06.25.06
free image hosting
Allyoucanupload.com is an online space where you can store (host) images to embed in pages elsewhere on the Internet. A useful tool, and an alternate to Flickr.
06.24.06
new MySpace regulations
Just in case you missed it:
MySpace Plans New Restrictions On Contacting Youths
– reported by Click2Houston.comMySpace.com is planning new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users in response to growing concerns about the safety of teenagers who frequent the popular online social networking site.
The site already prohibits kids 13 and under from setting up accounts and displays only partial profiles for those registered as 14 or 15 years old unless the person viewing the profile is already on the teen’s list of friends.
Under the changes, expected to be announced Wednesday and taking effect next week, MySpace users who are 18 or over could no longer request to be on a 14- or 15-year-old’s friends’ list unless they already know either the youth’s e-mail address or full name.
[snip]
06.23.06
teen builds successful online retail store from his parents basement
It’s the stories like this one that make me feel like an underachiever. Why aren’t I out there, trailblazing and creating innovative ways of making money?
If the shoe fits: 19-year-old found his calling and built an Internet retail success story from the basement of his parents’ home
– reported by Business First[snip]
And yes, you read that correctly; Kubancik is only 19. But youth has never stopped him from reaching his goals.
At age 10, he began selling baseball cards on eBay on behalf of East End Sports Cards, earning $1 commission per card.
Although Kubancik didn’t pad his piggybank with the profits — most of his earnings were used to beef up his personal baseball card collection — he learned early on about the ins and outs of e-commerce.
His interest in Internet sales led to the formation of an online auction company, the Online Outpost, through which he sold items for other people on eBay.
He and fellow Atherton High School student Andy Estes ran the operation, and at one point, the two planned to open an eBay store after graduation.
But Kubancik shifted direction after deciding that the real opportunity is in the soft-goods market. He formed Street Moda in January 2005, during his senior year at Atherton, and was able to generate about $240,000 in sales that first year.
The company is on target to top that in 2006, with monthly sales ranging from $25,000 to $35,000. The rapid growth recently prompted Kubancik to move Street Moda out of the basement of his parents’ Jeffersontown home and into a 2,000-square-foot warehouse in Bluegrass Research and Industrial Park.
[snip]
06.22.06
GenTech
CBSNews.com has a great online series entitled “GenTech: The Wiring of Teen America” that covers how teens use online resources.
As you may have noticed, CBSNews.com yesterday unveiled a three-day, multi-story online project called “GenTech: The Wiring of Teen America.” The vast majority of content on sites like CBSNews.com comes from wire services and broadcast-affiliated journalists; the “big project,” as it was known among CBSNews.com staffers, represented the Web site’s biggest ever foray into original reporting.
It’s worth a visit, and a long read.
06.21.06
churches go high-tech
Even churches are adopting new technology, including social networking, in a bid to attract and retain parishioners.
Churches Embrace the Web In Bid to Attract Members
– reported by the Wall Street JournalLooking to attract more young people to his church, the Rev. Patrick Gray turned to an unlikely marketing tool: MySpace, a social-networking Web site that draws millions of teens and young adults every day.
Father Gray, a 35-year-old Episcopal priest at Boston’s Church of the Advent, was sold on MySpace by a congregant whose rock band had used the site to attract listeners. While most MySpace users create pages to promote themselves or a band, he posted a profile for his parish. It includes reminders for Sunday services, audio files of its choir and announcements for “Theology on Tap” gatherings at a local bar.
[snip]
In a bid to attract new members and shed their persistently Luddite image, churches across the country are embracing technology and Web sites like MySpace. Blogs and podcasts have become part of religious leaders’ communications with congregants, and photo-sharing sites like Flickr are increasingly used to depict a fun-loving, casually-dressed community of churchgoers.
Churches with an evangelical bent often lead the way when it comes to harnessing technology, though some traditional congregations are also experimenting — even the Vatican has podcasts.
[snip]
Additional resources:
- Godbit Project: “The purpose of this site is to help the Church catch up with the rest of the world in adherence to standards given by the World Wide Web Consortium, the governing body of best-practices on the Internet.”
06.20.06
a guide to the blogosphere, for nonprofits
TechSoup has a comprehensive review of blogs, blog tools and blog uses for nonprofits.
Of particular interest is the section covering ideas for your blog:
While you could use your nonprofit blog to track organizational celebrities (”Accidental techies — they’re just like us!”), your goals are probably more high minded. Consultant Britt Bravo offers some great suggestions for ways you can use your nonprofit’s blog to help your cause (along with examples of success stories) in her 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs:
- To report back from an event or conference
- To involve staff and take advantage of their knowledge
- To involve volunteers and document their work
- To provide resources and information to constituents
- To provide resources and information from constituents
- To give constituents a place to voice their opinion
- To give constituents support
- To create the media coverage constituents want
- To give constituents the power and tools to create change
- To reach potential donors
More resources can be found in the TechSoup Learning Center.
06.19.06
officer fired for blog posts
Be careful what you blog, it may cost you your job. (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it!)
Author of critical Web site fired
Former Detroit police officer says he’ll keep posting
– reported by the Detroit Free PressReport-style journal of political conjecture — some real, some ridiculous — that has registered more than 1 million hits.
He started it out of his home as the scattershot musings of a disgruntled Detroit police officer with a few tidbits of gossip and a goal of firing the former police chief. The site caught on quickly with the followers and voyeurs of Detroit and Wayne County politics.
Now, John Bennett, the 43-year-old controversial author of www.detroituncovered.com, finds himself on the outs. He was officially fired at the end of May.
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, a frequent target of Bennett’s pointed postings, essentially fired him by failing to overturn a Feb. 26 interdepartmental trial board’s recommendation that he be terminated.
Bennett was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and neglect of duty.
[snip]
Related resources:
Related post:
06.18.06
congratulations to Galveston Web site
It’s long since been bookmarked on my computer as a source of events in the Southeast part of Houston. Galveston.com, a great provider of information on Galveston, just won an award for being a great site.
Galveston company takes home national Web award
– reported by the Houston Business JournalGalveston.com & Co. has won a Stevie Award for best overall Web site design in the 2006 American Business Awards.
Galveston.com & Co. has won a Stevie Award for best overall Web site design in the 2006 American Business Awards.
The Galveston-based destination marketing company was also a finalist in the Web site brand building & promotion category.
Described as “the business world’s own Oscars” by the New York Post, The American Business Awards claim to be the only national, all-encompassing business awards program honoring performances in the workplace.
[snip]
Congratulations and keep up the good work.
06.17.06
how MySpace works
If, like me, you’re still trying to figure out how MySpace works, what makes it so popular, then there’s something for you to read to help:
On MySpace, your social network starts growing from day one without much effort on your part. That’s part of the draw. Basic MySpace networking works something like this:
- You join MySpace and create a profile.
- You invite your friends to join MySpace and search MySpace for your friends who are already members. These people become part of your initial “Friend Space.”
- All of the people in your friends’ Friend Space become part of your network. You now have connections to more people than you did 15 minutes ago.
From what the author can tell, there’s no way to actually view your Extended Network in any collective way.
You can also read up on security issues.
(Found via LibrarianInBlack.)
06.16.06
eBay tools
Internet auction site eBay is about to launch Blogs, Wikis and Search Tags as sales aids.
According to MicroPersuasion:
eBay Blogs will enable sellers to more efficiently market their products. eBay Wikis meanwhile collect fact-based articles written and maintained by eBay Community members.
He goes on to write:
eBay Blogs can be used for a variety of purposes including to enhance a store, to share personal experiences or simply to talk about collectibles. The blogs are free and all blogs will reside at the blogs.ebay.com URL. Each individual blog will live at http://blogs.ebay.com/userID
As I ponder whether or not to take a class to make me an eBay master seller, these tools will come in very handy… maybe.