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More cowbell!
Thursday, June 04, 2009 — posted by Sarah O'Keefe
About a year ago, we added Google Analytics to our web site. I have done some research to see what posts were the most popular in the past year:- The clear winner was our FrameMaker 9 review. With 21 comments, I think it was also the most heavily commented post. Interestingly, the post itself is little more than a pointer to the PDF file that contains the actual review.
- InDesign CS4 = Hannibal post, which discussed InDesign's encroachment on traditional FrameMaker features.
- A surprise...a post from 2006 in which Mark Baker discussed the merits (or lack thereof) of DITA in To DITA or not to DITA
We noticed this pattern recently, when a carefully crafted, meticulously written post was ignored in favor of a throwaway post dashed off in minutes with a catchy title (Death to Recipes!).
For useful, thoughtful advice on blogging, I refer you to Tom Johnson and Rich Maggiani. I, however, have a new set of blogging recommendations:
- Write catchy titles
- Have an opinion, preferably an outrageous one
- More cowbell
Labels: blogs, cowbell, humor, web 2.0
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How to trim your Twitter feed
Friday, January 30, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring
Receive too many Twitter's throughout the day? You might not want to receive every @reply I send to my followers, so weed them out by doing this:Go to http://twitter.com/account/notifications
Change @replies to read “Show me @replies to the people I am following.”
This apparently is the default setting, because it's already selected in my preferences, and I haven't touched them.
From Chris Brogan's blog:
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/unswamp-your-twitter-feed/
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How do you manage your RSS feeds?
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring
How do you manage your RSS feeds?Over the past few years, I've subscribed to 90 RSS feeds, many of which I (currently) read on a regular basis. Google Reader is my reader of choice. This reader makes it easy to organize feeds by topic. All of my news blogs are grouped under Current Events. Beauty and fashion are filed under Frivolity. Art and photography are considered Self Expression...and so forth.
Some feeds are only skim worthy, while others I read word-for-word. Still, 90 feeds is really more than I can realistically keep up with. The question of which feeds to unsubscribe from plagues me. How long does one subscribe to a feed before deciding it's not worthwhile?
The decision can be compared to investing, when you drop a mutual fund after a few years of consistent losses. But with feeds, I allot a few months to judge the quality of the content and how often the author contributes. My feeds typically provide practical learning experiences. That sounds boring, but it's not really. Gryphon Journals addresses topics of interest to technical communicators -- analyzing product documentation for usability, improving your writing, and so on. Gen X Finance provides advice for achieving financial independence. I don't read a lot of fluff, except for the few filed under Frivolity!
Some feeds are from consultants or individuals selling products and services. I weed out those that don't have substantial content. Gretchen Rubin promotes her book on The Happiness Project, but I always learn something from her posts. (See Tips for getting your sweetheart to do chores—without nagging.) On the other hand, many corporate blogs are pure marketing tools and don't provide any practical content. I usually don't bother with those unless I just want to keep up with the company's activities.
Here are a few more of my daily must-reads:
- I'd Rather Be Writing: Trends in technical communication from Tom Johnson.
- WorkLifeLove: Holly Hoffman's views on building relationships, working effectively, and basically living life.
- Mind Hacks: Tips for using your brain!
- Conversation Agent: Valeria Maltonis' advice for optimizing your social network -- from marketing with Twitter to writing effective blog entries.
- Dr. Macro's XML Rants: Eliot Kimber's lessons learned in XML and associated technologies -- XSLT, technical publishing, Java, etc.
- Digital Photography School: Product reviews, lessons in digital photography, and tips for managing and sharing photos.
What are your favorite feeds, and how do you prevent them from getting out of control?
Labels: blogs, RSS feeds, thirst for knowledge
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