Motion Media

Photos! Photos! We want your Photos

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:13:40 +0000

The time of year has come where we are once again looking for your Peace Region photos.

This year Motion Media is not only doing the Fort St. John Chamber Community Guide, but also the Dawson Creek Community Guide. By the way, are you advertising in them yet?

There is no debate, the Peace Region is a beautiful place all year round and has a lot to offer. That is why we are looking for a wide array of photos. Photos of all four seasons, events, industry, and landscapes and of course the great people that make up this place.

Did we also mention that if your photo is chosen to be in one of the magazines you will receive $40.00 per photo? Well you will!

To submit your photos it is quite simple. We have created this easy to use form (found here) that can be used to send them in. There is no limit as to how many photos you submit, but you will have to fill out the form each time.

So what are you waiting for head to the submission page now!
http://motionmedia.ca/photo-submission

Photos! Photos! We want your Photos

Facebook continues to change!

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:18:28 +0000

Facebook is change again, so be ready. These aren't big changes, but changes that Facebook thinks will help with your Facebook experience.

Some will say many of the Facebook changes are in retaliation to the popularity of Google+ over the last couple weeks. This may be true, but Facebook does have the users and from what I can tell these are positive additions to the site.

Lets break it up:

Revamped Friend Lists

Facebook has always had lists, but they have tried to make it easier for users to create, edit and use them. In fact Facebook will not auto-make some lists for you. They also have 3 primary lists, Close Friends, Acquaintances and Restricted, each with a different level of accessibility to what people see and what you see.

Like Google+ users now have the ability to only see status from certain lists, but also the ability to excluded or only include certain lists to your status.

Subscribe Button

What this means is, if you enable the Subscribe button, any of the status' or posts you make that are public will show up timeline of those who subscribe to you. Basically that is like Circling someone on Google+ or Following someone on Twitter.

Subscribe to me or be my friend! Kyle Thomas

Top News vs. Recent News

This is something many frequent Facebook Fans have been hoping for, for a long, or at least I have been . If you go to Facebook many times a day, Facebook will pick this up and show you the most recent news. If you only check it once a week (or long periods at a time) you will see the top news.

By doing this, they are hoping to streamline users engagement on the site and only show them the content they want to see.

New Ticker

This is one feature I'm not sure about, but from my understanding it will be a column on the right that shows your friends posts as they happen.

Facebook plans to help you have "live" conversation as they happen. That being said, I am against the column look, so I don't think I will like this one.

You can read all about Facebook's new features on their blog post found here. I have also attached a video to this post from Facebook.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I'm curious to know what people who don't use Facebook as often as I do think of the changes.

Facebook continues to change!

Dawson Creek Community & Visitor Guide

Andrew Tylosky — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:25:25 +0000

Motion Media has been contracted to produce the 2012 Dawson Creek Community & Visitor Guide in conjunction with the Dawson Creek Chamber, the City of Dawson Creek and Tourism Dawson Creek.

We're very excited about the project and Deanna Hill has joined us as the project manager for the publication. Motion Media is bringing a fresh new look and approach to the publication this year and the guide will be printed for the first time ever on recycled, sustainable paper. The publication will feature profiles of the burgeoning energy and agriculture industries around Dawson Creek, the business growth and expansion opportunities, community events and information about the history of Dawson Creek.

Take a look at the advertising opportunities here.

Dawson Creek Community & Visitor Guide

BC Oil and Gas Conference here we are

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:22:07 +0000

Hello form the little Northeastern BC community of Fort Nelson. It is true, Motion Media, is here and helping attendees harness the power of Social Media, specifically Twitter.

It is probably no surprise to many that Twitter is a very powerful tool at a conference. The big conferences in the industry have come to use twitter to extent their conferences. Big ones like Drupalcon, Wordcamp, BC Chamber of Commerce AGM and so on have successfully use twitter.

Not only is using twitter beneficial for those at the conference, but also those who couldn't make it. So attendees of the conference can keep up with other things that are going on in other session and those who aren't at the conference can follow along and keep up-to-date. Twitter has bridged a gap that will help educate many people and it is time that Northeastern BC adapted this mentality.

That is what we are trying to do here at the BC Oil and Gas Conference this week, educate people about Twitter and how it can be beneficial in many lines of work.

Oh yeah, seeing Rex Murphy speak last night was just an amazing bonus. Thanks also to Judy of Footprint Management for inviting us up to Fort Nelson.

BC Oil and Gas Conference here we are

Thoughtful Thursday: We Don't Value Social Media

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:41:46 +0000

I really don't mean to always come back and talk about how you must be consistent and accountable when using social media, but it seems to be something that even I have a hard time doing. You see I had made a task for myself to spend a couple hours a week writing a blog post on the Motion Media blog and as you can see, I dropped the ball on that one.

The Problem

Like many other people, my days have gotten busier. I have more to do and I have more tasks on my plate. This is the same type of situation I hear from many people I work with. They don't have the budget to have a dedicated social media person, but they are also too busy to do it themselves. It is an endless loop than many are stuck in.

Value It

Although many don't have the time for social media, I think the issue is more it is not valued as much as it should be. I have come across many who know they should use social media in their business, but don't feel they should give it 100% or they believe it is just like traditional marketing. This is a a big no no. To succeed with social media effects, it needs to be treated as a real aspect of your business. It may not have an actual dollar value, but there is a time investment if you want to see results.

The Solution

One of the best ways to help yourself become a social media user is to have a strategy made up. These strategies are customized to you and your business. Normally you would work with someone like myself and determine such things as who you want to appeal to, what to talk about and your goals.

Having a strategy in place can be one of the most beneficial documents in your social media efforts. Not only does it work as a guideline for social media use, but it also solidifies your determination with your social media efforts.

So before you start up your Facebook Page, step back and think about how you are going to approach it. Will you have enough time, what do you want to accomplish, etc. If you need help, give me a shout and I will be more than happy to help you figure it out.

Thoughtful Thursday: We Don't Value Social Media

Embarking on Time Lapsing

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:10:05 +0000

A Time Lapse video is compiled of several photos of the same frame over a certain amount of time. Sounds complex, but is really not.

You must have a camera that is able to take photos in intervals. First you must set up your frame. Using a tripod, find a location where nothing, including potential wind, will effect the camera while it is shooting. Make sure the tripod is firmly on the ground and balanced. Finally take a few test shots of your framed up shot and find the best settings for the shot. Then place your camera on Manual mode to those setting. This will insure they don't change as time passes. Start the interval shooting and let go of the camera, making sure not to touch it again until you're finished.

I'm no expect in Time Lapses, but in theory that is what you have to do to produce the images to make the video. The video above was a quick attempt at a Time Lapse video in the front room out our office this morning. I'm not sure how the camera moved mid way through and there certainly isn't enough traffic in front of our office to make it worth it. That being said, if you watch closely you can see the sun rising.

