Bob on Acronym

I try to be social but not too markety, but I've been on a good role this week so why not for this post.

Last week I was recognized and posted on the Acronym Blog as a relatively new blogger (sorry I didn't comment Lisa, though I appreciate the link love). Just the fact I was linked on acronym is a great honor.

But outside of simply patting myself on the back, this is just shows what great opportunities there are for young association professionals, or any professional in that matter, to use web2.0 to become a part of the conversation.

As I've mentioned before, and will continue to do so, if you are a yap and want to try your hand at blogging, I'd welcome you to post on this blog. Not only can you join the conversation and become a blip on a screen, but you can see exactly what goes into blogging, just incase you're trying to get your members to blog. Email me at rawolfejr@yahoo.com if you're interested in joining.

Thanks for reading,
Bob

Link Love - All 4 Blog Favs Respond

Thanks Ben, Lisa, Tony and Maddie - not only have you helped me in developing my skillz, but all posted comments to my post about them! Special thanks to Ben for posting my comment on his blog - this is the equivalent of having an essay in a national magazine. I can rarely get a return call from friends and family within 24 hours - imagine how cool it was to have my four fave bloggers read and post in that time span! Amazing.

This is just an excellent example of great bloggers doing what they do. And it shows that participating in social media as a young professional is a great opportunity to network and get on the radar of the industry. I may be just a blip (is there something smaller than a blip?) on the screen, but hey, I'm ahead of where I'd be if I didn't join the conversation.

So if you want to start blogging - I encourage it - and if you don't think you can support your own and are a young professional, I welcome you to join this one! Email me and maybe you t0o could be a blogger on young association professional! (Actually don't open your own blog, I like having the young association professional blog market cornered - just kidding - I guess :)

And special Shouts to my fellow YAP Garen and Brynn for writing for Acroynm.

What a great way to end the week and with that I'm out. Enjoy and I'll see you on Monday,

Thanks for reading,
Bob

Setting Up Your Online Daily Paper Using RSS - Part 3

So hopefully you've had a chance to download a feed reader. Well now that you have, let's get you some articles for your online daily paper.

The first blog I mentioned in my previous post was Seth Godin. Not only is he a marketing wiz, but you need a feed reader to keep up with him on most days. The posts are incredibly short, but incredibly insightful.

Now here are the following blogs I'd highly recommend:

Ben Martin - Ben is the main page. He posts very frequently and odds are if it's of interest to association professionals Ben's a part of the conversation or has at least heard of it and put it on his blog. Ben in and of himself is the RSS of Associations.

ASAE and The Center's Acronym - The best part about this blog is there are many contributors and if one post comes off as insincere or wrong or ill-informed the commenters are sure to jump in. This is a great industry page and has a lot of great views.

Diary of a Reluctant Blogger - Maddie is a new blogger, but I think she's one to keep an eye on. She covers a variety of topics and does a great job of covering the variety of conversations on the blogoclump, giving meaningful perspectives to the conversation.

Membership Marketing - Tony has a lot of great insights into membership and marketing - and we are in the membership business, whether you're in the membership department.

I think for the most part these blogs are a great starting point for any daily paper. There are a variety of other blogs that focus on a variety of other things, and I think the four blogs above list them all out very well. I've read alot of the blogs in the association sphere and there are definitely some to keep an eye out for, but most tend to be more focused. And if I gave you all the links, what fun would that be?

But remember, whether you use my recommendations or find your own, using RSS helps you to efficiently learn about a variety of topics. And while initially you may need to spend a bit of time finding the initial blogs, once you've set it up, you can allocate some time in the morning or evening and just flip through the feeds of your online daily paper. I've had many ideas, insights and conversations within my own organziation thanks to reading my daily feeds.

So enjoy your feeds and if you find any blogs that are worth focusing in on, by all means let me know,

Thanks for reading,
Bob

Setting Up Your Online Daily Paper Using RSS - Part 2

I could explain what RSS is, but I don't think I can do any better than this video put together by CommonCraft Show:



I think this is one of the most simplistic explanations of RSS. Next step - pick your feedreader.

I'm playing with google reader right now, but there are a ton of different readers including yahoo and others. If you want to set up your feedreader using google go to http://www.google.com/reader and sign up. The great part about this (in my 24 hours of review) is that you can access it anytime you're online. This means:

*No worries if you're harddrive crashes/get a new computer (which I learned the hardway)
*No worries if you set up all your feeds at work but only have time to read them at home

Windows Vista also has a feedreader built in, but again it's on your hard drive so there's limited flexibility.

So set up your google or yahoo or Vista feed. And if you want to start subscribing and more importantly seeing how it works, subscribe to Seth Godin's blog. Not only is he a marketing genius (and everyone markets), but he also posts 2-4 times a day on a typical day. His feed is feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/sethsmainblog

In the next day or so I'll give you the top association blogs you'll want to subscribe to to help you get your online daily paper started.

Thanks for reading,
Bob

P.S. Need more help? Email me at rawolfejr@yahoo.com

Setting Up Your Online Daily Paper Using RSS - Part 1

If you don't have a feed reader yet, you should. Why - because it allows you to subscribe to blogs. And the best thing I've done for my professional development is quite simply setting up my Online Daily Paper (ODP) comprised of various blog feeds.

My ODP is my RSS feed filled with the best of the blogoclump's blog posts (and those outside of the association world). And because it's not in email, you can quickly skim your blogs like you would the daily paper. Read the tips and opinions that interest you, pass on those that don't.

Unfortunately though, I learned the hard way that you do not want to use a feed reader that is saved on your computer. The reason - if you're harddrive crashes or you get a new computer, all your feeds are lost.

Well over this week I am going to set up my ODP again, so join along. I'll walk you through setting up your own ODP (made up of what I think are the Must Read Blogs for Young Associaiton Professionals, or any Association Professional for that matter) as I rebuild my own online daily paper.

So don't worry if you don't know what a feed reader really is or what RSS means, I'm going to walk you through the various steps to set up your daily papers over the next few days and introduce you to the world of RSS.

Thanks for reading,
Bob