Marketing yourself, social networking

The New Hotness in Social Media: Twitter Vine

By Amanda Smyth Connorvine-twitter

My favorite pastime is researching and disregarding the new social media tools that pop up seemingly every day. More often than not, I find that they are re-purposed or re-skinned versions of tools I’m already using. I’ve got my social media favorites:

Hootsuite (for keeping all of my Twitter and Facebook accounts in one place.)

Radian6 (because I am a spoiled child who convinced her company to pay for this shiny and very expensive social media tool, although I maintain that this is Best in Class for social listening.)

SocialMention.com (It’s free and offers very quick sentiment analysis and mentions.)

But the latest hotness to come about is Twitter’s Vine app.

The new Vine app links directly to your Twitter account and creates a 6-second video, during which you can edit only so far as pausing the recording process. Check out some of the amazing videos users are posting already.

Why am I telling you about this new tool? Because this new social toy is becoming the new overnight hotness and much like Pinterest, it’s spreading like wildfire. If you are interested in furthering your social media involvement, or in adding a new line item to your resume of freelance skills, get creative and begin expanding your social media horizons with this new app.

Brands are already clamoring for ways in which they can engage users through this video feature. From stop-motion to straight videos, this is a landscape that companies are anxious to be a part of, so believe me when I say that it is in your best interest to, at the very LEAST, familiarize yourself with this awesome app. It’s going to be a great tool to have in your freelance toolkit.

 

Amanda Smyth Connor is a social media manager for a major publishing company and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

 

advice, blogging, Business, Marketing yourself, podcast, social networking

Add Value with Video

CelesteHeiterFZBioIn case you haven’t noticed…video is everywhere! With the abundance of affordable recording devices, from smartphones to digital cameras and mini-camcorders, there’s no end to the possibilities. And these days, nearly every OS includes basic video editing software.

If you want to go pro…there are dozens of options, including Adobe Creative Suite, which now includes Adobe Premiere, a full-scale digital video editing program with all the bells and whistles to enhance your raw footage and even create some amazing special effects. Best of all, the web is loaded with tutorials to help minimize the learning curve.

And when it comes to venues for your video creations, they run the gamut, from the free-for-all known as YouTube…to the news reels embedded in the lead stories of nearly every media website. So if you want to up the ante on your web-based freelance assignments, think video and start offering clips to sweeten the pot…and your paycheck!

Celeste Heiter is the author of Turn Your PC into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine, the creator of the LoveBites Cookbook Series for Kindle Fire, and the author of Potty Pals , a potty-training book for children. She has also written ten books published by ThingsAsian Press; and spent eight years posting her recipes, food photographs, and film reviews on ChopstickCinema .

Visit her website, and her Amazon Author Page.

advice, editorial

Today’s Writing Tip: Clarity

sig2010

You know what you want to say but sometimes it’s hard to express.

Try to imagine your reader. Could anything you’ve written be ambiguous? Could it be confusing? Don’t assume that the reader knows what you are thinking. Step back and fill in certain details or clarify to be as precise as possible.

Take this sentence: “That ended her short life in Shadow Lakes.”

What ended her life there? Did she die or simply move? Or did she stay but she never had a decent quality of life afterward?

Think like a reporter and ask yourself all the W’s: who, where, what and why (and, of course, the non-W, how). Once you’re clear about those, convey them to the reader.

“Marrying Stephen ended her short life in Shadow Lakes because they moved into the city right after their honeymoon.”

Sigrid Macdonald is an editor and the author of three books. This is an excerpt from her last book, Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/c3az54r

advice

Today’s Writing Tip: When to Use Can or Could

sig2010

It’s easy to determine when to use the word can and when to use could. Can indicates ability. I can type a letter. I can run 10 miles. I can write a fan letter to Jon Hamm, although he probably won’t answer. Can denotes certainty. Could denotes uncertainty.

I could go to visit my sick neighbor if I don’t have to work on Thursday night. My neighbor could die from pneumonia if her immune system is not strong. My son’ s car could last another five years if he’s lucky. The most significant word in the last three sentences is “if” because the first part of every sentence depends on another factor.

It could happen, but maybe it won’t. Whereas when we use can, something will generally happen or at least the person has the ability to make it happen.

