Archive for the 'Social media' Category

A nice little nod from ma.gnolia

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on July 29, 2008
in Social media, Web 2.0 and Web design
. 1 Comment

ma.gnolia logoOn 15 February 2006, Jeffery Zeldman and the thought-forward folks at Happy Cog helped to launched ma.gnolia, a then-new social bookmarking tool.

Me being the all-important web prof that spreads the occasional DWWS love to my students immediately fell in love with its utter simplicity. Coupled with finding similar sites like digg and del.icio.us far too yucky for their time, I signed up for my own ma.gnolia account five days later.

And just five days ago, I received a warm note from Larry Halff, ma.gnolia’s founder, that I shall now appear as a Featured Linker on the site.

Dino Baskovic, one of the newest Featured Linkers on ma.gnoliaSmall honor? Perhaps in the grand scheme but to me it’s huge. All for sharing with you those bookmarks I feel are worth a damn on the site, this blog, Facebook, FriendFeed and I suppose Twitter.

There’s even a nice little blog post about me and my newest esteemed colleagues in the newest “Featured” ranks.

Hey, it may not pay, but it’s a living. And thanks again, Larry!

Facebook is hiring web designers

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on July 8, 2008
in Social media and Web design
. 2 Comments

As I rest up from the last couple months of an unplanned, uh, sabbatical shall we say, I’ve had a few former students reach out to me in need of work.

The global economy is what it is. But there’s hope from at least one source. Facebook is hiring!

Facebook is hiring web designers

So apply already. Good luck, and many, many return emails, thank yous and blog posts forthcoming, promise.

Human torch denied bank loan

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on April 23, 2008
in Social media and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

The Legend of Ron BurgundyAnybody who has ever worked with me or had me for class knows that the legend of Ron Burgundy lives on in my comps.

For years, I’ve used the hed “Human torch denied bank loan” for everything from wireframing to copywriting. It makes for quick filler between <h1> tags, takes less time to type than “The quick brown fox…” and is far less vague a prototyping construct than “Lorem ipsum.”

That, and it simply amuses me (though, a depressing chunk of my students still think I speak Latin). So it gave me great rapture to hack CNN’s t-shirt thingamabobber and try to mod my own swag. Alas, like the Torch, I too was denied. After a full day of blogospheric snickering, the CNN.com team finally read the chapter on URL crackz, and their accidental viral campaign is no longer.

Idiots.

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Wii the people

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on April 8, 2008
in Social media and Web design
. 2 Comments

Wii the peopleLike so many of us stumbling social media types, I like to publish my online status updates. In my head, I think you’re riveted by blow-by-blow minutiae such as “Dino likes hot coffee” or “Dino dreams about delicious bacon” or even last week’s shocking revelation that “Dino is all out of Powdered Toast.”

I’m still not sure why I bother to actively update my status, let alone multiple ones on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and (for nearly a decade) AOL Instant Messenger. Perhaps sadly enough, I tie these and many more together using FriendFeed. Voyeurism in reverse? Or am I just doing my job playing cyber-alchemist?

Given the bites above, maybe I just need a more balanced breakfast. But if you insist on a steady diet of Dino, then who am I to refuse? I’m a ham and I know it. What I didn’t know, nor ever expected, was your fascination with my recent purchase of a Nintendo Wii:

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S-C-A-N-D-A-L

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on April 1, 2008
in Communication and Social media
. 0 Comments

ScrabulousThis is the last in an accidental series of posts related to web and social media coverage of the ongoing Detroit mayoral scandal. The whole thing has been a mild distraction to my regularly scheduled blog outings, and a major one for the entire region. Like most of Metro Detroit, I’d like to move on.

Since we last left off, Kwame Kilpatrick accepted my ‘friend’ invite on Facebook. I debated whether to challenge our embattled mayor to a friendly game of Scrabulous, but thought it best to leave well enough alone. He hasn’t changed his status update since my last post, so, uh, I suppose he remains resolute.

He’s been good enough—again, assuming it’s really Kilpatrick—to allow commentary from all sides in on his “wall”. Among the more eloquent posts since formal charges were filed:

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Mr. Webb: What the web thinks of your client

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 26, 2008
in Communication and Social media
. 2 Comments

As promised, I trolled through the web to get a sense of how the latest Detroit mayoral scandal is playing out in social media circles, trying my best to remain unbiased. Yet as I crunched the numbers, I came across the following head scratcher from Dan Webb, attorney for Kwame Kilpatrick:

…I told the mayor we’re not going to try this case in the press. I’ve never done that during my career. I truly believe the system works. The system works best when jurors are allowed to come into a courtroom without being blitzed with publicity for months ahead of time. I assume and hope the prosecutor will feel the same way. Therefore I’m responding today and maybe for the next day or so to these charges and then you’re not gonna hear from me again because I don’t intend to get up and try this case in the press. I also asked the mayor—I basically instructed him I guess as his lawyer—that he should do the same thing. This case should be tried in a courtroom in front of a jury and should not be tried in the press and therefore I’ve asked him not to respond specifically on a day-to-day basis to questions from the press about the case because we’ll do our speaking in court.

