Month: May 2011

Swatting the social media buzzwords

Here’s a quick guide to some good glossaries of social media and SEO terms.

Is there a skyscraper on your SERP?

Possibly. In SEO-speak, a “skyscraper” is a long, narrow ad that runs at the edge of a web page. “SERP” stands for “search engine results page.” Easy — once you know the buzzwords.

Jargon and buzzwords are proliferating among social media and search engine optimization practitioners, and they serve the same purposes they do in other realms: They provide shortcuts for insiders and they exasperate just about everyone else.

If you’re wondering about things like “link farms” and “splogs,” here’s a quick guide to a few good glossaries of social media and SEO terms:

Social Media Glossary on Socialbrite (“Social tools for social change). Here are the words and phrases used by the professionals and policy types, from “API” to “YouTube” with a convenient hyperlinked index at the top.

The Ultimate Glossary: 101 Social Media Marketing Terms Explained posted by Kip Bodnar on the HubSpot Blog. Here’s where you’ll find explanations of services like Gowalla, Kyte, and MyPunchbowl (but no Evite? Hmm…)

25 Social Media Buzzwords…Explained by Jim Tobin of Ignite Social Media. A two-part article.

SEO jargon busters — a comprehensive list from DailyBloggr. Explains, among other things, latent semantic indexing, an important concept in SEO keywording.

The social media strategist’s guide to the Geosocial Universe

This profile of the current geosocial universe will help you plan your social media strategy.

Here’s something to think about as you plan your social media strategy and think about how to invest your time and other resources for online communication. It’s from data visualization expert Jess Thomas via TechCrunch:

Check out JESS3 for more on the Geosocial Universe.

If you write speculative fiction…

Join the writers of the Clarion West community for the 2011 Clarion West Write-a-thon (June 19 through July 21)

Is there a speculative fiction writing project you want to get finished? Started? Submitted to a magazine, agent or publisher?

If so, I want to invite you to join the writers of the Clarion West community for the 2011 Clarion West Write-a-thon (June 19 through July 21). It’s a great way to challenge yourself to meet your writing goals — while raising money to sustain one of the nation’s foremost programs for speculative fiction.

People have used the Write-a-thon to start novels, to experiment with new writing techniques, to complete works-in-progress, and to polish and submit stories for publication. Last year author Michael Swanwick wrote flash fiction pieces that featured his donors as characters — and we expect there’ll be more such playfulness this year.

If you join the Clarion West online forums (http://clarionwest.net/forum), you can report on your progress and talk with other Write-a-thon participants.

Here’s how to get involved:

  1. Register for Write-a-thon and create your profile page. Use the profile to tell people about yourself and your Write-a-thon goals, and  post a short excerpt from your fiction.
  2. When the Write-a-thon starts on June 19, ask friends to visit your page and donate to support your writing goals and the Clarion West program.
  3. Start writing! You’ll have until July 21 to meet your goals.

You’ll find complete information on the 2011 Clarion West Write-a-thon at http://clarionwest.net/events_page/write_a_thon.

Our goal this year is to involve 100 writers, attract 270 donors, and spark the creation and publication of some outstanding fiction. Please join us!

May 18: Ignite Seattle inspires

There are only three excuses for not keeping up with your blog. They are:

  1. You’re dead
  2. You’re working
  3. You’re working yourself to death

Let’s just say I’m not dead. Movin’ right along…

May 18 is the next Ignite Seattle at the King Cat Theater downtown (7 p.m. start time). The list of 5-minute Ignite-format talks is shorter than usual, but there’s a promise that something wonderful and “science fiction related” will follow the talks at the end of the evening. And these folks keep their promises.

I can’t say enough about Ignite Seattle. The talks not only enlighten and amuse, but inspire members of the audience to put together presentations and share their own insights at the next Ignite.

What could be better?

See you there.

%d bloggers like this: