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by: Anne Haynes

Today on FriendFeed, using my trusty iGoogle set-up, I noticed a link from Matt Cutts about Knol. So, I clicked on the link and poof I was in the new knol world. Knol can be thought of like About.com meets the Wiki. But it also has a global blogging feel to it as well. Many of the successful blogs out there are built with multiple authors and contributors and knol makes this happen very quickly. Following is my review of knol and my initial thoughts on the usability. Understand that my review could contain user errors, so if you find something incorrect please send me a message and I’ll fix this post. I’m sorry you can’t comment right now, I’m dealing with updating my WordPress and it’s not on the top of my priorities right now.

So when I arrived at knol I screwed up immediately because it wasn’t clear where I should be writing my content. It took me a few times to realize that the beginning content field was for a summary of the article and not the article.

Once I figure this out I was cruzin. The editor is sensitive to MS word documents and prefers article written in a txt editor - duh. I “published” my article and then searched on my name and the keyword “SEO” and there were no results, so there is a lag from writing the article to seeing the article in the knol search results. I few hours later I found my knol article in the search results and I feel pretty special to be right next to Danny! Please note, I’m logged into my iGoogle account so the search results vary. Continue reading and see the new results after knol was update.

I then took it one step further to verifying my name. Well this feature is tied to a phone directory database, so if you are like me and only have one number (private) this feature won’t work. The other way to verify is by credit card and ATMs won’t work, so if you’re only source for paying for things is using your ATM, this won’t work either.

Then there was the cool AdSense feature that gives me control over who’s AdSense is where and of course I want my AdSense. This could get tricky with the co-author model.

All-in-all knol is a cool product and with it’s recent launch there are some bugs

Update: Same Day -Different Time

I just received an email from and anonymous knol user that is reviewing my article. The only people I invited are in my gmail account. I’m no longer in the search results. I love “the” Google!

So I just tried to login to my knol account and I got this cool update:

So in the previous search results my article was published and now it’s gone and only Danny Boys is left:

Last.fm just flicked the switch - and poof new design. I’m having a hard time having myBloglog recognize my last.fm account….more to come later.

by: Anne Haynes

While this might not be a “totally” funny story, it’s interesting to say the least based on the look I received when I said “Twitter” in public.

So, I’m in the process of building out a big pay-per-click campaign. My client just launched a radio ad and the PPC campaign needed to be up ASAP. I called on one of my trusty industry friends to ask for help in making things happen within the time constraints and the phone calls started. Last night, when I was in line at Whole Foods, my friend called me. She was going into all these details and I was focused on placing my items on the conveyer belt and queuing behind the woman ahead of me. During this time I noticed the woman ahead of me was wearing a “Sprint” t-shirt. For those of you that don’t know Kansas, Sprint has a huge campus. If you’ve been to Cisco Systems headquarters it resembles Cisco but with a college look and feel. If you’ve ever visit Kansas for an extended period of time, you will meet someone that works at Sprint.

So, I’m in line talking back and forth on the phone about the PPC campaign and it dawns on me that – I’m not focused and for those of you that manage PPC campaigns you know how focus is tied to ROI. I quickly ask my friend, “Are you going to be on Twitter?” When I said Twitter, the Sprint woman did a drastic head move towards me. It was as if she was thinking – are you following me? Ahhhhahhhahhaa I laughed to myself.

Twitter is fun, Twitter is cool, Twitter is more interesting when in line for food!

I have 8 BrightKite invites if anyone wants one – just shoot me a message.

Helpful video on de-aging your resume. Good story on how to update your internet presence.

by: Anne Haynes

Tonight I was thinking about an experience today on BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook could hurt or help a marriage. I’m a somewhat new user to this type of communication and because it so fun, you learn through trial and error. Let’s face it- if you’re using iGoogle and gadgets it’s like a party behind your computer. You can think about these applications as a play ground for the ADD in you. These are the places where you receive quick fast and filtered industry information before anyone has time to blog about the latest news. You can comment on FriendFeed and reverse feed into Twitter. Bottom-line the days of keeping “in-touch” with people through email are going to become an experience of the past.

