But Am I Really That Sociable

Monday means back to work for working folks. For retired folks, it is just another Saturday. For me and my classmates, it means back to the classroom with Blogging 201.

Today’s Assignment: pick one social network you’ll use to help grow your blog and connect it to your site. Then, outline a 30-day plan for how you’ll use it.

Googling  “drive your business with social media” generates more links than imaginable. What if I don’t have a business? What if I just have “social” connections through my website/blog or FaceBook or Twitter or Google+ or LinkedIn or Instagram or RVillage or other social media accounts?

I’ve already written a couple of post about Social Media. Take a look at Social Network Overload and Plugging Into Social Networks.  Today marks the third post on Social Media.

Brand! Blavatar! What’s Next?

Today’s assignment: extend your brand with one of the following: a custom Blavatar, a custom image widget, or a Facebook fan page. When I read that, I felt like Charlie Brown.
I understand the need to extend my brand but just did not want to do the assignment. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.Time to tackle this assignment.

What in the world is a Blavatar? A blavatar is an avatar for blogs. An avatar is an icon or image representing a particular person in computer applications such as blogs, forums or other social networks. Another term that you may see is Gravatar. This is a Globally Reconized Avatar. I decided to take that approach – for now.

We have a yard sign that is planted in front of our RV wherever we park.

I squared up the image and added the name WagginTailsRV on it. That is the name we picked before we retired. It represents the wagging tails of our fur babies as we travel along. I will be working on a better image that represents this theme. If you guys know a sketch artist or someone who could help with this, please let me know.

I want to have an image or a series of related images that will link this blog with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks.

One more assignment to go, I think I will finish this course. Thank you for following along with me and thanks for the support. I also appreciate the new bloggers who are following Tales From The WagginMaster.

Social Network Overload (SNO)

Have we reached a saturation point with Social Networks? I maintain accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Twitter, RVillage as well this blog on WordPress. There are times I feel like I am suffering from the effects of SNO.

Facebook

I started Facebook in 2008 based on the suggestion of my daughters. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Now I use it daily to communicate with my friends. Next to blogging, Facebook is my most active social network application.

LinkedIn

I cannot remember when I initiated my LinkedIn account. I remember that it was a great way to network with my professional peers across the US and other countries. Prior to retirement, I was a corporate education manager and had a need to connect to other corporate education professionals outside of my home town of Corpus Christi, Texas. Since retirement, I still maintain connection with many of my pre-retirement professional network. I have expanded my network on LinkedIn to include several who are in the RVing world like I am.

Google+

Shortly after Google opened Google+ to everyone in September 2011, I initiated my Google+ account. I already had an email account and a blog account on Google. It made sense to me to continue down Google avenue. I liked the idea of circles and felt Google+ was easier to use and manage than Facebook. The number of connections I have on Google+ are meaningless if my postings go unnoticed. At the moment with Google +, I feel like I am talking but no one is listening. Therefore, I am seriously considering closing my Google+ account. This blog post will auto post on my Google+ account. I’ll let you know if I get any feedback from anyone in my Google+ circles.

I have to be careful with that since Google has integrated most Google apps. I have files on Google Drive, photos in Picasa Web and Google+.

Twitter

I know Twitter is the place to post short messages of 140 characters or less. I just have never gotten the hang of tweeting. Maybe one day there will be a Tweeting101 course like Blogging101.

Instagram

Instagram’s primary purpose is mobile photo and video sharing. I got involved with Instagram in November 2013 after reading a couple of blogs focused on photography. I plan to keep this active because I do take a lot of photos with my phone.

RVillage

RVillage is a social network designed for RVers. It is designed to make it easy for RVers to find other RVers based on location. As an example, I am currently in Amarillo, TX. Using RVillage, I can easily find other RVers in the Amarillo area. Or if I wanted to chat with RVers in Harrisonburg, VA, I could search that location in RVillage and find RVers who are in Harrisonburg.

One new feature just implemented in RVillage is MarketPlace. Members of RVillage can submit business recommendations on RVillage. Then when an RVer arrives in a new area, they can search MarketPlace for that area and see merchants that have been recommended by other RVers. That is pretty cool. I’ll save the details of RVillage for another blog post.

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Are you experiencing the effects of SNO? I hope not. Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now.