Trying to figure out social media

Are you perplexed by social media?

Not quite sure what the (grand) kids are on about when they talk about Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube?

Thinking you want to start a blog, but not sure how?

Thinking that social media might help out your family history search? 

Want a hand to figure it all out?

Check out the following to get you started :

• The rough guide to social media for beginners
• Social media for seniors
• Social networking for the over 50s in simple steps 
• Blogging for creatives : how designers, artists, crafters and writers can blog to make contacts, win business and build success
• Teach yourself visually Facebook
• #tweetsmart
• DNA and social networking : a guide to genealogy in the twenty-first century 

 Looking forward to seeing you online!

Bloggity, blogging, bloggers...

I have a confession to make.

I am an addict.

Now don't get all excited. My addiction is nowhere near as scandalous as booze, drugs or sex. I am not a celebrity after all.

My addiction - make that addictions - are fairly mundane. There's my addiction to books (do I really need to explain this one) and chocolate (Hello it's chocolate, need I say anything more...) and Scifi television (go figure). My latest addiction is a rather odd one, though understandable given the direction my life has taken in the last few months.

I have become addicted to reading blogs and I blame it entirely on MJ, Tosca, Scriven and my other fellow bloggers. (Picture of me giving you all a firm stare over the rim of my glasses).

I could of course say it was all entirely in the name of research (which would be partially true) but really it's just a fascinating and very addictive and easy way to pass the time. There are some truly great blogs out there and some that are so bad that they are almost good, if you know what I mean.

One of the wonderful things about being a blogger is that there is also a small chance that you may get seen by a publishing house and pick up a book contract.

So here's a salute to my fellow bloggers who are out there in the big wide world, slaving away at their computer, wondering if they will ever have a life.

Power to the people! (a chocolate fish to anyone who can guess which tv show this was from).

Rebellion, revolution and a new world order

The title for this post is actually the subtitle of the book I want to share with you. I feel it really pinpoints what this book is all about. 

The Arab Spring : rebellion, revolution and a new world order, edited by Toby Manhire, is the printed version of a chronological collection of online reporting that happened as countries throughout North Africa and the Middle East experienced citizen uprisings that began in Tunisia in mid-December 2010.

I was only vaguely aware of a lot of these events happening across the world, as I was living in Christchurch during much of the time that these events took place, and my focus was much more on localised events that impacted on me personally. So it is only now that I have been able to look back at these other events that were kicking off globally.

One thing that fascinated me was the actual publication of the book in the first place. It is a finite collection of live online reporting and commentary. This book collates and shares a variety of voices, captured through tweets, blogs and online articles, and brings them all together in one place, something that might not be so easy to curate and collate in an infinite online space. Creating a book to share the chronological unfolding of the revolution online is an easier way to read about the revolution than trying to individually seek out the information across a variety of sources on the internet.

This book presents an interesting historical analysis of how the use of social technology (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) facilitated the sharing and dissemination of information about the events across the region. There is a great essay about how the technology didn't start the revolution, but it did play in important part in disseminating the information when it did kick off.

If you want to get a sense of how and why the Arab Spring started, when the first tweets and online reporting began, as well as read stories from across the region (Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen) and gain an insight about what it means now for the citizens across North Africa and the Middle East, I'd recommend setting aside some time and reading as much as you can in one sitting (I finished it over a weekend). It'll draw you into a world of political protest, and then you'll remember that this was only the beginning of the revolution.