools - how do use them?
Lots of ideas how to make people come to your blog/website here: http://thinktraffic.net/21-quick-actions-for-massive-blog-succes
good luck:-)
More useful tools for connecting and working together:
Doodle http://www.doodle.com/
An online calendar/schedule tool where you can invite people to "vote" for the best appointment time for meetings in real life or on Skype for example.
Meeting words http://meetingwords.com
An online "word document" where many people can write at the same time. This means for example you can start to make a text or a list and invite others to correct/add info.
Teamviewer http://www.teamviewer.com
If you need help with anything abowe this can be fixed if you just have this program and a trustable supportperson online. The other person can log in to your computer from where they are, see your screen and even control your mouse, meaning they can fix things for you while you´re just watching. (good if it´s combined with Skype so you can talk to eachother at the same time)
Dropbox http://www.dropbox.com
An online file storing service that can be used both to keep your own files syncronized if you use different computors AND for file sharing with others.
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