@JKevinParker

SharePoint 2013 Learning Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:50:00 +0000

Here are some SharePoint 2013 learning resources for our reference. At least, until someone at Microsoft moves these pages without redirects.

Planning for SharePoint 2013

Explore SharePoint 2013 (TechNet)
Plan for SharePoint 2013 (TechNet)
Technical diagrams for SharePoint 2013 (TechNet)

IT Pro Training for SharePoint 2013

Video demos and training for SharePoint 2013 (TechNet)
SharePoint 2013 training for IT pros (TechNet)

Development in SharePoint 2013

Develop for SharePoint 2013 (MSDN)
SharePoint 2013 training for developers (MSDN)

General Training for SharePoint 2013

Training courses for SharePoint 2013 (Office site)

Do you know of other good SharePoint 2013 learning resources from Microsoft? Leave me a comment!

Saving a SharePoint 2010 Site as a Template

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Fri, 03 May 2013 22:36:00 +0000

Perhaps the easiest way to create a standard site template for your organization's SharePoint 2010 solution is to build a site in the browser, get it just right, and save it as a template.

To save your configured site as a template, go to Site Settings and choose "Save site as template" under "Site Actions":

"Save site as template" in SharePoint 2010

This works great for a root site in a site collection. But when I try to do this for a subsite I created, I do not see "Save site as template":

"Save site as template" is missing

This is where it helps to know how SharePoint's URLs work and how to hack it a bit. Back on the Site Settings page for the Site Collection, I went to "Save site as template." Then I copied the portion of the URL after the site name:

/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx

Then I pasted it after the site name of my subsite like so:

http://mySPServer/managedPath/SiteCollection/Site/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx

And now I can save the subsite as a template:

Save as Template form

After you save the site template, you should get a confirmation with a link to the solution gallery:

Confirmation

You should now be able to save the WSP file from the solution gallery to import into Visual Studio if you want to customize it further. Or, you could upload the solution to other site collections to add this new site template.

Apple OS X Server Upgrade Update

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 20:33:00 +0000

In my last post, I ranted about Apple canceling my order for Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server without telling me, and how they said it could be another 6 weeks before I got my upgrade if it came at all. It did come almost immediately. It must have shipped shortly after my call to Apple.

Now, I have installed Snow Leopard Server only to find out that my Xserve model cannot be upgraded to Mountain Lion. I don't know why, since it has a quad-core Xeon processor. It looks like it could have been upgraded to Lion Server, but that no longer is available from the app store. So now I am stuck with Snow Leopard Server.

I am seriously considering blowing this away and going with FreeBSD.

At least now I can download a decent browser like Firefox.

Not cool, Apple.

Rant: Apple OS X Server Upgrade Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 19:56:00 +0000

[Update: I got my discs faster than I thought.]

<rant>I love Apple products. I am not a zealot like some, as I am a Microsoft SharePoint Architect and I often have projects going on Linux or BSD Unix as well. But since MacBook Pros started shipping with dual core Intel processors, I have really enjoyed the powerful, elegant, and almost hassle-free computing environment. My Windows 7 VM runs faster on my Mac inside Parallels than I have ever seen it run on a PC.

Apple Xserve

A few years back, I purchased an Apple Xserve 1U server for hosting client websites and web applications. I am since out of that business, but in the years I had this beast running in my colo, it was rock solid and worry-free. It's a bummer they don't make Xserves anymore.

After it sat in storage for more than a year, I had a new need for my Xserve. So I reinstalled OS X. I only had OS X 10.5.x (Leopard Server), but wanted to upgrade to Mountain Lion Server. The problem is that both Lion and Mountain Lion are only available through the Mac App Store. And the Mac App Store is only available on OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). Therefore, I would have to obtain a copy of Snow Leopard Server to upgrade it to Mountain Lion.

You cannot simply buy Snow Leopard Server in the Apple Store. Prices for legit copies on Ebay are ridiculous. But I was glad to find a forum post that said to call 1-800-MY-APPLE and order it over the phone for $19.99 plus shipping. Yay!

So I ordered the install media. They said it would take 6 weeks. Grrrr. But what choice did I have? So it has been 6 weeks. No media. I logged in to the Apple Store site to find out that my order had been canceled 2 days after I placed it. Why!?!

I called the Apple Store again. Evidently the demand has been so high and the supply so low that they could not fulfill the order, and they simply canceled it without telling me. Not cool, Apple. The sales guy was able to place the order again, and promised next-business-day shipping at no extra charge. The problem: The lead time is still 4-6 weeks. IF they can fulfill it this time.

So here I am: waiting again for an outdated operating system so I can install the latest operating system. I am not a happy camper. Really not cool, Apple. You should have provided a realistic upgrade path.</rant>

Using PowerShell for SharePoint 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Background

I have walked simultaneously in the worlds of Windows and Unix/Linux/Apple OS X for years. In *nix, I prefer BASH (GNU Bourne-Again SHell) for administration. However, until PowerShell, Windows had nothing that could really compare to Bash. Microsoft had shells: first the COMMAND.COM in MS-DOS/Windows 9x and cmd.exe in Windows NT, then Windows Script Host introduced with Windows 98. But these were severely limited, and you had to rely on a lot of manual labor in the GUI. This is a major reason why *nix admins generally have managed a lot more systems than have Windows admins, requiring companies with Windows servers to hire more admins. (Then there's the whole blue screen of death issue, but I digress…)

PowerShell changed all of that beginning (officially) with its release to the Web (RTW) in 2006. Like BASH and other *nix shells, PowerShell uses pipelines to pass the output of one command as the input to another. But unlike standard *nix pipelines, PowerShell employs an object pipeline, with data passed as fully-typed objects rather than simple character streams.

Overview

PowerShell can execute the following types of commands:

cmdlets ("command-lets"), which are single-feature commands that manipulate objects
PowerShell scripts (*.ps1 files)
PowerShell functions
standalone executable programs

PowerShell for SharePoint 2010

PowerShell for SharePoint 2010 gives you access to the entire SharePoint object model as well as the entire .NET framework. What I love most about it is the ability to write handy scripts to do repeatable actions (or to share with clients for their own use). This is handy to system administrators, but it is especially useful for someone like me, who is an architect with very little time to get their hands dirty.

