Good Works Grapevine

We’re heading downtown in a few to the Twin Tech Party in DC. If you’re going, let me know so we can hook up!

I’ll admit it. I did not run out last Friday and buy an iPhone. I was not disappointed in myself and to date I still don’t feel guilty. I may purchase one in the coming weeks (if I can find one) if for no other reason than - I lost my iPod and need to replace it. So why not buy an iPhone for less money?

For the rest of you peeps out there that got up at the crack of dawn, ran to the Apple store, stood in line for hours and bought an iPhone - this is for you.

Mashable ran a good post giving a run-down on social media apps for the iPhone. I hope this comes in handy!

NTEN recently launched the “We Are Media” project. Tagged The Social Media Starter Kit for Nonprofits, We Are Media focuses on strategic uses of social media for nonprofits. The project is supported by a think tank of web 2.0 strategists and consultants and will prove to be a great tool for nonprofits wanting to move into the social media space.

If you are a professional that would like to be involved in the development of the project, you are invited to participate in a number of ways:

• Join the Swarm or Advisory Group
• Contribute to the WIKI, Google Group, SlideShare, share resources and more

Check the We Are Media site often for great new resources that will help your nonprofit gain exposure, grow your community and be seen!

Shock of all shocks - Google has decided to jump on the virtual bandwagon with its own virtual world - Lively. I decided to check it out and the overall feedback from others playing around is, that at this point, its a glorified chat room. And maybe that’s all its intended to be. You have a few avatar options to choose from and a few pieces of clothing. The service is web-based, so you just need a Google account and to download the small desktop appliance to use it. Avatars can set up chat “rooms” fully furnished to converse, dance and even puke on their fellow “roommates”. While at some point Lively may compete with Second Life, I don’t think that it will be any time soon. Moving from room-to-room is a little clunky and it seems that every link opens a new browser window. Lively has a lot of room to grow. It will be interesting to see where Google takes it.

I couldn’t decide whether to blog about this or to download these first…so I downloaded them first.

Mashable.com, my personal fave blog for social media goodies and news published a fantastic list of plug-ins for anyone running a Wordpress blog. I just downloaded the plug-ins that I didn’t have and took a pause so that I could share. Take a look at the list and let me know what you think!

20+ Must-Have Wordpress 2.5 Compatible Plug-Ins

As most of us have heard, the Associated Press (AP) have come down hard on bloggers. There are certainly varying opinions on who is right and who is wrong in this situation. But I think that the bottom line is that bloggers need to be more vigilante about researching and learning the guidelines for publications. I am a firm believer in the First Amendment and understand that blogging is a new and gray area. But, let’s face it, we don’t want to be sued or worse for something that we’ve written. Here are a few helpful articles on how these guidelines are now being handled (and I hope that I don’t go to jail for linking to them):

• AP, Blogs and ‘fair use’
• The Associated Press Wants to Charge You $12.50 to Quote 5 Words From Them
• Associated Press expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations (and reserves the right to terminate your license)
• AP Blog Fair Use Guidelines

I’m also reading We’re All Journalists Now, which so far has been a pretty interesting read.

Please share your thoughts.

As you may have noticed, I’m going through all my old emails and blog feeds this morning. It’s the holiday - aren’t holidays for playing catch-up?

Here is a little nugget that was sent to me and I think it does a great job of summing up LinkedIn. I have been fortunate enough to truly grow my network through LinkedIn and have not only met some great people but have made some beneficial relationships. This article helps justify why you should be there and even gives a some tips to those who are already using the service. Thanks CreativePro.com!

The Fine Art of Linking In

A Sample Blogging Workflow | chrisbrogan.com

Chris Brogan blogged recently about blogging workflow - which boils down to - you want a company or organizational blog - now what? This is really chocked full of sweet, tasty tips and advice. Thanks, Chris!

Happy 4th everyone! We’re headed to a friend’s house in Arlington for some burgers and beer. I think that an important part of blogging is getting to know the author. So, while I want to keep my blog as close to its purpose as possible, I often have opinions, ideas and general thoughts about life. I thought that I’d use Fridays to tell you a little bit about myself so you get to know Beth the person as well as Beth the social media junkie.

On Wednesday night I found myself in a haze of nostalgia. When I was a kid, my parents (who were very young themselves) loved to crank up the stereo, sending out waves of Cream, Eric Clapton, Traffic, you get the picture. I was very fortunate to have been exposed to great rock ‘n roll at a very young age and have carried my love of music throughout my life. I’ll admit it - I’m a music elitist. So, the other night I decided to download those tunes from my childhood from iTunes. I downloaded The Very Best of Cream and Feelin’ Alright: The Very Best of Traffic and grooved to Sunshine of Your Love and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. It really took me back to a time when I felt safe, warm and happy. It was a good thing to do and I’m glad that I did it.

What did your parents listen to when you were a kid? When you listen to that music, how do you feel? Nostalgia is good - and lately I’ve felt a need to embrace it.

OK, so I joined Second Life last night - my toon is named Cordelia Gothly. Despite waiting over an hour for their servers to allow me to login, I finally made my way “in world”. All I can say is, weird and surreal. I met a lovely “furry” who gave me a bunch of avatars and clothes, helpful tips and sent me to my first landmark. I haven’t quite figured out how to make my avatar look “normal” (if there is such a thing in SL), so I currently look like a Japanese anime character. I met a few nice folks who helped me figure out what the hell I was doing and one even gave me 100 LindenX. After a few hours, I took the leap and spent $9.77 on 2500 LindenX (SL’s form of currency). When I logged off, it still wasn’t in my account, so we’ll see what happens today.

All that said, the concept is really interesting, surreal and overwhelming. But I think I can say with honesty, I’m hooked. If you have SL stories to share, please feel free. It’s going to take me awhile to figure out what this is, let alone what it all means to me and potentially to non-profits. But I think it will be a fun journey and I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

And, please, find me in SL - I’m lonely! CORDELIA GOTHLY. See you “in world”!