Toluu : the x degree: exploring and redefining multimedia storytelling

the x degree: exploring and redefining multimedia storytelling

Here are some good reads on using/creating communities on social networking sites:

>> Who rules the roost: MySpace may still top the social networking sites, according the Nielsen, but LinkedIn is the runaway winner last month with a 319% growth year-over-year. Wowzers. That’s quite a success story.

>> Kids are consumers, too: Is your brand engaging teens & tweens (9-17 year olds) on social networks? It better, because nearly half of these kids are likely to seek out and interact with advertiser brands, according to an Alloy Media + Marketing whitepaper.

What this means most to me is that it could be point to how marketing and information sharing/consumption will change and grow in the next few years with these kids.

Looking from the outside inApril 27

I’ve been away from the newsroom for only two months, and I feel my news consumption has changed considerably.

For some background: I was an online news producer for eight years. During that time, I covered entertainment, travel and breaking news. I helped out with the sports and money sections as needed. I focused on online community development and then, specifically, multimedia. I’ve worked for large and small papers.

And I loved what I did because I loved being a part of a community. Serving their need to know what’s going on around the world and in their towns and their need to be educated about how what’s happening affects their lives.

I was a news junkie. I consumed news reports as much as I produced them.

Of course, I read the site I worked for daily, and I subscribed to the print edition.

I knew all of the breaking news updates that happened — every single day.

I supplemented my local news updates by reading the national newspaper and cable TV news Web sites.

I used an RSS reader to keep up with blogs and news sites.

I used del.icio.us all the time to keep up with blogs and news sites.

I “played” with content and sought out video, interactive graphics and special reports by newspapers — not just in my local area, but around the world.

I watched cable and network TV in the morning, evening and weekends.

I looked at the Drudge Report and Google

Time to do some tweakingApril 17

I needed a break from “real” blogging while I adjusted to a new home and job, but I didn’t want to abandon my blog entirely, so I posted some del.icio.us links.

But I don’t like it — it’s boring and definitely not engaging. Time to go return to the old format. Back to writing about issues. I’ll look into what it means to market in and to the social networking world. And I’m still very interested in newspapers and what’s going on in the journalism industry, so I’ll share my perspective looking from the outside in.

One of the things I struggle with, though, is that all of this connectedness can get overwhelming. I finally added a data plan to my cellphone, so I’m mobile now. I’ve started using Twitter, am fully addicted to Facebook and keep finding new, fun tools to use for networking.

It’s like I’m experiencing a new version of information overload — social overload? Just when I adjusted to using the Web to consume news and was comfortable finding my sources and branching out to blogs, feed readers, etc., I feel swamped with information once again with social sites and micro-blogging. All these updates and keeping track of all of our communities, how do we find time to actually live life?

In the end, I think all this will make life easier: Instant contact with your network and access to information. A peek into what your real and virtual friends are up to. A steady str

Work your networkApril 7

Work your network

"… 26 percent of hiring managers have used Internet search engines to research potential employees. More than one in 10 admit to using social networking sites in their candidate screening processes. Of the managers who browsed such sites, 63 percent found dirt that caused them to dismiss a candidate.”