Sally Walker Media Labs | Social Media Expert UK, SEO, Design

25 Creative & Innovative Ways To Use Twitter For Business

Sally Walker — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:03:52 +0000

A lot of people ask me about Twitter and its use. “Surely it’s just a lot of ‘noise’” they say but there are so many creative and innovative ways you can use Twitter, especially for business.

With Twitter, to a certain degree, you have to think out of the box. The term ‘micro-blogging’ does makes it sound a little clinical, but when you open your mind to the wonders of what it can do for you and your business, then you really get an idea of why Twitter must be part of your online business profile.

Here are a few ways of using Twitter for business.

Mastermind Group – Set up your very own Mastermind group, the best of the best in your area of expertise, a great way to help and support each other.
Test Panel – If you have a virtual product why not create a Twitter test panel of a select number of your Twitter stream and ask your Twitter pals to download/read/look/share your product and give you honest feedback.
Customer Service – Why not use Twitter as a channel for your customer service and feedback. Add it as an extension of your customer service helpline or your call centre.
Support – Do you have a business that requires you to give support to your clients and customers? Then why not use Twitter as your support helpdesk or at least an extra arm of it. You can use an app called TwtFAQ to help with Twitter based support helpdesks.
Away/Busy Messages – Perhaps you need to know when certain people in your company are out of the office or busy, how about using Twitter as your messaging system, a lot cheaper than a pager or a mobile contract.
Recruitment – Need to hire someone new? Advertise your position on Twitter yourself or use Twitter recruitment services such as TwitJobs which certainly embrace all things Twitter and recruitment.
Noticeboard – Have important announcements to send to your clients, customers, friends, staff? Use Twitter as an online noticeboard.
Special Offers – Do you offer special offers, sales, discounts etc? Shout about them on Twitter. Why not even offer a Twitter only special offer just for your Twitter followers.
Network – Need to meet businesses in your local area then find them on Twitter using Twitter Search.
Intranet – You can set Twitter profiles to ‘private’ so that only approved Twitter users can see your profile and tweets. By doing this you can easily create an internal intranet system for your company.
Surveys/Polls – If you need some extra feedback on something, whether serious or for fun, set up a Twitter survey or poll through Twtpoll.
Groups – By using Twubs and Twibes you can set up Twitter groups which can be used for a variety of topics.
Referrals/Testimonials – Send a glowing testimonial or referral to another person using Twitter, this allows others to see it and hopefully get in touch with that person.
Tweetup – A ‘Tweetup’ is a meet up of people with a common interest that has been arranged via Twitter. You can use such tools as Twtvite or SchmapIT to organise your Tweetups.
Lead Pool – Do you have leads coming in that you do not have capacity for or perhaps are not in your industry area, then create a leads pool on Twitter and tweet out the leads.
Promote Blog Posts – If you write a blog post, tweet it (and the URL obviously!) and spread the word.
Newsletter Sign Ups – Just as you would your blog posts above, don’t forget to shout about your newsletter and ask for sign ups.
To Do List – Need to keep track of your tasks and ‘to do’s'? Then use Twitter as a to do list and you can even use apps like Remember The Milk to tweet you when you need to do something.
Tweet Live – Are you running an event? Then why not use Twitter as a live stream commentary.
Send Business Cards – Oh yes, believe it or not you can now even send your business details in a business card format via Twitter by using TwtBizCard.
Track Parcels – By using TrackThis you can track parcels being sent to you via FedEx, DHL, UPS and many more.
Set An Alarm – Need to set an alarm or alert for something urgent? Create a Twitter alert using Timer, just send them a direct message and they will alert you when you need it.
Market Research – Ask your clients/customers, both existing and new questions via Twitter.
Hashtags – Create hashtags (e.g. #hashtag) for events, special offers or even slogans for your brand and help your business become viral.
LISTEN – Now this is the biggy. Use Twitter to listen to what the world is saying about your business, use Twitter Search and other keyword search tools to see just what people are saying about you and your business.

We hope this gives you a few good ideas on just how many ways you can use Twitter in your business. Are you not using Twitter yet for your business? Well maybe it’s time you should.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Top 15 Very Useful Firefox Addons

Sally Walker — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:10:38 +0000

I completely admit, that I love Firefox. I know some people say it’s slow, others say it’s a bit clunky (technical term that!) but I love it. But it is Firefox addons that enable me to do so much of my work efficiently without diving off to use other applications or software.

Here are my Top Firefox addons, some are ones I have mentioned before, but I think they should be mentioned again and some are new ones that I can’t wait to share with you!

1. Page Tweets

Enables you to see what the twitterverse is saying about the current page in your browser in a neat sidebar to the left.

2. HandyNote

Add notes, add categories and tags to manage, search, export in the sidebar of your Firefox without having to leave the page you are on or swapping to and from Notepad/Word etc, you can also synchronize data between different machines. Fantastic for copywriting or jotting down colour codes etc. I use it for loads of different types of notes every day.

3. Save Session

This add-on will help the you save all the links opened to a session file and re-open session file (your browser with all the links you currently have open) any time later. Useful when you are investigating a topic and don’t want to loose all the good links you came across or painfully book mark everyone.

4. Read It Later

Save pages to read later with just one click. When you have time, access your reading list from any computer or phone, even without an internet connection!

5. Integrated Gmail

Gmail + Google Calendar + Google Reader + Gmail Labs = Integrated Gmail. When you open your Gmail (or GoogleMail) all of your reader, calendar and labs show in the same place, very handy!

6. RightToClick

Stops javascript annoyances such as forbidden right click, forbidden text selection or cascading dialog boxes.

7. CheckFox

This enables quick check/uncheck of multiple checkboxes, handy for doing the equivalent of a ‘check all’.

8. Hootsuite Hootlet

We call the Hootlet our secret weapon because it has the power to completely change how you use Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Want to share a link? Hit the Hootlet button, and automatically, the URL is shortened and text is grabbed from the site.

9. Google Shortcuts

Display all of your Google Services as buttons just next to your address bar or anywhere you like it. I have all of my Google apps, mail and tools displayed directly under my address bar using this addon, it saves creating bookmarks and means you have everything you need right in front of you. I use this countless times each day and certainly would not be without it.

10. FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. I had been using FileZilla on my main laptop and PC since it started, however on discovering FireFTP this is now the only FTP I use on my netbook, and even on my laptop and PC it is fast becoming the only one I use. I have the FireFTP button set up just under my address bar along side the Google Shortuts so again, everything is one place, great for a netbook, where space is limited. Along with transferring your files quickly and efficiently, FireFTP also includes more advanced features such as: directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SFTP, SSL encryption, search/filtering, integrity checks, remote editing, drag & drop, file hashing, and much more.

11. Pixlr Grabber

Screen grabber and graphics program in one. Making screen grabs and pulling down images from the web easier as you can choose to edit, share, save or copy your final grabs. You also get the possibility to right-click any image or background to edit them. Edit in Pixlr Editor or Express which the free graphics programs that come with it, share them to Pixlr imm.io (sharing facility) or save them directly to your desktop. This is a one-stop shop for screen grabs whether you want to select a section to grab or grab the entire page. Excellent addon that I use every day.

12. Web2PDF

Web2PDF converter converts web pages into PDF files directly from browser. It doesn’t just take a screenshot of the amount of webpage you can currently see in your browser, it converts the whole web page into a PDF. Very useful, especially as it has options for quality settings as well.

13. WiseStamp

When I am out and about on my netbook, I do not have Outlook installed and I use my trusty old Gmail to send and receive emails. However, one of my annoyances with Gmail is the lack of HTML signatures. WiseStamp comes to the aid and allows you to create HTML email signatures to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL mail. WiseStamp also allows you to add to your latest blog post, videos, social media and messenger links to your email too. It allows for multiple signatures and the ability to add logos and photos. Great addon and another one I would not be without.

14. Morning Coffee

Keeps track of daily routine websites and opens them in tabs automatically at the beginning of your first opening of Firefox of the day. This extension lets you organise websites by day (weekly options also available) and open them up simultaneously as part of your daily routine. This is really handy if you read sites that update on a regular schedule (like webcomics, weekly columns, etc.). I have mine set to open my email, Twitter, Hootsuite, Facebook, BBC news website etc all at the same time so everything I want to check first thing in the morning is ready and waiting for me as soon as I open Firefox.

15. HeadlinesTicker

This is such a simple idea and a simple addon but unlike most other RSS tickers it doesn’t take up room on my browser, therefore great for a netbook. The ticker allows you to add unlimited RSS feeds to the right hand corner of your bottom status bar. It doesn’t take up any extra room as it just uses the space that is already there on the status bar. It works like a dream and is a great way for me to keep up with all the latest news, as it happens, when I am out and about.

Have fun with these!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Don’t compete, collaborate!

Sally Walker — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:24:37 +0000

One of my mantra’s for the past 6 months or so has been ‘Don’t compete, collaborate’. It is something that I ‘bang on about’ at various events that I go to and some poor souls have heard it more than once ;) But to me it is such an important thing to remember, not only in business but also in life.

I work in an extremely ‘busy’ field. We have social media experts and SEO gurus popping up on a daily basis. WordPress is so widely used that loads of designers and developers do it. So why am I not shaking in my boots worrying about competition? Because I would rather work with them than compete against them.

It’s also about knowing your business inside out and knowing exactly who your target audience is, and as much as this sounds a tad strange, knowing your place. For example, I work for a competitor, in fact I work for a couple of competitors. Do I see them as such though? No. Technically they are because we all work in the same field, but we have different target audiences and we do things a different way and I would have no hesitation in recommending clients to them. If you read my #FollowFridays (or #FF’s) on Twitter regularly enough you will see that I recommend them because I really do believe that they are some of the best.

Many of you will be reading this and thinking I am completely bonkers (OK that’s a given…) but look at it this way: if there is something that Media Labs cannot do, for whatever reason, I would rather pass work to someone I know who is really good and will get the job done. That way I do not lose my clients confidence and I know I’m helping the ‘competitor’ too.

Healthy competition is what every business needs to thrive, but when the threat of competition makes you react in way that is not ‘healthy’ then you need to look at why. Look at your business, just who are you aiming at? Is it really a direct competitor (i.e. offering the same service or products as you, within your same target audience) or is it someone who just works in the same field but doing it a different way and who promotes to a different audience altogether?

The VA (Virtual Assistant) world here in the UK has this theory buttoned down. They all are direct competitors of one another but they all help and support one another too. They even have their own support group just for all the VA’s to ‘pile into’ and help each other out.

Work with people in your field whether that be social media, mechanical engineering or jam making, whatever your field is, work with businesses within it or at least get to know them. Why not start a project or a collaborative blog? Help each other out, become a network of suppliers (for the want of a better word) to your industry that you know can help ANY type of client. Some people like working with B2B, some only deal with B2C, some like start ups, others like large corporate clients. Don’t compete with the competition, collaborate with them. It doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from the crowd or be the best in your field, nor does it mean that you can’t be (or your business can’t be) an individual, but it does mean that you will have a support network there if you need/want it, and that can only be a good thing.

p.s. Keep an eye out for more news on the new ‘Don’t compete, collaborate’ book written by us ;) It’s all very exciting!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Learning to delegate and learning to walk away

Sally Walker — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:13:30 +0000

Well guys, as you probably know, this week has been all over the place for myself and my husband. Colin was taken into hospital on Monday morning where originally they thought he’d had a mild stroke (he’s only 38, normally fit and healthy), well 5 days later and several tests etc. we are almost at a diagnosis of why his heart rate dropped so low and made him (and is still making him) feel ill. The good news is that he is back home.

My clients and friends have been amazing, literally amazing. Everyone pitched in, all work has been done and on time and it has made me reflect on the future and how I want to work. Especially as my friend and colleague Claire Burdett has written this article recently for budding ‘Empire Builders’ about the importance of getting the work/life balance right.

I love my job, there is no denying it, I am passionate about all things techy, but this week has made me realise that no matter how much you love your job and are committed to it, which I am, sometimes you need to pass over the reigns so you can concentrate on what is really important, i.e. your family.

I am extremely lucky to know the network of people that I do. My business just couldn’t stop because my husband was in hospital, it had to continue because I have to work financially (and let’s face it, I’m love my work too and wouldn’t want it to stop), but who was going to answer my calls? Who was going to make sure my clients were updated? Who would sort out my invoices for me whilst I was out and about in various hospitals? I called in the dream team and delegated.

All my calls were handled (and I have to say, perfectly) by Call Team. I cannot thank them enough for how quickly it was all set up, if you are in business, you need them, no matter whether you need them on a emergency basis or all of the time. I would not be without them now.

