I was a fan of the TV show. One of the aspects of the show that appealed to me most was Carrie’s writing career. There she’d be, tapping away at her laptop at the window of her New York apartment, happily (and apparently, easily) earning a living by analysing the single life and putting keystrokes to paper.

It was a romantic notion that I enjoyed dreaming about, now and then. And sometimes I get close to replicating it.

Take now, for instance.

I’m at a holiday house in Normanville, beachside South Australia. But I’m not perched at a gaping New York window. Rather, I’m at a laminate kitchen table, tapping away while my husband reads a novel and my two sons saunter to the holiday park ‘games room’ with some gold coins in their pockets. We’ve had a hot day at the beach, followed by boardgames, and now it’s time for us to do our own thing.

So I have the laptop open, a Clare Valley Riesling beside me, and I’m going to say a thing or two about blogging.

Like Carrie’s lifestyle, blogging can have a certain romanticism to it.

These days, we can easily become our own columnist or writer simply by opening an account with WordPress or Blogger or the myriad other blogging tools available now. I think that’s fantastic and provides hope and happiness and excitement to many writers and would-be writers around the world.

Sex and the City character Carrie loves writing

But a blog is also a commitment.

Done well, a blog is published regularly and provides quality content. It is original and provides something of interest or value to its readers.

This means it’s not something undertaken lightly – otherwise, you’re letting people down. It also takes time and effort  to create that quality content, again and again and again.

So how do I maintain a blog?

Number one (and this can’t apply to everyone): I’ve always loved writing. That’s the first big hurdle of blogging and if you don’t enjoy writing, blogging will be eminently more difficult for you.

I usually mull over topics over a few days or even weeks (such as social media, communications, and People in General). But sometimes, a flash of an idea comes to me and I write an entire blog post immediately.

When I the fragment of an idea, I write it down on whatever’s available. It might be a few words, a sentence, the headline or even the first draft of the blog post …

Then I return later and flesh out that idea.

The boring stuff

The ‘boring stuff’ comes later. That may include finding other references and hyperlinks. It may be a little bit of research to make sure that I’m not sharing something that’s factually incorrect. It includes proofreading.

Good blog posts often have images, too. It can be difficult to acquire a copyright-free image, so I’ve taken to using (often naff) Instagram images that I’ve taken.

Although I use WordPress, I write the first draft of my blogs in Microsoft Word. I have a folder called ‘Blog Drafts’. Then I paste the finished copy into Notepad, then WordPress and preview it several times – it can look very different on your blog page, so this is important.

Have purpose

Overriding all this, I have a ‘blog purpose’. I’m not just blogging about anything (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The purpose of my blog is to provide commentary and tips on social media and to grow a community of readers to interact with. I’m a social media consultant, so it makes sense.

But I wouldn’t blog if I didn’t enjoy writing.

I’d stick just to Twitter or an app like Instagram, or interacting in communities like Quora and LinkedIn.

Blogging comes easily because, like Carrie, I enjoy tapping away at the keyboard and sharing things I’ve been musing over. I just don’t wear skimpy clothing while I’m doing it …

Recommended reading

For the  world’s best blogging tips, I highly recommend Problogger (Darren Rowse). Follow him on Twitter @problogger or subscribe to his wonder blog where guests contribute all sorts of learnings.

But like anywhere you spend a lot of time, there are some things that are annoying about Twitter. I recently asked online friends what vexed them about the Twitterverse, and it turns out we share a lot of the same dislikes including:

• Twitter spam
• FFs that are a riot of names – and retweeted FFs
• Auto DMs
• Conversations that aren’t connected (ie not using Reply properly)
• Tweets that make you visit Facebook
• Tweets appearing in LinkedIn

I think many of these fall under the same umbrella – they deliver a bad Twitter reading experience. For example, a long list of FF names is hard to read. It’s plain ugly.

Twitter pet peeves: crowded FFs

Twitter conversations that aren’t linked are frustrating because you can’t read back and discover the context.

Tweets that take you to Facebook may be all right occasionally, but in the main, why do it? People are in Twitter to read tweets, or head to web articles that don’t require a login. Many Twitter users don’t even like Facebook. And when you’re using it to prop up your Facebook strategy and drive people to your business page, it feels like cheating. It’s a similar case in LinkedIn. If you really care about your LinkedIn audience, you can post occasionally. Why run all your tweets through there? Tweets usually don’t make sense in the LinkedIn environment.

[An update on this: LinkedIn is removing the Tweets Application on 31 January. The option to use #in to display tweets in your profile will remain, so surely this will make LinkedIn users more discerning with their tweet-sharing).

Auto DMs are a bad strategy. Occasionally there's a creative, funny Auto DM that might make you smile or click a link to learn more. However Auto DMs are usually trite thank yous or pleas for you to connect with the tweeter further. If you have already followed them, it's unnecessary but also intrusive and overbearing.

Of course, spam was also cited as a major pet peeve. Spambina can be funny sometimes, but we'd rather see a genuine connection than spam that's wasting our time or keeping us spooked about the words we use in case of another spam attack. "Block and Report" becomes  tiresome housekeeping.

Twitter pet peeves: spam

Thanks to everyone who contributed their peeves. I think we need a blog about ‘Things I love about Twitter’ now?

Stuff the signs of ageing! They’re written all over our face for everyone to see.

I’m more interested in the ‘signs of venting’, which are more difficult to recognise and which can lead you into trouble.

So, what do I mean by social media venting? It can take the form of:

• Complaining online about your employer, colleagues or customers
• Complaining (or arguing with) your family online, from partners through to children through to parents
• Prolonged sharing of complaints about your personal health / the weather / the neighbours / what’s on television and so on

Some venting is fun. That’s why we get positive responses. The “I secretly want to smack slow-moving people in the back of the head” Facebook pages aren’t immensely popular for nothing. And if you tweet about wanting to stay in bed rather than head to work on a rainy day, you’ll get plenty of empathy.

But venting – particularly about your work – can occasionally lead to serious repercussions. We’ve seen people being fired over Facebook posts,  tweets being critiqued in the next day’s newspaper, friendships and relationships crushed and more.

If repercussions don’t bother you and you cherish your venting powers, of course feel free to continue on your cathartic journey. But if you’d like to be aware of The Signs of Venting, here are some:

a)      You’re posting while angry.

b)      You’re posting  immediately after a break up.

c)       You’re posting immediately after working with a grumpy customer or client.

d)      You’re using social media to raise something you’re too afraid to discuss offline.

e)      You do All of the Above, often.

So why do people vent online?  Is it because:

• Social media is easy to use and often readily available, via our phones or the laptops right front of us? The screen is our accessible, anonymous Agony Aunt.
• Social media can become a diary of woes and, combined with a gaggle of sympathetic friends who are ready to listen, venting is often quickly rewarded.
• Online venting feels somehow disconnected from ‘the real world’, as if there will be no repercussions.
• Many social media users simply aren’t aware of their account settings and the extent to which their posts can be found and  shared.

Venting. Get it? Terrible play on words ...

If you’d like to stop venting and think things are getting dangerous, here are some tips:

• When you’re feeling angry or frustrated, Do Not Go Online
• Try to think of other ways to share your feelings: whether it be a chat with a friend or colleague, a phone call or even an email (remembering that they may be published or shared  with ‘the wrong audience’ too)
• If writing makes you feel better and  helps you unload, consider keeping a good old fashioned diary – you don’t need to share everything you’re going through with your social networking friends
• Don’t post about it, sleep on it
• Ask yourself why you’re venting online. Is there another outlet besides social media, or your socmedia friends, that can help relieve your stress? Does your life need some major changes?

Do you have any anti-venting tips to share?

But one of those benefits is often overlooked. And that drives me nuts.

And that’s the benefit to yourself, as an individual.

Take one of my clients as an example. Last year I worked with a government health body to deliver a social media strategy. And as we worked through  the plan, as so often happens, the team I worked with learned more about social media and became bolder in how they used it.

I taught them how to use Twitter. I encouraged them to connect with others. We found hashtags they were interested in, and we found trustworthy tweeters from their sector that they could learn from.

We also looked at similar government bodies who were using social media, and in fact we ended up having a face to face meeting with one. The professionals around the table found they were working on a lot of similar projects, and there were opportunities for them to share resources. They are now working more closely together.

Now, as a result of knowing more about social media, those clients are:

• Using Twitter to find and share industry news
• Finding different ways of doing things, through conversations with peers they trust
• Following conference proceedings via Twitter hashtags
• Raising their own profiles within their sector and building a name for themselves

So remember, when others may be bagging social media when it isn’t achieving overnight sales or building a brand, there are many other uses for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. And a lot of those will be at an individual level, benefitting employees and employers (and eventually clients and customers).

