I read so much on the Web on a daily basis that it’s often hard to pick a favorite – and there’s a lot of information that I find myself referring to time and time again – or digging back out to share. As a result, I decided to try and capture my favorites at the end of each week, as much for my own use and future reference as anything else. If you’re a regular around these parts, I hope you like this Best of the Web schizz. And if you’re new here, Welcome – go ahead and hit the “subscribe” button and stick around.
Quora, Quora, What the Heck Is Quora?
Quora is the latest bright shiny thing in the social media realm. Invites are flying at a lightning quick pace and many people have no idea what Quora even is, much less how, or whether they should join and participate.
Maddie Grant wrote this amazing piece reviewing Quora and providing lots of information about why you might want to check it out. Be sure and check out the links she’s referenced in the post, including this post by Lucretia Pruitt, which is a basic tutorial that you’ll find invaluable. Oh, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll follow them both on Twitter, they’re infinitely smarter than I am.
Amplify – How to Integrate Your Amplify Blog With Quora
I’ve been checking out the Amplify blogging platform for a while now and have been enjoying the community there. If you like conversation and good people, you should definitely check out Amplify. If you’re already an Amplify user and are thinking about exploring Quora, this post by Krisna De is terrific, because it takes you step-by-step through the process of integrating your Amplify blog with Quora and will no doubt save you a bunch of time in the process.
Social Media Metrics
Any of you who know me know that I’m all about metrics, analytics and tracking what the heck is going on in the online space. I say stupid things like “If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing” so often that people usually want to gag. It’s really quite amazing that a gal who took five tries to make it through College Algebra could ever have such a love affair with numbers – but, stranger things have happened.
I think that this is the year that businesses finally GET (or at least begin to see) the importance of listening and monitoring the social media space. And, just as important as listening and monitoring, the time has come for things like measurement, understanding the different kinds of ROI, as well as more accurately defining the relevance and the importance of concepts like influence, evangelism and a host of other things. This blog post written by Don Bartholemew, Social Media Measurement 2011: Five Things to Forget and Five Things to Learn, was pretty much my crack cocaine of the week. Not only was the post great, but I’m so glad I discovered Don and his big brain (and blog), this is one that’s now on my ‘don’t miss reading’ list and it’ll probably be on yours, too.
Why American Mothers Kick Everyone Else’s Ass
Well, of course they don’t – but know you wanna know more, don’t you?? This fantastic piece in TechCrunch, Why American Mothers Are Superior, was written by Dr. AnnMaria DeMars, president of The Julia Group and pretty much my kind of mom. She wrote the post in response to an inflammatory article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last week entitled, Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, and if you’re as intrigued as I was, go read more. Bottom line, as a parent, teaching my kids to live life, follow their hearts, do what they love and love fully is just about my most important mission. That’s why this piece resonated so much with me — and I imagine, whether you’re a parent or not, you might like it as much as I did.
Creativity and Life Lessons
I really loved this piece by Justine Musk at Tribal Writer: How to Be a Creative Badass: a 12 Point Plan, which is as much a lesson in being a creative badass is it is a lesson in a life well lived. Read it, you’ll see why it made the list.
No More Double Spacing!
We routinely teach clients to blog and one of the toughest habits to break is the double space after a period that ALL of us pretty much grew up learning to insert. I’ve never known the reason that it existed and never understood the reason not to do it when blogging or writing for the web. After reading this post, now I do. And now, you do, too. I’m sure we’ll both sleep easier at night as a result.
How To Perform Nearly Any Task From Your Browser’s Task Bar
Okay, sometimes it’s just impossible to keep the geekiness in check. This is the kind of thing that Lifehacker regularly delivers to my reader that makes life worth living. And, based on the responses I got when I tweeted this beauty, I’m not alone. Go ahead, you know you wanna, check it out – How to Perform Nearly Any Task From Your Browser’s Task Bar. You’re welcome.
That’s it. Of course there are a million more links I could’ve included, but those are my personal favorites from the last week. Hope you learn from, share and/or enjoy these as much as we did!
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”