SharePoint 2010 Management Shell

To work with SharePoint in PowerShell, you must register Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.dll inside PowerShell. If you use the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell shortcut on the server, this registration is automatic with an Add-PSSnapin command in the startup script. This shortcut should generally be "run as administrator."

Windows PowerShell ISE

But what if you want to write your own PowerShell functions and scripts within .ps1 files? You can use any text editor. But if you are writing serious scripts, you should use the Windows PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment). The only initial problem is that this tool does not automatically load Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.dll by default.

Using Windows PowerShell ISE for SharePoint Scripts

There are a few ways to make that happen. I use the following method{{ref|Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tomwis/archive/2010/01/05/enable-sharepoint-powershell-commandlets-in-the-powershell-ise.aspx}} to add the snap-in to my Windows PowerShell ISE profile:

Open the Windows PowerShell ISE.
Run the set of commands below by pasting them and pressing Enter.
Close Windows PowerShell ISE.
Reopen Windows PowerShell ISE.

Commands to Run in Windows PowerShell ISE

if (!(test-path $profile ))

{

new-item -type file -path $profile -force

}

$cmd = 'if((Get-PSSnapin | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell"}) -eq $null)

{

Add-PSSnapIn "Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell"

}'

out-file -FilePath $profile -InputObject $cmd -Append

Now whenever you open the Windows PowerShell ISE, you will be able to take full advantage of the SharePoint snap-in.

SharePoint PowerShell Resources

Windows PowerShell for SharePoint Server 2010 (TechNet)
Windows PowerShell for SharePoint Foundation 2010 (TechNet)
Windows PowerShell in the SharePoint Management Shell (MSDN)
Windows PowerShell for SharePoint Command Builder
Windows PowerShell Documentation on TechNet
Windows PowerShell Quick Reference (links to a downloadable .doc)

Happy scripting!

Web Template Reference for SharePoint Foundation 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 21:49:00 +0000

In my previous post, SharePoint 2010 Web Template Reference and Other Useful Stuff, I listed all of the OOTB Web Templates in SharePoint Server 2010 using a simple PowerShell command. For those who wonder what templates are available in the free SharePoint Foundation 2010, I ran the same command and got these results:

SharePoint Foundation 2010 Web Templates
Title	Name	Description
Global template	GLOBAL#0	This template is used for initializing a new site.
Team Site	STS#0	A site for teams to quickly organize, author, and share information. It provides a document library, and lists for managing announcements, calendar items, tasks, and discussions.
Blank Site	STS#1	A blank site for you to customize based on your requirements.
Document Workspace	STS#2	A site for colleagues to work together on a document. It provides a document library for storing the primary document and supporting files, a tasks list for assigning to-do items, and a links list for resources related to the document.
Basic Meeting Workspace	MPS#0	A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda, meeting attendees, and documents.
Blank Meeting Workspace	MPS#1	A blank meeting site for you to customize based on your requirements.
Decision Meeting Workspace	MPS#2	A site for meetings that track status or make decisions. It provides lists for creating tasks, storing documents, and recording decisions.
Social Meeting Workspace	MPS#3	A site to plan social occasions. It provides lists for tracking attendees, providing directions, and storing pictures of the event.
Multipage Meeting Workspace	MPS#4	A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda and meeting attendees in addition to two blank pages for you to customize based on your requirements.
Central Admin Site	CENTRALADMIN#0	A site for central administration. It provides Web pages and links for application and operations management.
Wiki Site	WIKI#0	A site for a community to brainstorm and share ideas. It provides Web pages that can be quickly edited to record information and then linked together through keywords
Blog	BLOG#0	A site for a person or team to post ideas, observations, and expertise that site visitors can comment on.
Group Work Site	SGS#0	This template provides a groupware solution that enables teams to create, organize, and share information quickly and easily. It includes Group Calendar, Circulation, Phone-Call Memo, the Document Library and the other basic lists.
Tenant Admin Site	TENANTADMIN#0	A site for tenant administration. It provides Web pages and links for self-serve administration.

To make things clearer, here is the list of Web Templates available in SharePoint Server 2010 but not in SharePoint Foundation 2010:

Web Templates Only in SharePoint Server 2010
Title	Name
Access Services Site	ACCSRV#0
Assets Web Database	ACCSRV#1
Charitable Contributions Web Database	ACCSRV#3
Contacts Web Database	ACCSRV#4
Issues Web Database	ACCSRV#6
Projects Web Database	ACCSRV#5
Document Center	BDR#0
Records Center	OFFILE#1
Shared Services Administration Site	OSRV#0
PowerPoint Broadcast Site	PowerPointBroadcast#0
PerformancePoint	PPSMASite#0
Business Intelligence Center	BICenterSite#0
SharePoint Portal Server Personal Space	SPSPERS#0
Personalization Site	SPSMSITE#0
Publishing Site	CMSPUBLISHING#0
Publishing Site	BLANKINTERNET#0
Press Releases Site	BLANKINTERNET#1
Publishing Site with Workflow	BLANKINTERNET#2
News Site	SPSNHOME#0
Site Directory	SPSSITES#0
Community area template	SPSCOMMU#0
Report Center	SPSREPORTCENTER#0
Collaboration Portal	SPSPORTAL#0
Enterprise Search Center	SRCHCEN#0
Profiles	PROFILES#0
Publishing Portal	BLANKINTERNETCONTAINER#0
My Site Host	SPSMSITEHOST#0
Enterprise Wiki	ENTERWIKI#0
Basic Search Center	SRCHCENTERLITE#0
Basic Search Center	SRCHCENTERLITE#1
FAST Search Center	SRCHCENTERFAST#0
Visio Process Repository	visprus#0
SharePoint Portal Server Site	SPS#0
Contents area Template	SPSTOC#0
Topic area template	SPSTOPIC#0
News Site	SPSNEWS#0
(obsolete) Records Center	OFFILE#0

SharePoint 2010 Web Template Reference and Other Useful Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:27:00 +0000

As a SharePoint Architect, I have to know a lot of stuff. Well, actually, I have to know how to quickly find the answers for a lot of stuff. There is just too much to know for one brain to store it all.

Particularly as an architect and principal management consultant, I must continue to be a Subject Matter Expert in several areas:

Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise Information Architecture
Windows Server and SharePoint Server Architecture
Data Architecture
Web Application Engineering
C#, ASP.NET, XML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery
IT Infrastructure
Usability, Accessibility, Findability
Etc., etc.

I keep a number of shortcuts to information handy (and plan to share in later posts). But today I stumbled on one I had to share at once.

I have looked many times for a good reference on out-of-the-box SharePoint Server 2010 Web Templates, and I have found a few here and there. But I always had to look again. No longer!

Today I have been working on getting information from SharePoint and exporting it to a .CSV file via PowerShell. (More on that in another post.) Then it dawned on me: I can do that with Web Templates as well!

So here is the command to get all of the Web Templates in your environment and export them to a reference file:

Get-SPWebTemplate | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPWebTemplates.csv -NoType

The -NoType flag at the end ensures you don't get this string in the first row (which bumps your column headings down):

#TYPE Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWebTemplate

After styling the output to be more readable and moving the obsolete templates to the bottom, I saved it to an .XLSX file. Here is the output:

SharePoint Server 2010 Web Templates
Title	Name	Description
Global template	GLOBAL#0	This template is used for initializing a new site.
Team Site	STS#0	A site for teams to quickly organize, author, and share information. It provides a document library, and lists for managing announcements, calendar items, tasks, and discussions.
Blank Site	STS#1	A blank site for you to customize based on your requirements.
Document Workspace	STS#2	A site for colleagues to work together on a document. It provides a document library for storing the primary document and supporting files, a tasks list for assigning to-do items, and a links list for resources related to the document.
Basic Meeting Workspace	MPS#0	A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda, meeting attendees, and documents.
Blank Meeting Workspace	MPS#1	A blank meeting site for you to customize based on your requirements.
Decision Meeting Workspace	MPS#2	A site for meetings that track status or make decisions. It provides lists for creating tasks, storing documents, and recording decisions.
Social Meeting Workspace	MPS#3	A site to plan social occasions. It provides lists for tracking attendees, providing directions, and storing pictures of the event.
Multipage Meeting Workspace	MPS#4	A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda and meeting attendees in addition to two blank pages for you to customize based on your requirements.
Central Admin Site	CENTRALADMIN#0	A site for central administration. It provides Web pages and links for application and operations management.
Wiki Site	WIKI#0	A site for a community to brainstorm and share ideas. It provides Web pages that can be quickly edited to record information and then linked together through keywords
Blog	BLOG#0	A site for a person or team to post ideas, observations, and expertise that site visitors can comment on.
Group Work Site	SGS#0	This template provides a groupware solution that enables teams to create, organize, and share information quickly and easily. It includes Group Calendar, Circulation, Phone-Call Memo, the Document Library and the other basic lists.
Tenant Admin Site	TENANTADMIN#0	A site for tenant administration. It provides Web pages and links for self-serve administration.
Access Services Site	ACCSRV#0	Microsoft Access Server
Assets Web Database	ACCSRV#1	Create an assets database to keep track of assets, including asset details and owners.
Charitable Contributions Web Database	ACCSRV#3	Create a database to track information about fundraising campaigns including donations made by contributors, campaign related events, and pending tasks.
Contacts Web Database	ACCSRV#4	Create a contacts database to manage information about people that your team works with, such as customers and partners.
Issues Web Database	ACCSRV#6	Create an issues database to manage a set of issues or problems. You can assign, prioritize, and follow the progress of issues from start to finish.
Projects Web Database	ACCSRV#5	Create a project tracking database to track multiple projects, and assign tasks to different people.
Document Center	BDR#0	A site to centrally manage documents in your enterprise.
Records Center	OFFILE#1	This template creates a site designed for records management. Records managers can configure the routing table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or modified after they are added to the repository.
Shared Services Administration Site	OSRV#0	This template creates a site for administering shared services
PowerPoint Broadcast Site	PowerPointBroadcast#0	A site used for hosting PowerPoint broadcasts. Presenters can connect to this site and create a link for remote viewers to watch a slide show in a web browser.
PerformancePoint	PPSMASite#0	A site for presenting PerformancePoint dashboards and scorecards. The site also includes links to PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer and storage for dashboard content such as analytic charts, reports, KPIs, and strategy maps.
Business Intelligence Center	BICenterSite#0	A site for presenting Business Intelligence Center.
SharePoint Portal Server Personal Space	SPSPERS#0	This web template defines a Personal Space for an individual participating on a SharePoint Portal.
Personalization Site	SPSMSITE#0	A site for delivering personalized views, data, and navigation from this site collection into My Site. It includes personalization specific Web Parts and navigation that is optimized for My Site sites.
Publishing Site	CMSPUBLISHING#0	A blank site for expanding your Web site and quickly publishing Web pages. Contributors can work on draft versions of pages and publish them to make them visible to readers. The site includes document and image libraries for storing Web publishing assets.
Publishing Site	BLANKINTERNET#0	This template creates a site for publishing Web pages on a schedule, with workflow features enabled. By default, only Publishing subsites can be created under this site. A Document and Picture Library are included for storing Web publishing assets.
Press Releases Site	BLANKINTERNET#1	This template creates the Press Releases subsite for an Internet-facing corporate presence website.
Publishing Site with Workflow	BLANKINTERNET#2	A site for publishing Web pages on a schedule by using approval workflows. It includes document and image libraries for storing Web publishing assets. By default, only sites with this template can be created under this site.
News Site	SPSNHOME#0	A site for publishing news articles and links to news articles. It includes a sample news page and an archive for storing older news items.
Site Directory	SPSSITES#0	A site for listing and categorizing important sites in your organization. It includes different views for categorized sites, top sites, and a site map.
Community area template	SPSCOMMU#0	This template is obsolete.
Report Center	SPSREPORTCENTER#0	A site for creating, managing, and delivering Web pages, dashboards, and key performance indicators that communicate metrics, goals, and business intelligence information.
Collaboration Portal	SPSPORTAL#0	A starter site hierarchy for an intranet divisional portal. It includes a home page, a News site, a Site Directory, a Document Center, and a Search Center with Tabs. Typically, this site has nearly as many contributors as readers and is used to host team sites.
Enterprise Search Center	SRCHCEN#0	A site for delivering the search experience. The welcome page includes a search box with two tabs: one for general searches, and another for searches for information about people. You can add and customize tabs to focus on other search scopes or result types.
Profiles	PROFILES#0	This template creates a profile site that includes page layout with zones
Publishing Portal	BLANKINTERNETCONTAINER#0	A starter site hierarchy for an Internet-facing site or a large intranet portal. This site can be customized easily with distinctive branding. It includes a home page, a sample press releases subsite, a Search Center, and a login page. Typically, this site has many more readers than contributors, and it is used to publish Web pages with approval workflows.
My Site Host	SPSMSITEHOST#0	A site used for hosting personal sites (My Sites) and the public People Profile page. This template needs to be provisioned only once per User Profile Service Application, please consult the documentation for details.
Enterprise Wiki	ENTERWIKI#0	A site for publishing knowledge that you capture and want to share across the enterprise. It provides an easy content editing experience in a single location for co-authoring content, discussions, and project management.
Basic Search Center	SRCHCENTERLITE#0	A site for delivering the search experience. The site includes pages for search results and advanced searches.
Basic Search Center	SRCHCENTERLITE#1	The Search Center template creates pages dedicated to search. The main welcome page features a simple search box in the center of the page. The template includes a search results and an advanced search page. This Search Center will not appear in navigation.
FAST Search Center	SRCHCENTERFAST#0	A site for delivering the FAST search experience. The welcome page includes a search box with two tabs: one for general searches, and another for searches for information about people. You can add and customize tabs to focus on other search scopes or result types.
Visio Process Repository	visprus#0	A site for teams to quickly view, share, and store Visio process diagrams. It provides a versioned document library for storing process diagrams, and lists for managing announcements, tasks, and review discussions.
SharePoint Portal Server Site	SPS#0	This template is obsolete.
Contents area Template	SPSTOC#0	This template is obsolete.
Topic area template	SPSTOPIC#0	This template is obsolete.
News Site	SPSNEWS#0	This template is obsolete.
(obsolete) Records Center	OFFILE#0	(obsolete) This template creates a site designed for records management. Records managers can configure the routing table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or modified after they are added to the repository.