How to save a marriage using BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? I’ve turned on a few Kansas City, BBQ loving people, onto the using the four social media applications in conjunction together. And as my friends join, we figure out the ramifications of playing feisty online. Today, there was a conversation with @belpers on twitter when we joked about jealousy of friends. I’m an SEO Queen and while in my industry you can never know everything, when my following friend started making friends with another SEOers, I did get sensitive. Belpers aka BigGuyLittleGuy twittered his fear that his wife and teenage child would see his twitters about “girlfriend” and “jealousy”. Ahhhhhaaahaaahahahah! At first I was worried, but then I knew belpers and his character of being a loving husband, so there were no worries. But there could be situations when using these applications could be detrimental to a marriage. Oh and let’s face it Christy Brinkley’s marriage issues are plastered all over the TV right now.

Then in the middle of my evening belpers checks-in on BrightKite.com – I have a Brightkite invite if you need one send me a note. You can see through BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook that he’s at the gym, then gas station and so on….!!!!!! It hit me that couples having issues with trust and jealousy could use these friendly tools to validate where they are at any given time of the day or night. Is trust a characteristic of a good marriage? Is jealousy a sign of a bad marriage? Can your Facebook profile help you when checking into your spouse? Well that’s up to you and how you use Brightkite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.

I love emerging technologies and I feel blessed to be associated with so many “A” players in the industry. Thanks for your includes and friendship!

by: Anne Haynes

Tonight I came home, logged into my iGoogle and within my FriendFeed gadget I found a link from Jason Calacanis – clicked on the link and was sent to revision3.com - poof I was taken back in time 13 years to 1995 and my days on CU-SeeMe . In 1995 I was a San Jose State University college intern working at KSJS and being mentored by Dan Fortune; the first guy to play guitar over the internet. It was a crazy time! I was the production assistant managing the Sound Byte radio talk show that aired over the radio waves and internet bytes. Dan Fortune introduced me to CU-SeeMe and the PowerPC, so I decided to purchase a MAC and in retrospect I wish I purchased an AV model. Within weeks of my home computer purchase listeners/internet viewers were sending 14.4 modems and Connectix quick camera s to the station. Did someone say free gear? I had free electronics and these guys were helping me configure my stuff over CU-SeeMe. At this point, I knew I was one of the first women on the internet. Let’s remember this was before instant messaging – actually this was instant messaging with a video enabled option. While the 14.4 modem had resolution issues, the black and white streaming video was totally cutting edge at the time. Think about it like air brushing an image or using a filter when you take a picture. You could look like hell and still look good on CU-SeeMe. Following is the Cornell University photo for CU-SeeMe - this University created the technology and later sold it to WhitePine Software.

When I arrived at revision3.com and tried to get into the chatroom I received a message, “Room Is Full - Try Joining This Room Later” Ya – thanks for the message, but someone please fix this issue! There is nothing more frustrating for an internet user than to NOT get into the chatroom! It brought me back to 1995 when I had to keep clicking the ENTER button to get into the BikerBar on CU-SeeMe. When everything is said and done – I bounced when I saw revision3.com’s message and in 1995 I became a determined user on CU-SeeMe.

If you want to leave a comment, send me an email – I’m overloaded with blog spam and updating my own database and site – it takes time. Email me now!

by: Anne Haynes

In the past couple of months I’ve been playing around with Twitter.com and while this service was offered to me back in January 2008, I dismissed it as being lame. Why would anyone want to know what I’m doing right now? What value does knowing I’m drinking a latte at Scooters add to anyone’s day? Then one day I made “time” for Twitter! And it looks like Amazon has made 15 million dollars worth of time for Twitter. With this said, what does Twitter offer? Why would Amazon invest in a micro blogging service? Let’s discuss….

Product Ratings: real-time – Imagine if you purchased a mountain bike on Amazon and while you were riding your bike through the woods you loved it so much you sent a message from your cell phone. Yes, twitter allows you to send messages via your cell to a custom twitter email address. Now this review or rating you give via your cell phone syncs with Amazon and boom – you get the picture.

Product Photos: real-time – Imagine if you’re on that new bike and you decide to take a self portrait with your new bike – the one you purchased from Amazon (and the third party merchant). Well, now you have a following. While product ratings are great, personal pictures and events with a product are more interesting. Potential buyers need pictures and video on the internet today!

Product Chat: real-time – Imagine if you could talk to someone who’s purchased the bike right before you’re about to add your bike to the shopping cart? OK now it’s a different business model!