The reason I bring all this up is because I may get a chance to try out doing a Time Lapse video of the sun setting over Fort St John. So because I don't want to mess it up, I figured I would refresh my memory on how it is done.

Any tips are always welcome.

Embarking on Time Lapsing

South Peace Beauty Scenes

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:20:11 +0000

Some might say that a rig in a field is an eyesore, but it's actually quite the opposite. Adding the element of a rig tower in a beautiful field of yellow canola really is a photographers dream; the tower draws the eye and the canola and blue sky lend an element of nature to the shot.

The South Peace is filled with those types of shots. Take a drive down a back road between Fort St John and Dawson Creek and you'll see the hidden beauty of the Peace that some might miss when driving up the Alaska Highway.

Last week Andrew and I, along with Mike, couldn't resist getting out there and capturing some of the beauty. We set out at roughly 5pm from Fort St John and started south. Upon passing through Farmington, we got off the highway and started heading towards Rolla, making many stops along the way. As the sun was only just above the horizon, the sky was a nice blue with out any over-exposure. It was a wonderful evening for shooting, the only other element that would have topped it off would have been a few more clouds.

Collectively, we captured 900 photos on the shoot and so far I have reduced it down to only a couple hundred. We don't have any specific projects in mind for these photos, but chances are you will see them around in the coming year. If you are interested in using them, just give us a ring.

To see the rest of the photos from the South Peace we have put online, check out our Flickr Set here.

South Peace Beauty Scenes

What makes up Mile0City.ca

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:29:00 +0000

At the very beginning of July, Motion Media and Moose FM launched a brand new local website for the community of Dawson Creek, BC. The site features local news, sports, weather, events and many other things.

The model for this site is a very new one is some respects. A radio station is in charge of the all the content gathering and publishing, and Motion Media, as a web development company, runs all the technical aspects.

This is not something that is new to Motion Media, for the last three years we have been operating Energeticcity.ca, a similar site for Fort St John, BC. What makes Mile0City.ca so special, is that it is a completely new website.

We as a team worked very hard for a couple months to build a - drupal - website that would meet all the needs of a local website. This new site is built on Drupal 6 and has intertwining content all throughout the site, bringing together articles, users, contributors, images, videos, etc all in a site wide library.

Listen to the audio conversation between Andrew, Martin and myself about what Mile0City.ca is all about and what went into building a site that not only looks good, but also work flawlessly, if used right.

Subscribe via iTunes | Subscribe via RSS | Download the Mp3

What makes up Mile0City.ca

Google Plus, the good and the bad

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:27:23 +0000

Alright, I have spent sometime now with Google+, Andrew and I also talked about it here and I have heard from many of you about what you like about it and what you don't. Google+ isn't public for everyone yet, so if you aren't in yet don't worry, you'll be able to try it out soon.

There are many things that I and others really like about Google+ (G+). Its simplistic layout being one, there are no ads trying to draw in your attention - although that may come - and it is a clean look with content spaced out for ease of reading.

Many have also mentioned the genuine discussion being created on G+. It could be said that if you were to combine Facebook's commenting system with Twitter conversations you'd get a G+ discussion. An easily readable discussion in one place amongst many people who can all see each others comments. This is different from Twitter as nothing gets missed and better than Facebook because your conversation can or cannot be limited by who you are connected with by using Circles.

Circles is another benefit some would say about G+. The ability to categories people into groups. This works in two ways, the first is you can then easily jump from Circle to Circle and see what people are saying there, without everyone else your connected with. For example it comes with Friends, Family and Acquaintances. So if you were to select anyone of those streams you would only see the posts by people in those Circles. The other way this works is you can limit who can see your posts by selecting only certain Circles, All Circles, Public, etc. This is great for those who only want to share certain things with certain people. Yes, Facebook can also now do something similar, but are you really going to go back and categories your 200+ friends, probably not. That is why Google is hoping it will draw people in with this feature right off the bat.

We have mentioned the good or at least the interesting, but what about the bad. Many people and by this I mean most, are finding that the people they follow on G+ are often the same as who they follow on Twitter and even Facebook, but not only that, these people are posting the same across all three networks. This is bringing many to not see the true potential in G+ and just go back to what they are used to.

Many also think that at the current moment the only thing keeping G+ alive is the tech savvy hype. Most using G+ currently are early adaptors and there are some sceptics that believe that G+ wont be able to stand once it goes public and the hype dies.

The final the aspect that really puts a damper on my G+ experience is no mobile iPhone app. *Edit: turns out they actually have made an app but Apple hasn't approved it yet. Sure I understand that Google wants to promote its own Andriod mobile platform, but if they want the masses to use G+ they need to cross-platform. I would guess I use Twitter and Facebook 50% of the time from my iPhone, so I'm suggesting that I'm only using G+ 50% of what I could be.

To conclude, there are many features that makes G+ a very interesting platform, one which I hope to adapt more. There are although many aspects of it currently that can deter a person rather quickly. What do you think? Have you had the opportunity to test out this Google Product yet?

Google Plus, the good and the bad

Best Practices for using QR Codes

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:18:02 +0000

QR Codes seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays. You have probably seen them here and there, even if you don't know what they are. They are actually a close relative of the Bar Code and are about the same size, but square and instead of lines has small black and white squares in a pattern across it.

The reason I bring them up is because; I think for the most part no one actually knows how to properly use a QR Code. There is no instruction manual, guidelines or overseeing board that will say yes or no to your use. For that reason I think they are getting a bad wrap and trust me, I didn't think they would survive ever since I saw my first one.

Plus unless there is instructions as to what you are suppose to do with it, people just don't know. Did you know you have to have a QR Code reader in order to know where the code goes? You can get a QR Code reader on any smartphone, so you'll need one of those first. Then there is the matter of where the code actually takes you or what it does. I break it up below as to how I think QR Codes should properly be used.

How not to use a QR Code

A lot of people are seeing this as a quick way to get people to their websites, but there needs to be more thought into this. A QR Code should not point to a non-mobile version of a website. Do you know how hard it is to view a full website on a smartphone? It is pointless. Another common mistake when using QR Codes is not having a call to action for viewers. Why would I scan something if I had no idea what it does or where it takes me?

How to properly use a QR Code

First of all, you need to make sure that what you want to do with the code is appropriate for the situation. Why are you going to use a QR Code? Here are some ideas that can be and are successful. Mobile sites - Sending people to your mobile ready website. An example for doing this would be to possibly giving them more information on whatever the QR Code was on. A magazine article, concert poster, etc. Coupons - People love getting deals on things. Have them scan the code and have it display a coupon they need to present at a store. This can also work for online deals, have the code display a coupon code they can use online to claim their deal. One final way to use a QR Code would be linking them to your Social Networks. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all have mobile versions and display beautifully on smartphones. Your audience can participate in the community right from their phones, wherever they are.

The last thing I would recommend when using QR Codes is having a call to action. You need to inform those who you want to scan the code why they need to, there has to be a reason.

Have more do's and don't's of using QR Codes? Lets hear them, leave a comment below.

Photo Credit: Clever Cupcakes on Flickr

Best Practices for using QR Codes

How I Keep Up On Social Media Trends

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:15:15 +0000

Last week I read a great blog post on Social Media Trends on the Copeland Communications' Blog. The premise of the post wasn't what are the latest trends in Social Media, because we all know they are ever changing and move faster than this blog, but rather how to keep up with these trends without getting overwhelmed.

Doug Brown, from Copeland, points out the 5 places he goes to keep himself current on the trends. Twitter, Mashable, Blogs, Google Reader and Smart People. He gives a little background on each and like him I use all of these methods as well. What I want to share is how I use two of those methods plus an iPad App to keep me up to speed on the latest trends.

First would be blogs. These are the starting point of a lot of content, in any niche, not just social media. People write about their findings, what they are doing, what is affecting their industry and so on. Once I have weeded out all the blogs that don't pertain to what I am looking for, I am left with a couple great blogs with powerful information. But then what, I don't always remember to visit them each day and it is rather bothersome to have to navigate to each one. That is where Google Reader comes in.

Google Reader is Google's feed reader, if anyone remembers those, and is used widely across the web. What you do is take the RSS feed from all those great blogs you have found and route them through Google Reader. The reader will then update every time there is a new post on that blog and you can read it right there in the reader. The tool even lets you categories your feeds into folders, which is also what I do. Now as amazing as Google Reader is, it isn't very pretty. That is why I then route Google Reeder through an iPad app that makes reading blogs much more enjoyable.

The app I'm referring to is called Flipboard and can be described as a social magazine for your iPad. It is completely customizable to your needs with a wide range of preset topics or you can sync your social accounts and Google Reader with it, like I do. It allows me to add each of my categories to the app and then open them up in a newspaper like manor. All I do is click the headline that appeals to me and it expands into an easily readable format.

Then it is all about setting aside the time to actually read the content. For me it is roughly 7:15am to 7:50am. By that time in the day I am back from my bike ride, showered and eating breakfast. I don't do anything else, expect eat, while I read all the information that has piled up in the last 24 hours. By the time I'm done I'm up on all that is happening in the realm of Social Media, Blogging and Tech.

What about you? Do you read blogs? If so how?

How I Keep Up On Social Media Trends

What We Learned at Social Media Camp Victoria

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:17:43 +0000

Last weekend Andrew, Martin and myself all had the pleasure of attending the Social Media Camp that was held in Victoria, BC.

With my job being in Social Media and helping others discover all the beneficial things
about the medium I wasn't sure how much I'd get out of the conference, but I hoped that Martin and Andrew would find some use in the content.

I thoroughly enjoyed both keynotes by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund. They talk in the big picture of social media and in strategy, not just the how-tos and panels. It was great to be able to sit in on a lot of the sessions and see other people’s perspectives on tools and how they go about certain tasks.

One of the big factors for me going to this conference was just to meet in-person all the great people I have been communicating with on a regular basis through our blogs and Twitter. I also wanted spread the word that the North is chugging along on Social Media, we have come a long way in the last year. I hope we can continue to grow and to make a name for ourselves up here and also connect our efforts and community with the rest of the province.

Martin is our technical lead and was all over the technical content at Social Media Camp, go figure. He came bouncing out of one session informing me off all the interesting ways to track your social use. For example, how Bit.ly and Ow.ly both track the clicks and analytics of all their links and con supply reports to the user.

For Andrew, I think it was more about empowering employees. Every since my first day at Motion Media, Andrew has empowered me to be the "Social Media Guy" for his company. Social Media Camp reassured him that this was a good decision. Social Media Camp also sprouted some great ideas for Andrew on how Motion Media can become more social. You have to keep watching to see what he comes up with.

Andrew will for sure be back next year, as he takes any conference as an excuse to get out of town. I also plan to return to the conference hopefully in a bigger role, perhaps as a speaker or panelist or just to help plan and organize. As Motion Media, we love to network and connect with our southern friends and share the knowledge.

What We Learned at Social Media Camp Victoria

We are at Social Media Camp Victoria

Kyle Thomas — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:59:49 +0000

I thought since I have a moment between sessions to send out this quick blog post on where we are. We are at Social Media Camp Victoria.

This little conference is in its second year and is now a two day event, with over 600 people attending. Martin, Andrew and myself are in attendance and absorbing all the information we can to bring back home.

There are many different aspects to this conference, how to get started on Facebook and Twitter, how to find your social media voice and how to plan a good strategy. There will be many other parts of this conference that we'll be attending.

What I hope to do is come back here and report on all the new things we are learning as they happen, but if you want to follow along as events happen follow the #SMCV11 hashtag.

Credit Photo © 2008 Annie Mole | more info

We are at Social Media Camp Victoria

Should we do Social Media? Yes!

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:07:26 +0000

Last week at some point I watched an interview with Social Media Speaker, Jay Baer, who talked about where Social Media is today. He said very clearly "it is not so much should we do social media, but rather how do we do social media." I thought this couldn't be more wrong for Northern BC.

The Issue

I don't disagree with what he said, there is definitely some great things going on in these parts when it comes to Social Media, but a lot of my job is teaching people and businesses what it actually is. What Twitter is, what Facebook is and even what a Blog is. While a lot of people do get it, the majority still doesn't.

Every week, I here someone saying why would I bother. Or I see someone using it unethically, which hurts me even more, because they are potentially giving Social Media a bad wrap.

The Solution

The overall solution is time. Eventually over time most people and businesses will come around to Social Media, whether it be just Twitter, just Facebook or even just a Blog. It is a shift in the way we communicate and there is no denying that eventually it will be one of the primary ways of communication.

A good way to help this solution come a little quicker though, is community and attitude. Having a positive attitude within the online community will only help it grow. Look at Fort St John, with just the addition of a couple positive Twitter users the community has grown immensely in the last 8 months. So by doing this and encouraging others to get on board we are collectively going to grow the community.

If you are not already trying out Twitter or Facebook or even a Blog, do so. If you're not sure how and want to get it right the first time, well that is what we are here for.

UPDATE: I have found this blog post from a Prince George blogger, who expressed why she loves Social Media and the community in Price George. Have a read.

Should we do Social Media? Yes!

Will the sale of Skype be a big deal for Apple users?

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:55:53 +0000

This morning most of the Internet learned that Microsoft officially bought Skype for a price around $8.5 Billion. It was a big surprise to some, as only days ago there were rumours that Google and Facebook were trying to buy the peer-to-peer online telephone service.

Now that Microsoft has bought Skype we wonder what will happen with the company and its direction.

Here at Motion Media we use Skype almost everyday. We have a team member in Victoria, BC, Lethbridge, AB and even Spain, so when it comes to inner office communications we rely on these services. Skype is used primarily in our office for our morning meetings, where we all discuss what we have planned for the day.