Of course, that is just three columns. The command actually returns all of these columns:

LocaleId
Custom
Lcid
ID
Title
Name
IsUnique
IsHidden
Description
ImageUrl
IsCustomTemplate
ProvisionAssembly
ProvisionClass
ProvisionData
IsRootWebOnly
IsSubWebOnly
FilterCategories
DisplayCategory
AllowGlobalFeatureAssociations
VisibilityFeatureDependencyId
SupportsMultilingualUI

So what other super duper useful references could I generate this way? Let's try a few:

Get-SPWebApplication | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPWebApplications.csv -NoType
Get-SPServiceApplication | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPServiceApplications.csv -NoType
Get-SPSolution | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPSolutions.csv -NoType
Get-SPFeature | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPFeatures.csv -NoType
Get-SPHealthAnalysisRule | Export-CSV C:\temp\SPHealthAnalysisRules.csv -NoType

Try these and see all the detail you get! Unlike the OOTB WebTemplates I listed, these commands are very specific to your environment.

Fixing the People Search Box in SharePoint 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:02:00 +0000

There are (at least) two CSS issues with the People Search web parts in SharePoint 2010 OOTB (out-of-the-box). Luckily, these are fairly easy to fix. I have run across other bloggers who use way too much CSS for this. What I provide here is lean and should be bulletproof.

The Issues

First, the search box font size is entirely too small:

People Search Box

Next, the background element for "Search Options" does not expand to contain the search options form (notice also that the font size is too small for the labels):

People Search Box with Search Options

The font size issue is the result of too many nested elements with the style "font-size: .7em;" applied and is a problem with the SharePoint code files themselves.

The background issue with Search Options is because that element is not properly floated. Its child element (the form table) is floated, but modern browsers require the wrapping element to be floated as well. This is called "float to fix" in CSS Web Standards parlance.

The Fix

If you are doing any branding with your SharePoint 2010 environment at all, you should be using an external CSS file that is referenced in your master page. If you are not, then this solution will work equally well inside your master page's <head/> section inside a <style/> block.

This is the CSS code you need:

/* Fix People Search Web Part font size */

.ms-sbtablealt {

    font-size: 8pt;

}

/* Fix People Search Options wrapper */

.ms-sbtablealt .psrch-OptionsContainer {

    float: left;

}

.ms-sbtablealt .psrch-OptionsContainer .psrch-OptionsLayoutTable {

    margin-right: 0;

}

Once these CSS rules have been applied, your People Search input field and Search Options will be fixed:

Fixed People Search Box

Fixed Search Options

Accessing Site Settings in SharePoint 2010 My Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:16:00 +0000

I was recently helping a client enterprise with their SharePoint 2010 branding, which included some changes to their My Site master page. Working on a VM in our cloud development environment, I went to the My Sites application, but did not see the "Site Actions" link I was expecting.

Where is the Site Actions menu?

I had seen and used this before, but I evidently did not have the right permissions in this environment. I was a farm administrator. I tried configuring My Sites settings in Central Administration through the User Profile Service application. No dice.

Finally I stumbled across the answer:

Go to Central Administration.
Go to Manage Web Applications.
Click your MySite Host application to select it.
Click "User Policy" from the ribbon.
Add your account with "Full Control" permissions. I chose "All zones," but you can be specific if you need to be.

Edit your MySite Host's User Policy

Add your account with Full Control

Policies with my account added

After this, I was able to go back to my profile in My Sites and access the "Site Actions" menu with "Site Settings."

Site Actions is now available!

Site Actions menu with Site Settings

Now I was able to get to the Master Page and other settings.

SharePoint 2010 CSS Reference Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Check out the SharePoint 2010 CSS Reference Chart from Heather Solomon. It is a great tool for anyone doing branding and user interface design for SharePoint 2010.

Dilbert on Gathering Requirements

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 21:54:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite Dilbert cartoons about gathering requirements:

The Star Wars Pointer Scene and Information Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 02:26:00 +0000

Have you ever noticed that a lot of movies that win the accolades of film critics are often difficult to follow? Many of them do poorly at the box office. But why is this so if they are so "good" according to the experts?

One of the key reasons for the success of the Star Wars films is George Lucas' ability to tell a compelling story in a way the masses can understand. The experts often don't think these stories are that sophisticated. But what really matters is that people can grasp and even identify with the story. This is what I call "understandability."

understandability—the degree to which information is easily understood by the intended audience.

We are going somewhere with this post. First we'll look at why understandability matters, then what the pointer scene is, and finally how we apply it to information architecture.

Why understandability matters

So what does it really mean to be "sophisticated"?

In antiquity, a sophist was a teacher (the term comes from the Greek word sophia, meaning "wisdom"). Over time, the sophists became more interested in how cleverly expert they sounded than in the soundness of their teachings (or whether they believed their own arguments). They were the world's first lawyers, after all.

sophist—a teacher or lawyer in ancient times.

The authors of the books that constitute the Christian New Testament penned their writings in common language. They used Koine ("common") Greek, the lingua franca of the first century, instead of the more "sophisticated" Attic Greek. The Bible was later translated into Latin, and the widely used version was the Vulgate (which also means "common"). Unfortunately, the Bible was frozen in that form for centuries after its language became "uncommon" for the vast majority of people who sought to live by it.

accessibility—the degree to which information is accessible by as many people as possible.
usability—the degree to which information and information formats are easily usable and learnable.

One of the major issues of the Protestant Reformation was the desire to translate the Bible into the common languages of the people (German, for example). This could allow them to read the story for themselves rather than relying on the sophists of their day to interpret it for them. This dream was made a reality by a major innovation in technology known as the printing press, which allowed mass distribution of the Bible and other books for the first time in history. The Bible's content suddenly became accessible and usable by common people everywhere. Again. While theological understandability is the subject of much debate, the fact remains that the authors intended their content to be understood by their audiences.

The Bible itself addresses the issue of sophists that complicate things with their "wisdom":

ποῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; ποῦ συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; οὐχὶ ἐμώρανεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου;

You're probably saying to yourself "That's all Greek to me!" And you'd be right, of course. It is Greek. But that's often how our "sophisticated" information architectures look to our audiences. So let me translate the passage to make it more understandable:

Where is the sophist? Where is the scholar? Where is the great debater of this generation? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

This text is 1 Corinthians 1:20. (Read this passage in context at YouVersion, which does an outstanding job of bringing the ancient text to common people via modern technology innovation and information architecture best practices.)

The sophists of today still use their insider terminology and clever rhetoric to keep unsophisticated people out. But often it is more desirable to be understood than to be sophisticated. Mark Twain penned a pertinent statement about his own choice to be understood by the masses:

My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. Everybody drinks water.

So books and movies that are both engaging and not too difficult to follow generally enjoy wider audience acceptance. The same is often true of popular songs. Compare the success of songs with simple choruses, four chords, and a bridge to those that are very cerebral and complex. If you can't dance to it, it's probably only playing in a niche coffee haus in the arts district, where the sophists who hate Star Wars hang out.

The Pointer Scene

Pointer Scene from Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

George Lucas employs what he calls "the pointer scene" in the Star Wars films as one of his techniques for helping his audience connect to the story. In the Director's Commentary on Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (the "Digitally Remastered" edition), Lucas gives this explanation of the briefing room scene that is about 1/3 of the way through the movie:

This briefing room scene is what we call 'the pointer scene.' The pointer scene is where you sit down and tell the audience all the things that have to happen or are going to happen in the rest of the movie so they can follow the plot. You know, 'We have to go to the castle. This is the way we get to the castle. These are the dangers that we have to overcome, and then there's the prize at the end.' And there is in almost every movie a pointer scene where everybody sits down and says 'This is what's going to happen.' And in some scenes it's just very blatant. You know, they have a chalk board and a pointer and they draw a diagram and say 'This is what we have to do.'

Applying the principle to Information Architecture

So what does the pointer scene have to do with Information Architecture? The answer is the title of Steve Krug's popular usability book: Don't Make Me Think. And it applies to more than the user experience on the interface side—it applies to your entire enterprise information architecture from the organization of repositories to metadata management to business processes to faceted search. Along the way, your audience needs to have a clear picture of where they are going and how to get there.

findability—the degree to which information can be easily found.

Contrary to what sophists practice, information can be both highly understandable and very artfully presented. Let's face it: busy user interfaces, poor readability, too many unclear choices, and lack of findability really suck. But a clear path to victory is very rewarding.

Applications

Don't make me think about how clever you think you are. Information architecture should help your audience connect to content in ways that are clearly understandable.
Don't make me think about where to go next. Information architecture should offer "pointers" or signs along the way to help your audience get where they are supposed to be headed.
Don't make me think about your information architecture. Information architecture should be so natural that the audience is not aware of it at all.
Don't make me think about your lack of information architecture. If there is no information architecture guiding people to the right information, your audience will be painfully aware of its absence.
Don't make me think about what I should remember from page to page. Don't be afraid of well-placed repetition in your information architecture. Movie refrains like "I've got a bad feeling about this" and "Use the force, Luke" are very memorable, yet repeated to give the audience context. Likewise, repeat clear statements throughout your information environment to give your audience context. Unlike those sophisticated writing courses, you gain points for repeating the same simple phrases the exact same ways over and over.

Conclusion

So be understandable. Don't make me think. And remember, the force (of good information architecture) will be with you, always.

