Loic Le Meur is a Social Media innovator. He is also the founder of the Seesmic Twitter Client, which I use religiously, and can regularly be seen at Social Media conferences in the US and in France.

Loic has recently launched a mini web series on Building Your Online Brand. He will be releasing 30 short HD Youtube video over the next 30 days all about how you can build your brand online using the available tools. He said he found himself getting asked the same questions over and over, so he decided to make this series. He says it is not aimed at the experts in the field, but more for those who wants to start from scratch and make the best of their online presence.

You can consume these videos by either subscribing to his channel on Youtube or by subscribing to his iTunes podcast. Here is his first episode on Youtube.

By the way, he is indeed french, so thankfully if you can’t actually understand him, the videos have subtitle. Good things too, cause he is certainly a knowledgeable guy.

Foursquare is one of those location-based social networks – could be the most popular – where you “check in” to where ever you are. Foursquare can then be linked to your Twitter account or Facebook profile to let everyone in your social circle know where you are. Right off the bat most people think this is a bad idea, why would you want to tell the public where you are at all times. Nonetheless the idea has really taken off. So much so that Facebook has even added a similar feature called Places.

As you are in fact giving out your location to complete strangers I would suggest that you take some precautions. Keep in mind I use these services and see the benefit in them, so I’m not saying avoid them, just play safe. Simple things like *never* check into your house, and try checking in when you are leaving a location. If you want to find more safety tips and trick for using these services this Google search should help.

The reason I have written this post about Foursquare today, is because I caught wind of a blog post written by a person who had one of those scary moments. I don’t know much about her, but from what she says in this blog post, she works online using Social Media tools and services all the time. She goes on to say how while out at a restaurant, after “checking in,” the hostess came to her table asking her name and then informing her she had a telephone call. She was surprised and thought it was a joke, turned out it was no joke. It was someone, who she didn’t know, that followed her online and had a creepy, disturbing message. You can read her full blog post here.

This should serve as a reality check for us all. Although most people we communicate with out there are great people, there are a few with a couple loose screws.

Obviously there are some opinions on these location-based services, so lets hear them.

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Welcome back to the 4th episode of the With New Media podcast. In this episode I talk about when you might be being a Twitter Spammer and when you are actually using it right.

First I start explain about what it is that Twitter Spammers do and why what they are doing is not proper. The big issue I have with Twitter Spammer is how they will just follow as many people as they possible can in their niche, but never talk to them. The only thing they are interested in is pushing their message. This is so horribly wrong in my books.

Then I got to thinking though. What about when it comes to small town Twitter users. Are the fundimentals the same?

Here my thoughts and more. Please leave you thoughts below, I would like to hear them.

This is just a short question for you. Something that I was thinking about while I was writing up the show notes for this weeks With New Media podcast, should I be helping those new on Twitter to use the service.

I spend a lot of time looking at how businesses can properly approach and use Social Networking tools. I got thinking though, what if the people who these businesses want to communicate with, don’t know how to properly use the service.

I’m I naive to think that everyone will use Twitter to have a 2-way conversation and not just to find out where their favourite celebrity is?

Should I be looking at how to help those people who are just starting out on these platforms, as well as businesses. Or does that just make me sound like a jerk?

I guess I was a little unclear as to where I was going with this thought, so let me straighten it out. Something I’m often thinking about is how a business or single person could incorporate Social Networks into their day-to-day routines. It is not something that can easily be done. Especially if you’ve had the same routine for a long time.

Some companies take an easy road and just hire employees whose job it is to use these tools, other even get their communications and marketing team to use them. That is fine and dandy, but is that really the way to use these tools, or is it just the easy way. I’m not saying this is the wrong way, but I do think your Social Media Presence should be handled by someone who knows and understands your company. The best advice I can give to a company wanting to start out in Social Media, is try it for yourself. Get out there, start talking about your business and *listening* to what other are saying.

Getting back to the topic of my ramble, which may relate more to a single person better. Start wedging in 5 minutes here and there where you focus on talking and engaging with those in your community. Look to see what others are saying and join in. If you start adding this couple of minutes into your day-to-day routine you will soon see how easy (possibly addicting) using Social Media is. You may even start to see how those people you connect with might actually help with your productivity throughout the day.

Just a thought.

Catching up on some RSS reading this afternoon I came across a find on WPCandy. It was about this WordPress developer and his domain names. Apparently he has been buying WordPress (WP) domain names just to have. There has to be 30-40 WordPress related domains. Now he is apparently selling them.

I personally think domain squatting is wrong, but I have to give Mr. Bradley props. I’m sure if I was the one with all the domains I wouldn’t be against it. It really is a quick and easy way to make some money. Plus when you get folks like me and WPCandy to promote the sale, you’re laughing.

We’ve seen things like this for years. People trying to make a quick buck by sitting around and registering domain names, and email address as soon as a new product is announced. I remember seeing people selling Gmail address on eBay back in the day, I think they had something to do with a new iPod. I do have to give Bradley some credit though, he is a WordPress Developer and has a lot invested into WordPress, so it is not as if he is some random guy.

I’m still on the fence if this is right or wrong. I would feel as though people would shun me if I did something like this. What do you think? I guess if you want to check out the domains he has for sale you can go to this page.

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When I bought a digital SLR 3 years ago, I bought the Nikon D80. I was stoked, I got it for a great deal all of eBay. It came with a couple of lenses, and all sorts of extra. It was awesome and I am extremely happy with that camera, but ever since I bought the D80, I have had this nagging thought in my head that always seemed to say you should have gotten the D90. At the time the D90 had just been released and was so new it was still very expensive, with the body itself being well over $1000.