Now there isn't any threat that Skype will be disappearing anytime soon. Judging from all the news and blog posts out there, it sounds like Microsoft has some big plans for Skype. But because we all use Apple computers here (with the exception of maybe one) we are a little concerned that we will lose support of the Mac version of Skype.

This threat has also been shared around the Internet today. Many wondering if Apple users, both computer and mobile devices, will end up being kicked to the curb and forgotten about.

We certainly hope not. Although Skype 5 for Mac is not the greatest update out there, it still does what it is suppose to and relatively well. To date there isn't any other program that handles group voice chats well. This may change though, Google and Apple may see this as an opportunity to grow their services, Google Talk and FaceTime. One can only hope.

What is your take on Microsoft buying Skype? Do you think it is a good thing for Skype users or a bad thing?

Will the sale of Skype be a big deal for Apple users?

We've Been Nominated for a Western Canada Social Media Award

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:02:42 +0000

Motion Media was nominated for a Western Canada Social Media Award. To be totally honest we're all a little surprised, but still very honored.

Our new site has only been live for a couple weeks and this little blog of ours is still fairly new itself, which is why it was a surprise to see our name as a nominee under the "Best Blog" category.

It truly is an honour to be up against folks like Miss604 and Hummingbird604, who I have personally been following for years, and Copeland Communications and Raincoaster Media. There are some really good blogs in this category and everyone should go check out all the great content they produce.

The Western Canada Social Media Awards nomination round ends May 13th at 4pm. Then on May 16th to May 25th voting will be open to the public to select their favorites in each category. The public will decided the short list of nominees, which will then go to a panel of judges to decided the winners. The winners will then be announced at the Social Media Camp Dinner Networking Reception on June 3rd.

Andrew and I will be in Victoria for the Social Media Camp and we can't wait! Hearing what the organizers are saying and seeing the schedule makes us all that more excited to attend. No matter if we win or not, we know the weekend will be a blast and a great opportunity to meet some amazing people.

We've Been Nominated for a Western Canada Social Media Award

How To Write A Great Blog Post

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:09:23 +0000

Since the launch of our new website a couple weeks ago, I wanted to make it a task of mine to write a blog post a week. Part of my job with Motion Media is social engagement and I think blogging is a big part of that. When I work with clients who want to get into the social game I recommend blogging is a good place to start. Facebook is great, Twitter is great but a blog is yours, where you can share ideas, share the insights in your business and ultimately have a conversation on your own turf. That being said I also find it difficult myself to write a blog post a week.

So that's why in this post here, I want to share some of the tips that I follow myself, so that I can publish a post a week as well.

Finding Ideas

There are ideas all around us and it doesn't even matter what business or organization were in. You can take a real life situation and compare it to your business or organization in a way that will benefit your readers. Or for really easy way to find ideas, do what I do. Every day first thing I do is I read other blogs from similar companies, from people who are writing similar things, and from people that I admire. Now I never, never, copy and paste one of their articles. What I do is jot down the idea and then write it out for myself adding any value and insights I might have. Whether it be for my personal blog or the Motion Media blog.

Remembering Those Ideas

Now ideas can come to us anywhere, we can be strolling down the street, driving our car or even in the middle of a big meeting. One of my faults is thinking of these great ideas and then forgetting about them when it comes time to actually write them into blog posts. That's why I'm so glad that there are tools and applications out there to help me remember these ideas for later on. Now I'm assuming most people have some sort of smart phone, because what I use our mobile applications that also sync to desktop clients on my computer. Applications like Things, Evernote or Wunderlist, which are either to do lists or note taking applications. Now if we were to go old-school a simple pad of paper and a pen or pencil would do the same thing. The reason I don't like pencil and paper is because I wind up losing that piece of paper as soon as I write down the idea.

Laying Out The Idea

Once you have your ideas down on some sort of device and are sitting down at your computer ready to write a blog post, think about the big points in a blog post. Most of the time we can think up what we want to write an jumble it down in a couple paragraphs and send it out, but that can look messing and unreadable. What I suggest is exactly what I'm doing in this post here, breaking the post up into sub-topics. I started with Finding Ideas, then I moved to Remembering Those Ideas, and now I'm on Laying Out The Idea. What this does is helps your readers read your blog post and lets them know what each part of your post is about. It even helps them skim through quickly to see if they actually want to read the entire thing.

Leaving Them Wanting Something

At the end of your post it is good practice to leave your readers wanting more or wanting to engage. Now this sounds like leaving out important information, but it's not. Don't leave out any information, but either leave them wondering what you're going to write about next week or pose a question for them to answer in the comments. I'll often ask a question at the end of a post to encourage people to start discussion in the comment system, by the way all blogs should have commenting systems.

So I hope this post helps you come up with ideas, lay them out, and write them down for your own blog. Actually I want you to show me that it helped. When you go to write your next blog post using some of these methods, I want you to come back to this blog post and paste the link to your blog post showing us what you came up with.

How To Write A Great Blog Post

5 Funny Drupal Modules

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:13:06 +0000

We take working in Drupal very seriously. One wrong line of code or one wrong permission could potentially wreck a website. That is why we comb through each site to make sure it is working to maximum potential. Every now and then though, it is good to have a laugh.

Today I want to share with you 5 funny Drupal modules that you can install onto your site for a good laugh.

Sweater Module

The developer of this module understands that come fall the days get shorter, nights longer and the weather gets colder. That is why he created the Sweater Module. This module will keep your Drupal site warm through any circumstance. He explains that this module uses a state-of-the-art sweater processing technology to wrap up your Drupal site and keep it warm.

Basically this module puts an image of a bright red sweater all over your site. Be warned though, keeping your site warm may cause for lack of navigation.

Pirate Module

Arrrg matey it be de Pirate Module, de toughest module in all de seven seas. As you probably guessed this mighty module transforms your well written copy write into vulgar, thrashing, trash talking Pirate speak.

On International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th) your site will transform all English phrases and words into pirate speak.

Who's Your Daddy

Not knowing exactly what this module does myself, I still think it is rather funny. With a name like Who's Your Daddy, it must be.

What this module allows for is, the main theme of your Drupal site to select its own base theme. This then causes insane confusion for the user. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Zombie Killer

When someone says "I bet Drupal can't kill zombies." they couldn't be more wrong. Did you know that on Unix and Unix-like operating systems there is a process called Zombie. It is true, here is the Wikipedia link. So this module will go in and kill those processes. This of course is dangerous, because you must run your server as root.

Nonetheless the next time someone doubts Drupal, just tell them it can kill Zombies.

Misery Module

Oh sweet, sweet misery. This module is for those who are really evil and want to annoy the heck out of other users. I would say this module is for the site bully, if you will. Misery is meant to make life difficult for a certain user of the site. Banning and deleting users, random-length delays, directing to random nodes or 403 access denied pages, these are just some of the nasty things you can do with this module.