Parents used to teach children table manners by differentiating between the words can and may. A child would say, “Can I go now?” after dessert, and the parent would retort, “May I go.” Because clearly the child can go by simply getting up and leaving the table. Using may is a way of asking permission.

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books and two short stories, and is also a manuscript editor. Find her at http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com/.

 

advice, freelance money

Simultaneously Penniless and Rich

By Jake Poinier
get rich writingIn response to my previous post, “Taxes Don’t Lie,” V.R. writes: “Won’t disagree with you on importance of metrics and measurements for the self-employed. As a freelancer myself, I had to go back and read the blog twice to make sure the entire context of your message could be categorized as ‘financial’ success. Of course it was and I calmed down. Had you attempted to speak to a ‘success’ in general, I was going to challenge your notion that the only measurements that matter are income, expenses and savings. I believe a lot of freelancers measure their success more unconventionally; perhaps by hours spent at work (or rather hours spent with their family), number of press mentions, awards and accolades, mental and physical health, number of countries visited — you know, the things that causes one to transition from corporate life to freelance life. The freelancers I know are simultaneously penniless and rich!”

V.R. wanted me to ensure that he got credit for that phrase — “simultaneously penniless and rich” — so credit is duly noted. (As it happens, it fits in with my philosophy that you should Write Like You’re Rich.) More important, his point expands nicely on what I was getting at: Measuring the financial health of your freelance business can be accomplished easily at tax time, but it’s by no means a comprehensive measurement of your overall success.

All that said, measuring success is highly individual — including those items V.R. enumerated above, and many others. The metric changes over the course of your freelance career — I don’t have the same goals as I did in 1999. Back then, it was pure survival, as the “penniless” part of the equation was all too true. Today, while I might be “rich” by third-world standards, my true wealth comes from the people, experiences and opportunities from freelancing that simply wouldn’t exist if I were still in the 9-5 corporate grind.

In the comments, what’s your favorite non-financial measure of success?

Jake Poinier can be found at DoctorFreelance.com or @DrFreelance.

advice

Pro Bloggers Beware: WordPress Denial of Service Attacks

book and script editor for hire Joe Wallaceby Joe Wallace

If you are an “end user” of WordPress (as opposed to someone who spends as much time in the Dashboard and/or control panel of your WordPress site) you might be scratching your head lately wondering why WordPress is moving so slowly for you.

There’s been a string of notifications from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) about a hacking campaign aimed specifically at WordPress sites. The idea behind this campaign is quite simple–it aims to shut down WP sites by using a Denial Of Service Attack featuring repeated login attempts to the Dashboard or back end of your WordPress site.

The goal is not necessarily to gain access to your site–instead, the idea is to flood your ISP with so many attempts to log in that it overwhelms the server. This causes slower response times for legitimate readers trying to view your WordPress site, and can shut your page down altogether under the right circumstances.

There are some semi-complicated fixes for this, things that many freelancers and bloggers won’t feel comfortable attempting. I myself have mitigated this problem by setting an extremely low tolerance for repeated failed logins from a single IP address–any more than X number of failed logins and the user is blocked from trying to login again for TWO WEEKS. But again, this is a back-end, deep-ish feature (not connected to WordPress directly, but rather the server I use) and many users won’t or can’t access such features.

The solution?

Contact your ISP or web host and ask about addressing this issue. You want to reduce the number of allowed login failures to WordPress to around 10 or 15 per IP, resulting in a 15 minute ban from attempting again after that number has been reached. Some sites have the ban automatically set to an arbitrary number such as five minutes, but if you’re experiencing slow response times from your WordPress blog and suspect it might be related to this issue, ask your ISP tech support people what the best course of action might be. (Source: https://www.servermania.com/kb/articles/cloud-server-prices/)

This Denial of Service attack issue likely isn’t affecting EVERYONE using WordPress, or affecting everyone the same way. But if you’re noticing slower repsonse from your WP blog, it might be something to consider as a possible cause.

Joe Wallace has been fildding around in the back end of WordPress and Freelance-Zone.com’s Virtual Private Server for many years. He still doesn’t know every much about how it all works on a technical level, but he does know how to make a wicked pizza. He blogs about vinyl records, sells rare and unusual LPs, and does sound design for indie film and video projects in Chicago. Contact him at jwallace242@gmail.com

Chicago-based content writing, editing, and social media. 1579 N. Milwaukee #220, Chicago Illinois 60622