I’m sure you have a few stories to share, in terms of how social media has helped your workplace learning and connections.

I stuck with platforms I love – Twitter and WordPress.

I committed to new loves – Instagram and Miso.

I maintained platforms I couldn’t do away with – Facebook and LinkedIn.

I continued to use Foursquare, despite some ups and downs (see my previous Foursquare post).

I signed up for Klout and integrated a lot of my networks; watching my score rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall until I didn’t care anymore, even if I did get a free RedBull magazine.

And I flirted with what turned out to be duds – Scoville (with its website down, and questions being asked on Twitter, is Scoville actually finished?) and pretty much abandoned GetGlue which I didn’t enjoy using as much as Miso.

Socadl Christmas function 2011

Google unveiled GooglePlus, and so far it’s gained more traction and longevity than GoogleBuzz and GoogleWave. But users still seems divided between ‘passionate’ and ‘meh’ and while some brands are there, they too don’t seem to be sure what they’re doing on this newest Google platform.

I liken GooglePlus to Quora - they’re both networks with a lot of potential and dedicated communities are using them, with great personal and professional results. But they don’t have wider public resonance and are finding it difficult to work their way into our regular social media use. I visit both occasionally (and feel guilty when I neglect them). When I am there, I find I can spend a lot of time following links and reading useful information. But it feels like I’m doing homework: there can be some satisfaction in catching up, but it’s not something that I look forward to daily.

After lots of encouragement from Pinterest  fans, I started making my own Boards recently and enjoyed how easy it was. I’m yet to find ‘my best use’ for Pinterest but I’m convinced there will be one! I’ve got a Board for Matt Dillon (very useful), Board for ‘things boys like’ (useful for parents of boys), and ‘Events 2012’ which I thought would be great for earmarking events I want to attend next year, but is more suited to a list on another platform, as the events don’t benefit from the visual interest Pinterest thrives on.

I tried Stamp, an app which enables you to ‘stamp’ things you recommend (across a variety of segments). I didn’t find this engaging because 1) I don’t know what the next step is and why it’s helpful and 2) not enough of my friends were using it.

I installed Path on my iPhone and was quite excited with it for about a week, because of its ease of use and its attractive interface. I like the fact it enables you to share music, where you are (a la Foursquare) and photos quickly and easily (with some photo effects a la Instagram). I didn’t like Path’s ‘sleep’ and ‘awake’ tool which I thought was taking social connectedness further than it needs to go. But again, with other social networks already embedded in my life, it’s hard to see the need for Path right now.

I also tried Whim, which enables you to connect with friends in the hopes of organising activity based on a ‘whim’. This app fails because you can already organise activity via texting or a multitude of social networks, and it doesn’t have the offering to entice enough of your friends as yet.

This year, I also got out of bed at 2am to listen to Mark Zuckerberg unveil Timeline live at the f8 conference. I think Timeline, the new ‘cover photo’ and ‘ticker’ have rejuvenated Facebook and will see a lot of people reconnecting with their profiles again.

I set up camp on AboutMe … because I could. (Wait, was that this year or last year?). I haven’t seen a lot of traffic come through there, but admittedly I haven’t promoted the URL because I have other more important URLs to promote!

I continued to use Hootsuite, Echofon and Bit.ly because they serve me well, and also started using interesting tweeting tools like Crowdbooster which aim to analyse your Twitter use and provide helpful advice.

Away from the screen, the Adelaide social media community #Socadl continued to thrive this year. We met several times, with events including a Hootup organised by Ben Teoh, several local speaker gigs and a Foursquare competition. We also had live #socadl chats this year including one on international Social Media Day in June.

So, what are my plans for 2012?

Well, as I’ve begun my own social media consultancy, I’m going to look deeply into tools that will help my clients. They will often be social media platforms, from Facebook Pages through to LinkedIn groups, WordPress blogs or even Instagram accounts. But I’ll also recommend tools such as EventBrite and MailChimp as required, and also be very interested in Pinterest or Quora Board for communities of interest and even B2B projects.

Of course, I’ll also be trialling new platforms as they emerge.

What social media tools did you enjoy or dismiss in 2011?

It’s one of those social media tools that polarises people.  It’s also one that Joe Public still hasn’t heard of.

Prakky on Foursquare

But if you’re  social media fan, it’s likely you’ve used this location-based app to share where you are, leave tips, read recommendations and meet up with friends.

Almost two years after signing up to Foursquare, I’d like to share  some thoughts about the tool.

I ‘famously’ wrote about ditching Foursquare in a post in February. At the time,  I didn’t promise that I was quitting entirely. I said I’d take a hiatus:

“While it’s going to be hard for me, I’m going to say goodbye to Foursquare for a little while. I won’t delete my account. I won’t slam the door. But I will stop checking in”.

And I did, for a time.

It was liberating but also strange. I had become so very used to checking in to Foursquare when visiting coffee shops, restaurants and the like. (Mind you, to fill that void, I simply started tweeting about where I was. Psychologists, feel free to step in any time now).

But then Foursquare upgraded and after reading countless tweets about people enjoying it, I decided to start wearing my check-in hat  again (and boy, did I hear about that from my online networks!)

Some of the great things about Foursquare:

• If I’m meeting Twitter friends somewhere (which frequently occurs) I can check the venue on Foursquare and see if they’re there yet. (Sometimes, it also identifies others there that I’d like to meet – a nice side effect).
• If you feel like going out, whether it’s to the beach, a winery, or a cafe, you can check Foursquare to see where friends are, and join them.
• You can read Foursquare lists, or the checkins from trusted friends, to gain ideas for your next visit to a restaurant, café, hotel, even doctor.

And the scary? I hear some people say:

• I don’t want people to know where I am
• It’d be too easy for people to stalk me

I wrote about ways to combat these scenarios in my first blog post about Foursquare. As with any social media tool, you choose your level of involvement, your privacy settings, and what you’re willing to share in order to gain something from the tool.

Organisations still aren’t embracing Foursquare enough to make it exciting for the wider public to adopt. However with companies like Westfield using Foursquare to reward Mayors with a carpark, and  pubs like The Duke offering a free drink if you show the doorman your Foursquare check in, it’s gradually being trialled and adopted.

Foursquare remains a fascinating evolving platform and I’m looking forward to continuing to track it.

p.s. I organised Adelaide’s first Foursquare swarm in August last year.  I don’t know of too many others   since – though recently we achieved another one during the Foo Fighters concert. The magic of Grohl …

Our favourite platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, are continually working to keep us engaged and loyal. They’re also looking for more ways to monetise their platforms. That’s why they regularly change their user interfaces and service offerings.

Twitter.com has changed again, this time to quite a marked new layout.

But is it just me, or is Twitter.com a mirror image of the previous interface? The new layout swaps your profile details from right to left, and your newsfeed from left to right.

This is how my new Twitter looks

A few more cosmetic changes include:

1. When you click on a Follower’s profile link to see more info about a Twitter account, you’re served with a new popup window. Previously you’d see this info neatly to the right of screen, with no popups.
2. When you want to read a conversation, it’s a similar story: it used to appear to the right of screen, now it expands within your newsfeed. It could be in danger of being lost there, but it does have a grey background to help you see the conversation.
3. You can see your own Twitter background more than before, because Twitter has used an opaque effect when you scroll down far enough.

As well as those superficial tweaks, Twitter is more layered, with new Connect and Discover tabs.

Connect shows your Mentions and Interactions; Discover is more about propelling you further into Twitter (as the name suggests). It’s where you’ll find:

1.  Your Activity tab (only recently introduced and still new to some users)
2. Suggestions for who to follow
3. Find friends (linking you with email accounts)
4. Browse categories (which will be especially useful for people new to Twitter). This offers a search function or suggestions in categories including Entertainment, Music and Sports. I would have liked to see alt tags over the suggested Twitter account avatars to find out more, but they’re not there, so you’re forced to click to find out more.
   

   Twitter's new Discover / Categories section.

I’m not going to offer a blow-by-blow “how to” on the new Twitter, because of course the good folk at Mashable have already done that.  Read Mashable’s new Twitter tips.

I don’t use Twitter.com very often, because I find other Twitter tools serve me better, such as Hootsuite or Echofon. That’s yet another reason for Twitter’s evolution. It wants me back, spending time on site and contributing to its visitation stats. And with this current iteration, I think it might just see more of me, because I’m finding the ‘newness’ intriguing.

What do you think of the new Twitter?

Social media managers not only publish their mistakes – they have their mistakes raked over in real time for all to see.

And if your ‘mistake’ hits the big time, you can expect opinion columns, analysis and derision to appear in the mainstream media within hours.

Being a Community Manager is a seriously brave occupation to undertake. And it’s never more nerve-racking than when you’re about to see a new campaign go live online.

It’s a nail-biting time, because we’ve entered a cycle where tweets  (in particular) can have the opposite effect to what you intended and within minutes your carefully-crafted campaign can take on a life of its own. Of course this post is inspired in part by the so-called ‘disaster’ of the #qantasluxury hashtag competition. I can’t imagine what the Qantas social media team was going through at that time, but I’m fairly sure there would have been some stomach-turning moments and sleepless nights.

Community managers publish their mistakes

The role of Community Manager is a relatively new one. It certainly wasn’t in the career counselling handbook when I graduated from high school. Community Managers take care of online spaces such as Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts on the more mainstream networks, through to custom-built and owned platforms, such as online gaming networks or sports enthusiast chatrooms. They may come from all sorts of backgrounds and combine myriad experiences, including website management, marketing, advertising, community engagement and digital – or their specialist background that the community focuses on, eg sports, IT, fashion, architecture.

The best Community Managers nurture their communities and  moderate the space to keep it friendly and on-track. They post interesting content that encourages engagement. They also keep up with technical changes to platforms, the availability of new tools, and sites’ evolving terms and conditions. Some of them work in difficult areas where a duty of care is required, such as spaces dealing with young people, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse and so on.

And the best Community Managers have maturity (not in years but in persona), tact, empathy, creativity, foresight and humour.

It’s a big ask to constantly require that of someone.

To add to the mix: professional Community Managers are often part of a bigger communications team, which may take in public  relations professionals, marketers, lawyers, HR and management. They don’t always have a say in the online content being shared or the campaign being created – they may just be the conduit.

It’s a role that also has many rewards. There’s great satisfaction in seeing your content inspire others, your engagement metrics go through the roof, and your company’s or clients’ goals being reached. You can have an impact on people’s lives, inspiring them to great actions, just as you can if you work in mainstream media, offline community engagement or public relations.

But it’s not for the fainthearted. Thank goodness Community Managers have their own online communities to support each other …

They’ve always been owned by my employer or my clients.  Occasionally they’ve been owned by a community group that I’ve been part of.

As the Page manager, I was always careful to retain that Page’s brand voice, to protect its business interests, keep its community happy and grow the Page’s fanbase and engagement. It’s something I enjoy within the boundaries that apply – because those boundaries challenge you.

Facebook.com/PrakkyCom

Yesterday I announced that I will be launching my own social media consultancy. And with that, comes my own Facebook business page.  And that feels so invigorating I am still searching for a metaphor to do it justice [please feel free to leave appropriate metaphor in comments below].

I always advise clients to have a goal when using social media, and to have standards and a ‘voice’ to stick to. That helps steer them away from trouble, and the problematic blending of the personal and professional. Will I be tempted to be silly on the new Prakky Page? Will I forget the brand voice now and then? I hope not. I have to remember that I have my personal Facebook profile for that …

As a Prakkypedia reader, I hope you’ll take the time to Like https://www.facebook.com/PrakkyCom and interact with me there. I’m looking forward to seeing you.

Over coming weeks, I’ll also be launching the new brand on Facebook and my new website. There’ll be a different look for Prakkypedia too.

About lots of things. Including the Foo Fighters performing in Adelaide this Monday. And Christmas approaching. (Yes, I love Christmas).

But there’s something I’m even more excited about. SO EXCITED I AM MOVED TO USING CAPS WHICH I DON’T DO LIGHTLY.

Next week, I become Prakky, sole social media consultant.

For the past two years I’ve been working as social media consultant with Hughes PR, where I’ve had a fantastic time and worked with fabulous clients. Prior to that, I was Digital Content Manager with the South Australian Tourism Commission, managing websites and social media platforms there.

Now it’s time for me to do my own thing.

If you’re a Prakkypedia reader, you’re probably in one of these camps right now:

1. Not surprised at my move
2. Surprised at my move because you already thought I was a sole consultant
3. Surprised that I’m a Foo Fighters fan

So, what now?

I’d like you to stay tuned for my business launch, including my new website and Facebook business page. (I am very much looking forward to managing my own Facebook business page.  Those of you who manage Pages for others know exactly what I mean. The freedom will be dizzying). I am looking forward to sharing my new brand look with you, too.

The Prakkypedia blog will continue so I hope you’ll stick around.

And of course .. tell your friends.

p.s. I called this post “not-so-secret” because the news has leaked to some people already. Because I told them.