A word of caution when using this module though, if used, you may end up with no friends at all. You were warned.

This concludes 5 Funny Drupal Modules. Okay, so they are not all funny, but they do have some sort of amusement level. If you know of some funny module, please mention them below. We'd love to play with them.

5 Funny Drupal Modules

Learning About Our Personalities

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:44:59 +0000

When it comes to human personalities we all have different ones. Some of us shy, some of us loud, some of us theoretical, and so on. Most of the time we are all different, we all act and react to situations differently. We handle things in our own way. So when the majority of the team here at Motion Media took the Jung and Briggs Myers Typology Test we got some insight into the personalities of the people we work with everyday.

Below is a list of the type of personalities all of us in the office have:

Andrew is The Performer
Dayna is The Giver
Martin is The Scientist
Katherine is The Protector
Steven is The Giver
Mike is The Thinker
Kyle is The Duty Fulfiller
Megan has been out of the office at the moment.

As you can see all of us, except Dayna and Steven have different personalities. As we all sat together and went over each different type we were amazed at accuracy of the descriptions. We all laughed and joked as it would describe each of us almost to a tee.

The benefits of knowing

Now it was fun doing the test and going over the results with each other, but there was serious benefits to learning what type of personality everyone has. We now have a basic understanding about how each of us approaches our work and how we communicate while at work. Often time we all take things in our own way and digest information differently, so by learning about each other we now have a better understanding of how to approach each other.

Want to know what type of personality you have? Take the test and leave your type below.

Learning About Our Personalities

Basic Real Estate Photography Tips

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:14:00 +0000

At Motion Media one of the things we offer outside of web development and print work, is photography. Both Andrew and I bring our own set of skills to the table and between the two of us we can cover almost anything. Lately though I have been doing a lot of Real Estate Photography, and although you wouldn't think much goes into this type of photography, there is more than meets the eye. Below are some of the things that go into capturing a home.

Probable Gear

DSLR Camera: This doesn't have to be a top of the line camera, even the low-end cameras can do the trick and are far better than any point-and-shoot camera. We are a Nikon company at the moment and use either a D90 or D300s, both being very adequate for the job.

Wide Angle Lens: A wide angle lens is what can open up a house for show. It might just be one of the more important pieces to Real Estate Photography, as it can create the setting. Ideally you will want a lens with a focal length between 10-20mm. We use a Tokina 11-16mm lens which we prefer because of the 2.8/f. Another lens to consider is the Sigma 10-20mm which can perform just as well.

Flash: Using a Flash that is not built into the camera is almost a must. Using a professional flash will help create the warmth in the room you are shooting. It will allow you to bounce light off walls and light up the entire room, rather than just straight on.

Tripod: Any sturdy tripod will do. Using a tripod will help with shots that require a longer exposure or for HDR shots which I will touch on below.

Lighting Choices

Flash: Like I mentioned above using the flash to bounce light around the room you are shooting, adds a warmth to it as well as fills it up with light.

HDR Photos: This is a technique that involves bracketing, which is taking the same photo at different exposures. This is why needing a tripod is almost a must, because each photo much be identical, except for the exposure. To learn more about HDR Photography see this Wikipedia article.

Computer Editing

The task isn't done when you finish shooting though. Most of the time I will shoot over a 100 photos in one house and finish editing with 30. Using the proper editing software can make this task quicker and easier. iPhoto served well and is adequate, but when I switched to Apple's Aperture the process got a lot faster. Just simply the ability of a preset adjustment made this a lot better. Other software can do similar things, such as Adobe's Lightroom. As for the HDR photos, there are many programs out there, I happen to like Photomatix Pro.

Comes with Time

Of course the more times you go out and shoot a house, the more you will get comfortable with it. You may think of new ideas and figure out what works best for you. We all have a different point of view while taking photos. Most of the time I try for a unique angle that captures the viewers attention.

Basic Real Estate Photography Tips

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Andrew

Kyle Thomas — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:28:13 +0000

Here we are at the end of the series. To finish off we have the head honcho, Andrew, explaining what he learned at Drupalcon.

His explanation isn't really what he learned though, more of a reflection of what he observed at Drupalcon. Andrew leads a web development company that exclusively uses Drupal and has so since 2007. To make the decision to use only one Content Management System can be a big step, so for Andrew to see how strong the Drupal Community was at Drupalcon really give him the assurance Motion Media is on the right track.

Andrew also speaks about the Birds of a Feather (BoF) breakout sessions at Drupalcon. Basically during the entire conference, rooms are available for anyone to use and start a session. He reflects what it was like to hold a BoF on Local News Sites using Drupal.

The final point Andrew makes, might be the most important for the Drupal Community as a whole. As Drupal grows and more and more Firms start popping up, he explores the notion of having some sort of certification for Drupal Developers, Firms, etc. Something that shows they not only use Drupal, but to also use it to the proper standards.

What the video and Andrew will explain everything mention in more detail and give you some insight into what he learned and observed at Drupalcon Chicago.

Read what the rest of the team learned:Read what the rest of the team learned:

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Andrew

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Mike

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:15:31 +0000

You know a person is brilliant when they choose their words carefully and that is exactly what Mike does. It's Brilliant. He started with Motion Media in October of 2010 with very limited knowledge of Drupal and since then has learned and absorbed so much. I have never seen someone learn so quickly and understand the complexities of Drupal in such a short time..

Seeing Mike at Drupalcon was like seeing puzzle pieces click into place. So below in a few short words is what Mike learned at Drupalcon.

I learned many neat things at DrupalCon including the new features being released in Drupal 7 like built in image resizing. I was also introduced to the technologies SASS and HAML which will help me get work done faster. I also learned about incorporating jQuery into designs.

Read what the rest of the team learned:Read what the rest of the team learned:

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Mike

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Martin

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:47:43 +0000

Martin is our Software Engineer. He is the man behind all of the technical parts of Motion Media. Whether it be maintaining servers, managing domains or building websites with functionality you could never imagine, he knows what he is doing and does it well.

Like I mentioned on Dayna's post on, I was not expecting such amazing responses and Martin's response was one of them. Below you'll read a fine craft piece of literature written by Martin on what he learned at Drupalcon Chicago.

Well, this year confirmed it. Motion Media is in the top tier of Drupal website producers. Our designs and technical abilities are right up there with the best of them. This is not boasting, gloating nor some advertising/marketing ploy, we've got game. I have no doubt next year we'll be presenting at least one session at DrupalCon in Denver. Drupal is a complex system, and has a very steep learning curve when it comes to building and developing a website. However, with great complexity, comes great power. At Motion Media we have that power, we have that skill, and it shows in our work.