Fast forward to today. I finally picked up the D90 body. I paid about the same for the body as I did my Sigma 18-250mm (affiliate) lens only a couple of months earlier. The big thing that draws me to the D90 is now I have the ability to play with video. Sure there are other cameras out there that will do video much better and some would say the D90 is actually due for a revamp. Actually, with my luck next month they’ll discontinue it. But all that aside, I’m not a big video production guru, I’m just one guy exploring the online content game. We all have to start somewhere, right?

Right off the bat I noticed a couple of things that the D90 lacks. The biggest feature it is lacking for me would be the lack of external mic input. I like good sounding audio. If you remember I just did a post on how I get my clip on mic to produce good audio for my video camera. Now the only way I can produce that same quality audio, will be to record it on the Zoom H4n (affiliate) and then sync the video and audio on the computer. This causes too much work. Another downside, is the inability to auto-focus while recording. It’s all manual from here on out, and when dealing with motion, is difficult. The last downside that I noticed right away was the inability to change any setting while recording. I don’t really know why you’d want to change the ISO/Aperture/Exposure while recording, but you can’t. Actually I can see why this might me nice, but you can’t do it.

Although those are some serious turn offs, it still does a fairly decent job at recording video. Remember this still is a still image camera were talking about. One more point I think worth mentioning, is this may not be the greatest one person video camera. If you are wanting to produce videos of yourself, chances are you may want to get help from someone else setting up the camera. It is hard to be in two places at once.

I look forward to exploring more into this camera. I have always enjoyed photography, but it is only one of my many hobbies and honestly I never seem to give it enough time to learn. Hopefully I will be able to learn and try more over the next month as I travel through the prairies, mountain and foot-hills of Alberta and BC.

What do you think of the Nikon D90 or SLR’s that shoot video in general?

You mean to tell me you don’t know what Social Media is yet? Well chances are you are here because you want to learn. I came across this video thanks to Liz Hover. It will hopefully help you understand Social Media in 2 minutes.

If after the video you still don’t understand Social Media, give me a shout and maybe I can help.

Leo Laporte is considered the President of the Internet and is also the founder of the TWiT Network, so needless to say he has a fair amount of influence around the Internet. Well this morning he stirred up a bit of a commotion when he announced on his blog he was done Social Networking site.

What caused this sudden decision was the fact that none of his Buzz posts have been public since August 6, and more so, that no one even noticed, not even him. Those who follow Leo know he basically jumped off Twitter to join Buzz when Google first released it. He thought it was a robust platform for everything he needed.

Like most people who join Social Networks, Leo neglected his blog and only used these social platforms. He says in his blog post that, he was shouting into an echo chamber where no one could hear him, because everyone else was shouting at the same time. He goes on to say he should have been posting on his blog the whole time and he is glad to be back.

This is something I have always struggled with. Yes, it is great to connect, share, and socialize on these social platforms, but when it comes to getting out important thoughts, ideas, and information, those social platforms aren’t the best place. There are to many limits, other people, and no archive.

Think about it, when you say something on Twitter, how quickly does it go down your time-line, how many of your followers actually see it. With a blog you don’t get that, it is your time-line, the next post down is still yours. You can explore deeper into issues, ideas and opinions. You can share more and have a better conversation experience.

That’s not to say Twitter and the like are useless. Actually they are very useful for helping build a community around your blog. Everyday I realize how useful Twitter is, but I still think your blog should be you home on the Internet. A place where all those social networks connect back to, and place where all you ideas, thoughts and information leads back to.

Would you agree?

Yesterday I received my monthly copy of MacWorld Magazine. I flipped through it, but didn’t actually sit down and read it. Seems like it is becoming pointless to have the magazine even coming anymore, since by the time it gets to me it is all old news. But as I flipped through the pages I did notice one page. The page was featuring a couple different Social Apps, which is something I’m always interested in. As I looked a little closer I came across one app with a unpronounceable name, YoruFukurou, it is Japanese, but referred to as NighOwl in English. It was explained to me by one of my followers that it is pronounced, YoruFukurou: yoh-roo Foo-koo-roh-oo or just NighOwl

First Impression

I immediately downloaded the desktop client and fired it up. My first impression was that it had a very early edition Tweetie for Mac feel. One column with the ability to see replys, direct messages and a search. Although looking at the latest version of Tweetie I can see it is now very sleek-looking. I didn’t think I would come to like it, it looked to0 basic and plain.

Highly Customizable

I found out you really have to give YoruFukurou a chance and play around with it. Upon finding the Preferences panel, I discovered that this little app is highly customizable. One of it biggest features is the ability for tabs, by default it will have your timeline, mentions, and DMs. You can then add you favorite searches, with multiple keywords. You’ll also be able to create a filtered search or column.

Another feature I really like is how I am able to change the colour of certain types of updates. Normal updates from your followers can be one colour, while mentions can be another and your own updates another as well.

There are many more features and settings you can change to your liking. One more being what happens when you double-click an update. I have mine set to @reply that person as a way to quickly respond. The possibilities are almost endless.

Final Thoughts

I myself couldn’t always use this app, only because I manage multiple Twitter accounts and need to have an app that can support this. That being said, if you are a single account power user I think this app might be perfect for you. Don’t let the name put you off, go check out YoruFukurou.

Then once you have tried it, let me know what you think of it.