I found a new way to share vacation pictures – Animoto (www.animoto.com). You can sign up for free – the directions on the site are specific and easy to follow. You simply upload your photos, choose background music and add details.
For free you can upload 8-15 images. I uploaded the images without resizing from my camera – just to see if it would work and it did. You could upload your own music (if you have the copyright!). The slideshow ends up being about 30 second.
Once created it’s easy to post a link to your video on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Also it’s easy to grab the code for the video to embed it into your site.
If you want something longer, you can upgrade to a paid account.
If you didn’t have vacation pictures you could use this for a tour of a house for sale, a resort, a campus, your products…
I had vacation pics for my test: http://tinyurl.com/m4mmjz
Today’s Byte is pretty specific but I hope a few folks will it useful. For a more general tip…After my last Byte John in Hibbing had a good suggestion for a fax to email tool: Faxaway: http://www.faxaway.com/
A couple of people lately have asked me about policies for online forums. You want the flexibility to allow for free flow of conversation but you also want to ensure productive and respectful exchanges. I looked at a bunch of policies over the weekend and found that they usually hit on the following key topics.
- Respect and tone
- Set the tone. Is this a family-friendly list? Does the list focus on a singular topic or is it designed for a particular group? Spell out such expectations.
- Inappropriate material
- No copyright material
- Don’t post private emails
- Nothing you wouldn’t want your grandma to see
- Nothing abusive, especially to other list members
- Tech details
- Do you need to be over 18?
- Is there a limit to the number of posts in a day?
- Do you allow attachments?
- Spam and ads
- Does the post genuinely add value to the conversation or is it an ad?
- Moderation and consequences
- Having a moderation plan in place before you need it will make life easier if you need to enforce it
Examples of good policies:
Family friendly: http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/forums/policies.php
Very simple: http://ezinearticles.com/?Sample-Online-Forum-Guidelines-and-Rules&id=437521
The Full Monty: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Rules – extensive and thorough
Wikipedia also has a nice article on forum policies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum#Rules_and_policies_on_forums
I have been moderating email and web-based lists for more than 10 years. I find that most people are happy to comply with policies. A few folks will accidentally break the rules – usually by posting too often or posting to the list when they intended to post a private email – leading to their own embarrassment more than anything else. There are a few spammers out there who you can usually catch immediately and ban. Their spam talks about medical cures or hot dates. There are a few cantankerous people who stay on topic and are borderline abusive or too focused on their opinions, which often only related tangentially to the list. They are the reason that it’s good to have moderation policies in place.
Earlier this summer I started working with Learning Zone Express. They create and sell posters, books, curricula and more related to kids’ health and nutrition. Some stuff is geared towards teachers and schools; some is more for families. (I love their foodscapes – pictures of animals created with food.)
Anyways we met to start a social media strategy for the group. They have started to use Twitter and YouTube and they have really been rocking on the Learning Zone Express blog. You have to check it out – but I strongly suggest you check it out on a Friday when they have their big poster sales.
They know their customers and their industry so well. They were able to jump in right away to create posts that would interest their customers. Sometimes they blog about themselves; sometimes they blog about what other folks are doing, what they’ve read or the conferences they are attending. They’ve done a good job tying the blog into their web site.
The readership is good and the reaction to the Friday poster sales have been tremendous – despite the fact that a lot of their target market takes the summer off. I was especially pleased when their online marketing efforts were recognized by the local paper.
We’ve really spent the summer building up a base for the social media tools – creating consistency, a voice and skills. Our next plan is to work on some solid campaigns where we will use the social media tools to promote the company or products in ways that are completely new.
OK I know I’ve been terrible with the timely bytes this summer – I’m going home on Thursday and that should help me get back on track. In the meantime…
Someone asked me about email to fax and fax to email options last week. I haven’t tried any of these – and most of them won’t from Ireland but I tried to pick the best I could.
The following services allow you to send and receive faxes through your email. The big difference seems to be price:
E-fax http://www.efax.com - There is a pay per page rate. There is also a 30 day trial.
MyFax http://www.myfax.com - Cost is $10 per month. Apparently you get 300 free fax pages, which implies that you pay a usage fee after that. There also have a free trial.
Go Daddy http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/email/fte_landing.asp - Cost is $14 per month for an 800 number. Unfortunately, you use minutes while sending or receiving fax.
UnityFax https://www.unityfax.com – There’s a $2 setup fee, $5 per month and $.05 per page over limit.
Free Fax to Email http://www.freefaxtoemail.net - Good to receive but apparently not to send.