Mr. Webb’s statement was undoubtedly followed by knee-slapping guffaws of roaring laughter from every newsroom, PR agency and blogging outpost in town. Simply examining the past five days of online conversation alone…

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A case of the Mondays for Detroit’s mayor

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 24, 2008
in Social media
. 3 Comments

A case of the MondaysTorn between several subjects from my mental ed-cal—fighting with multiple Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter status thingies, connecting my online connections, my recent blogging exposé in Prague and yelling at my web class—I will instead take the low road and follow what scooped Dr. Death’s impending congressional run. That being? Today’s announcement that the mayor of Detroit, of which our campus’ city of Southfield is a suburb, is booked with a variety of felony charges stemming from a long-brewing political scandal.

Far be it from me to cast any stones. Pure as the driven snow, my students know me to be. What caught my eye was today’s take from Detroit Free Press and NBC columnist Mike Wendland on web coverage of the Kwame Kilpatrick fiasco. I caught his piece roughly the same time I wished I had a TV in my office. But between all the local new affiliates streaming today’s press conferences online and my trusty RadioShark, let alone my wife chiming in on my Treo, I was never without coverage.

…which got me to thinking: what about social media? How much traction did the story really gain in the blogosphere? Or on sites like Digg and Delicious? Wendland’s piece scratched the surface, but honestly, what impact would this story have on our region’s reputation when taking social media into account?

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Restoring your reputation—from a backup?

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 11, 2008
in Social media
. 4 Comments

Social networking portabilityWe’ve all been there. Deleted a file—or an entire hard drive—and couldn’t recover the data. Sometimes, it’s not your fault. A virus sneaks past the firewall and corrupts your entire PC. Or your laptop bag walks away from you in a busy airport.

It happens. I once lost an entire week’s worth of web site changes, and on one insidious occasion, an entire site. It’s why we keep backups, or at least should. Assuming, of course, we actually can.

Not so much with social networking, as one of my LinkedIn connections recently discovered. With at least one popular social networking site, there is no option to restore deleted profiles, even if by accident.

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Grande Yukon

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 7, 2008
in Communication, Lawrence Tech, Social media, Web 2.0 and Web design
. 0 Comments

A newly renovated Franklin Hall, a fresh blanket of snowSince Starbucks still finds it necessary to charge for wi-fi, I am posting this from home, hours after having left Kent. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I pay for a drop of wireless.

I now return to Lawrence Tech, where the wi-fi is deliciously free to use. Today’s YouToo Social Media Conference and Boot Camp at Kent State gave me a much needed boost as I aspire to offer a course in blogging this fall, if not next spring. Of course, I’m still waiting for this spring to arrive. My keyboard is practically frozen as I type.

Rounding out the rest of the day’s highlights:

  • People that never podcasted did so in under 15 minutes.
  • Sage Lewis gave a luncheon sermon that effectively restored my faith in SEO. This was probably a good thing, as former classmate Stefanie Moore and I delivered a primer on SEO do’s and don’ts later in the afternoon.
  • Our day ended with a panel discussion on social media’s impact on the presidential election. Half a million Facebook friends for can’t be wrong, or can they?

I am told that video from throughout the conference will be available online, as will most of the presentations. Brief snippets of mine follow…

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LiveBlogging from YouToo

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 7, 2008
in Social media and Web 2.0
. 3 Comments

Question just posed from the audience: “Do we need to cite research [when we blog]?”

Answer from presenter: “Naw.”

He was, of course, kidding.

I am nothing but proud—and not at all surprised—to see how far my alma mater has evolved. As I present this morning at the YouToo conference at Kent State University, I am surrounded by my former professors, new ones, old classmates and area PR pros, all sharing our social media smarts with each other.

As I write this, professors Bill Sledzik and Rob Jewell are currently talking about WordPress, the blogging platform that powers this very blog. A crowd of marketing communicators is listening attentively, many blogging for the first time. Nothing but smiles and nods of agreement. Revolutions are being hatched before my very eyes. I kid you not.

Hearing Bill talk about blogging, I can’t help but grin. He was a newbie not very long ago. Today, he shares the stage with a number of social media luminaries. He’s scary good as he presents, as are the rest of the presenters…

Continue reading ‘LiveBlogging from YouToo’