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Social Media Mom

A work at home mom discusses social media and networking.

Macros, Bots and Scripts…Oh My!September 18

Photo by i33

If it isn’t bad enough that the economy is in disaray, or that gas prices are skyrocketing, or that natural disasters are constantly knocking at our back door, now I HAVE BEEN BANNED ON DIGG!

I have been a member of the Digg community for over a year and just in the last few months have really tried to boost my presence and utilize Digg as the great social media tool that it is. A good friend suggested I use the Greasemonkey Script to help in Digging my “friends” submissions. Sure, it made for faster and more convenient digging; but then, Digg changed their minds about allowing their users to use this kind of tool……

“A few folks have been discussing the use of scripts on Digg recently, so I wanted to jump into the conversations that happened this weekend. Scripts/bots place additional load on Digg servers (slowing things down for everyone), so using them is a Terms of Use violation that will result in losing access to your Digg account. We are current

Guest Post by Social Media Dad, Brian Wallace from NowSourcingSeptember 10

Today’s guest post comes from Brian Wallace, founder of social media consulting group NowSourcing and the social media rockstar blog, Collective-Thoughts.

Social Media Time Vs. Family Time

Social media sites, for those that already consume them, take up a great deal of our day. I don’t mean this in any negative light: it’s just a matter of fact.

So, once you really become a strong member of a community, it’s your duty to keep up that commitment. Then, the next new new thing comes along. Take Plurk for instance - you can actually lose karma by not participating! Microblogging brings the social media time management conundrum to a whole other leve, as it is something that you feel compelled to keep pace with not just from day to day but minute to minute! Whether social media is your work, play, or both, they really can take up a huge amount of work, family, and sleep time. This raises a powerful question…

Where does family time fit in?

Thankfully, I have a large family. It’s important to keep balance in your life, or you can really burn out quickly. I’ve seen far too many driven people that have driven straight up the wrong tree.

Here are 5 tips to help you come back to earth:

1. Be a ninja, social media style.

Tools like ping.fm will allow you to quickly make your mark and let you say what you have to say, when you need more time for your kid’s baseball game than to sit there watching the Twitter public timeline.

2. Get your family involved.

Kids can wear Mixx hats, can’t they?

And no, that doesn’t mean that you need to make them wear social news site hats It means that since you’re at the cutting room floor of world news all day long, you can relate some amazing, breaking, shocking, or just plain odd news that happened to your family at dinnertime. Just don’t overdo it.

3. Avoid burnout at all costs.

Social media burnout ain’t pretty. I’ve seen some take a break and recover, while still others just never come back. And not coming back is just such a shame, considering the time and effort that some people put into the game. Exercise, take walks, sit by a river, knit a sweater, hug your kids - remember what is important in life. We aren’t here to live to work; we should be working to live! I’m a social media dad, and my family is counting on me. Burnout is not an option.

4. Let go of some control, get time back.

So let’s say you are a blogger. Guess what? Lots of people are as well! If you are a solo blogger and you are always feeling the pressure to produce, this may burn you out just like any other social network. Learn to relinquish some of the “perfection” in your own blogging and allow some guest bloggers in. It’s a real win-win: the guest blogger gets a new audience to get their name out, and your family gets you back! Once you have this abundance mentality, you’ll be in much better shape for the future.

5. Learn time management.

Train For HumanitySeptember 9

Darfur, a country just about the size of France, is currently the scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the biggest U.N. aid operation, and the 21st century’s first genocide.

As of July 3, 2008 the Genocide Intervention Network estimates that more than 200,000 civilians have died due to violence, malnutrition, and disease and a further 2.2 million people have been displaced within Sudan and an additional 250,000 refugees have crossed the border into Chad.

What does this have to do with social media? Bloggers from all over the United States have realized that this horrifying situation has gone on for too long and are now taking action. My dear blogging friend Mark Hayward made a committment not too long ago and is spearheading the Train For Humanity project………

While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, Mark Hayward spent hi

TechCrunch50 Conference Rocks The Cradle with Four New Social Networking Sites For KidsSeptember 8

Four companies are gearing up to address the needs of a younger generation of social networkers by presenting their ideas at this year’s TechCrunch50 conference. Here is a list, in no particular order, of social networks aimed at kids under 18, that will not only teach but entertain as well. CNET News reports:

iThryv was pitched as a banking site for kids. Like the game Spore, you start out small and things get more complex as you grow. When you’re younger expenses are tracked with big, colorful graphs. Later in life it gets more complex to include things like car and college payments, all the way to budgeting and savings.

Hangout.net is yet another virtual world. Kids can design their own virtual pad and adorn it and themselves with real-life products. These items reside in their online home, and all link back to online stores that sell them.

ChromeSeptember 3

When I switched from IE two years ago over to Firefox I was immediately consumed with how easy, fun and navigable Firefox was. Well, now Google has come out with their own browser, as I’m sure you’ve all heard, and it is truly making the headlines……..

First Images of Google Chrome

Chrome Eliminates Google’s Middleman Problems

Inside Chrome: The Secret Project To Crush IE and Remake the Web

Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project

Why Did Google Abandon Firefox?

The list goes on and on with reviews, comparisons and much analysis. In a nutshell, the brains over at Google have built, not ju