BlogFriday 22nd May, 2009
Connecting with Sean
Those of you who have visited the site, read Sean's newsletter or have had any contact with the man himself over the past month or two will have noticed some big, bold statements about how he is now available on a multitude of platforms and networks. But 'what are they are how can they help me?', I hear you ask.
Well, here I will try and explain as simply as possible how each method of contact can help, how you use the service and why we thought it a good idea to get Sean on them in the first place. So, without further a do, here we go:
Twitter
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them. Sean updates his Twitter feed daily with bite-sized nuggets of help and advice as well as letting the world know about his latest courses, Mind Bank dates and blog posts.
It's an immensely popular and fast growing social-networking medium that has to be experienced before it is fully understood. You'll be amazed by the range of people on there. Celebs like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross are followed by hundreds of thousands of people. Astronaut Mike Massimino ever posted Tweets from space on his recent trip to the Hubble Telescope. Incredible.
I use Twitter as a kind of digital diary; logging important happenings, memorable events in my life or little thoughts that occur to me during the day. Others choose to use it far more actively to communicate directly with friends, acquaintances and potential customers. Sign up and have a go. You never know who you might bump in to.
Facebook
Let's face facts: love it hate it, Facebook is here to stay. The most popular social-networking site in the world now has over 200 million unique users, half of which check in each day.
I like to think of Facebook as a kind-of extended version of Twitter. It's incredibly easy to add photos, share links and let your friends know what you're up to. Unlike Twitter, only people who you have given permission to can access your information (though, at the time of writing this Twitter is upping it's security features).
Sean has a page on Facebook that he uses in a very similar way to his Twitter feed. Thoughts and feelings can be published as well as more formal features such as event invitations which can then be shared amongst people and their extended networks.
There is a school of thought that Facebook is the domain of the 16-24 year old. A place of tomfoolery and hi-jinx where people over a certain age are not welcome. Well, I'm trying to try and destroy that myth. Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool for real and effective communication. If you haven't already I'd suggest signing up and giving it a go. It'll fast become a part of your daily routine to login and see what your friends (and Sean) are up to.
RSS Feeds
RSS (most commonly translated as "Really Simple Syndication") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.
Sean has an RSS feed that, once subscribed to, allows users to be automatically informed of a blog update. This means you don't have to keep checking back to the site for the latest story - we'll let you know when it's ready! There should be an RSS button (or a little orange icon) in the address bar of your browser. Click it and see what happens. You can read feeds through most internet browsers and email clients or, if you really fancy it, you can download free programs such as Google Reader and NetNewsWire.
The future ...
These three methods of communication are just the start for Sean. Who knows what the future holds but, in an ever shrinking world, Sean relishes the opportunity to talk to more and more people.
iTunes podcasting and YouTube video journals are certainly on the cards. Needless to say, to stay up to date with the latest news follow Sean on Twitter, Facebook and via the RSS Feed. Go on, we dare you!
If you have any questions, feedback or advice of your own then please feel free to contact us.
This message was written and posted by @edwardlamb
ShareThis
Comments
Post has no comments.