My wonderful VA, Charlotte Burford, took care of my admin and updating people. Charlotte has just made it to the final 3 nominees for the UK Outstanding VA Awards (hosted this weekend) and you can see why. Charlotte even offered to keep an eye on my kids for me too, now that is beyond the call of duty, but made me feel so comforted knowing that she was there if I needed her.

So I learnt to delegate and use a larger network of service providers, and this will remain in place now as it works so well for my business, now I can concentrate on doing the bit of the job I really love, the geeky stuff. All my admin and calls are taken care of now. Fantastic!

Susan Odev on Skype and the phone was there for the support when I needed a virtual hug, as was Emma Warren, Sarah Bradley, Lyndsey McKendry and The Funky Girls. Loads of other people were emailing me asking if there was anything they could do, not just friends but also clients. How wonderful is that? When your clients actually turn around and say to you, hang on, what can WE do for YOU? Just proves what lovely clients we have and how well we get on.

The second point is about learning to walk away. Going back to Claire’s article she makes 3 really good points which I have seriously been thinking about this week: “Don’t try and do too much at once”, “Keep your friends and your health” and “Pace yourself”.

Last week I was offered an amazing opportunity with a leading marketing agency, it would have meant regular work with a regular income. Yesterday I was offered another role in another agency which would have been almost triple the amount of money I am on now. I turned both down wthout making it public knowledge, and the reason (no I am not mad!) is because I want to concentrate on what I do best: working with small businesses and being a good mum. I don’t want to be chained to my laptop for 12 hours a day, what parent does? Nor do I want to be racing around half of London, doing large corporate meetings, full time 6 days a week, I want to be the very best I can be but on my own, and my clients, terms.

So, I need to take the advice from my family and friends (and Claire’s article) and walk away from some of the other, bigger projects I have been working on. A hard decision, yes, but one that will make my life, and ultimately my own clients lives, much brighter. I don’t have to work all the hours under the sun or in a way that I am not happy with, just to prove to the world that I can. The only thing I need to do is to do my best for my clients and my family, and that is something I have always done here at Media Labs and that will continue.

Here’s to finding the balance, and to doing it right. (Hurrah!)

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s…

Sally Walker — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:37:26 +0000

Actually I am more of an ASDA’s girl myself but, I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s.

You may have seen a plethora of #loaf related blog posts running around on Twitter last night, if you didn’t, then you should have been watching ‘Socially Sally’ which is the online show we run fortnightly on a variety of topics. Last night we had a fun time discussing blogging.

‘OK so I am lost, what has blogging got to do with bread?’ I hear you cry. Everything!

One of my tips was to find your own writing style and to be yourself. Your blog is yours, you don’t have to put a ‘voice’ on when you type, you don’t have to try and be something you are not. Just be you, people come to read your blog because they want to read what YOU write.

We had loads of people (Well I think 24 people is loads! We all have to start somewhere!) at the show last night and Sarah Arrow said that we should all do a post about bread when we came off air last night. This then became the show challenge and which is why there were so many ‘slices’ of virtual #loaf flying around Twitter last night.

So what did this challenge prove? Many things:

1) When people come together, amazing ideas pop out of nowhere.

2) We can all write in a style that suits us personally, there is no law saying we can’t!

3) The power of social media can be used for positive and happy things, OK so the whole #loaf thing was a bit of a giggle, but I bet many of you were smiling or giggling as you were blogging about your bread last night.

4) People can collaborate on ideas, we don’t have to be in competition with one another, let’s just all help each other out. The power of one is great, the power of a group is amazing.

5) Sometimes the crazier the idea, the more it works, be brave, go for it!

I promised a list of #loaf posts from around the Twitterverse last night so here goes:

Sarah Arrow – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Lyndsey McKendry – I’ve just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Babs Saul – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Charlotte Burford – I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Sarah Bradley – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Dee Uzoka – I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Susan Odev – I bought a loaf…

Susan Park – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Helen Lathrope – I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Karen Plane – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Douglas Wallace – Today I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Colin Walker – I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

Jaye Nolan – I just bought a loaf of bread from Sainsbury’s

We had a great crowd last night and I would love to say a big thank you to everyone who came, we were aiming for 15 people to come and join in and in the end we had 24 so I was thrilled! Although we may have to switch to Ustream next month though as Livestream decided that our #loaf talk was so tasty they ate our recording! A big thank you though to Digital Stationary who, after finding out that we lost our recording of the show, did a special blog post for us too!

It was great to see all of you last night and meet some new friends and put faces (well, messages) to Twitter names. I hope you all had fun, I certainly did! Don’t forget the next one is on Wednesday 9th June at 8pm and will be about Facebook, wonder what the challenge will be then? ;)

p.s. – if I have missed your #loaf post off the list, just let me know on Twitter and I’ll add it for you!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Top 10 FREE plugins to create a community site in WordPress

Sally Walker — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:02:34 +0000

Have I ever mentioned how much I love WordPress? Oh surely I have! One of the reasons I do, is because you can turn it into, well, pretty much anything really.

Today I want to share with you some great plugins that help take WordPress from a blog, into a community site, enabling you to share and interact more with your readers and members.

But enough of this, let’s get on to the plugins! In no particular order we have our top ten:

1 – s2Member

s2Member is a robust/powerful ( and free ) membership management system for WordPress®. s2Member integrates seamlessly with PayPal® ( very easy ), and fully supports recurring billing, with the ability to track affiliate commissions on a recurring basis. s2Member supports custom Pages for registration ( including Custom Registration Fields ), account access, and a whole lot more.

2 – Mingle

Mingle uses your standard WordPress website and standard WordPress theme to create profile pages, user friending, profile page posts, profile activities, social comments, email notifications (with privacy settings) and a full directory of members. Features include:

User Profile Pages
User Friending
User Profile Posting (for friends)
User Profile Post Commenting (for friends)
Friend Activity Pages
Full Member Directory
Login & Navigation Widget
Random or Recent Users Widget
Email Notifications
User Email Notification Opt-Outs

3 – BuddyPress

BuddyPress is built to bring people together. It works well to enable people with similar interests to connect and communicate. BuddyPress provides a range of features that work right out of the box. However, you might decide that you only want to make use of a couple of features to start with. This is really simple using BuddyPress as you can turn off the features you don’t want with a click of a button. When you disable features, your site’s theme will auto adjust, showing only the menu items, pages and buttons for the features you have enabled. Using profile pages for members, forums and groups this system uses the WordPress MU platform.

4 – Theme My Login

This plugin themes the WordPress login, registration and forgot password pages according to your current theme. It replaces the wp-login.php file by using a page template from your theme. Also includes a widget for sidebar login.

5 – Business Directory

Business Directory for WordPress is an easy way to host a free yellow-pages-like directory page for your readers, affiliates, advertisers, community or club members. Invite them to submit a simple advertisement listing for themselves on your blog.

6 – Community Submitted News

Community Submitted News lets you allow your readers to add articles to your site. There is a full moderation panel. No story will be fully published until you allow it to be published. All articles are initially put in their own category for easy separation from other content.

7 – Simple:Press

Powerful yet easy to install forum plugin for WordPress, please see my review here.

8 – Email Users

A plugin for wordpress which allows you to send an email to the registered blog users. Users can send personal emails to each other. Power users can email groups of users and even notify group of users of posts.

9 – User Messages

WordPress does not allow your users to communicate with each other. Some forum plugins can add this functionality but are quite heavy, do other things and updates might not be focused on improving the messaging features. This is why User Messages is born: a plugin to facilitate communication between your users.

10 – Customise Your Community

With CYC, the registration, login, logout, lost password pages and the profile.php page will use your existing blog theme and will not show obvious traces and branding of WordPress on these pages to users labeled as subscribers. Additionally, the ability to add a captcha to the registration page to prevent automated registrations is now an available option.

Enjoy using these plugins and the extra community styled functionality they give your WordPress installation.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Simple:Press Forum Plugin for WordPress – Simply Brilliant

Sally Walker — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:23:39 +0000

Forums and IRC are where I started, many moons ago in 1995, so I always have a spot in my heart for good, solid forum systems. Simple Machines Forum (SMF) has been my favourite for many years, since it started in fact in 2003/2004, and I became a SMF developer in 2005.

However, my work changed and I started to work with WordPress more and more and would manually bridge (integrate) SMF to WordPress to marry the two applications together.

Then BBPress came along and allowed a very simple basic forum to be installed directly into WordPress using the WordPress system, and whilst I have used this countless times, I always felt that BBPress was lacking in the features and stability that SMF had.

Then I discovered Simple:Press and I have not looked back since! It is a features rich forum system that plugs in directly through WordPress, sharing the same WordPress membership database and you end up with an incredibly powerful forum right within your WordPress install.

The Simple:Press features include:

Fully integrated with WordPress user registrations and logins
Creates ‘pretty/SEO friendly’ permalinks
Underpinned by a powerful user and permission system
Can create private forums
Forums can be ‘Members Only’ or can allow for Guests
Private Messaging system
Admins can allow for post moderation (approval)
Built in Search tool
Fully customisable skins and icons
Most rendering functions are ‘pluggable’
Member Profile updating – users can change own passwords
Choice of Editors (RTE, HTML, bbCODE)
Options Signatures, Signature Image, Avatars, and Rankings
A variety of Template Tags – recent posts etc
Progammable Hooks for user extension
Optional Spam Prevention tools
Optional Cookies to track Guests and Members
Fully Localised for language support
Optional and various RSS feeds and email subscription to topics
Various display options to suit your needs and theme
An Admin tool set to perform many tasks from within the forum itself
Blog Posts and Forum Topics can be linked
Support for the Democracy Polls plugin
Support for the Gravatars 2 plugin
Forum Statistics – including who is online
Complete uninstall/removal option
Support for the All In One SEO Pack Plugin (Browser title bar)
View Admins New Post Queue from ALL views with ‘Quick Reply’
Right-to-left language support in the TinyMCE editor
Topic Status Tracking
Custom Smileys
RTE Toolbar Customisation
Pre-registration Policy display option
Post Ratings
Add Custom Profile data items
‘Watched’ topics
Multiple forum Admins
Members List

and many more.

It is easy to install, easy to customise and with the private messaging system inbuilt it can turn your WordPress install into a community.

I have had the pleasure to use Simple:Press a lot just recently and I have to say, even I am finding myself saying…”SMF..who?” ;)

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

‘I Am What I Am’ Branding – Be True To Yourself, Be True To Your Brand

Sally Walker — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:10:27 +0000

I am a brand. I want to market myself in the best possible way, just like I do my clients, and of course my niche area is social media. However, it amazes me how many brands and companies only spam our Twitter streams with links or Facebook us with BUY NOW status messages.

One thing you can say about me, without a doubt, is that I like a natter. I am social. I am unfortunately, though, one of those types who find it incredibly hard to be corporate. As Emma Warren and Sarah Bradley said to me last month “Sal likes clients who she can ‘eff and jeff’ with” which made me chuckle. But I spent a lot of time trying to be corporate (and failed miserably) and it just isn’t me.

On Twitter, 90% of my tweets are just me chatting away to other Twitter users. I love tweeting because my Twitter pals are an extension of my friends, my clients and potential clients and to me it is important to be able to build up a natural rapport with people just as I would do offline. I have tried to stop using words such as ‘cracking’, ‘stonking’ and ‘dude’ but that’s not me and that’s not my brand either. But from being how I am, my brand has promoted itself more than you can imagine, because people know that they can come to me for advice and I’ll do my best to help them. People refer to others because they know I will ‘give it to them straight’. That is me, THAT is my BRAND.

Part of brand management is making sure that your ‘tone’ is the same across all platforms, whether it is how you act within your office to your staff, or how you market your products. My tone is ‘chatty’ but that’s fine, it makes me who I am and it makes my brand what it is.

3 weeks ago I met Susan Odev who is the author Mum Ultrapreneur. Susan, myself and Charlotte Burford all went to the Mums In Business networking meeting in Medway. Susan was the guest speaker and as she started to talk, the room went quiet and we all listened. She was bubbly, confident and inspiring but natural. Since then I have had the honour of working with her and her brand is completely true to her. She is passionate about her job and her brand ‘Mum Ultrapreneur’ is incredibly strong and consistent.

Sarah Bradley, through one of our Skype chats said to me this morning “You are what you are – don’t change” and this is exactly the same principle for marketing your brand. Don’t change. Keep consistent. It’s easy for me, I am my brand, I have no choice but to be myself and I love that I can be myself and can ‘throw the rulebook out of the window’.