Word Cloud: ECM Glossary

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 03:53:00 +0000

I created an ECM Glossary word cloud at www.wordle.net, built from AIIM's main ECM Glossary page:

Word Cloud: Information Architecture Taxonomy

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 03:36:00 +0000

I created an Information Architecture Taxonomy word cloud at www.wordle.net, built from the Information Architecture Taxonomy available at www.iainstitute.org:

Updating the Site URL Property of Your SharePoint Development Project

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:15:00 +0000

I admit my Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint development skills are a little rusty. After all, I have spent the last year or so engaged solely in SharePoint and information architecture planning. But that doesn't take away from the fact that SharePoint and Visual Studio development can be more than a little kludgy.

When attempting to deploy one of my new projects to my SharePoint server, I received this error message:

Error occurred in deployment step 'Recycle IIS Application Pool': Cannot connect to the SharePoint site. If you moved this project to a new computer or if the URL of the SharePoint site has changed since you created the project, update the Site URL property of the project.

This is one of the more descriptive error messages I've encountered in SharePoint development. It seemed easy enough, so I right-clicked my project in Solution Explorer and clicked "Properties." (You can get to the same place by choosing "Properties" from the "Project" menu.) That brought up the following:

I clicked through all the tabs several times, and nowhere did I find a way to view or edit the "Site URL" property. I even tried editing the solution's properties. I was in the wrong place.

It turns out I was looking at the "Properties Page." I needed the "Properties Window." Why are some properties in a "page" and some in a "window," and why can't the error message specify the "Site URL property (from the Properties Window) of the project"?

According to MSDN's "Developing SharePoint Solutions" article,

SharePoint projects, just like other Visual Studio projects, display properties in the Properties window and the Properties Page. The properties that are displayed depend on the node that is selected.

The article then lists the different properties that are displayed for projects, project items, and project item files. But it neglects to tell us whether the properties in those lists can be found in the "Properties Window" or the "Properties Page."

Evidently the "Properties Window" in Visual Studio is used to "view and change the design-time properties and events of selected objects…" Well THAT sure clears it up.

When you go to the "View" menu, you will see both the "Properties Page" and the "Properties Window" (which is where the "Site URL" property is hidden):

And now you can see and edit your project's "Site URL" field:

SharePoint Server 2010 Web Parts: Cheat Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:16:00 +0000

After I posted the list of out-of-the-box Web parts for SharePoint Server 2010, I created a two-page, downloadable cheat sheet. Download the PDF document free below. Enjoy!

Download the free SharePoint Server 2010 Web Parts: Cheat Sheet in PDF format.

SharePoint 2010 Out-of-the-Box Web Parts

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Tue, 29 May 2012 01:31:00 +0000

Update: I created a downloadable cheat sheet for this list in a later post.

This posts lists and describes most of the SharePoint Server 2010 out-of-the-box Web parts, organized by categories. Not all of these Web parts are available to every site. Also note that lists or libraries created on the site will add new options to the "Lists and Libraries" category (hence the name).

List and Libraries

Announcements — Use this list to track upcoming events, status updates or other team news.
Calendar — Use the Calendar list to keep informed of upcoming meetings, deadlines, and other important events.
Links — Use the Links list for links to Web pages that your team members will find interesting or useful.
Shared Documents — Share a document with the team by adding it to this document library.
Site Assets — Use this library to store files which are included on pages within this site, such as images on Wiki pages.
Site Pages — Use this library to create and store pages on this site.
Tasks — Use the Tasks list to keep track of work that you or your team needs to complete.
Team Discussions — Use the Team Discussion list to hold newsgroup-style discussions on topics relevant to your team.

Business Data

Business Data Actions — Displays a list of actions from Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data Connectivity Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from the Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data Item — Displays one item from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data Item Builder — Creates a Business Data item from parameters in the query string and provides it to other Web Parts.
Business Data List — Displays a list of items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data Related List — Displays a list of items related to one or more parent items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Chart Web Part — Helps you to visualize your data on SharePoint sites and portals.
Excel Web Access — Use the Excel Web Access Web Part to interact with an Excel workbook as a Web page.
Indicator Details — Displays the details of a single Status Indicator. Status Indicators display an important measure for an organization and may be obtained from other data sources including SharePoint lists, Excel workbooks, and SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services KPIs.
Status Lists — Shows a list of Status Indicators. Status Indicators display important measures for your organization, and show how your organization is performing with respect to your goals.
Visio Web Access — Enables viewing and refreshing of Visio Web Drawings.

Content Rollup

Categories — Displays categories from the Site Directory.
Content Query — Displays a dynamic view of content from your site.
Relevant Documents — Displays documents that are relevant to the current user.
RSS Viewer — Displays an RSS feed.
Site Aggregator — Displays sites of your choice.
Sites In Category — Displays sites from the Site Directory within a specific category.
Summary Links — Allows authors to create links that can be grouped and styled.
Table Of Contents — Displays the navigation hierarchy of your site.
Web Analytics web Part — Displays the most viewed content, most frequent search queries from a site, or most frequent search queries from a search center.
WSRP Viewer — Displays portlets from web sites using WSRP 1.1.
XML Viewer — Transforms XML data using XSL and shows the results.

Document Sets

Document Set Contents — Displays the contents of the Document Set.
Document Set Properties — Displays the properties of the Document Set.

Filters

Choice Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values entered by the page author.
Current User Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts by using properties of the current user.
Date Filter — Filter the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter or pick a date.
Filter Actions — Use the Filter Actions Web Part when you have two or more filter Web Parts on one Web Part Page, and you want to synchronize the display of the filter results.
Page Field Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts using information about the current page.
Query String (URL) Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts using values passed via the query string.
SharePoint List Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts by using a list of values.
SQL Server Analysis Services Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from SQL Server Analysis Services cubes.
Text Filter — Filters the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter a text value.

Forms

HTML Form Web Part — Connects simple form controls to other Web Parts.
InfoPath Form Web Part — Use this Web Part to display an InfoPath browser-enabled form.

Media and Content

Content Editor — Allows authors to enter rich text content.
Image Viewer — Displays a specified image.
Media Web Part — Use to embed media clips (video and audio) in a web page.
Page Viewer — Displays another Web page on this Web page. The other Web page is presented in an IFrame.
Picture Library Slideshow Web Part — Use to display a slideshow of images and photos from a picture library.
Silverlight Web part — A web part to display a Silverlight application.

Outlook Web App

My Calendar — Displays your calendar using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
My Contacts — Displays your contacts using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
My Inbox — Displays your inbox using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
My Mail Folder — Displays your mail folder using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2000.
My Tasks — Displays your tasks using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.

PerformancePoint

PerformancePoint Filter — This web part displays PerformancePoint filters. Filters may be linked to other web parts to provide an interactive dashboard experience. Filter types include lists and trees based on a variety of data sources.
PerformancePoint Report — This web part displays PerformancePoint reports. Reports may be linked to other web parts to create an interactive dashboard experience. Report types include: Analytic charts & grids, Strategy Maps, Excel Services, Reporting Services, Predictive Trend charts, and web pages.
PerformancePoint Scorecard — This web part displays a PerformancePoint scorecard. Scorecards may be linked to other web parts, such as filters and reports, to create an interactive dashboard experience.
PerformancePoint Stack Selector — This web part displays a PerformancePoint Stack Selector. All PerformancePoint web parts, such as filters and reports, contained in the same zone will be automatically stacked and selectable using this web part.

Search

Advanced Search Box — Displays parameterized search options based on properties and combinations of words.
Dual Chinese Search — Used to search Dual Chinese document and items at the same time.
Federated Results — Displays search results from a configured location.
People Refinement Panel — This webpart helps the users to refine people search results.
People Search Box — Presents a search box that allows users to search for people.
People Search Core Results — Displays the people search results and the properties associated with them.
Refinement Panel — This webpart helps the users to refine search results.
Related Queries — This webpart displays related queries to a user query.
Search Action Link — Displays the search action links on the search results page.
Search Best Bet — Displays high-confidence results on a search results page.
Search Box — Displays a search box that allows users to search for information.
Search Core Results — Displays the search results and the properties associated with them.
Search Paging — Display links for navigating pages containing search results.
Search Statistics — Displays the search statistics such as the number of results shown on the current page, total number of results and time taken to perform the search.
Search Summary — Displays suggestions for current search query.
Search Visual Best Bet — Displays Visual Best Bet.
Top Federated Results — Displays the Top Federated result from the configured location.

Social Collaboration

Contact Details — Displays details about a contact for this page or site.
Note Board — Enable users to leave short, publicly-viewable notes about this page.
Organization Browser — This Web Part displays each person in the reporting chain in an interactive view optimized for browsing organization charts.
Site Users — Use the Site Users Web Part to see a list of the site users and their online status.
Tag Cloud — Displays the most popular subjects being tagged inside your organization.
User Tasks — Displays tasks that are assigned to the current user.
What’s New — This Web part shows new information from specified lists and libraries.
Whereabouts — Use to display Whereabouts information.

Exporting and Importing a SharePoint 2010 Site

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:21:00 +0000

This is a quick post to document two important PowerShell cmdlets for exporting and importing individual SharePoint sites. These cmdlets are listed on this parent TechNet page for SharePoint Server 2010, as well as this TechNet page for SharePoint Foundation 2010. However, on both of these pages, the descriptions are inaccurate. Today, I submitted feedback on both pages to suggest corrections as follows.

The following PowerShell cmdlets can be used for exporting and importing a SharePoint site:

Export-SPWeb — Exports a site, list, or library.
Import-SPWeb — Imports a web, list, or library.

Note: In SharePoint documentation and development, some terms are very confusing after several generations of the product. In the following list, the first term is what a cmdlet or other object may be named, while the second term is the actual current SharePoint term to which it refers:

"Web" = "Site"
"Site" = "Site Collection"
"Web Application" = "Web Application" (usually; this one seems fairly consistent.)

So, for instance, you might think that the Move-SPSite cmdlet could be used to move a SharePoint site, but you would be wrong. Move-SPSite is used to move a site collection from one content database to another. Confusing? Yes. So much so that the TechNet authors who created the pages listed above confused "SharePoint site" with "Site Collections" and "Web Applications."

CIP

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:35:00 +0000

After a lot of good feedback and hard work, the folks at AIIM have re-branded the "information certification" as the "Certified Information Professional" (CIP). This is an excellent improvement, and will help in communicating the purpose and importance of this program and designation to a wider audience.

I have updated my earlier post about me earning the certification.

Every information management professional and information architect should become a Certified Information Professional. Experienced pros can quickly identify and fill knowledge gaps, while newcomers have a solid learning path to become an information subject matter expert. Earning the CIP designation demonstrates to your organization and clients that you are a valuable resource for their enterprise information initiatives.

Learn more about the Certified Information Professional.

Certified Information Professional

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:03:00 +0000

I am a Certified Information Professional. I just passed the proctored exam and received my CIP Examination Score Report. In a few weeks I should have access to the official logo and credentials.

While for obvious reasons test takers cannot retain a copy of any questions answered incorrectly (or otherwise), this Score Report shows the percentage correct for each section. That's very helpful, in my opinion, because now I'm motivated to review the concepts in one of the sections in particular. (Cue the handy youtube videos!) I want to be as strong in that section as in the others.

If you are an information worker, architect, manager, or executive, you should strongly consider becoming a Certified Information Professional. And while you're at it, check out the fabulous certificate programs and training essentials AIIM offers.

New Certified Information Professional

Enterprise Search: AIIM's Information Certification Training

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:58:00 +0000

The following playlist includes videos from AIIM's Information Certification training on Enterprise Search posted to their YouTube channel.

AIIM's Information Certification

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:10:00 +0000

AIIM now offers the new Information Certification. According to the AIIM Web site,

The new Information certification demonstrates your ability to solve an organization's existing information-related problems as well as plan for the future.