I remember back in 1995 when I was trying to be a chat room monitor for ZDNet. While I was never approved as a monitor on ZDNet, I did my duty monitoring an internet radio station’s video conferencing broadcasts using CU-SeeMe. And what I learned was there are “some” freaks on the internet! Mind you it was 1995 and I was one of the first women using CU-SeeMe and at this time – one of the first women on the internet and wow it was fun! I want to do another post about CU-SeeMe!!

Bottom-line, if Amazon is thinking of using real-time chat for products reviews, they need damage control! For the manufactures that create the products sold online, this should feel like a wake-up call. If manufactures aren’t listening to their buyers/customers this information should be a reason to install a blog and listen – track and monitor what the consumer really wants from their manufacturing plants. The best way to know what consumers/clients want is to listen and the best way to listen is to have a blog! Don’t worry enterprise manufactures, you have control over comments.

If you want to leave a comment, send me an email – I’m overloaded with blog spam and updating my own database and site – it takes time. Email me now!

by: Anne Haynes

In the last 2 months I’ve educated myself on social media tools and ways to make these tools work for you instead of sucking time out of your daily grind. I remember when I finally left myspace and went to facebook. It was early 2008 and while the glittery profiles brought me into Myspace and the music kept me logging into my profile, the industry news was drawing me to rekindle my facebook connection.

The facebook experience was overwhelming. It didn’t take long for me to hate facebook. The login alone gave me anxiety; too much to do and not enough understanding of what I was doing. Then the usability and data overload issues happened; friends requests, add application requests, announcements, etc. Facebook seemed like a big waste of time to me. But then I decided to soak; sit back, study, understand and analyze the facebook experience. It’s taken me a few months to get my facebook groove on, but it’s been well worth the time.

Today I read a segment in this months CREATIVITY Magazine (twitter:creativitymag) Refacing Facebook. In April of this year facebook announced a redesign targeting late spring, but the overwhelming feedback from the development community pushed the facebook redesign out. So with this said, more speculation on what will make a new facebook friendly is still out.

In the CREATIVITY Magazine article DL Byron, Principal, Textura Design mentions the lack of facebook integration within his other online presences/accounts. He specifically states flickr and YouTube. You know its times like these that DL Byron is wishing print production was just a little faster to the newsstands than technology is to social media. While he may have been referencing facebook as a technology entity, the facebook friendfeed application does this now. It’s clear in my consulting business and within the industry that the elite are onto these slick social media integration tools and it’s just a matter of time until these tools are second nature to everyone.

I’m just happy about my igoogle:

Let’s review:
I have the BeTwittered Google gadget on the left of my login page because well I read left to right and this concept is the same with dashboards. I have digg in the middle to keep me up on the hot topics on the internet. And finally, my favorite social media application: friendfeed on my right. What I find amusing is to see my twitters show up in friendfeed.

Now, let’s circle around to facebook:
In my facebook, I’ve added the friendfeed application and now all my friends can see my activity on the web.

It’s always tough to speak out about the social media industry especially when the topic is technology. Just when you say something doesn’t exist, the developers update the code and poof within seconds it exists.

For those of you wanting a dropbox invite, I just received a few more. If you need a BrightKite invite, shoot me a message.

by: Anne Haynes
You Know You’re a FriendFeed Poser When….

You find peoples names and do a Google search to figure out more about the person - then you add them.

You add people you don’t know.

Make comments in other peoples discussions, like they know you.

You find the latest, breaking news from someone else’s blog feed and then you blog about the same topic.

You start using old services you’ve lost interest in to be able to add more icons next to your name.

You create a room and no one joins your room.

You introduce FriendFeed and Twitter to your clients and make them use the services to communicate with you so you don’t feel alone.

You find yourself following someone you don’t know and liking things they like.

You “like” things you don’t read because you want to increase your “weekly” and “all time” numbers.

When everything is said and done, you’re not pretending you’re just following a bunch of people you don’t know. Then you realize - they don’t know all the people their following either. If you’re a FriendFeed user, will you please add me to your friends so I don’t feel like such a poser

The word is out on the internet that Yahoo and Google will make a joint announcement at 1:30 PST today. While I’m still looking for more information on this topic, TechCrunch is reporting “we’ve heard from a reliable source close to one of the companies” that an announcement is in the works. Ok, so the word is out - if this happens this will crush the competition and make Google the master of all paid search advertising. This is a sad day in search - let’s remember before Google, Yahoo! was number 1. More on this story at TechCrunch