Now, although I have great "coding chops" and can make Drupal do almost anything my clients, project managers and designers have asked me too, there are always areas of improvement. I started out this year with a focus on better programming and development of Drupal core and modules, hoping to further improve on my strengths. My sessions included handling Media within a website, Drupal Security for Coders, Aphorisms of API Design and Views for Hackers. All, except Media, were advanced sessions focusing on the coder track. The day went by very fast and was thoroughly enjoyed, but something was lacking. I didn't learn much in the way of new skills and tricks of the trade, in fact, almost everything seemed to be just a reminder of best practices, or things that I had already learned on my own. Now this is not a bad thing, as I'm self taught, and it was a good stroke to my ego that I had already figured out how to best tackle the various issues, and that I'm on the right track. But again something was missing.

I decided to change my approach a bit on the second day. Rather than take another session in the standard coders track, I attended an informal chat session with fellow coders on geographical data integration within the Drupal framework (read as map making). After a great discussion, I changed my after lunch session again from a straight coding one, to another that focused more on Making Maps Beautiful. I know how to make maps (easy), but as any of the MM staff will tell you for me to make something beautiful, that is an area I can most definitely improve on. The rest of the day switched between hard core coding techniques and design. Attain Apache Solr Coding Chops, Baby Got Backend: Content Administrators are Users Too, and Advanced Drush. It was a great day, even better than the first which led me to think, why was it better? What was different?

It was then that I had a bit of an epiphany. Now, this is not something special, this is not some secret no one else knows about, it's something that we all do, something that we have to keep reminding ourselves of. It springs from our own egos and our very human desire to stay within our comfort zones. However, if we really want to grow, not just as a person, but also in our careers, skill sets and life, we have to break this inertia. We have to gain new perspectives and challenge ourselves. This is what I did this year in Chicago.

I realised that my team and my clients need me to be more than just a code monkey, they require more. I'm still in awe of how they are able to create and design anything, whether it's a colour palette, a logo, the website layout, or how they would like to see something work and I have always been greatly envious of these talents. But that does not mean I have nothing to contribute in this arena. Being the main programmer and architect, I know what's possible, and really it's not magic, I just need to dive in. The team at MM is fantastic, we are all well accomplished in our areas of expertise and we are all willing to teach each other anything. We don't criticise, but instead we coach, encourage and uplift one another. Day three, was a challenge. Day three was a mind blower. Day three changed everything.

I changed all my sessions. I moved completely away from my comfort zone and tackled my most significant challenge. How to make my clients actually enjoy updating their websites and how to manage their content without hassle, without frustration and even perhaps put a smile on their face. The back-end design of a website needs to be just as elegant and intuitive as the front end. The morning started out with a keynote speech by Jared Spool, "a recognised authority on user interface design and human factors in computing". He really fired me up, and in a very entertaining and eye opening manner, hammered into me just how important this is. At that point I knew I was on the right track. The rest of my days sessions were all related to usability and design; Advanced Features Usage, Drupal Usability for Developers: How to Get Real People to Love Your Work, Interface Therapy: Emotional Design and Drupal's User Experience and finally Building Awesome User Interfaces with Drupal 7. Day three changed everything.

Now I'm home. I've had a week to contemplate on what I've learned and gained from my experiences at DrupalCon and now the hard work begins. In fact, it started immediately the day after our last sessions. We're working on a complete redesign of our website architecture. One that I know will make our clients smile. One that will not just improve your experience with us, but will make you wonder why you ever had to use anything else. User interface design with the client's perspective in mind, always, front and back. It's going to be a very good year.

Read what the rest of the team learned:

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Martin

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Steven

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:42:04 +0000

Steven is the longest Motion Media employee and at the moment the furthest away. In the time I have worked at Motion Media I have only seen Steven on two occasions, which is truly unfortunate. As our Web Designer, Steven does a lot of the theming for our websites as well as the initial design. He is a man of much knowledge and here is what he learned at Drupalcon Chicago.

Theming Haiku.

A new project recently released on github was Peroxide. Still in early stages and not yet released on drupal.org, it is set to change the way we write html and css for drupal.. It is a new theme engine for Drupal that uses the phamlp library to parse the HAML and Sass code.

What does this mean? It means we can use Haml & Sass to write our code, this will make it easier to understand, more maintainable, and give on average a 50% saving on code.

The Future of Aegir.

In a galaxy far far away, some genius's are working on adding great things to Ægir, to make it a more complete hosting solution. Some of the 'things' we should be seeing soon are:

A new GUI for DNS management, which would allow A and CNAME records to be edited, add DNS records necessary to have Google, etc. handle their email.

A better queue system based on a third-party tool, keeping the current "ghetto queue" as default. Porting the existing ubercart integration to the commerce module.

Automatic upgrades - managing platforms and automatically create new ones based on feeds (e.g. from a feature server) Handling for remote file storage Dashboard/overview page. and the upgrade from D6 to D7

Read what the rest of the team learned:

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Steven

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Dayna

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:54:45 +0000

To start off our "What I learned at Drupalcon" series I thought we'd start off with a bang. When I asked around the office for a short blurb on what we learned at Drupalcon I was not expecting such great, thought out, responses. So today we'll start off with Dayna.

While at Drupalcon it was obvious that Dayna was getting a lot out of the conference. At the ended of each day we'd all get together and share and you could just tell she had so many new and exciting ideas.

What Dayna did was respond to me in the form of her own blog post. If you didn't know already, Dayna writes a great blog over at Heartist.ca about being what she calls a heartist. You'll have to ask her what the actual definition of a heartist is, but from what I gather it is about being creative in every aspect of your life.

So below is a exert from Dayna's blog post. You can read the whole thing on her blog.

This year and every year, the most apparent thing I learn at Drupalcon, is what a talented, hard working team I am a part of. It completely blows my mind how much Drupal knowledge we have and how much Drupal work we have done, yet we have never been hired to specifically build a “Drupal” site. We’ve simply been harnessing the power of Drupal to meet our client needs since 2008. It’s kind of like selling them the hay and giving them the barn.

Because Drupal is so young, our team is entirely self taught. We all have a lot of experience in our respective fields, but we’ve had to adapt. We all know our focus, we all know what we should be learning, and we have developed all of our processes and procedures ourself. And I know that there must be an easier way! This year I set out to connect with other Project Managers and find out what they were doing to make the beautiful beast that is Drupal a bit easier to saddle up and ride.

In the past year, I have identified a few major tools that would make my job A LOT easier and I set out to investigate solutions.

1. A standard, scaleable engagement process.
2. A precise, flexible quoting system.
3. A standard, easy explanation why my client would like a Drupal site over any other type of site. So far I use a LEGO comparison.

As always, I was sure to keep tabs on the rock stars of the Drupal Project Management world, @vcreatrix, @msamye @chrisstrahl and Lullabot’s Seth Brown, all of whom I first laid eyes on at Drupalcon San Francisco last year. These four PM leaders co-chaired a panel called Strategies for Client Management. It was apparent that their roles had scaled greatly over the past year and that they were more honed in on what project management tools actually work with large scale Drupal projects. I mean, these PMs are leading and consulting on the development of some of biggest websites in the world... [Click here to read more]

Read what the rest of the team learned:

What I Learned At Drupalcon - Dayna

What we learned at Drupalcon Chicago series

Kyle Thomas — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:04:50 +0000

It has been just over a week since Drupalcon Chicago ended and what fun it was. There were six of us from the Motion Media Team that attended the conference and from the sounds of it we all had a good time and learned a lot.

Actually to prove we did learn a bunch of Drupally good stuff I asked everyone who attended to write a quick blurb on what they learned at Drupalcon. I ended up getting a wide variety of responses ranging from two sentences to entire blog posts. So what I thought I could do here in one post is now going to be a series over the next week.

Starting on Monday March 21, 2011 here on the Motion Media blog we will have the "What I learned at Drupalcon" series. Each day will feature a different person and they will explain what they learned during their time at Drupalcon.

All of us, because we all have different roles, went down different tracks at the conference. Martin went down the developers track, Steven the web design, Mike a little bit of both design and developing, Dayna down the project manager track, Andrew down a bit of the marketing and I attended a lot of community based sessions. So as you can see all of our posts will be different.

Be sure to check back everyday next week to hear about our trip. Or you can get posts delivered right to your inbox by subscribing to our blog via email.

What we learned at Drupalcon Chicago series

Embarking on a Drupal Adventure

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:14:09 +0000

As some of you very well know we here at Motion Media use a open source content management system call Drupal, to build our websites. It is a pretty advanced piece of software, one that I'm still learning. Thanks to our great developer Martin, though, I am learning, but for now I will stick with being the Social Media and blogging extraordinaire.

The reason I bring up learning Drupal today is because tomorrow 6 members of our team, 3 from Fort St John, will be heading to Chicago for this years Drupal Conference or better known as Drupalcon.

This will be my first time at Drupalcon, the teams second. The conference is based around the Drupal community. With it being an open source project, it is being contributed by developers from all over the world who share the passion.

So Drupalcon is a time for many of these developers to come together and share their knowledge with each other. It is also a time for folks like myself to get up to speed on the ways of Drupal. I'm never going to be a developer or designer, but it is always good to know the basics.

We'll be out of the office for a week to learn, try and train on Drupal. Oh yeah, we might also have a wicked fun time, I'm not sure yet. To keep up to date on what is happening at Drupalcon you can follow me on twitter @KyleWith or the company account @Motion_Media

Embarking on a Drupal Adventure

Fort Nelson Workshop Date Change

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:32:54 +0000

As much as you plan for something, sometimes things just don't pan out like you hope. This is exactly what happened with our Fort Nelson workshop that was supposed to be this Friday.

Due to lack of interest in Fort Nelson, we have a decided to postpone the workshop. The new date for the workshop will be April 14, 2011.

What does this mean for you? Well, you now have a month and a half to let your friends in Fort Nelson know that we are coming to give a Social Marketing workshop on April 14.

We've probably said it many times already, but we believe that every business, organization and person should have a presence on Social Media sites, like Facebook and Twitter. Many of us don't realize the amount of conversation happening around our business or our niches online. Some might not even know where to start. That's why we want to help. We are passionate about this stuff, we understand and want to share it.

If you head over the registration page on Eventbright you can register there, but you can also click the Facebook Share Button and share it with all of your friend who might be interested in coming.

Fort Nelson, we know you are a vibrant, happening town, we want to help you show the world what you have to offer.

Fort Nelson Workshop Date Change

Le Parkour goes One Million

Motion Media — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:28:10 +0000

I have always been fascinated with Le Parkour and have watch many youtube videos on the art. When defined it is an activity in which participants attempt to clear all obstacles in their path in the most fluent manner possible. One of the videos that I came across in the search was one from the Vancouver Film School. It was a short documentary video spotlighting Parkour in Vancouver. Well that video has now hit a milestone on Youtube with now over 1 million views.

At the time of watching the video I had no idea that director of the film, Eric Morrison, became an employee of Motion Media after graduating VFS. As he said in an interview on the VFS blog "I graduated in 2007, right before the big writers’ strike. Needless to say, there wasn’t a whole lot of work in Vancouver. I applied for a job at Motion Media, a small media company in Fort St. John, which turned out to be a great career move."

Eric was an employee before my time here at Motion Media but I asked Andrew what Eric was like and this is what he had to say "I hired Erik to come join Motion Media after he applied for the job. The Parkour video was on his demo reel and the creativity and excellent job he did on that video caught my eye.

When Eric was with us in Fort St. John, he had an excellent attitude, he worked hard and took every opportunity to go out and find interesting projects and stories to tell."

Today though, Eric is back in Vancouver working for CBC Radio-Canada Vancouver as a director for the local French news program. We congratulate Eric, and wish him well in whatever he does in the future.

@KyleWith

Le Parkour goes One Million

Facebook Deals comes to Canada

Motion Media — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:46:47 +0000

Back in September Facebook launched Places, a built in feature that allows you to check-in to places you visit. The feature is much like Foursquare, the stand along social network based on checking-in to venues.

What Foursquare did to entice people to check-in was to reward the most frequent visiter by making a deal with that venue. It other words, you check-in the most (become mayor) you get a discount of some sort.

Of course Facebook also had to jump on this bandwagon and launch what they call Deals. It is a similar idea, you check-in enough times you get a Deal or discount. This in turn entices you to check-in on Facebook more often, go to the store more often and overall spend more at that place.

Well today Facebook launched Deals in Canada. They announced it in a blog post (Facebook Note) early this morning and also listed where people can find current Deals. Upon the list you'll see places like H&M, Indigo, Town Shoes and Garage. None of these places sound familiar to someone who lives in Northern BC or Northern Canada for that matter. In fact the only Deal that might be available up here is one at a Telus Dealer, but it even says "participating stores only" right on it, so I wouldn't get my hopes up for a free iPhone 3Gs upon signing a 3 year contract.

What they do state though is, that eventually local businesses will be able to create their own Deals, in which case will open up Northern Canada to the Social Game.

Facebook Deals comes to Canada

Want to be a published Photographer?

Kyle Thomas — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:44:42 +0000

It is that time of year again! Here at Motion Media we're gearing up to publish the 2011 Fort St. John & Area Community Guide. Which means we need photos of Fort St. John & Area. We know there are lots of great shots out there, but we just don't have time to get out there ourselves, which is why we need your help. Whether you are a pro or an amateur photographer, we are interested in what you got. We pay $40 per photo selected for the magazine.

We are on the lookout for photos of:
-People
       Community events, gathering, activities, etc.
-Landscapes
       Valley, river, sunsets, sunrises, farmland, etc.
-Oil & Gas Industry Shots
       Pipeline, trucks, equipment, etc
-The Arts
       Artists, carvings, visuals, etc.

If you have some photos you'd like to submit, you can email them to megan@motionmedia.ca.