Branding is hugely important no matter whether you are a mum working from home or a large corporate company, be consistent, be true to yourself and to your brand, if you can do that, then you are already half the way there.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

WordPress 3.0 Beta 2 – Released

Sally Walker — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:43:14 +0000

Today sees the release of the second beta version of the new WordPress 3.0. As you can imagine, I ran to the download page and installed this on a my beta WordPress lab and excitedly started to press buttons!

This beta release comes from the huge success of the post-WordCamp San Francisco code sprint, and beta testers will not be disappointed.

Version 3, so far, has a sleeker admin dashboard and a few new features that involve header menus which allow custom links to be added, category/tags conversion and a more flexible exporter/importer.

You can download the new WordPress 3.0 Beta 2 release here or if you already have a beta test installation of WordPress then you can use this plugin to upgrade you to the new beta. Remember, please do not install a beta to a live install, just in case ;)

I shall enjoy testing this over the weekend and look forward to passing on my review in the future.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Election Night Via Twitter

Sally Walker — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:27:38 +0000

So the big night arrived, it came, it ‘kind of’ went and Twitter was very busy. What am I talking about? The UK General Election.

Myself and a few other nutters people decided to stay up through the night and experience the election night as it happened, live, on Twitter.

We all had the TV on watching various channels such as BBC, ITV and SkyNews and a couple of people from my Twitter stream were lucky enough to be at our local area’s election count, but no matter where we were, we gathered on Twitter to be together as a group when the final result came in. (Well, that’s what we thought at the time!)

Most UK tweeters were only discussing the election, the tweets were flashing up so fast that at one point, at about midnight, I couldn’t keep up with them and coming through were a mixed bag of serious political debates and complete mad randomness (yes mainly from me!) but what struck me was the immediate sense of ‘community’.

We were all in it together and we were all on Twitter, all at the same time, all thinking the same thing “Just please give us the result!” but in the end it caused a giggle as both tiredness and insanity kicked in from being awake so long.

Through Twitter most of us were seeing the results of the area elections before the news channels announced them, so we felt right in the heart of the national whirlwind that was taking place and I was able to keep track of which party held/gained/lost which seat easier and quicker on Twitter than watching the TV. This just proves the power of Twitter and it’s users. Twitter itself does not have a voice, but with all of us tweeting news as it happens, it becomes viable and reliable source of information, even more so than the news channels, because it’s instant and to a certain degree unmoderated. Plus it made the whole night seem more ‘real’ as we where there as each piece of the political jigsaw was being put together.

It is a night that I won’t forget in a while and I am so glad that I did stay up with everyone, although we are all feeling it today as the tiredness kicks in.

But Election 2010, we were there, and we proved that Twitter and it’s Tweeters are a force to be reckoned with!

Big thanks to my fellow Tweeps who stayed up and kept me sane through the night: @RochesterPeople, @RochesterCoffee & @FizzyMelonNails just to name a few.

And for those reading this outside of the UK, we have a ‘hung parliament’ which means it’s all gone a bit ‘tits up’!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

10 top tips for raising your profile and networking on LinkedIn

Sally Walker — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:04:35 +0000

LinkedIn is one of my personal favourite networking sites simply because it does ‘what it says on the tin’ and it keeps you ‘Linked In’ with friends, clients, customers, colleagues, managers and more. It is a superb way to show the world who you are and what you are doing at the moment in your professional life. It can also be used to show potential employees or business partners what you could do, and that is the key. LinkedIn strengthens and extends your existing network of trusted contacts whilst also being a networking tool that helps you discover inside connections to global businesses who might just be looking for someone like you!

1. Complete your profile. Yes I know I say this on all my top 10 tip posts, but some people just don’t get it ;) Profiles are searchable, if you do not complete your profile, people may miss you when they search. LinkedIn has a natty profile completeness gadget on your ‘edit profile’ page too so you know how far you have to go before your profile is complete and what you need to do next.

2. Be current. Check your profile content weekly. This may sound quite bizarre as you would not write a CV or resumé every week, but it is surprising how your work life and your job role can change within a few days. If you have achieved a goal or started a new role, tell people about it by editing your profile and keeping it up to date.

3. Profile photo. It is far better to show a photo of yourself that shows your true personality than a logo or a ‘corporate’ image. A face can say a million words, show your potential connections who you are and what you are like easily by choosing a photo that ’speaks’ to them and tells them what you are like as a person.

4. Use your status message area. Many people forget how important this is. Your LinkedIn status is just as important as your Twitter or Facebook statuses. Add your latest blog post, show the world your latest feature, share your new products, whatever you want to shout about, use your LinkedIn status. If you use Hootsuite, Ping.fm, or any of the other multi network profile applications out there. You can update your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles (as well as many more) at the same time, so it need not be a chore. You can also integrate Twitter into your LinkedIn profile so this automatically updates your status on your profile each time you tweet.

5. Join groups. LinkedIn Groups are like mini communities found with in LinkedIn that each have an ‘interest’. This could be ‘Twitter’ or ‘Designers’ or ‘WAHM’s’ or whatever. Join these groups and get involved. Post discussions, answer questions and of course, connect. You can have the daily feeds sent to your mail each day so if you are on the go, you can still keep in touch with your groups and without visiting the website itself.

6. Use Answers . Answering peoples questions in the answers section (under ‘More…’ on the top menu) will not only raise your ‘expert’ level on LinkedIn but also it proves to potential clients and employers that you are able to share information to the masses, that you know what you are talking about and are willing to help others.

7. Quality NOT quantity. Showing you have 5423458 connections on LinkedIn does not make you any more professional than someone that has only 30 connections, because those 30 connections could be all people who are personally willing to ‘recommend’ you because you have worked with them in the past. Build up your connections in a way you would build up your network in your working life. By all mean add contacts as and when they come in, but get to know them, find out who they are, what they do, chat to them. LinkedIn connections are online networks, they should be treated the same.

8. Spring cleaning. Sometimes, as with all walks of life, you find a bad contact within your network. Someone who may be offering a service that you do not agree with or has proved themselves to be a spammer. Disconnection is the only way, remove them from your connections and keep your network clean and tidy!

9. Company page. If you own your own company or are the spokesperson for your company then add a company page to LinkedIn, this is easily done when you add your company details to your profile, it asks you if you would like to ‘add a new company’, click on this and you will be able to add a new company page.

10. Use LinkedIn mobile. LinkedIn has it’s own mobile site that you can use whilst on the move, making it even easier to update your status or connect with new people. Just point your mobile phone browser to: http://m.linkedin.com – easy as that!

And one more for luck, because we like to give you extra tips ;)

11. Use your profile link. If you want to be seen, show people where you are. Use your LinkedIn profile link on your website, emails, forums, social media sites, business cards, on your blog, in fact, link it everywhere.

Hope these help you and if you would like to connect with me on LinkedIn just go to http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mrssallywalker and I’ll see you there!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Top 10 common sense tips to get the most out of Skype.

Sally Walker — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:21:03 +0000

Skype was founded in 2003. It’s based in Luxembourg, with offices in Europe, the US and Asia. Responsible for 8% of global international calling minutes, and with its users making 3.1 billion minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in the third quarter of 2009, Skype is a leading global Internet communications company. Millions of people use Skype these days for communicating virtually however many people overlook the basics when setting up a Skype account and using it and therefore do not get the best out of it. Here are our top ten tips for getting the most out of Skype using their free service.

Sound check. OK so you have signed up for an account and downloaded the software, you think you are ready to go. Nope! First of all check your sound quality by using the online test service. Simply add ‘echo123′ to your contacts and this will enable you to check your sound. You are no good to anyone if they cannot hear you.
Buy a decent headset. Whilst thinking of the age old saying ‘you get what you pay for’, you really do with headsets. Yes you can buy cheap headsets (and we are talking about the ones with the microphones attached here!) from pound shops and other cheap stores but come on, you are getting Skype for free, at least invest a little in your headset. A good quality headset will make all the difference as your voice and sound will be clear, providing you with ease of listening and the person on the other end of the call a clear voice to listen to.
Add a picture. We are nosey, it’s human nature. We want to see who we are chatting to, so don’t be shy and add a mugshot of yourself.
Fill in your profile. I cannot tell you how many people I talk to who have not completed their profile. If you call me out of the blue, I want to know who you are. Your clients and customers will be thinking the same thing about you, so by completing your profile, all the info is to hand.
Add a message. You will see a place next to your photo where you can add a little message. This is extremely handy if you run a business as you can add your website address in there. It also helps identify you from other people easily on someones contact list as this message is shown there too.
Rename your contacts. Some people, for reasons only known to them, choose a username that bears no relevance to who they are or what they do. So for ease of use and your own sanity, rename your contacts in your contact list to a more sensible name by right clicking on the name and choosing ‘rename’.
Import your contacts. If you don’t want to spend hours manually adding each contact by hand (and who would?) import your contacts from your web based email account, Facebook or other online places.
Link your Skype username. Add your Skype username to your emails, forum signatures, business cards, website, Facebook, MySpace etc where ever you would normally show your contact details, add your Skype username.
Set your settings. Sometimes the default settings are not the best for you so have a good play with the settings in the Tools > Options page.
Sort your contacts by group. Last but not least, by changing the way you view your contact list and setting the contact list to show those who are online first in a group you can see at a very quick glance who is online and who is not. If you have the contact list showing in ‘name’ order it can be hard to see who is online quickly if you have a large contact list.
OK so I lied, it’s really 11 top tips, but hey, you get a free one ;) Conference calling. By adding callers to ‘call groups’ you can run conference calls either by voice or text, very handy if you work in a team.

So there you go, hope these tips help. Want to Skype me? Just add me at sally.walker.uk :)

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

7 Firefox Addons That Make Life A Whole Lot Easier On A Netbook!

Sally Walker — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:40:19 +0000

Firefox is, for me, the best browser I can use for both work and personal use. I have it installed on all my PC's, laptops and my netbook. But on my netbook is where it really excels as it allows my netbook (which let's face it, as with most netbooks, does not have the greatest amount of memory, space or speed) into a fully functioning laptop, and it allows me to do a lot of work on the move, just by using Firefox addons.

Here are my top 7 Firefox addons that work smarter for you if you are on a netbook and need to use less programs/software but still get a job done on the move!

1. Google Shortcuts

Display all of your Google Services as buttons just next to your address bar or anywhere you like it. I have all of my Google apps, mail and tools displayed directly under my adress bar using this addon, it saves creating bookmarks and means you have everything you need right in front of you. I use this countless times each day and certainly would not be without it.

2. FireFTP

3. Pixlr Grabber

4. Web2PDF

Web2PDF converter converts web pages into PDF files directly from browser. It doesn't just take a screenshot of the amount of webpage you can currently see in your browser, it converts the whole web page into a PDF. Very useful, especially as it has options for quality settings as well.

5. WiseStamp

6. Morning Coffee

7. HeadlinesTicker

This is such a simple idea and a simple addon but unlike most other RSS tickers it doesn't take up room on my browser, therefore great for a netbook. The ticker allows you to add unlimited RSS feeds to the right hand corner of your bottom status bar. It doesn't take up any extra room as it just uses the space that is already there on the status bar. It works like a dream and is a great way for me to keep up with all the latest news, as it happens, when I am out and about.

I hope you find these addons as useful as I do, they certainly help me when I am working on my netbook!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

You know what? It’s OK to say….NO! (or ask for more!)

Sally Walker — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:44:53 +0000

No!

I have had a strange week this week. It all started with my ‘100 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Me‘ post, it got me thinking about just what in life is important to me, how I feel and how I see the future.

The most important thing to me in the world, and I am sure every Mum would say this, is my family, but I also love my work and now my kids are a bit older and can entertain themselves to a certain degree, it is now time for me to be ‘Sally’ again as well as ‘Mum’.

I am passionate about what I do, design was my absolute first love and then over the years social media and the developer side ran parallel with that, but I do have this habit for taking on low paid projects that mean I work long hours for hardly anything. So not only do I spend hours away from my family but I rarely get paid enough to warrant it either. I have never had the courage to say to people ‘hang on a minute, you want me to work for X amount of hours for HOW MUCH? I don’t think so! or ‘Actually you know what, I don’t think I will take this job after all!’ or heaven forbid “you know what? I’m worth more than this.”

After having chats with both Sarah and Nikki this week it has become apparent that I am a bit of a softie, Sarah has said in the past, that my biggest fault is that “I am too generous” because I’m always saying to people “Don’t worry about paying me, I’m glad to help”, which I am, but I am also running a business.

I am good at my job, I love my work and I get on well with all of my clients, 3 things I am extremely proud of. And although I will always help people where I can (can’t help the way I am) it is time to being serious about my business. I run a business, a good one, time to tell the world.

It is OK to say NO to people or to ask for more money. Don’t sell yourself short because you are worth so much more. if you don’t have confidence in yourself, how can you expect others to have confidence in you?

Can you hear Sarah and Nikki cheering? Yes girls, I woke up and smelt the coffee!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

100 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Me!

Sally Walker — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:04:53 +0000

Here goes! 100 things you (probably) didn’t know about me:

1. I have lived in Kent all my life
2. I am 6ft 1” tall
3. And about the same wide
4. I am incredibly short sighted
5. And blue-green colour blind
6. I have Guillain-Barré Syndrome
7. I first met my husband when I was 14 but we didn’t start going out together until I was 17
8. I got engaged to be married 3 weeks of going out with my (now) husband
9. We got married 6 months later
10. And I have now been married for nearly 15 years to him
11. I have 2 daughters
12. They are 11 and 9 (so no, there was no reason why I got married so quickly! LOL)
13. I love being a mum and think it’s the best job in the world
14. I am a web designer and graphic designer
15. But I cannot draw
16. I am a social media manager and brand manager
17. But I am no good at admin/office work
18. I can’t type to save my life as many of my friends/colleagues/clients will tell you!
19. I am a giggler and giggle like a hamster (so I have been told)
20. Although when I laugh hard, I sound like Sid James (again, so I have been told!)
21. I have a real slapstick kind of a sense of humour, although I do have a rude side too ;)
22. I have been scared of clowns since I was about 5
23. I used to be a clown
24. I am still scared of clowns
25. When I was 15 I wanted to be a Nun (don’t ask!)
26. I spent many years wanting to be a Theology teacher
27. When I was 22 I became a Youth Minister for my (then) local church
28. Not so odd sounding until you find out that I am Pagan (very long story!)
29. I finally came out of the closet of being Pagan when I was in my twenties
30. I used to own and run a ‘witchy’ shop
31. I have a dog, called Tess, who is just as bonkers as I am
32. I love food (hence point 3!)
33. I love to cook
34. I want to (desperately) write a cookery book
35. Although I don’t like honey (don’t mind it IN things, just don’t like it on it’s own!)
36. Or Turkish delight (disgusting stuff)
37. Will pretty much eat anything else though
38. I collect cookery books
39. I love reading and learning about folklore
40. I have no toe nails on my little toes (on both feet, no idea why!)
41. I would love to, one day, own a farm, or at least have a small holding with some farm animals
42. Or run a pub
43. I used to work with Autistic, Aspergers and Down Syndrome children and loved it
44. I learnt sign language whilst I was there, although I have forgotten most of it
45. I try to be as eco friendly (green) as I can
46. We try to eat as much locally produced food as we can
47. And as organically as we can
48. I play World of Warcraft (WoW) and so does everyone in my house (apart from the dog!)
49. I have a few characters on there but my favourite is my level 80 Mage
50. I am also a World of Warcraft Guild Master and have over 160 people in my guild
51. I am aware that many people will be rolling their eyes at the thought of me playing WoW ;)
52. I know that I bore my mates when I go on about playing WoW (Sorry, Claire, Helen & Kelly!
53. I used to be a paranormal investigator (many years ago, before it became ‘cool’ to be one)
54. I love playing with servers and am at my most happiest at work when I am tinkering about in the server
55. I love writing and coding for WordPress
56. And many other applications
57. I really am a girly geek!
58. I love the colours pink and yellow
59. Although rarely wear either in clothing
60. Some of my closest friends in the world, I have never met or only ever met once: Claire, Helen, Sarah, Kelly, Trish, Cerri, Susan, Hannah etc (Hey guys!)
61. I love travelling and exploring
62. And going for late night drives in the countryside with my hubby and kids
63. I like to go to historical places and landmarks
64. I am allergic to nickel and some food colourings
65. Not that this has ever stopped me wearing nickel or eating, I just moan about it afterwards!
66. I have recently moved house
67. And I love it
68. I can write using both my right and left hand
69. I would much rather go food shopping at 10pm at night than during the day, it’s so much calmer late at night!
70. My slogan for my websites (in their various guises) for the past 15 years has been ‘Slave to chocolate’. But to be honest I would much rather have a Cornish Pasty than a chocolate bar!
71. I am a qualified advanced practitioner in various complimentary therapies
72. And I am an avid collector of herbs and have over 300 (in dried form) from all around the world
73. I do not like coffee
74. And the only tea I drink is herbal tea
75. I have hardly any tolerance to alcohol, one glass and I’m on the floor!
76. I used to work for various banks giving financial advice
77. I am part Scouse (Liverpudlian) and Scottish although have a very southern accent
78. I support Southampton FC with my husband but still have a love for Liverpool FC too
79. I can play 36 musical instruments
80. I love to sing
81. I used to be a Chorister and have sung on stage in musicals etc
82. I write ambient, trance and dance music
83. I dislike housework with a passion
84. Apart from cleaning the toilet, I do like a nice sparkly clean toilet!
85. I used to be in a wheelchair and was told I would never walk again
86. Or talk again
87. Or have children
88. I proved them wrong on all 3 counts
89. I am a stubborn and determined old bird ;)
90. My favourite films of all time are Ghostbusters, A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version) and Death becomes her, Jumping Jack Flash and Shaun of the Dead
91. I used to really be ‘into’ Star Trek and even went to a few Star Trek conventions
92. I still have the ‘Picard’ uniform (no, I never wear it now before you ask!)
93. I have never tried a cigarette
94. I have never tried drugs
95. I am a Pisces (and a very typical Pisces!)
96. My third finger (ring finger) on both hands sticks up way above the rest if I lay my hand, palm side down, flat
97. I have Emetophobia quite bad– which I know probably sounds pathetic, but there you go!
98. I am very happy with who I am
99. Even though it has taken me 32 years to feel like that
100. And the last fact about me is: This has taken me 3 hours to write and I really don’t like talking about myself!

Phew!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

Calling all authors, publishers, book type people, I NEED YOUR HELP!

Sally Walker — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:57:04 +0000

I am food obsessed, I love to cook and if I had my perfect day it would be spent cooking with my kids and having lots of fun. I have loved cooking since I was young and my passion exudes each day as I try new ideas.

What I really want to do is write a cook book. Not your everyday boring cookbook with complex recipes, measuring out this and that, using ingredients you have never heard of or never going to be able to buy at your local shops.

I want to write a cook book with good old fashioned honest grub! With proper measurements, using ingredients that are easy to buy and using store cupboard essentials and working to a tight budget. I am a busy working mum but still manage to cook my family home cooked food each night because I have been developing these recipes for years and now I am starting to get asked for them more and more. Mum’s really do want to give their kids good healthy, tasty and filling food, but they don’t want to spend a fortune on ingredients or spend hours in the kitchen.

I want to write this book with all my heart, I have already started putting some recipes together and some copy but I have no idea about how to get past this point! All I know is I really want to do this, because if I don’t I will regret it, but I cannot afford to self publish.

So this is where you come in! Can you help? Can you offer me any advice or tips? How do I go about getting a book out there? Calling all authors, publishers and book type people, I need your help!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2010. | Follow us on Twitter

YouTube offers full length TV shows in new YouTube Show Channel

Sally Walker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:11:29 +0000

YouTube has teamed up with Channel 4 to offer full length TV shows hosted on through the huge video network. New content will be added by Channel 4 and other new partnerships such as BBC Worldwide, Turner Broadcasting, ITN, Classic Media, FremantleMedia, North One and Al Jazeera.

YouTube viewers are already able to see full length episodes of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and over 5000 videos, varying between clips and full shows on the new YouTube Show Channel.

Patrick Walker, YouTube’s Director of Video Partnerships commented “The YouTube community has always enjoyed the vibrant range of video on the site, from amateur make-up videos to professional TV highlights and everything in between. The Shows section of the site will make it easier for users to discover videos from the biggest names in British broadcasting, and help our content partners reach new audiences and generate new revenues.”

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Internet & Social Media Marketer ordered to pay Facebook over $700mil

Sally Walker — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:37:32 +0000

Facebook

Facebook said Thursday a California court has awarded the social networking Web site $711 million in damages in an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace.

Facebook sued Wallace for accessing users’ accounts without their permission and sending phony posts and messages. The company said on its blog that in addition to the damage award, the San Jose, Calif., court referred Wallace to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution for criminal contempt of court — meaning he could face jail time.

Wallace earned the monikers “Spam King” and “Spamford” as head of a company that sent as many as 30 million junk e-mails a day in the 1990s.

In May 2008, the online hangout MySpace won a $230 million judgment over junk messages sent to its members when a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled against Wallace and his partner, Walter Rines, in another case brought under the federal anti-spam law known as CAN-SPAM. In 2006, Wallace was fined $4 million after the Federal Trade Commission accused him of running an operation that infected computers with software that caused flurries of pop-up ads, known as “spyware.”

“While we don’t expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent against these criminals,” said Sam O’Rourke, associate general counsel for Facebook, in a blog posting Thursday. “This is another important victory in our fight against spam.”

There was no phone number listed for Wallace in Las Vegas, where he is believed to be living, according to the ruling.

The company said the judgment marks the second-largest anti-spam award ever. In November 2008, Facebook won an $873 million judgment against Adam Guerbuez and his business, Atlantis Blue Capital, who bombarded users with sexually explicit spam messages.

Originally posted here: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091030/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_facebook_spam_verdict

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Billing Revolution Uses PayPal For Mobile Phone Payments

Sally Walker — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:33:19 +0000

PayPal

Billing Revolution, a mobile payments company, today announced its status as a Mobile Commerce Partner with PayPal, enabling PayPal merchants to immediately begin conducting mobile credit card transactions using their existing PayPal Payflow Pro gateway accounts.

“Enabling mobile transactions for all PayPal merchants represents a strategic step forward for Billing Revolution”

PayPal has approx. 45,000 merchants that process transactions via their Payflow gateway, and these merchants now have the ability to sell digital and physical goods to any consumer on a mobile phone. Under the agreement, Billing Revolution will become a reseller of the PayPal Payflow Pro gateway service, while PayPal may promote the Billing Revolution service to their merchant base.

“We are pleased to bring the PayPal Payflow Gateway to merchants utilizing Billing Revolution’s credit card solution for mobile transactions,” said Eddie Davis, senior director of channel sales at PayPal. “Billing Revolution’s customer base represents one of the most innovative segments of e-Commerce and mobile transactions. Together, we provide merchants with the products and services they need to be successful and deliver on the needs of their customers.”

“Enabling mobile transactions for all PayPal merchants represents a strategic step forward for Billing Revolution,” said Andy Kleitsch, CEO of Billing Revolution. “PayPal merchants wishing to conduct mobile credit card transactions can now safely and easily use Billing Revolution to process transactions through their existing PayPal accounts.”

PayPal’s Payflow Pro is a market-leading gateway that connects a company’s online store to an existing internet merchant account. The secure and scalable payment service can be used along with a merchant account to manage credit card transactions.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Embed Real Time Twitter Streams & Twitter Polls Into PowerPoint Presentations

Sally Walker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:32:57 +0000

PowerPoint Twitter Tools

Ever presented a conference or business event and wanted to show your audience exactly what people are saying about an idea, event, brand, product or even you? Well look no further as for those who use PowerPoint for presentations, there is a new nifty tool out and available for beta testing and download over at SAP Web 2.0 that allows you to embed real-time Twitter streams and Twitter polls into your PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint Twitter Tools are flashed based tools built SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius technology which allows PowerPoint presenters to embed Twitter streams directly into their presentations, so that they and their audience can view and comment on tweets in real-time, either as a ticker or refreshable comment page.

The PowerPoint Twitter Tools are being constantly upgraded so be sure to keep an eye on them.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Mplayit Teams Up With Player X To Launch New Game Service Via O2 UK

Sally Walker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:51:18 +0000

Mplayit

Mplayit (formerly Mpowerplayer), being the leading provider of online mobile game discovery and merchandising, announced yesterday that it was to team up with Player X to power online games distribution with O2.

In September 2008, Player X launches it’s mobile service on the O2 network, presenting a formidable try-before-you-buy scheme and flexible billing for customers. Mplayit has joined this team by stating that it will provide visitors to the O2 website the opportunity to try mobile phone games for free, online, using a mobile phone simulator.

This is a landmark deal for Mplayit as it is their first deployment using a major European operator after success with US clients such as AT&T and Sprint, and Israel’s Cellcom.

For social media lovers, Mplayit’s can also be used in networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Bebo. Users can recommend games to others, add favourites to their pages (with the exception of Twitter) and share games.

CEO of Mplayit, Michael Powers said “The web is a highly effective way of bringing in new customers, but it is still

massively underutilised by mobile operators. We’re delighted to partner with Player X and we’re looking forward to working with them to offer O2 customers the best mobile games service in the UK market.”

Tony Pearce, the CEO of Player X said “Try before-you-buy has been a key part of our 100% Mobile offering since the beginning. The ability to try out content risk-free is highly valued by customers. Mplayit’s web-based services bring both playable online demos and powerful new social dimension to the O2 service.”

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Facebook Lite comes to the masses….

Sally Walker — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:59:55 +0000

Facebook

A few months ago the rumours started to flood in about Facebook Lite. Will they? Won’t they? Will it be a wise decision if they do? Will it cause problems? Well now you can see for yourself.

In Facebook’s latest attempt at world ‘social networking’ domination and to shimmy over both FriendFeed and Twitter they have launched their Facebook Lite to the masses.

The new streamlined look is a lot easier on the eye and this was the main idea behind the new style, it will become an alternative profile page for those Facebookers who don’t want to show off their applications but just show the nitty gritty information and will not (at the moment) be a replacement for the original Facebook page style. ‘Lite’ has only the essential tabs needed on the main page to run your account such as Profile, Events and Inbox. This also makes each page load faster than ‘original’ Facebook.

Facebook Lite Main Page

On the profile page, many of the side buttons have been removed only leaving Wall, Info, Friends and Photos remaining, again to show a uniformed streamlined and optimised look.

Facebook Lite Profile Page

As previously mentioned the new ‘Lite’ is a lot faster loading as this version is comes in at only 11K of HTML weight, where as the ‘original’ weighs around 44K, so will be a lot easier and faster for users who have slower Internet connections.

‘Lite’ also resembles the mobile version of Facebook, it has the same ‘feel’ and I think will work very well for those wanting a clearer and simple look, not to mention those of us who are lucky enough to still be able to use Facebook at work, at least your managing director will not be able to see the latest survey you took part in which tells you that ‘When you grow up you are most likely to become an elf” ;)

So as the war between the social media giants continues, Facebook certainly has its appeal on many levels and I think is one to watch.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

T-Mobile & deCarta Partner To Give Customers Next Gen Location & Navigation Services

Sally Walker — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:44:02 +0000

T-Mobile

T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) & deCarta (the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry) have come together to give T-Mobile customers benefit from true mobile and web convergence as part of T-Mobile’s web’n'walk service.

Announced today, this strategic partnership will roll the next generation location and navigation services towards the end of 2009, according to the local needs of each market. Initially launching in the UK, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, other operating companies will follow in the future.

The President and CEO of deCarta, J. Kim Fennell said “deCarta is excited to be the integral part of T-Mobile’s Location-Based Services strategy. We were delighted to find that T-Mobile had a similar vision to deCarta’s, enabling us to rapidly launch our core platform and set of LBS services – followed by an exciting range of additional applications in the future”.

T-Mobile will utilise deCarta’s industry leading Drill Down Server (DDS) geospatial platform to power multiple LBS applications; in addition to the company’s advanced APIs to enable third-party LBS application development. T-Mobile will also deploy deCarta’s new “NavSearch” location-based search, mapping, and routing capabilities for mobile phones and the web. NavSearch will be fully integrated with a Turn-By-Turn navigation application.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Bloggers Must Now Disclose Payments/Freebies

Sally Walker — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:12:55 +0000

Federal Trade Commission FTC

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has announced new guidelines which will not please many bloggers (especially the ‘mommy’ or ‘mummy’ bloggers) as all payments, advertisements, freebies and samples for reviews, must now be declared. In plain English this means that any payment or free items that have been given to the blogger in exchange for a review is now declarable.

These new regulations have been added to the FTC’s “Guides Concerning The Use Of Endorsements & Testimonials In Advertising” which previously have not been amended for nearly 30 years.

In the FTC’s announcement it states:

“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that ‘material connections’ (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers.The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

Betsy Lordan, an FTC spokeswoman said “these are not regulations, these are guidelines, we are saying, ‘We think it’s a good idea if you do this.’ If you violate the guides, you are not doing yourself any favors because you could have to pay a civil penalty. There are a lot of steps that have to happen.” She also said that “the guidelines apply to Twitter, Facebook and other forms of new media advertising”.

In order for a violation to be deemed worthy of a fine, there has to be a complaint, an investigation and a court ruling, but the fines could be as much as $16,000, this is an increased amount on the previous fine of $11,000.

This news is causing mixed reactions from around the blogosphere. BlogHer‘s co-founder Elisa Camahort Page said “The concept of disclosure is not new to BlogHer. The trust of readers is everything. We have never been in favour of a universal code of conduct but we think that what the FTC has introduced is simple and achievable for anyone who wants a professional relationship with the market and to retain the trust of the reader.” Whilst Jeff Jarvis, a professor of journalism at New York’s City University states “I think that openness is the best fix for questions of trust and advise companies and politicians and certainly governments to become transparent by default as enlightened self-interest. But mandating this for anyone who dares speak online? Foolish.”

This could be a bumpy few days for both bloggers and the FTC alike.

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

First Live YouTube Stream From Europe Today – 2009 Nobel Prize

Sally Walker — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:01:14 +0000

Originally written for and published at The Funky Agency

YouTube

Today is a landmark for both YouTube and the Nobel Prize Foundation. The foundation has been running since the very first award in 1901 and has been gathering archives and information which they collate on their official YouTube channel. This channel is dedicated to showing the world inspirational stories, achievements, discoveries and inventions throughout the Foundations almost 100 year history.

The live streaming will be using Adobe Flash whilst the content delivery will be via Akamai which was developed by The Noble Foundation themselves.

The Director Of Technology from NobelPrize.org said “We are delighted to be the first YouTube channel to stream live in Europe to YouTube audiences worldwide and to provide an additional platform to watch the official news about the Nobel Prizes.”

The first live announcement will be via their YouTube Channel at approximately 9.30am (11.30 CET) so make sure you are watching!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

48% Of Women Would Ban Partners Buying Games Consoles

Sally Walker — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:35:33 +0000

Originally written for and published at The Funky Agency

ps3

An astonishing 48% of women would ban their partners from buying a games console according to PS3PriceCompare’s latest research of over 1000 women.

1316 women were surveyed and asked their thoughts on their partners buying a games console, a staggering amount, just under half of them, said they would ban the consoles from the house, even though a third of them secretly admitted they would like a games console of their own.

Some reasons identified for the ‘banning’ were jealousy (now if you fancy Lara Croft over your girlfriend or wife then no wonder she wants to ban you from using a games console!), too much time spent on them, 1 in 4 of the women stated that they thought a games console would have a negative effect on their sex life and 36% of the women were worried about the cost of the consoles/games.

A small 6% of couples actually acknowledged that a games console had brought them closer together (awww!) – those who play together, stay together!

Head developer of PS3PriceCompare, Mike Elswood, remarked;

“I must say that the results to our latest survey came as a bit of a shock to me. It is inevitable that some women would get a bit fed up with their partners playing on games consoles, but to think that quite a large number would actually ban us guys from buying one is a bit of a surprise. As for those ladies worried about the consoles being too expense, they needn’t worry. Finding low prices and good deals is exactly what PS3PriceCompare is for”

I have to say that in my house, it is probably my husband who thinks that I spend too much time gaming!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Twitter Account Hacked – The Positives!

Sally Walker — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:12:40 +0000

So the ongoing saga of our poor Twitter account continues, well it did. Today is D Day, the day it stops, because today is the day I deleted our old account. That’s it, all over and done with.

I can hear some of you gasping already. Why would I want to keep a new account with 600 less followers than my old account? It really is as simple as this, new start!

Both our old ‘followers’ and ‘following’ list was out of date. There were users on their that I had not either spoken to in ages or I had never spoken too. Now, by starting again, I can hand pick who I want to follow and am delighted that my fave ‘tweeps’ are following me back. Not to mention all the new people I have met so far this week (and it’s only Tuesday!)

So If your Twitter account becomes compromised in some way and you have to start again, do not be too despondent. Here are the ‘positives’ that you can draw out of the situation.

Fresh Start
Seeing your follower account go back to zero is very disheartening, but now you can see very clearly who is following you and why as your followers base starts to build again.

Spring Clean
Now you have your new account, why not spring clean your ‘followed’ list? Do you really need to follow all of them? Surely not ;)

New Contacts
I have been lucky to have found some new contacts that I hadn’t found before since the having my new account.

Support
The followers that follow you over to your new account are the ones you know will support you. These are your ‘true followers’ and it is great to sometimes be able to see the diamonds from the coal.

No Spammers
The spammer follower has now dramatically decreased, this, can only be a good thing.

So although it may be daunting starting again with a new account, there are many positives to be taken out of it. Make the most of this new start!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Twitter Hijack/Hacked Account – What To Do If It Happens To YOU!

Sally Walker — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:44:27 +0000

As social media managers we use Twitter 24/7. We use it on behalf of clients and we use it for our own company. We have damage limitation procedures in place just in case anything untoward were to happen to any of our clients accounts, but imagine our surprise (and anger) when our own company Twitter account was hacked at 4pm (UK time) this afternoon.

Luckily, being in the job we are, we knew exactly what to do and how to limit the impact. We already had procedures in place so that within just 2 hours we had a new account running and had kept in contact with our followers, informed twitter and started the ball rolling back into the Twitterverse.

Here is how you can help yourself if your Twitter account is compromised in some way.

1 – DON’T PANIC! I know this is an easy thing to say and believe me it is hard not to panic, but don’t, just follow our steps to get your Twitter account up and running again (and to reclaim your sanity!)

2 – Announce on Twitter through your status update that you have been hacked/hijacked/impersonated/compromised and ask everyone on your list to retweet (RT) the message for you.

3 – Inform @twitter (Twitter support) and @ev (CEO of Twitter) of the situation.

4 – Go to http://twitter.zendesk.com/requests/new and submit a help request. Use as much detail as you can about what has happened and press ‘Submit’.

5 – Start a new Twitter account as a temporary account that you can use (all will become clear on why you need this in a mo!) and follow everyone on your old account ‘following’ list. Make sure you choose a very obscure password!

6 – Wait for the barrage of emails that you will receive from Twitter, most of these will be automated, however one will be asking you for more information so make sure you keep that one and reply to it as soon as possible.

7 – Ask your followers to retweet your new account name.

8 – Wait for the final reply from Twitter (final, at the moment that is) that will tell you that they may close your account whilst they investigate your situation. Now you see why we say open a second account!

9 – Keep tweeting about what has happened so that all your followers know what has happened to you and so that they are aware that you have moved account.

10 – Keep track your old account, watch what happens your old accounts timeline, keep an eye on your inbox and make sure you use all available channels to you to spread the word of what has happened.

Whatever happens to your old account and however long it takes Twitter to get it sorted, you know you have done everything you can to keep your profile up and running. All your followers know what has happened, Twitter knows and more importantly you have regained control. Don’t let the spammers and the hackers get away with it!

To keep in contact with us while our old account is being investigated after we became hacked, please follow @SallyWalker – see you on the flip side!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

So You Want To Be A LinkedIn RockStar?

Sally Walker — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:58:47 +0000

This post has been re-written and brought up to date here: http://www.sallywalker.me.uk/2010/05/03/10-top-tips-for-raising-your-profile-and-networking-on-linkedin/ – enjoy!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Common Sense Tips For Twitter Users

Sally Walker — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:31:33 +0000

Twitter has become a worldwide social media and networking tool since it started 2006, if you have been living in a cave for the past 3 years have a peek here. The problem is, that with so many ‘tweets’ (OK cave dwellers, tweets are short messages that you send via Twitter in 140 characters or less) and so many users it is often hard to see the great messages that pop up around all the strange tosh that is spouted (and I include myself in that!).

So here are my top ‘common sense’ tips for networking using the wonderful world of Twitter.

Firstly, let’s get the bad bits out of the way!

The Don’ts!

1) Celebrity Tweeters - Don’t go following every celebrity you see and tweet them when they come online just to say ‘hello’ and reply to every one of their tweets with ‘random’ replys. Not only does it make you look like a bit of a stalker it also unnecessary. Celebs are real twitter users too, some are even human ;)

2) Hashtags - Many people use hashtags (#tags) in their tweets to hopefully get their message seen by people searching on various topics (trends) that are in the current news. However, this can cause serious problems, which Habitat UK found out only too well a couple of weeks ago. They were using hashtags relating to current topics such as the Iranian Election, iPhones, Masterchef competition and more, all completely unrelated to their products and services (more information on this story can be found here). If you want/need to use hashtags, make sure that they relate to you and your business or profile in some way, or to conversation you are having. There is no point having random trendy hashtags in your posts just to get in the searches, this just makes you a spammer.

3) Spam – While we are on the subject of spam (no not this kind of Spam ;) ), don’t do it, just don’t. It’s annoying, people will block you and you will be a ‘Billy no mates’. Spammers are the people whose stats look like this ’178937 following – 3 followers – 0 updates’. You know the sort, we all have them follow us and we all block them because we know that at some point we are going to be told that their latest ‘innovation’ that costs ‘just £49.99′ will be the next best thing since sliced bread, however, we all know that these spammers are scammers!

4) Gain Followers Applications – Every now and again you will see a message pop up in your Twitter stream saying something like “I joined ‘add twitter app name here’ and now I have 40000 followers, you could too, sign up now!” – The problem with these applications is that not only do they spam your account (yes they actually use your account to spam from!) but you have to follow people in order to get followers and the people you are following/followers are probably not the people who care what you have to say or vice versa, not because of bad quality users but merely because of varying interests in topics.

5) Constantly Retweeting The Same Post – It’s not the best idea in the world to retweet the same message over and over (and over!) again. It does make you look like not only a bit of a spammer but also a bit of a plonker. It is perfectly justifiable if you for example, you are in the UK and you are tweeting about a new blog post in the morning, then you retweet it again in the afternoon so the US users see your tweet and then perhaps once in the evening so the rest of the world users can see it, but retweeting 30 times about your cat falling off a chair, is not great!

So now that is all done and dusted, let’s get on to the good bits!

The Do’s!

1) Networking – Woohoo! Twitter is a great way to network, using tools like Twellow you can easily find people within your industry, people with the same interests and/or people geographically close to you. Follow them and introduce yourself, build up a relationship by chatting with them, reading their website/blog and perhaps even offering to help out with projects.

2) Twitter Profile – Make sure you add a bio about yourself in your Twitter profile, it makes looking for contacts so much easier. People want to know all about you when they follow you, it is human nature, so give them an insight on what you do and where you are, makes networking quicker and easier.

3) Profile Background – You have this massive space on your profile background, make the most of it! Why not get yourself a custom Twitter background that has your information, links and contact details down the side. It’s like having your own business card on your Twitter page. We offer custom Twitter backgrounds here at SBM should you want one ;) (Just thought I would crowbar that in!)

4) Global Chat - Many projects and collaborations have started by one Twitter user in one country chatting to another Twitter user half way across the world, it is instant, real time and FREE global chat.

5) Promote Yourself/Business – What better (and cheaper!) way for you to promote yourself, your products and services, your blog and your business than by using Twitter. Go ahead, tell your followers your latest news, share your passion, let them know that you are great at what you do.

6) Ask for Help/Advice -Need a hand with something or have a question? Ask the world via Twitter, there is always someone who knows the answer!

7) Offer Help/Advice – Does someone want help with a project or need a question answered? Then why not offer to help, this could also be the start of a great networking relationship too.

8) Make Someone Smile – OK I admit it, I have said in the past that random posts on Twitter are annoying, but sometimes, it’s good to send a message to someone with ‘giggle factor’ just to make them smile and brighten their day!

9) Finding Old Friends – Not heard from someone in a while? Are they on Twitter? Yes? Well there you go then, instant ‘friends reunited!’

10) Being Polite – Telling someone they are an &*@!%£^ @&%£!% is really not going to score you any brownie points with that person or the thousands of other users who have just seen your message on the main Twitter timeline! Politeness and a warm friendly attitude is the best way to attract new followers and to join in with new networks and of course a great way to get you seen on the main Timeline too ;)

There you go, these may be all ‘obvious’ tips but it is amazing how some people forget about common sense on Twitter ;)

Happy Tweeting!

This blog post was written by © Sally Walker for Sally Walker Media Labs, 2009. | Follow us on Twitter

Is Branding Important For Small / Home Based Businesses?

Sally Walker — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:39:58 +0000

Branding is one of the most important aspects of a business profile and it doesn’t involve a red hot iron being stamped on your rear either ;) Your brand is YOU!

When most people think of a brand, they think of the logos of certain companies, you know the ones, you see a ‘tick’ or ‘correct mark’ what do you think? Nike. You see a red can of drink with white scroll text and what do you think? Coca Cola. These are incredibly effective brands, however the reason they are effective is not just the logo, the secret is consistency.

Above is a sample of some of the world’s best known and easily identifiable brands. Their logos are seen by millions of people, every day, all around the world. You see their logos on their products, on advertising, in magazine articles, on the side of buses, websites, stationary and more. Every time you see something that has their logo displayed that business is re-enforcing itself in your mind. The more branding of that business you see, the more successful that business appears, plus it has the secondary effect of making both existing and potential clients and customers feel secure as they receive this ‘corporate image’ in their mind as a sign of professionalism.

But what if you are a small business owner, or maybe you are a Mum starting out your own home based company making chutney, does a small business still need branding? Yes!

Your customers want to see exactly who they are dealing with each and every time they contact you, whether that be via email, post, website or through social media profiles. If your business image is consistent it will look professional, but getting it right matters.

You do not have to have bright and garish graphics to make a good logo, in fact you do not need graphics at all. As you will see from the well known brands above, most of them are no more than 3 colours, some do not contain graphics. Let us take ‘Christian Dior’ as an example.

Christian Dior is a multi-million global brand. The company branding is easily recognisable but look, no graphics. It is simple text, yet we still all know by seeing it that this is ‘Christian Dior’ and we know from that logo that it screams ‘large business’ but why? Because of it’s consistency. You see the same logo on clothes, perfume, advertisements, websites and more. In fact every product and every service has that same logo displayed.

So how can a home made chutney, jams and preserves business (or any small business) use their brand to increase traffic to their company website or to give their business exposure, be consistant. If you have a branding consultant / social media manager / social media coach, they will either guide and help you make a start on your branding yourself or actually manage your branding profile for you, which if you are a small business with fewer resources (and let’s face it, not as much cash flow as Christian Dior!) can be an excellent idea, even if it is on a part time basis paying by the hour.

I am your potential customer. I am a busy working mum of 2 and I am looking for a good home made spiced fruit chutney. I want to know that the chutney I am purchasing has been made using seasonal fruit and vegetables and I want my chutney to be made by the seller by hand, I do not want a product to be a ‘supermakret’ brand made by machines on a production line. All this information can be dealt with by my brain in a few seconds by looking at a logo and the branding of a business. Pictures of fresh vegetables, the colours of nature and the earth, clear concise writing on labels, the use of the words ‘seasonal, hand made or fresh’ and even irregular sized chutney jars all add to that ‘home made’ look rather than a supermarket brand.

So I find your online shop on the Internet and think ‘they look tasty!’ and I look around your website. Your logo and branding is on every page of your website, when I email you to place an order, your signature contains your website address and maybe even matching email stationary or a virtual business card signature in your email. If I place my order over the phone you answer the telephone with your company name. When my order of this rather scrummy looking chutney arrives, it arrives with a compliment slip on it, with guess what, your logo, your brand, your business, YOU! Your brand has sold me this chutney right from the start, your brand, no matter how small your business, is important and your brand is YOU, so let’s make the most of it!

Are Social Media/Community Managers Needed In Small/Home Based Businesses?

Sally Walker — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:21:01 +0000

I often get annoyed by the way ‘small businesses’ are labelled as such. No matter if there is only you working for your company or you have a team of 1000 employees, the end game in both types of business is to make a profit and to be good at ‘what you do’.

Advertising for a small business owner can be hard, they may not have the financial cash flow available or the time to be able to spend on an advertising campaign, branding their company throughout their ‘windows of opportunity’ or even just to say ‘WE ARE HERE!’

A Social Media Manager (also known as a SMM/Community Manager) can be a life line to small businesses. By hiring them on a part time basis and paying by the hour, a SMM soon becomes not only a source of ‘inside information’ but also an affordable way to keep your business (no matter how small) name in the fore front of exisiting and potential clients and customers minds.

SMM’s can be a valuable source of information, help and advice as well making sure that your company becomes a ‘brand’. Making sure that no matter where your clients and customers look online to find you, your brand is consistant throughout all social media and community outlets. SMM’s not only market your brand and your name but also listen to what is happening in the world around you. What trends are starting/ending, what your customers are saying about you and are able to respond to clients questions and comments if required.

A good SMM will listen. Listen to their client, listen to the social media trends and listen to competitors. SMM’s become the eyes and ears of your business and are able to interact within ‘real time’ discussions, providing your customers with the latest up to the minute news regarding your business.

Imagine having an extra marketing, advertising and public relations department that you can call in, just when you need it, even if it is just for a couple of hours a week and then ask yourself do small businesses need a SMM? Of course they do, maybe even more so than a large corporate company simply because they may have fewer resources available. A business is a business, no matter how big or small, no matter if it is a Mum working from home setting up her own home based business or if you are the CEO of a global corporate brand. It is always good to have a little helping hand on your side.

Power Of The Social Media Mum

Sally Walker — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Once upon a time, their used to be a cry across the land by all Mum’s to their offspring at bedtime “Will you PLEASE get off the computer and GET TO BED!” Now, at least sometimes, this can cry can still be heard but not to the children, now it comes from those poor partners of a ‘Social Media Mum’, willing them to come to bed at a decent hour!

But what are we doing to keep us up late and why do we do it? We have a special secret, we have power over the social media world and we are slowly taking over.

If you want a piece of news to spread quick, you don’t need to publish it in the daily newspaper or hire a TV crew to come round and interview you on the news. Just find a Mum who has a computer and let her do it for you.

Not only do we make news but we break news, we hear about events before they can be captured by TV and radio broadcasters or by reporters and journalists. This has never been more so than just recently with the US Election, Iran Election and also the ‘Expenses Row’ affair here in the UK.

Worldwide events are also captured by us Social Media Mums, probably most notable event at the moment was the death of Michael Jackson (RIP). We were not only able to communicate the news and messages but also to sift our way through all the rumours and post relevant information, much quicker than a news site.

Many of us work from home and in some capacity our work either directly involves Social Media or we use Social Media to convey our messages and promote our products/services. Being a Mum helps, as it means that we can not only multi-task, but what Mum doesn’t like to have a chat or a gossip? What better way to promote something than by getting millions of Mum’s worldwide to chat about it online.

As you know through SquashBoxMedia I am a freelance journalist and writer, social media manager, social media coach and more. I write on both Social Media topics and Parenting issues, an eclectic mix you may think, I use both skills every day to make things happen!

Never doubt the power of a Mum and certainly never doubt the power of a ‘Social Media Mum’ – we make and break news, but more importantly we keep the social media world revolving.

Got A Dream? Do It!

Sally Walker — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:21:17 +0000

Sorry I have been quiet for a couple of days, no I haven’t gone off on my holidays just yet! Far from it, I have been working on a huge new project that is probably the biggest undertaking I have ever thought about doing. However, it is something that I am passionate about getting off the ground so with some hard work and long hours, this will happen soon.

Before I start anything new, I also question whether or not I could actually ‘pull it off’, not just personally, but financially, time, how it will impact my family etc. There is also that saying ‘don’t jump in with both feet’ which is true with some ideas, however if we all just dreamt about what we wanted to do and never actually did it, nothing would ever get done. So sometimes, going in with both feet is just what you need.

If you don’t think and dream big, how will you ever know just what you are capable of? If you don’t get out there and (to steal a popular sports brands phrase!) and ‘just do it’, how will you know whether or not you could make a difference?

It is easy to get bogged down with the ‘what if’s’ and to worry about what could go wrong, but even the most successful of business people have these niggling doubts at the start, you just need to ask yourself ‘do I really want this?’ if the anwer is yes, then go for it.

For those of you who don’t know me very well, 12 years ago I was told I may have a brain tumour. I was having a series of strokes and lost my speech, the feeling in my legs and the grip in my hands. I was in a wheelchair and I that is where I thought I would stay, forever. I was told I would never have children and the chance of me walking again or using my hands to grip were slim. My world collapsed. I was newly married, I had a great job and it was meant to be the happiest time of my life but then BANG, all my dreams stopped.

I admit I got very down with everything that happened, not only did my illness get worse but because I could not work, we (as a married couple) ended up in extreme financial difficulties. At that point, I thought my life was over.

Or was it just the beginning?…..

Luckily I am married to someone who has more faith in me than anyone else in the world, even through the really bad times when he was being told I could die, he was there saving my life, quite literally on two occassions, telling me to look forward and to keep going, that no matter what was in the way, I could do it, I would be able to beat this. I am also quite stubborn and once he ‘flicked the switch’ inside me to fight, I started to push myself to get through it.

With therapy and support I started to walk again and use my hands, my speech became less and less slurred and finally in 1998 we had a massive breakthrough when I was told I was pregnant, I am sure you can imagine our joy. This joy was later followed in 2000 when I fell pregnant again.

12 years on, I can not only walk, but I can run (although to be honest, I don’t like running, I don’t think Sally’s were actually born to run, we wobble ;) ), I can write, cook, type (again, something that I can do but as you will notice from some of my posts, not that accurately, nothing to do with being ill, I just think my brain goes faster than my fingers!), I can do everything that I should be able to do. More importantly, I am a Mum, somthing I never thought possible.

Life is hard, it throws things in our path that are so huge and so life stopping that it is a wonder that as a human race we haven’t just all sat down and shouted ‘WHAT IS THE POINT?’ but we don’t. We carry on. We dream about making things better and it is those dreams that you have to grab with both hands and really work hard to achieve.

So not only ‘think big, dream big’ but also ACHIEVE BIG! Whether your ‘big’ is employment, work, family life, health or just trying to lose a few pounds on a diet, just go for it. Life is too short to waste away. You can do it!

Is Gaming The New Social Networking?

Sally Walker — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:45:38 +0000

What do most people do on Facebook? We chat to people, add friends to our friends list, join groups, add applications, play solo games, compete against each other in multi player games, send each other private messages and network. This is exactly what most gamers do every day whilst playing their favourite online games.

As a closet gamer (keep this under your hat though, I don’t want everyone to know……what do you mean it’s a bit late now? ;) ) I run my World of Warcraft account rather like I would any social media or social networking site. I have made a lot of good quality contacts through gaming that I would not have made through Facebook or LinkedIn, these contacts have not only brought me business but also a new window into my marketting. I have also made a lot of good friends through gaming, which I have through Facebook or LinkedIn, so this is just the cherry on top of the cake!

Gaming, these days, is not only for adolescent teenagers who spend hours locked away in their rooms, a wide variety of people and ages play online interactive games just for the sheer relaxation of it.

So to prove my point I wanted to show you my comparison between both Facebook and World Of Warcraft, you’ll see that it really isn’t that different and in fact it could work wonders for your network.

Friends List

Of course the famouse ‘add friends’ aspect to Facebook is known throughout the land, you also have a friends list on World of Warcraft that works in a similar way. It let’s you know when the are offline/online and tells you where they are in the game.

Groups

Facebook has literally thousands of groups on a wide variety of topics ranging from the serious to the stupid. World of Warcraft has guilds. Guilds work in the same way, you can chat and discuss things in your guild or work together to obtain a goal. Through guild websites such as GuildOMatic you can even have forums, photo albums, calendars and more, just like a Facebook group. Just like Facebook groups, there are serious and stupid guilds. There are guilds that are adult only and even business breakfast guilds where business people play for an hour at breakfast time before going to work to get themselves ready for the day, share new ideas about their business and make contacts, and before you think that is very odd, our local business advice centre offers the same type of business breakfast meeting in real life. (Obviously not playing games, but it’s still networking!)

Adding Applications

With Facebook you can add applications to enhance your personal profile and how you use the site itself. The same is true of World of Warcraft, you have ‘add-ons’ that enhance how you play, chat and connect.

Private Messaging

Both Facebook and World of Warcraft have a private messaging system for all those networking discussions.

Playing Games

A lot of people add games to their profiles, whether it is to play solo or to compete with their friends. World of Warcraft – I don’t really need to explain this one do I? ;)

So there you have it, not such a big difference after all, however some of you more serious social media and social networking types may snub this post as gamer having a ramble. I’ll let you into a secret, when you play games you have fun and you relax, the perfect time to network, as believe me most people playing the game are feeling the same way and they open up = easier to network with. The true test of a good marketeer and networker is to connect with people no matter where you are or what you are doing, it works!

Not so silly after all eh? ;)

Why YOUR Company Needs To Hire A MUM!

Sally Walker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:54:53 +0000

“Listen up you lot, come close, I want to let you into a little secret, I’m a mum……sssshhhh…don’t go telling the whole world because I won’t get employed!” Ever felt like this when looking for a job? Well don’t, because many companies and business NEED Mum’s, let me tell you (AND THEM!) why ;)

We can help work with you and your products or services to make sure that each one is family friendly, not only in design and manafacture but also labelling, wording, advertising etc. We know what other Mum’s are thinking, we can give you that insight and make your product stand out.

Mum’s talk. We all talk together about what we like and what we don’t like. Wouldn’t it be great to have that on your side? Imagine all that free advertising! Take a look at all the so-called ‘Mummy Bloggers’ (Mommy Bloggers if you are from the US!) out there, literally thousands. We are savvy, we know what we want and how we want it delivered to us. We can give you all this inside information and advertise it on our blogs and websites. A little insider information goes a long way! There are so many Mum’s out there who are tech savvy and can network their way to the top using social media and social networking, this would be a great tool for you and your company.

Mum’s are naturally good marketeers, those of us who have websites and blogs, promote it. We know how to do it and when to do it, we can get your company involved in, what I like to call ‘MLMM’ – Multi Level Mum Marketting! One Mum passes information and a review to another, then another and so on.

We can not only help you develop your products or services but test run them too. How better to test something for family safety, appeal or value for money, then letting a Mum get her hands on it.

Having Mum on board in a ‘consultancy’ role would not only benefit your products and services but also your public relations outlook. You want to appear family friendly, of course you do, then how better than to hire a Mum Consultant?

As a mum, we multi-task 24 hours a day. We know how to work hard under pressure, by jove we do it all the time, and we do it well.

So come on businesses, listen up. Mum’s really DO know best and we are there to help you too!

If you are a Mum in the UK and would like more information on this topic or would like to chat about it please email me, as I intend to get UK companies listening to us!

New kid on the block – ‘thisMoment.com’

Sally Walker — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:45:33 +0000

thisMoment.com is a new social networking site offering members a place to show their ‘moments’ in a timeline to share with friends, family and new contacts. thisMoment.com is like having your own vitual scrapbook that you can add blog posts, events (past, present and future), photos, podcasts, videos and more. Each entry becomes a ‘moment’ that appears on your ‘MomentFlow’, a timeline of entries on your profile page. However being a social networking site, this brings the idea of a personal scrapbook to a whole new level, because users can now add to each others pages and collaborate on moments.

thisMoment.com say “It’s incredibly easy to capture Moments using our Moment Maker. Just give your Moment a name, and then easily add things like photos and video, how the Moment made you feel, who shared it with you, and much more. The Moment Maker connects with your existing Web services – including Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and others – allowing you to illustrate your Moments with photos and video you’ve already uploaded to the Internet. You can even pull in publicly available content for any shots you may have missed, utilize high-quality professional media from our partners, and invite your friends so they can contribute as well.” I would have to agree on how easy it is. I went straight in without using any of the ‘how to’s’ or watching any videos and set up with my profile page, arranged a dedicated url, linked it with Facebook and Twitter and had my first moment published all in 7 minutes.

The site itself is very sleek and grown up looking with an ‘easy on the eye’ design and sophisticated colour scheme. Offering mobile web for any SmartPhone and a new iPhone application in the pipeline, navigation and access is certainly not an issue.

With Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Picassa intergration you can update all your contacts in one place, sharing your moment not only to thisMoment.com viewers but all over your social media/networking profiles.

The ability to add moments from past, present and future make this site stand out from the ‘scrapbook’ trend. For those of us who have scrapbooked in the real world (yes actually cutting out our die cut shapes and using our acid free 12×12 papers, come on your scrapbookers, you know what I am talking about!) you know that your scrapbooks are filled with moments of your past. thisMoment.com allows you to add future events, which is not only very clever but also very uplifting.

The possibilities of how you could use thisMoment.com are wide and vast. You could use it just as a photo album/scrapbook, or as a photo blog, or as a podcast blog, or as a calendar for both personal and business events. You could even set up a business page and use this as another ‘latest news’ outlet.

I have been very impressed with all functionality of this new site as well as the sheer look of it. Well done thisMoment.com – keep up the good work!

Social Media & Networking – Do Mums Need It?

Sally Walker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:22:37 +0000

With all the fuss these days about social media, social networking, twitter this and plurk that, are all these ‘ways of communication’ actually needed by Mums?

There are a host of social media and networking sites these days, ranging from simple ideas like Twitter to full on website making profile page ideas such as Facebook or MySpace.

However, as a Mum, do you need them? Will they benefit you?

As Mum’s we have enough on our plate with housework, being a taxi for our children, cooking, cleaning, working out the weekly menu, doing the shopping, washing etc. We might also have a full or part time job on top of all that, so do we really need endless websites to try and keep track of too? Well maybe…

As you know from previous articles I am not the biggest fan of social media. I would much rather meet someone for a coffee and have a good old fashioned chinwag about life, than try and fit a conversation in 140 characters on twitter. However, this is the time when, now this is going to be hard for me to say, but, I may have been a little harsh on poor little social media.

I am a member of Twitter, Facebook, MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Digg,FriendFeed to name a few, now that is quite a few sites for a self confessed Anti-Social Media mum BUT they do have a place in my online world.

Twitter is the tool I use most often. I use it to meet new people, to let people know I have done a blog post, to join in ongoing conversations and to have a giggle. I don’t use it seriously like some professional bloggers do (in fact I mostly talk drivel on there), but I do meet new friends and us it to get word out. It is a simple concept and that is it’s appeal.

Social Networking sites such as Facebook also offer a good place to meet new people and to hook up again with old friends, however, personally I find Facebook bland and boring, plus you get spammed but endless notifications of people inviting you to join various applications. No! I don’t want to install the ‘Do you have hairy armpits?’ application thank you very much!

You then have FriendFeed and websites like these, which import all your information from all the other sites and cram in all on to one page. A nifty idea if you are out and about on your mobile phone, you only need to login to one site each time, so you can network to your hearts content!

Now after all that (are you still with me? Do you want to get yourself a cuppa and come back to read the rest?) you have the Mum-specific social networking sites. Now, I have to admit, I find 95% of these sickly sweet and quite nauseating. Yes, I am proud to be a mum, very proud, but I don’t need to have a 1000px banner on my website to tell me that nor do I want to talk about breastfeeding or how to knit a blanket all day. I am a grown up and want to be treated like one, I am a woman as well as a mum, I HAVE NEEDS! As much as my love my kids, I want to talk about other things too and even other aspects of family life.

So apart from the 95% of ‘Fluffy Mummy’ networking sites out there, there are some gems to be found….

Type-A Mom, although a US based site, does allow and encourage worldwide Mums to join and guess what, they treat you like a real person! The topics are all ‘mum’ or ‘family’ based but in a factual way. You can get advice, network, meet other mums in a non-fluffy way, and not a pastel colour in site, brilliant! A well designed, well thought out website and I support Type-A Mom 100%.

Wishpot.com, not strictly a networking site, but it hasn’t stopped me networking on there! Wishpot.com is a shopping list website where you can list items you have, want, need, wish for etc. Wishpot opens it’s doors to its new Baby Registary soon, an excellent way to list exactly what you want or need for a new mum. With ‘real mums’ on hand to give you ’straight down the line’ advice if you want it. Excellent and again I am right behind Wishpot.com!

And…before the cynical ones amongst my readers say “She’s only saying that because she is involved with them”…well thats the point, I am involved with them because I believe in them and what they do/represent.

So, do Mum’s need social media? No, we don’t NEED it, but if you want to spread the word about you, your business, your blog, meet new friends or even just to announce to the world that “I EXIST!”, then yes, it works wonders!

Hello world!

Sally Walker — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:58:50 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Social Evolution – Do We Need All Sites?

Sally Walker — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:19:52 +0000

The four main branches of the internet social world are merging. Is this evolution and will we really need all the individual sites in 2,3,4 or 5 years time?

It really depends on how YOU use social media and what social media does for YOU.

So let’s recap on what the four main sections of social media are and what they do:

1) Blogging – Blogs have been around for a while now, an online journal where you can either post your inner most secrets or talk a load of rubbish, whatever you do with it, it is your space on the web.

2) Social Media Micro Chat – Sites such as Twitter, Plurk and Kwippy. Originally started as a quick way of telling people where you were and what you are doing. It’s not like that anymore

3) Social Bookmarking – Sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. A place where you can share your blog posts with a wider audience and (hopefully) get other readers to say how great you are by telling these social bookmarking sites they like your posts too.

