A New Year, New Thoughts…

I don’t think the whole social networking type of blog was my kind of thing.  I’m going to try to work on bringing this blog back to being about what it started being – just a place for me to put my thoughts.  Maybe it will work out, or maybe it won’t.  We won’t know until I try.  In the meantime, you can almost always catch a more recent post from me at Hawksdomain’s Photos.  Of course, a lot of the posts lately have just been photos I have taken – no text or anything.  Well, here goes nothing! 🙂

Why do You Social Network?

More Social Networks than Friends

Originally uploaded by cambodia4kidsorg

I read daily about how social networking is something that companies large and small need to be actively pursuing because it is where the consumers can be found. After an experience that I have had with a fellow social networker over the past two days, I am suddenly wondering if social networking by consumers is as popular as I am hearing.

Yes, sites like Facebook and MySpace are both common sites among the average social networker (especially high school and college students), but how many of your every day friends and family who are not somehow involved in social media marketing are really involved in sites such as FriendFeed, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc? I’m going to guess not too many. In fact, I can only think of two contacts that I have that are involved in social networking and not involved in social marketing.

I am active enough in social networking sites that I have made the acquaintance of several social media marketers and SEO gurus. I look to these experienced marketers to bounce ideas off of involving this blog and I enjoy sharing things and joking around with them as much as I do with my non marketing friends.

I do read about social marketing and have even been known to give my two cents from the viewpoint of a consumer. However, in no way, shape, or form am I a marketer. I have two blogs, including this one that is about being social on the web, but I honestly do not care if I have one reader or one million. If either of my blogs become popular that will mean more work for me and I am already working a full time job and have other interests outside of social networking. I live paycheck to paycheck to make sure I have internet access, I can’t afford for high bandwidth to become an issue, so honestly I hope that none of the sites I own and play with get very popular.

So I’m just wondering are there other people out there doing this just for fun? If so, I’d really love to hear from you, please leave a comment! And for you marketers out there, what do you think about this?

More Social Networks than Friends

More Social Networks than Friends

Originally uploaded by cambodia4kidsorg

Work in Progress

Last week I wrote about the name change for my little ol’ blog, Social on the Web.  I had some suggestions and traded several emails with a few different people, and I am excited to announce that I am in the process of moving Social on the Web over to a self hosted site.

Additionally, I have three people who have agreed to help me with blogging!  We have picked a theme, although I’m waiting to surprise those who were helping me narrow down the theme choices.

Our topic, of course, will be social media, social networking, personal branding, and the like.  Knowing that I am only good for one post every week or two, I cannot expect more from the others, so if there is anyone else who might be interested in participating in this new blogging adventure, please let me know through the comments, via Twitter, via StumbleUpon, or email!

Before I wrap this up, I want to give a very special thanks to everyone doing so much to help me with this project:  dOgBoi who came up with the idea and has agreed to be a blogger, GemStar38 and Murple who have also agreed to be bloggers, and Timbury who is helping out with the hosting!

Introducing SocialOnTheWeb.com

Social metro in Paris

Originally uploaded by baraka27

A while ago I bought a domain name and never did anything with it: SocialOnTheWeb.com Well today something possessed me to do something and I linked my domain to my blog that is currently hosted on WordPress.com. My ultimate goal is to get a hosting account so I can have a real WordPress blog with all the neat bells and whistles that WordPress.com won’t let ya have!

So, now this blog is more than just about Hawksdomain but something that hopefully more and more people will be able to relate to. For anyone who is already linked to this blog, no worries – I will be paying the extra $10 a year to make sure you can still access the old URLs!

Plus, I am hoping to be able to talk a friend or two into writing some posts here too… That way, hopefully it won’t be quite as long in between posts!

Time has been flying

And I haven’t been too great at keeping up here. For that, I am truly sorry. I have come to the conclusion that I do not think I will try to make too much of this blog. I don’t think I want to join the ranks of the great bloggers, because mostly I want to write just for fun.

I’ve began watching some of the bloggers I enjoy in other arenas and well, I just don’t think I have the time to invest as they are. I have to work full time, or the bills don’t get paid, and that means no internet connection with which to do a blog. Then, there is all of these awesome new social sites that are coming out. I haven’t even done the proper thing by going back to see the changes made at FindLikeMinds. That just isn’t fair to those guys. I haven’t even been back to jaanix for a bit, either. It just makes me feel – like I’m not doing what I’m supposed to, but I already have a job to do what I’m supposed to, and this is supposed to be just for fun! Does that make any sense?

OK, so anyway I will try to remember to stop by here more often and at least keep people informed on what I’ve been up to!

So I started writing this post last month, and I still don’t have it published. I really got to figure out a way to make time for this and everything else I have going on! But, first, I think I need to finish working on my Mother’s Day project that I do every year. Otherwise, I will have a few mothers unhappy with me in a few days!