The objectives outlined for the certification are as follows:

Certified information professionals contribute to the success of their organizations by helping address the following kinds of information management challenges (both on-premises and in the cloud):

Ensure information is dynamically delivered to staff and customers via websites, mobile, and social media

Improve information sharing and collaboration by leveraging virtual collaboration solutions, social networks, and existing and emerging communications technologies

Improve enterprise search and access to information across organizational and technology boundaries

Continuously analyze information to identify new business opportunities and improvements

Ensure appropriate information security and privacy controls across systems and platforms to protect the organization and its staff

Manage information and records regardless of format or location to meet regulatory compliance and e-discovery readiness requirements

Streamline and automate information intensive processes across systems and platforms to improve efficiency and reduce costs

The information professional should also be able to bridge the increasing gap between enterprise IT and business executives that currently exist in many organizations. The information professional should be able to effectively communicate and facilitate; establish consistent project/program management; research user experience / user customization; demonstrate technical and analytical skills; and engage in IT architecture/technology planning (source: Forrester Research, Nov 17, 2010).

This is what I've been doing for a long time now—I'm scheduling my exam right away!

Get more information:

Government IT Reform

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:01:00 +0000

I'm currently working through the White House's 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management. I want to quickly highlight the first paragraph of that document so that you will understand why I am so passionate about helping Uncle Sam make major improvements:

Information technology should enable government to better serve the American people. But despite spending more than $600 billion on information technology over the past decade, the Federal Government has achieved little of the productivity improvements that private industry has realized from IT. Too often, Federal IT projects run over budget, behind schedule, or fail to deliver promised functionality. Many projects use “grand design” approaches that aim to deliver functionality every few years, rather than breaking projects into more manageable chunks and demanding new functionality every few quarters. In addition, the Federal Government too often relies on large, custom, proprietary systems when “light technologies” or shared services exist.

Wow—$600 billion dollars in 10 years spent on an enormous growing digital landfill. Thankfully, there are some good folks in DC driving reform. I'm thankful to be a SharePoint Architect/ECM Architect here helping lead one of the agencies in their implementation of these reforms.

I'm working hard for the American people, and yet you won't have to endure even one campaign ad featuring me come election time!

Washington, D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:59:00 +0000

I have begun my new job in Washington, D.C. as a SharePoint Architect. I'm working with the Department of Labor to plan out a SharePoint deployment for ECM, ERM, and Government 2.0 within one of their agencies. It's really exciting stuff!

The first day that I walked through the streets of the District, I was struck by the fact that their buildings are all only about 13-14 stories tall. "What is that about?" I asked my coworker, who was walking with me between buildings. He quoted a popular theory, that by law the buildings cannot be taller than the Washington Monument.

I apprectiated his insight, but I'm always very curious and like to back up my sources. It's a good thing, too, because according to Wikipedia and its sources, there has never been a law restricting building height to that of the Washington Monument. Rather, according to the amended Heights of Buildings Act, buildings cannot be higher than the width of their adjacent street plus 20 feet. That is one reason cited for the expensive housing situation in DC. And that is part of why close to half the people who work here live in Virginia or Maryland.

I have now walked some of K Street, and have been a block from the White House and the Capitol Building, but still haven't had time to actually go see these famous buildings. I'm looking forward to it, though, and all the rest of what this awesome city has to offer!

Twitter Tidings: How Twitter Became Useful

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Parker) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 02:21:00 +0000

Back when blogging began, I scoffed, and said it wouldn't last. It seemed that blogging = bloviating. Why would anyone want to read about Samantha's average trip to the market? And comment? Yeah right! But my darling wife insisted that there was value in the medium, and she began blogging on a number of topics.

Obviously, I admit she was right (try not to faint, wife). Hence the blog you're reading right now.

I've been on Twitter for a while now, but I was not an instant convert to this medium, either. Again, my wife was an early adopter, but I could not for the life of me figure out why I would want to be on yet another social networking site, telling everyone about my day in 140 characters. After all, Facebook already did that for me, and I hardly used it. I was not alone in thinking that Twitter was twaddle where people prate perpetually.

I am a social scientist. I have observed as blogging became useful. Sure, there are tons of useless blogs, but there are gobs of good blogs that are focused and have built an audience. And people have different ways of utilizing the great content. In my case, when I'm developing software or investigating ECM topics, I type a specific problem I'm facing into my browser's Google search box, and presto: I find lots of blog posts from around the world that deal with my exact issue.

Maybe we should give credit for the massive success of Google as a tool to the content creators. After all, if we weren't all out here cranking out content, Google would have very little to index. Ain't the Web wonderful!?!

But I digress: This is about Twitter.

Twitter and other social media networks have evolved into very useful tools. The market place found interesting and useful ways to use Twitter to announce breaking news, product updates, and even (gasp) blog posts. When I see people whom I follow endorsing a resource, I'm interested. And when they easily put the link right in front of my face, my chances of actually going there increase exponentially.

Twitter has soared in popularity. Jimmy Fallon has a regular bit on his show where he introduces a hashtag and invites others to tweet something funny using it. In this way, Twitter has effectively brought social networking and collaboration to television, which has been traditionally a one-way medium.

And I won't even go into how one particular Congressman used Twitter to commit political suicide.

One thing I really love (and actually predicted correctly!) is being able to connect all my social networks with little effort. When I post an update to my LinkedIn network, it automatically tenders a tweet, which also posts a status on Facebook. That's a streamlined business process!

So here's a prediction: Google+ will be super, and tons of people will flock to it. And it will flourish. But it will not replace Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. Rather, smart people will link all these networks up (together with their blogs and YouTube friends and Flikr, etc.) so that people in all their circles can keep up with them however they choose. Linking the tools together makes it easy to remain consistent with your public (and private) persona.

So what is the real value of social media like Twitter and Facebook? One benefit is meeting like-minded people, some of whom will influence me, and some of whom I will influence. But the real value of social media—in my humble opinion—is connecting with people you already know so you can be more in touch with their lives. This includes both professional contacts and personal friends and family.

So if you can't tell, I'm a big Twitter fan. It is exciting to me when authors of books I've read, national leaders, and news outlets follow me. Suddenly, I have a voice! Since Twitter following is a variation of a free market system, I have to continue to keep my followers interested with my quips and news, and they have to do the same. So let's connect! (as long as you are a real person and don't spam me!)