Want to be a published Photographer?

Happy New Year

Motion Media — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:54:53 +0000

Here we are entering a New Year once again. We hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday season wherever you spent it and getting back into the routine of things wont be to difficult. I know some of us are moving slow this morning.

Nevertheless though we are excited for what is to come in 2011. Many things are on the books for us. A few redesigns for some current websites, the launch of some new websites, the Fort St John Community Guide, more workshops and the list goes on. We are going to be busy and we love it. We hope you'll join us as we embark on to 2011.

So one more time from the team here at Motion Media, Happy New Year.

Happy New Year

Finding the time for Twitter

Kyle Thomas — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:33:40 +0000

One question that arises when I start praising Social Media to the millions is "when will I find the time". It seems a lot of people have busy lives and that is completely understandable, but I also think that when running a business you should make time for Social Media as it can be one of you best marketing tools.

I'm not going to drill the point here today, I have done that enough already. What I do want to share with you is a slight case study, or an observation I made earlier.

I'm partial to go to one of the local coffee shops, Patch Java, for lunch. They have great daily specials and because owner, Devon Wrigglesworth, tweets the special, I seem to always end up there. I have made it habit to take my iPad, eat lunch and read some of the latest blog posts in the RSS Reader. What I noticed today was how efficiant Devon can tweet.

While I was eating I was watching the line of people pass by and Devon make everyone their meals. All of a sudden, while there was still a line and customers being served, I saw a tweet show up on my Twitter feed from @PatchJava saying "12:30 no special left! Go Monday!" When I read it I looked up to see Devon already back to serving customers. It was as if he had never tweeted anything. Devon uses an iPhone for his Social Networking, which is great considering he is rarely at his computer, which sits at one of the tables most of the day.

So what can we learn from Devon? We learn that sending out simple messages to your community is simple, easy, quick and effortless.

@KyleWith

Finding the time for Twitter

The workshop was a success

Kyle Thomas — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:11:56 +0000

I know the team here is recuperating from yesterday's workshop. I think we were all fairly beat by the ended of the day as we celebrated the end of Movember at Egan's.

I can safely say we didn't know what to expect when we decided to put on this workshop. It had never been done in Fort St John before and is such a new medium that we didn't know if we would get any interest. What we did know is that we had the passion for it and a passion to help educate anyone who would listen about Social Media, and the tools that can be used.

Over the period of a month the workshop slowly built momentum. It started with a blog post on the workshop and from there was distributed to our social networks, Facebook and Twitter, as well as Youtube. From there we put up an ad on EnergeticCity.ca which rotated around for a couple weeks. We also sent out an email newsletter to those on the mailing list of Motion Media. Each of these methods brought considerable attention to the workshop and from there many people signed up.

What surprised us, which we were ecstatic about, was how many attendees weren't actually our clients. This was awesome to see, especially since it proved that Social Marketing isn't just something we are trying to sell, but rather a shift in the way we market and communicate as a whole.

The last people to register for the workshop did so at about 10pm on Monday night, a mirror 10 hours before the event began. At 9am the next morning the ballroom at the Quality Inn Northern Grand was packed and by that I mean every chair was used and every space filled. I'm not even sure as to the final number, but I believe it was just over 60 people.

The day went really well, from my perspective in front of everyone. I thought for sure my anxiety would act up when I started speaking, but all went well. My biggest fear was that I would go to fast and skip over something. It was great to get all the questions, because that is what the day was really about, answering the questions you had about Social Marketing. So far we have heard a lot of positive feedback, which really makes us proud. We still want more input though, so head over to our Facebook Page and leave a comment.

There are still some final things I will put together for those who attended and send out one final email.

If you have any questions feel free to hit me or the team up on Twitter or Facebook.

@KyleWith

The workshop was a success

One Week Job on Andrew Tylosky

Kyle Thomas — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:46:17 +0000

A couple weeks ago the big man, Andrew, was in Toronto on a "work related" trip. During that time he met up with his old friend and college classmate Amanda Lowe who is now a contributor to OneWeekJob.com among other things. They had the chance to sit down and chat about their careers, as well as taking in a Strombo show.

The project, One Week Job, was created by Sean Aiken after he graduated from college and didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. How did he decide what to do, by doing 52 different jobs over the course of a year. Hence the project name, One Week Job. From there the project took off and even at one point crashed his website because of it popularity.

That was 2007, this is 2010 and now there is a book, documentary, and soon to be tour, but that's not all. The website OneWeekJob.com now has a blog all about jobs, work and employment and that is where Andrew comes in.

Andrew was interviewed by Amanda about what it is like to be 25 and own a successful media company. She writes about how he got his start, where the ideas came from and where he is now. Head to OneWeekJob.com to read the full article.

One Week Job on Andrew Tylosky

Weekly Links from the Team

Kyle Thomas — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:52:23 +0000

A new type of blog post we are going to start is a Weekly Link post. Every Friday we are going to (try to) compile one link from all of us here at Motion Media. There is 8 of us. The idea is to share some insight into what we specialize in, what inspires us, or what we find useful.

I might post something that is related to Social Media or Blogging, while Martin might post something related to Programming and Drupal. So even though not everyone participated this week, lets take a look at some of those links.

First up is Martin whose link is about Drupal 7: http://drupal.org/drupal-7.0-rc1

Here's what Martin had to say "What an exciting time we live in! Well, for a Drupal nerd like me anyway. I have been greatly anticipating Version 7 of Drupal since we last went to Drupalcon in San Fransisco last April. The new interface alone is well worth the upgrade, let alone all the features that were once add-ons that are now built into core. This winter I anticipate I'll be testing it out, contributing back and working on integrating it with our existing frameworks. Working with Open Source Software (OSS) is truly a marvellous gift."

Dayna is sharing an article on how to run a creative design process: http://www.chapterthree.com/blog/nica_lorber/how_run_creative_design_process_big_project

She also wrote a little blurb on the link "The hardest part of my job is communication. It seems like a designer, a programmer and a customer are sometimes all speaking different languages. The more I can educate each of them on each other's needs and visions, the easier my job is.

I really love this article by fellow Drupal developers from San Fransisco, Chapter 3. Creative Director Nica Lorber really seems to cover all grounds for a successful site build. Have a look at her deliverable examples. These tools are the keys to keeping your project on the right track. I also love her recommendation of having ONE project manager on the client side as well as the developer side. This is essential to keeping the communication on track. Enjoy!"

Megan has shared an article on Print Design, as that is something that she is really into: http://www.theinspirationblog.net/showcases/letterpress-printing-gorgeous-print-work-invitations-and-greeting-cards/

As for me I share numerous great blog posts a day on Twitter, but for this I want to share with you 26 tips and tricks to enhance your Facebook Page. These tips are simple and can be done with very little effort, so time 5 minutes and try some of them out. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-enhancing-your-facebook-page/

Weekly Links from the Team