MyBlogLog – A Proper Community around Your Weblog and 5 Reasons Why You Would Want to Install It
Posted on Jan 31, 2007 | Categories: Collaboration, Communities, Knowledge Tools, Metablogging, Personal KM, Productivity Tools, Social Enterprise | 6 Comments
Tags: MyBlogLog, Metablogging, Widgets, Blogroll, Communities, Knowledge Management, KM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Software, Web 2.0, Web Presence, Knowledge Discovery, Expertise Location
If you have been visiting this weblog’s homepage over the last couple of weeks, you would have probably noticed how I have been trying out a new widget that, over time, I have grown to become very fond of. More than anything else because a whole bunch of the folks I follow on a regular basis have actually been trying it out themselves and with some very positive feedback so far. So I had to tried it out myself and see how it would go and so far I am *loving* it. It is called MyBlogLog and you would be able to find some further reviews over here.
There are many reasons why you would want to check MyBlogLog, specially if you have got a weblog or a web site of your own. Perhaps all of those different reviews out there would be able to give you some clues as to why it would be worth while. However, I am going to take a different approach for this weblog post. Instead of detailing some of the different features I am just going to mention the Top 5 reasons that attracted me to try it out and why I have included it in my weblog’s template so that you can check it out as well and participate from it.
To get things started, MyBlogLog is just a basic offering that allows to keep track of the folks who get to visit your weblog on a regular basis so that you can build up a community around them and get to know them a bit better. As simple as that. Now, let’s get down to the Top 5 reasons why I feel it is worth while a try:
1. Keep track of your readership: Yes, that is right. You would be able to keep track of the different folks who keep coming to your weblog on a regular basis in such a way that over time you can build up a sense of the community of folks who get to read of your weblog posts. This is particular handy for those weblogs where there are not many comments shared, but a good readership. This reason alone would give you a good check on who gets to read you and who is interested in what you have got to say. Plus you can keep track of stats, too, if you wish.
2. Web presence (Importance of a picture): This is one of my favourite reasons why I like this particular offering. With MyBlogLog I have got the opportunity to "sense who is out there" reading about my thoughts and be able to connect to them through their picture, avatar or whatever image they would want to make use of. It is undeniable how powerful a picture of someone out there on the Internet can be, and if that someone is one of your readers, then it surely makes it worth while all the way! Why? Mainly, because next time we may bump into each other in real life we may be able to recognise each other!
3. Connect webloggers and … their weblogs: I am not sure if you folks have been able to check this out, specially those of you who may have been using it already for a while, but one of the reasons why I really like MyBlogLog is the fact that it allows me to find other webloggers, and their weblogs, who may share my same interests. In fact, ever since I put it together I have been able to add to my blogroll a number of different webloggers that I am sure I would not have known in any other way. Just for this reason, it rocks!
4. Interact with webloggers: And with their weblogs, of course! That is right. One of the other interesting capabilities from MyBlogLog is that one that allows you to exchange both private and public messages with the members of your network / community on whatever the topics and you then are able to build further on those relationships beyond the weblogs themselves. As an icebreaker, ideal! And not only with those folks who come to visit your weblog, but the people who keep visiting the weblogs of those who you get visits from. And the community keeps getting bigger and bigger and much more meaningful because you actually end up creating different complex connections that allow you to establish a much better ground for collaboration and knowledge sharing with those who share your same passions.
5. Find other communities and members: And, finally, one of my other favourite reasons. Even if you weblog does not have much readership just yet you can still use MyBlogLog to build up further on it. How? Well, just searching through the Communities and Members options you would be able to locate other communities related to your favourite topics, or you could also try to look for members who you feel may be there from other. So with a little effort you can build up and arm yourself with a good set of connections to get things going and the most interesting part of it is that once you get started with that it will only be building up further. Like the snowball effect type of thing. Yes, only a little work on a weekly basis, for instance, and you are off to a great start!
As you can see, lots of great stuff coming out from MyBlogLog. I know there are plenty more nice goodies coming along with this offering but these five are the ones that have certainly convinced me to give it a try in this weblog and see how things go. So far I have been getting lots of positive feedback from folks I knew were there but that, thanks to this offering, I have now got a much better chance of connecting with them. Through my weblog. Very impressive! Of course, I am certainly going to keep track of further developments but so far I am quite delighted with it. So what do you think? What is the main reason for you that would make you use such a fine offering as MyBlogLog?
Blogroll Finally Updated! – You Are What You Read
Posted on Jan 30, 2007 | Categories: Collaboration, Communities, Enterprise2.0, IBM, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Snippets, Knowledge Tools, Learning, Metablogging, Personal KM, Productivity Tools, Social Enterprise | 4 Comments
Tags: Metablogging, Blogroll Management, Blogroll, Bloglines, Omea Pro, Knowledge Management, KM, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Social Networking, Social Software, Blogosfera, Gofiosfera, Social Media, Enterprise 2.0
If you remember, a couple of days ago, I created a weblog post where I was actually indicating some of the different issues I was having while updating the blogroll from this particular weblog. I probably should have created that weblog post some time ago, because, right after I created it, Miguel Guhlin was kind enough to provide me with plenty of different tips I could try out in order to fix it by creating a post directly in his weblog: Blogroll Management.
So after trying out a couple of things and different tools I have finally decided to go for the approach of making use of Bloglines in order to import all of the different links as part of my blogroll. Originally, I had about 700 Web feeds to work on, but from there onwards I have actually performed a bit of housekeeping for the blogroll and added those that I feel would be the most representative ones. 448 in total.
I still have got the other 250 which are basically aggregators, tools related blogs, etc. etc. Yes, that is right. All this means that I am not going to make use of Bloglines to manage my feeds. I am still quite satisfied with Omea Pro and will continue to make use of it for some time more. However, if you would still want to check out the feeds I regularly read on a daily basis you can find my Bloglines account over here. Or just simply read through the blogroll appearing now in the left column of the blog template.
I must say that I didn’t think that it would be just that easy to import the blogroll from Bloglines, but since they say that "you are what you read" I guess it made sense that in the end I would be sharing mine with you all so you would be able to see where I am coming from and what I read nowadays. More than anything else because, as you would be able to see, there are a number of different categories I have put together that will help me set up the direction I will be taking with elsua for what is left of 2007.
That is why you would notice how I would be talking not only about Knowledge Management and Learning, like I have been doing all along thus far, but also topics that deal with Social Computing: Metablogging, Social Media, Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0. At the same time, I have shared as well some of the different weblogs I am following up from the Spanish blogosphere, along with some other Technical Blogs.
And, finally, you will notice as well how I have been including a number of the different weblogs that I keep following on a regular basis from some of my IBM colleagues or from other folks who talk on a regular basis about IBM related topics, specially around the world of KM and social computing.
Thus there you go. After a long wait, my blogroll is now up and running and will be updated on a regular basis as we go along. I think that it is now time for me to go, have a good rest and get over that nasty stomach bug that has nearly knocked me down over the last day or so. But more on that later. Time to recover now…
IX Blogs & Gofio – Crónica y Primeras Impresiones
Posted on Jan 29, 2007 | Categories: Communities, General Interest, Metablogging, Social Enterprise | 8 Comments
Tags: Metablogging, Blogs, Blogosfera, Gofiosfera, Podcasts, Podcasting, Mangas Verdes, Manual Almeida, Víctor Ruiz, Planeta Canarias, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Pay per Post, Second Life, Atarecos, Crónicas de Esperantia, Islas en la Red, Los Cinco Anillos, Canarias Bruta, Sinaja, Webeando, Tabona, Mus de Gofio, Cuando Calienta el Blog, Linotipo
El pasado jueves comenté aquí en elsua cómo el fin de semana me había apuntado para la novena edición de los Blogs & Gofio que se celebró en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria el sábado por la noche. Pues bien, aquí tenéis la crónica, que ya adelanto que no va a ser muy extensa, y también os comentaré cuáles han sido mis primeras impresiones. Pero primero quizá comentar cómo ya algunos de los asistentes al evento han empezado a compartir sus impresiones en sus diferentes blogs. Así podéis ver cómo Esther lo comenta en Atarecos, Fran en Crónicas de Esperantia, Daniel en Islas en la Red, Sergio en Los Cinco Anillos y, por último, de momento, Manuel en Mangas Verdes.
Sí, ya lo sé, demasiada información para leer en tanto poco tiempo, o sea, que no me voy a extender demasiado ya que creo que todos los gofiosferos que atendieron han dado ya buena cuenta de cómo fue el evento. En principio, comentar que se comentaron tres diferentes temas, a cual más interesante y que seguro que hubieran dado muchísimo más juego si el lugar elegido para el evento hubiera sido diferente: Posts patrocinados, podcasting, responsabilidades legales del blogger.
Sobre la conversación en torno al podcasting, la verdad es que casi me la perdí toda, o sea, que será una buena oportunidad para presentarme de nuevo al taller sobre podcasting propuesto para el 10 de marzo. Eso de estar al otro lado de la mesa en un sitio donde el ruido impera por doquier no es lo más recomendable.
En fin, que espero que la próxima vez el lugar elegido sea un poco más tranquilo, del estilo del after-dinner al que nos fuimos. ¡Muy buena elección! Incluso tuvimos nuestro propio troll, al que, por supuesto, y como bien dice Víctor Ruiz, no lo alimentamos y después de un corto período de tiempo … se fue. ¡Genial! ¡Funcionó!
A partir de ahí las conversaciones si hicieron mucho, pero que mucho, más interesantes, ya que tocamos todo tipo de temas: sobre la Internet, política, globalización, Second Life, que espero poder convencerlos un poquito más la próxima vez sobre el increíble poder de comunicación y colaboración que expone no sólo para el mundo del consumidor, si no también para el mundo de la empresa. Lo dicho, un buen número de temas a tratar, desde luego, y quizá poco tiempo. A ver si la próxima vez, que ya estoy deseando atender, me puedo quedar hasta un poco más tarde.
Y ahora a comentar un poco sobre mis primeras impresiones, que quizá las pueda resumir brevemente en el simple comentario que el evento me encantó. Yo pensando que estaba aquí un poco aislado de todo lo que está pasando en el mundo de la blogosfera y de repente me animo a ir un evento y ver cómo se desarrolla y ¡la experiencia, increíble! Me ha gustado mucho el ver que hay gente aquí en la isla que se preocupa, que se mueve, que están tratando de romper moldes en el mundo de la Internet a través de los blogs y me ha encantado haber sido aceptado desde el primer momento para poder participar en esa evangelización sobre el social computing y poder llevarlo cuanto más lejos, mejor. Pues sí, ¡ya estoy esperando al próximo evento!
Y hasta aquí hemos llegado, ya que no quiero que el post sea demasiado largo. Simplemente comentar, por último, que podéis ver diferentes fotos compartidas por Manuel Almeida, en el grupo de Blogs&Gofio y por Víctor Ruiz. Y también aquí os dejo la última actualización que he hecho a mi blogroll añadiendo todos los blogs de la gente que atendió el evento el sábado pasado. ¡Por supuesto, no podía dejarlos fuera, ahora que ya nos conocemos! Aquí los tenéis:
- Ángeles Jurado (Sinaja)
- Charlie (Canarias Bruta)
- Daniel Bellón (Islas en la Red)
- Esther Pérez (Atarecos)
- Fran J. Saavedra (Crónicas de Esperantia-Radio Esperantia)
- Luis Suárez (Elsua)
- Manuel M. Almeida (Mangas Verdes)
- Miguel (Canarias Bruta)
- Netito (Webeando, con perdón-Fina Confitura de Fresa)
- Octavio (Tabona-La Casa de Babel)
- Raúl Espada (Mus de gofio)
- Rosi Morera (Cuando calienta el blog)
- Sergio (Los Cinco Anillos)
- Víctor R. Ruiz (Linotipo-Cuaderno de Bitácora)
(Gracias, una vez mas,a todos los que asististéis, por la cálida acogida y por hacerme sentir como uno más del grupo. Se agradece y ¡hasta la próxima!)