4) Social Networking - Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn etc. A place where you can meet new friends/contatcs and search for old friends.

When these sites all started they all served a specific purpose, but now, if you look closely, there is no difference to any of them really, they are merging and it is the Social sites such as Twitter and Facebook that are taking over.

On Twitter, you can micro blog (a lot of people do this, you get little excerpts of their life in under 140 characters), you can spread the word about your newest blog post and ask people to comment on it, or even retweet it (retweet – repeating a message you have sent so others can see it), you can search for new contacts, look for old friends and make new ones. So Twitter, however simplistic it is, could in theory, wipe out the rest as you can do it all on one site.

Facebook too, does the same. On Facebook you can have a full blog add-on application, so you can blog to your hearts content with a fully featured blog. You can also spam people with your latest blog post and even get other people to show your blog feed (rss) on their profile (who needs Digg when you can do that eh?), Facebook also allows you to import your twitter feeds into your profile, or even more snazzy, you could use Facebook to Tweet, by constantly updating your Facebook status message.

So do we need them all? Is it a status symbol of ‘how many online presences can I have’? Is it good to have all of them for self promotion? Or will it end up with one site-does-all?

I think a lot of it depends on what YOU want out of it and HOW you use them? Personally I like to have a few accounts because, being female, I like to keep up to date with all the latest news and I wouldn’t want to miss anything would I?

Those Were The Days, My Friend! Is Social Media A New Thing?

Sally Walker — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:13:32 +0000

In the 90′s I started using the new and trendy (as it was then) IRC. For those people who have no idea what that is, IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, chatting to people all over the world via online chat rooms. Through IRC and using mIRC (a then and still popular IRC client) I got my first taste of coding new scripts and adding mods to applications. I became a mIRC developer and loved every minute of it.

I became an operator and moderator on various chat rooms and steadily my profile grew within the IRC world, through chatting to people and making contacts. It was about that time too that I started to chat on ICQ – this was, at that point in time, THE messenger to use. I had various websites and I used both IRC and ICQ to let people know about them, I was also a web designer then (still am) and used this method of communication and networking to find new clients.

Now it is 2008, I use Twitter these days to chat to people in a massive chatroom, because let’s face it, that’s all the timeline is really. I also use Yahoo Messenger and Skype to chat too people in a ‘messenger’ format, i.e. one to one chatting online.

But what’s really changed? Back then we were making new contacts, networking, chatting and sharing information, isn’t that what we do now? Perhaps social media has been around a lot longer than a lot of users may realise and does that make me an ‘early adopter’ or somewhat prehistoric?

We never really took IRC that seriously back in the 90′s but we still used it to our advantage. You certainly didn’t have so called IRC experts or IRC managers to help raise your profile.

It also proves that a lot of social media marketing is just using your brain. If you want to network - talk to other people, if you want to get your latest blog post seen – share it, If you want people to come back to your blog or website – give them something worth coming back for. The basics are common sense and have been since the good old IRC days, nothing much has really changed!

LinkedIn Vs Facebook

Sally Walker — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Whether you like Facebook or not, you have to agree, it is good at what it does, which is bringing people together. You can use Facebook for business or pleasure and it can be used (when used well) as a powerful marketing tool for yourself or your company.

However, it is mostly filled with people messing about with various Facebook applications, sharing gifts, answering quizzes and sending those endless invites to various add-ons, games and even more applications (as if the 2384 you already have installed on your profile is not enough!).
So what about LinkedIn, what can that offer you? Is it any different to Facebook? Oh yes! LinkedIn is the Facebook for Grown Ups

If you think of the usability of Facebook plus having an online CV, you won’t be far wrong.
It has the same social networking abilities as Facebook, you can search for people just like you can on there. You can create or join groups, again just like Facebook. But the real difference is, LinkedIn puts you on a pedastool and shows you off in all your glory.

You are able to add the entire contents (should you wish to) of your resume (or CV if you live in the UK) to your LinkedIn profile so that prospective employers or other like minded people can search for you easily. This then opens up the world of social networking to the professional/business world more than ever.

LinkedIn has a nice, clean, simple layout. There are no flashing buttons and neon lights, which makes it look elegant and easy on the eye. Your profile information is laid out just like a resume. You can add links to all your websites and use the site as an online portfolio.

The connection/networking process of LinkedIn is very efficient. Unlike Facebook, you cannot connect with someone on LinkedIn if you do not know them in some way, however you can ask your fellow connections to ‘introduce’ you if they are already connected with them.

The ease of use and the sheer ‘professionalism’ of the networking side of LinkedIn makes this social networking site a little bit different from all the rest, which can only be a good thing!

Make The Most Of The Bad Weather

Sally Walker — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Sounds bonkers doesn’t it? Making the most of the bad weather, but the freezing cold, snow and heavy rain does provide some positives!

1) Use the bad weather as a time to stay in and have a ‘doing weekend’. Get all those jobs done around the house that need doing. Make a list and tick them off once they are done. You will be amazed at just what and how quickly you can achieve all your jobs if you make a real go at it one weekend when the weather is bad.

2) Use it as an excuse to get romantic. Not that you need an excuse of course ;) Get cosy in front of the fire, with a glass of your favourite tipple and snuggle up with your loved one. Put some music on and maybe some candles and just enjoy the cosiness of it.

3) Have a cosy family film night. Bring down all the quilts into your lounge, make the biggest bowl of popcorn you can find, grab those marshmallows, chocolates and other nibbles and get into your pyjamas. Get all your other half and your kids to do the same then snuggle up under the quilts and have a film night! You won’t need any heating on as you will be surrounded by quilts so it saves money too!

4) Use the time to try new recipes and try your hand at maybe something like baking or bread making. Nothing heats the house quicker than having the oven on, if you are using the oven to bake some tasty treats, then you can keep warm too!

5) Art and craft. Have a go at scrapbooking or cardmaking, or maybe even writing a poem or a short story. Kids love to work on craft projects and there are many good rainy day craft books you can buy, a couple of our favourites are: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rainy-Activity-Priddy-Little-People/dp/0312492553/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231779395&sr=8-27 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/365-Rainy-Activities-Vivienne-Bolton/dp/1840840455/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231779427&sr=8-34

6) Plan some days out or holidays for the future. Spend the time indoors doing research on the areas you are visiting, find things to do, where to go etc.

7) You don’t have to stay in when it’s bad weather. No one is stopping you from wrapping yourselves up and going for a brisk walk! Bundle your kids up with loads of layers, thick coats, gloves, hats, wellies etc and then see how many animals you can see who are also out in the rain! Nature changes in the rain, you will see more worms, insects and even some birds like the rain so why not go out on a nature rainy treasure hunt!

8) Go through all your wardrobes and grab those recycling bags. A good time to try on clothes and see if you still want them or if they still fit. Can you recycle them? You could always place an ‘offered’ ad on your local Freecycle group to see if your old clothes can help anyone else?

9) I bet there is a book somewhere that you have been meaning to read, but as always you have been too busy. Now’s your chance, the weather is awful outside, so grab that book and chill out.

10) Enjoy it. Yup ENJOY IT! There is something liberating about walking in the rain and getting totally soaked. Obviously not recommended for kids BUT when you go out and get so soaked that you’re completely wet through it almost feels ‘naughty’ and it makes me giggle. All of nature is there to be experienced so getting wet is just part of the fun!

Make Your Own Fuel – Paper Coal Briquettes

Sally Walker — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:05:00 +0000

We are lucky enough to have an open fire in our lounge which burns both wood/logs and coal, we prefer to use logs. However during these cold weeks we have been getting through a lot of wood and started looking around at the paper briquette makers you can buy just about everywhere these days.

This is your standard maker that you can buy (see below), they make briquettes made from wet, mushy recycled paper and they cost betweet £14-£20 to buy.

However, we became worried about various reviews on websites, such as Amazon, stating that the general makers (not the heavy duty ones) tend to buckle and bend after a few bricks are made so we decided against the maker and make our own paper coal.

All you need to do is gather up all your recycled paper, cardboard, letters, envelopes, tissues, kitchen roll, newspapers etc (remove all plastic and staples first) and place it in a bucket of water and leave to soak overnight. The next day get in there (my kids loved doing this!) with your hands and start to agitate the paper around in the water so it breaks up and goes mushy.

Take out a bread roll sized ball of the mush and squeeze in your hands to form a tight ball whilst making sure you are squeezing as much water out as possible. Once squeezed the ball of mush will shrink from bread roll size to about the size of a lump of coal.

Leave all your paper coals to dry for about a week, somewhere warm and then you are ready to put them on the fire. As you can see they look just the right size!

We will be using these in conjunction with a log, rather than using 2-3 logs a night we will now be able to use just one with these little beauties helping out!

Keep warm free of charge whilst helping the planet!

Am I Mum Or A Geek?

Sally Walker — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:32:00 +0000

Are there really such things as Mum Geeks? Or are the Mums of today just becoming more technology aware? Personally, I think it is a bit of both.

I am a bit of a geek, there is no denying it. I love digital art, I can write scripts and modules for various pieces of software, I can work my way around a computer easily and love my mobile phone ;) Through the bits and bobs that I do, I see a lot of mothers who use information technology (that’s ‘computers and the internet’ to non-geeks) regularly. One hand on the pushchair, one hand on the blackberry checking their emails. But is this right for this day and age? Is this how motherhood is going to be from now on? Maybe, but you do need to get the balance right!

As much as I love my laptop, I love my kids more. Some mums seem to constantly tap away, morning, noon and night on their computer (I haven’t got as bad as that yet!) and I find that kind of sad. I used to do a lot of writing and would spend a lot of time on the laptop and so did my husband, we have both calmed down now as our family is more important. We both love gadgets and technology but recent times, financially, have stopped us from buying all the latest doodads and whizzygigs and we have been focusing on what really matters. The kids!

Over the past 18 months we have spent a lot of time in hospital with our children. Our youngest nearly died in November 2007 with meningococcal septicemia and since february our eldest has been suffering from HSP which means unless you leave the hospital you are unable to use your mobile phone because of safety risks. You certainly cannot take your PC with you!
My daughter was in hospital again this weekend with her HSP and I found that the only time I used my mobile was to (now you are probably going to faint so sit down ready) was to phone people!

So I may be a geek, I may be a mum geek, but I am a mum more than anything and that will always remain.

Can Social Media/Networking For Kids Be Educational?

Sally Walker — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:29:00 +0000

As you know although I use both social media and networking sites, I dislike the way they can make certain users ‘anti-social’ because they become almost addicted to the social media world rather than living in the real one. However is this the same for children or can social sites be educational?
My own children use social networking sites specifically designed for younger children (under 13’s). They use Neopets, Whyville and MoshiMonsters. They use Neopets less and less now as they concentrate on Whyville the most. If you ask them why they like Whyville, their answers differ. My eldest likes the joining all the clubs within Whyville itself and my youngest likes chatting to other children in the US, as we are in the UK she finds this amazing that she can talk to other kids around the world. But is this doing them more harm then good?

I am quite an old-fashioned Mum. I like my kids to be polite, to eat all their food (you don’t eat your dinner, you don’t get your pudding!), to do their homework as soon as they get in from school so it’s over and done with etc. But I do let them use the family computer a lot as they use laptops at school and they need to know how to use one, not to mention, the need to learn internet safety.

The reason why I like Whyville, more than the rest of these ‘kiddie safe’ social networking sites is because each child has to go to Whyville School before they can use the site, the school teaches them internet safety and they have to pass a test before they can use the site.
But do kids social networking sites offer any other educational purpose? Suprisingly yes.
Most of these sites, use a form of currency to buy things in and around the site. For example, Neopets uses Neopoints which you earn from playing games, selling items and going to work. Whyville uses clams, earning them by playing games and working. MoshiMonsters uses rox, again earnt by playing games and working. This teaches children the value of ‘money’.
In each of these sites their are a multitude of games to play, this helps with co-ordination, reactions and spacial awareness. Some of the games are trivia based so this also helps to get them thinking.

All of these sites have methods of communication, whether it is talking directly to a person on Whyville or using ‘neomail’, Neopets own email system, to talk to one another. This helps with basic PC and typing skills, not to mention spelling, grammar, social interaction and internet safety awareness.

My children are ‘timed’ on the PC. This way I can see and limit how much time they are spending on these sites and because I have two children, it is a fair way of giving them equal time on the computer.

So as long as you kids are internet aware and you can sit down and supervise them, they can actually learn from these sites, although don’t tell them that! ;)