Twitter followers have become the status symbol of 2009, but how valuable are they, really? I think we’re placing too much importance on the numbers and paying far too little attention to the actual reasons why followers can be valuable to us.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t want to have a lot of followers. I’m saying that you don’t want to have a lot of the wrong followers. There is nothing to be gained by accumulating “empty” followers. Why? Because they are not listening to you! Your core followers — those you who actually listen to you and interact with you — are the real value of Twitter, and that’s why you should never, ever automate your Twitter account to increase follower count. Read the rest of this entry »
Here are a couple of ways to be more efficient when it comes to sharing your photos online from events. Like most web workers, you’re probably on many different social networks. How do you share those great photos from the event with all of your contacts on all of your social networks, without having to log in to each one separately?
Fortunately, there are ways to automate the process of cross-posting photos to many different services at one time.
Flickr
One of the best ways to broadcast your photos is via Flickr. It’s very simple to set up, and the results will save you a great deal of time. You’ll be able to send any photo from your mobile device to your Flickr account via email, and it will then automatically send a link to that photo on Twitter and Facebook at the same time, if you choose to do so. To set up Flickr to automatically share photos with your contacts on Facebook and Twitter: Read the rest of this entry »
Starting a business can be a huge undertaking, but fortunately for the aspiring web worker, it doesn’t have to be. The really great thing about starting a web working business is that getting set up can be easy and low cost.
You don’t need a fancy set-up. You can get by with a few basic necessities (in most cases, a computer, an Internet connection, a web site and maybe some business cards).
You don’t need to quit your day job. You can keep working at your current job until your web work picks up enough to support you. Read the rest of this entry »
When it comes to collaborative projects, there’s one area where I’ve found it particularly easy to trip up, especially if you’re working with a team you never see in person. As you put together the initial research for a project — maybe interview notes for a series of blog posts, great examples for a web site design, or the figures for a marketing plan — keeping the information organized and accessible for everyone involved can be a major hassle. Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s note: With this post we welcome Nancy Nally to the WebWorkerDaily team. Nancy is the owner of Balalaberry Media and is the editor of its online scrapbook industry trade journal Scrapbook Update, which she founded in 2004, along with working on other writing projects. She shares her home in Palm Coast, Fla., with her geek husband and young geek daughter, who has autism.
I may not be able to make a phone call on my iPhone from 30,000 feet (yet), but I’ve still found that when I’m out of my office and have to fly, having an iPhone in my pocket is a powerful sanity-saving tool. Here are the apps that help keep my air travel running smoothly.
Plan.Pack.Go: Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush
Flying means packing. Even if you have a standard “kit” you travel with, it’s still easy in the rush to get out the door to forget your toothbrush, or charging cable. The list templates in this app let you create and save your standard list, edit it if needed for a specific trip, and then check off items as you pack them. Unlike many packing apps, this one includes list items for standard pre-travel tasks, like charging batteries. A sideways shake switches between your unpacked and packed list items, and the categories are well-organized. I’ve tried several packing apps, and this is by far the most slick in design. Designed by Tangent software, and available from the App Store for $1.99. Read the rest of this entry »
Listening has always been important, but now in the world of social media where conversations are amplified, repeated and spread at a much faster rate than ever before, listening has become even more critical. Many of us, particularly freelancers, don’t have teams of people responsible for customer service and support to help make sure that we are listening to our customers, potential customers and industry experts. We have to find the time to listen to what people are saying about us and react appropriately.
Photo by Flickr User Orange_Beard under Creative Commons
Josh Bernoff wrote about the modern listening problem and compares it to those speaker phones where you can’t talk and listen at the same time. On those not-full-duplex speaker phones, you are either talking or listening, but not doing both at the same time. In the social media age, we need to be both listening and talking, but many people are only doing one or the other. On Twitter and other social web sites, we talk about what we are doing and listen to other people talk, and we do it simultaneously. Read the rest of this entry »
Maintaining and promoting your various online personas can be a challenge. As Charles wrote recently, there are a variety of options for managing many online identities, and yesterday one of them, GizaPage, which I wrote about back in May, released several new features.
You may recall that GizaPage has a different take than other similar services. Where most either pull or aggregate your content into their own interface, GizaPage’s tab format gives folks the ability to view all of your profiles in their natural context. While I found the initial release to be thoughtfully done, some of the new options make it a much more compelling option.
Read the rest of this entry »
Are you having a good day today? Remote working can be great, but it can also prove a lonely proposition; some days it can seem like you never leave the house, or as if no one knows or cares whether you’re working or not. For many, remote working actually means remote: The workplace of your employer is hours away; friends and/or other colleagues aren’t much closer. And sometimes it can seem as if the people who are supposed to be working with you are too busy with what’s going on in the office to actually give you what you need to do your job.
That sense of disconnection can be significant, it can be cruel, and it can be very difficult to overcome. If you’ve never had a day like this, lucky you! I’ve had my fair share, and though I’m no psychologist, I thought I’d outline my tactics for shaking off the remote working blues, just in case you ever face the same problem.
Remain Calm
Don’t hit the panic button just because you’re feeling the twin tyrannies of distance and solitude. You’re competent, capable and like everyone else, you suffer the occasional bad day. It’s cool. The fact that you may hate working remotely right now doesn’t mean you’re losing your remote working mojo — not at all! It just means you’re human.
Speak to Someone
I always find a bad day is most swiftly cut down to size if I tell someone about it. IM your best friend and let loose about how annoying it is trying to work with that guy in Marketing who never gives you the information he’s supposed to. Or call your brother and see if he wants to catch up on the weekend.
It may not matter who you get in touch with — usually I find that chatting with someone about something expands my horizons enough to remind me that I really am part of the world after all. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everyone’s too busy to be distracted by you, either. Those closest will always have time for you, and if they don’t right now, they’ll call you back as soon as they do.
Immerse Yourself
Typically, my bad day is accompanied by a serious lack of motivation. One technique I use to overcome that is to try to immerse myself in an aspect of my job that I really enjoy. So I’ll look at my task list and pick the thing I want to do most, or what looks like it’ll be the most fun. This is a good way to remind myself of what I like about work, and gives me a sense of purpose.
If there’s nothing on your task list that you really want to do, some fresh air and a stroll around the block might make things look a little less bleak.
Arrange a Day in the Office
This may not be appropriate, or even possible, for everyone. But I find that, if I’ve been feeling isolated from work for a while, the promise of a day in the office — to reconnect with colleagues, make progress on particular projects that have hit hurdles, and remind myself how much I hate commuting — can perk me up. If you have friends in (or near) the office, you might even arrange to have lunch with them. You might as well make the most of your time on site!
I know a freelancer who, when he starts to feel isolated at home, either goes to a friend’s studio to work there for the day, or arranges a few client meetings so he has a reason to get out of the house and into the big, wide world. Do you have a cool friend with their own office, or a few clients with whom you could meet?
Be Kind to Yourself
I think the secret to getting through a bad day really lies in being kind to yourself. If I dread sitting down at my solitary old desk and starting my lonely old work, I’ll put on some good music, or take the laptop out to the deck (and the sunshine!) for a while. Perhaps I’ll treat myself to my favorite snack, call a friend to arrange to meet up later, go for a run, or spend a half hour looking at a book, magazine or site that really inspires me. These small indulgences usually make me feel pretty good, and, coupled with some of the points I mentioned above, can help me approach a mindset in which I can face up to the rest of the work day.
I know I’m not the only one to suffer the remote working blues. What do you do when they hit you?