If you are ever looking for me, know that you can almost always find me on Twitter to see what I’m up to, or if you are needing to contact me, really the easiest way is through my StumbleUpon account. I get emails that don’t end up in Spam and I have it set up so anyone can send me a message!

Monday’s Musings

First and foremost, WTF did they do to my WordPress? GAH! Guess those of us at wp.com got the 2.5 upgrade, too. It does look much more web 2.0 -ified, but…. Now I just gotta learn things all over again. I don’t know about that…. Main question so far is where the heck is my stats? 😮

Seems that Dan Zarrella is up to something interesting…. He’s wanting people to stop by and take a survey. I’ve followed Dan for awhile on Twitter now and I have to say, my first impression of him was not exactly favorable, but he’s taking my hobby of social networking and really putting some science and hard facts with it. It is interesting to see why people do what they do. If you haven’t yet, check out his post from last week.

A new site I have joined and not had much of a chance to check out yet, is Shouldi. I don’t know if you need the invites, but I got ’em if ya need ’em! I’ve only answered one ‘Shouldi‘ so far and it was someone asking for relationship advice. Of course, these types of sites always have people asking silly questions, such as What is Google – my guess is if you don’t know what Google is, I doubt you would be on this site! 😉 If ya sign up, be sure to find me and friend me! 😀

For some reason, I have been claiming all of my feeds on the social sites today at Technorati. I don’t really know why, just seemed like the geek thing to do! 😉

I would like to mention a couple of blog posts this morning that I found interesting. First, Steven at Daily Blog Tips posted a great article for Part Time Bloggers. Then, Seth Godin gave some basic tips on telling us how to Write Like a Blogger.

Last, but of course, not least. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!! I told a friend in Kentucky earlier that Jayhawks eat Tigers for breakfast. Of course it’s usually Missouri Tigers, but I’m sure we can handle Memphis Tigers as well!

Wanna FindLikeMinds?

I’m always looking for someone who is just as unusual as I am, so I was excited when I was asked to join a social site called FindLikeMinds started by a couple of guys, so I did. I played for a bit with it, even taking time between visits for any updates to the site to be made. I was excited to see the Zeitgeist page, but when you click a link, it tells you to click the Zeitgeist page first. So, it got me nowhere, I was thinking it would give me an option to add the same item to my list…. But, who knows what it was supposed to accomplish. I don’t see this being a terribly successful site because, at least how it is right now, you have to enter everything yourself. All of your influences, things you like, skills you have…. OH MY I have way too much and can’t think of half the stuff when I’m asked to make a list. Give me a list to choose from, with common items, yet with the opportunity to add more individualized answers, and yes, I would probably be the top user.

I want to apologize to Rob at FindLikeMinds for taking so long in writing this critique, but if he witnessed my discussion on jaanix, he would surely understand that I wanted to be sure about a few things before I was accused of completely missing the point of the site. So, Rob, if I did miss the point, please be kind in your comments, and I will be more than willing to help you work out some kinks to make it a more user friendly site! 🙂

This site is still in beta, so just leave a request if you want an invite to check it out for yourself!  😀

A Prayer for the Hawks :)

Our Father, who art in Lawrence,
Hallowed be thy Game.
Thy tourney come,
Thy championship will be done,

In San Antonio as it is in Allen Field House.
Give us this day our deserved victories.
And forgive us our turnovers,
As we forgive Roy who double-crossed against us.

And lead us not into defeat,
But deliver us from East Coast bias,
For Kansas is the basketball kingdom,
And the tradition,
And the glory,
Forever and ever.

Amen.

Don’t just read your feeds… Share them!

Toluu is a new social site where you share your feeds. I know, I had the same thought…. How the heck do you pronounce that? Well, Caleb was nice enough to answer this question: 2 (the number two) – Lou (as in ‘Skip to my Lou’) You can upload your OPML file, enter links manually, or add a bookmark that will automatically subscribe you to the feed on Toluu and your favorite (so long as it is in the top 10) feed reader.

I think that the one thing I like most about this site is that it tells you who you match up against. Of course, I have 2 that are at 100%, but that is only because they only have their own blogs loaded in their profiles. But, I have to admit that I was very impressed at 97% match that is listed for me. In order to protect myself from using names of people I do not know, I will not say who is my 97%, but that I had not previously befriended this person on any other site. I have seen this avatar and screen name on just about every site I spend any time on at all! So, I have decided to start secretly stalking this person some, to see if he or she might be someone I would really be friends with. Who knows, I may have found my social twin so to say!

The other really cool thing about this site is that you can see the blogs that others are reading. This is a great resource for someone new into learning about technology, social networking, or any other topic that your matches may read regularly! This may also be the way to find the next great blogger of our time! 🙂

The great guys at Toluu have given me a 7 invites, so if you haven’t secured your invite yet, you better be one of the first seven to ask me! 😉  Oh yes, and if you are already involved in Toluu, be sure to add me!