How Geeks Profit through Social Media

Sell what’s in your head!

Whether you’re a computer geek, a gardening geek, a whole-foods geek or a fishing geek – social media now lets you build a following online where you can share (and sell) the stuff that’s in your head. Through social media, you can connect directly with your audience – no agents, publishers, editors or gatekeepers – and gain immediate feedback. With low start-up costs, you can affordably create your own little knowledge factory online.

Join Social Media Club Columbia and speaker Dick Carlson for an interactive workshop-style meeting all about how you can take what you know and sell it using social media.

Part I of this month’s meeting will include demos of:

  • A woman who sells advice on how to grow and eat only raw foods
  • The guy who kept track of the best seat on each kind of airplane and sold that info for money
  • A group of writers who teach writers how to write and make money on their writing (they’re always sold out)
  • A fisherman who now has an entire YouTube channel where he just visits with other fisherman in Miami

In Part II, we’ll brainstorm together on how actual attendees can “Sell What’s In Their Head.”

Whether you’re looking to sell what’s in your head for money or to build your “brand” online; whether you want to boost your existing business or build a hobby into a profession, Dick Carlson’s interactive workshop can help.

Social Media Club • November 12, 2009 • 5:30 – 7 PM
The State1401 Shop Road • Columbia, SC 29201

 

About Dick Carlson

Dick Carlson is an Instructional Designer and e-learning geek. Without thinking it through completely, he moved to South Carolina because his wife found a new job there, and it was sunny. He now sweats a lot more than he did in Seattle. He’s developed software documentation, computer training labs, webinars for shy coders, and taught geeks how to speak in front of huge audiences. Some of this was done for the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington before he escaped in 2007. After multiple surgeries, all of the mods have been removed and he’s nearly completely functional again.

What Twitter Client Do You Use?

With the tremendous surge in Twitter usage, I’m curious what Twitter client(s) you find most useful and helpful when trying to Tweet, Retweet, Bookmark and Share, etc.

Let’s move this up a few more steps. Tell me what you use on when on your PC/Mac (Web/Desktop/AIR apps), iPhone/iTouch, BlackBerry, etc.

Here’s my list and trust me, I feel as though I’ve tried them all. Continue reading

Discussing the future of journalism and social media

In October we’ll be hosting our first and most informative meeting where the future of journalism meets social media. Our panelist will consist of social media columnist Jeff Elder, professor and community journalist Doug Fisher, media futurist Dan Conover, Columbia city reporter Adam Beam, and anchorwoman Holly Bounds.

132/365: i saw it on your keyboard by isabel bloedwater, on Flickr

132/365: i saw it on your keyboard by isabel bloedwater, on Flickr

We’ve worked hard to collect the best and brightest from South Carolina as we navigate into the future of the field of journalism.

In the spirit of transparency, we are posting the questions that we hope our panelist will discuss. While we don’t expect to cover all of the questions here, we promise to engage in meaningful dialog and hope you’ll join us:

If there is a question that you would like to ask, you can leave your response in the comments section. If you have a question for an individual person, please identify who the question is for.

We look forward to seeing you all in October at our meeting!

Please meet our panelists:

Continue reading

Five Social Media Questions with Ashlie Conway

Ashlie ConwayAshlie Conway originally from Kingston, TN. She attended Troy University (Troy, AL) where she received her bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education. She attended the University of South Carolina, where she was a graduate assistant for the band program, earning a Master’s degree in music education. In December 2007, she completed a second master’s degree in library and information science, specializing in music librarianship. She joined USC’s library faculty in January of 2008.

She is a member of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), the Music Library Association (MLA), and its Southeast chapter (SEMLA). She also serves as SEMLA’s archivist and chair of the public relations/outreach committee.

How do you define social media?

Librarians have a different outlook on social media. We typically don’t even call it social media…we call it web2.0, typically. To me, social media/web2.0 is any website that allows instant feedback or discussion with the author and other website participants. It can also include more in-depth levels of participation, such as subscribing to RSS feeds, Digging or Stumbling upon articles, etc. Continue reading

Meet Anne Wolfe Postic, The Shop Tart

@theShopTartI started Thedailydigress.com a few years ago to prove to myself that my brain hadn’t gone to mush since college. I got a few free-lance jobs from there and realized I loved writing about fashion, food and beauty.

As a long-time resident of Columbia, I love the town and want to keep it exciting. I started the shoptart.com for a few reasons. Promoting locally-owned businesses is very rewarding. I also wanted to make money doing what I love. I hoped to provide inexpensive, effective advertising to local businesses without the same big budgets of chains. I love hearing about it when business owners get a new customer from the Shop Tart or sell out of an item I mentioned. I also love hearing from readers who scored a deal they read about on my blog.

My husband and I live in Shandon – walking distance from so many of our favorite places – with our three sons, ages 11, 8 and 3.

How do you define social media?

Hmmm…What separates social media from other media is that it’s interactive. Social media is personal. Continue reading

The Importance of Social Media in Higher Education

(Yong Lee, Social Media Club) [...]What is it that we’re trying to teach in a formalized SM curriculum?

[...] From an applied level, one of the mission statements of Social Media Club is to expand media literacy. Media literacy, as it relates to social media, has three key components:

Consumption
There is an overwhelming amount of information available, and knowing what to listen to is difficult. Earlier this week, I saw the quote: “It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.” A media-literate consumer of information will think critically about both the content and source of that information. As a new model of news distribution takes hold, this will be more crucial than ever before.

Production
Adding to the community, supplying your own voice, is what separates social media from other forms of information distribution. There are many ways to do this, whether it’s through words, images, audio, or video. Knowing how to “produce your voice” and share it with others requires technical know-how, and an understanding of what medium would best serve a purpose.

Search
It’s not just about adding, but using what’s already there. Search is not only thoughtful consumption, but knowing where/what to use to find specific information quickly and accurately.

There will be MANY aspects to the #SMCEDU curriculum, and there are teachers out there that teach some aspect of media literacy but don’t categorize themselves as social media teachers. Continue reading

Secrets of Flickr revealed

The newest member of our steering committee Ashlie Conway shows you the down and dirty secrets of how to tackle flickr!

Delicious.com for beginners

Here’s tonight’s presentation from Chip Oglesby on how to get started with Delicious.com.

Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to upload and publicly share all of your bookmarks in the “cloud” so they are accessible on any computer at anytime.

If you have any questions, let us know!

Looking for few good bloggers

In the spirit of sharing while also helping to fatten your wallets and pocketbooks, here are few blogging gigs you may be interested in applying for, courtesy of Technorati’s newsletter.

Social Media Club Columbia is also looking for a few part-time bloggers. Please note that ours would be unpaid positions at your leisure. But if you’re looking to build your personal and professional brands using social media, this may be an easy fit. Plus we look great on a resume :) If interested, shoot us a quick e-mail and tell us about yourself. Be sure to provide links to your own blog and/or any other previous writing you’d like to share :)

See you 9/10 @theState

IBM A Smarter Planet

IBM is hiring bloggers to write articles for A Smarter Planet. A Smarter Planet provides thought-provoking content and a starting point to talk about the issues raised. You can see some of the content here and here. Topics they’re looking for include:

  • Smarter Cities: As populations grow at a fast clip, they are stressing our city infrastructures. Smarter transportation, policing, governance, and grids promise relief to urban areas.
  • Smarter Energy: With smarter grids, utilities can manage the flow of power through their systems. And consumers can manage their appliances and use of energy at the household level.
  • Smarter Healthcare: Using tools like electronic medical records, wireless computing devices and health support networks, innovators are making our systems smarter and more affordable.

If you’re interested, please contact list@technorati.com with your blog name, content overview, URL, Technorati authority, and contact information.

Blogger Test Drives

An automaker is interested in providing vehicles for bloggers to test drive for a few days and to write about the experience. They’re not looking for auto bloggers, they’re looking for lifestyle bloggers who cover topics like travel, fine dining, and culture. They will arrange the drop-off and pick up of the vehicle.

If you’re interested, please contact list@technorati.com with your blog name, content overview, URL, Technorati authority, and contact information.

Mamapedia Featured Bloggers

Mamapedia.com is looking for bloggers who write on topics that are of interest to moms to feature on Mamapedia Voices. They launched earlier this year and are reaching an audience of almost 1 million moms. You can get more information by signing up here: http://bit.ly/agucO.

Please be sure to mention that you found out about ALL of these opportunities from Technorati.

Social Media Secrets Revealed!

Already know the basics of Facebook and Twitter?

It’s time to take your Social Media IQ to the next level.

Come learn tips and tricks about online publications and how to use or elevate your use of Youtube, Vimeo, Digg, Delicious and Flickr.

What: Social Media Club Columbia
When: Thursday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: The State, 1401 Shop Road