One of the things that transformed the way I get my information was when I set up RSS feeds on my home pages. RSS feeds is a way to subscribe to different websites and blog so you get can that information sent to your email or displayed on a central page.
I have two emails that I use each day, Yahoo for my personal business and Google for my business emails. When I log onto MyYahoo and iGoogle home pages, I have my relevant RSS feeds (i.e. personal or business) displayed so I can keep up to date.
I just read in Mashable today a post that described this process in the perfect words: "Social Start Page". In a perfect world, you would log onto one screen that summarizes not only your RSS feeds, but also has links to all your online social networks. Here is a link to the post with recommendations to other sites that help streamline your day by streamlining your information.
***MOMS WHO TECH follow-up session was at Convention Center Level 3 - Room 4 (panelist area) withShireen Mitchell.
We just finished the Moms Who Tech core conversation at SXSW, we have an amazing set of attendees who sparked a very interesting discussion. Sarah Granger was kind enough to take notes - which I will post soon. I will also be posting the names and websites of the "Moms Who Tech" in attendance. For those wanting to follow or join in the conversation, we will be using the Twitter hash tag #Momswhotech. Unfortunately, my co-leader Shireen Mitchell's plane was late so I will be twittering using my id (TechMama) when she arrives and timing on gathering for a follow-up discussion for those interested (sometime today - hopefully at 3pm). We were thrilled to have Tiffany Galligan, Experience Director Razorfish in attendance to discuss the Cafe Mom/Razorfish "Digital Mom" study.
Here were some overall questions framing the discussion:
How do moms use tech for communication, information gathering and family management? How is tech a part of their lives as mothers? In careers, school, children's education?
Why are increasing numbers of moms engaging in social media and using technology?
How are moms using technology to politicize & become activists?
When asked why I decided to put this together, I shared that moms:
Have digital responsibility for themselves and families
Are savvy communicators and community builders who are taking their communication online
Multitaskers that will use the available technology to make their and their families lives easier
Moms buy technology for their households and are savvy at gathering information (offline and online). Get their information from other moms (and are therefore primary purchasing influencers).
Kid’s school and social lives are now online (including HOMEWORK), so technology in family households is a MUST!
Here is the first run of "Moms Who Tech" at the session, will add more as I get the names. If I did not get your name, email me at techmamas(at)gmail(dot)com. If you were a business trying to reach out to moms please also email me your info and I will post about that separately (and thanks for coming!):
I am thrilled to be at my first SXSW starting today. For those wondering what SXSW is, the about page has a good quote from the National Post "SXSW ...reflects, discusses and showcases trends in culture and media but also often creates them.". I submitted a request for a panel months ago and was thrilled to have a core conversation approved. I asked Shireen Mitchell to co-lead the discussion with me because of her valuable perspective. Our "Moms Who Tech" session will discuss that moms have become power users of technology and social networking. The discussion will examine the gadgets and social media that they use to manage their careers, families and friendships. I just got in late last night and am jet lagged but excited to jump on board. I have already twittered with recommendations for interesting panels/conversations to attend (or read about for those not here). So I am not only here just for my session, but to network and learn from the amazing group here in attendence.. More to come!
For now I am off to the Pepsico Booth to do a podcast for their Digital Speak Easy series via BlogTalkRadio. My podcast will be at 3:40pm (Austin time)..
As I was frantically trying to sneak some blog posts in before bathtime tonight - about the tech conference I just came back from - I heard the dreaded words "P I L L O W F I G H T" coming from the other room where my 3 boys were playing. My husband is at a business meeting tonight, so there was no one else to "break it up". So what does a modern TechMama do in response to an impending pillow fight?
LIVE-TWITTER IT!
I decided to cover the pillow fighting activities live over Twitter. And in the theme of David Pogue's comment about the benefits of crowdsourcing, I decided to ask my Twitter followers to vote 1) keep blogging or 2) break up a massive pillow
fight between my 3 boys.
So here is my - first ever - one and only LIVE TWITTER FEED from a PILLOW FIGHT. Displayed on the top left is a picture of what the scene looked like after I finished the Twitter feed, evidence that the pillow fight did happen...
First to set the stage, here are my Twitters from tonight:
Am finally
breaking up pillow fight between my3boys... Sorry folks, tune in for
more live blogging pillow fights tomorrow night..
Appreciate all of the votes, but keep on blogging wins. @sweatpantsmom seemed to sum it up ""Live blog the pillow fight. Duhr."
@xiaolinmama @danaknisely Two more votes to keep blogging and let the pillow fight go (no "thuds" so far).
@JenniferPerillo agree that it is just a pillow fight, but @douglaskarr brought up a good point that "thuds" and "crying" usually follows
@CandiceStone @ToThink I think I will take both of yours advice: Let my boys wear themselves out THEN join in the pillow fight.
Wondering
if I should either 1) keep blogging or 2) break up a massive pillow
fight between my 3 boys? Maybe I should get a community vote.
Then - here are the responses from my wonderful Twitter followers (whom I appreciate very much):
Oh Wait - I can't forget the "Facebook" responses I got because my Twitter updates are feed to Facebook as updates (since Facebook is friends only, I did not put their names):
I am thrilled to see organizations like Common Sense Media and Dr BJ Fogg of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab provide valuable information on safe social networking for teens including IMPORTANT information on privacy controls. So here are the links, parents take a look and learn:
I hope to go to the Facebook class for Parents at Stanford and will print out the Common Sense Family Media agreements for my kids. It is important for all parents to be proactive and help themselves and their families learn about/implement proper online safety.
"Latitude is a new feature for Google Maps on your mobile device. It's
also an iGoogle gadget on your computer. Once you've opted in to
Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and
loved ones who have decided to share their location with you."
"Fun aside, we recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've
built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application.
Everything about Latitude is opt-in. You not only control exactly who
gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they
see."
So looking back on the Twitter conversation, yes - it may be teenager's who lie to their parents worse nightmare. For example, if a parent set up Latitude PRIVACY settings to only allow parents to track their teen's cellphone - then if their teenager said they are at the library studying when really they are at the mall shopping - they would be caught.
On the cool side, isn't some of being a teenager sneaking off with friends? On the non-cool side - maybe it is easier to be honest with parents to show responsibility (which teens need to have a phone in the first place). On the other hand, it may not be appropriate for parents to be online all day tracking where their teens are. Also, teenagers could always work around or disable the settings. Well then, what is the middle ground?
Being a Facebook junkie myself, I do ponder the right way to use it... To poke or not to poke (NOT). And what is it with sending gifts? Although my hubby did send me a romantic Facebook gift so that was the only time I really enjoyed getting a gift.
I ended up using Facebook for pure networking and sharing of information, so I don't play games or send random stuff to my networking buddies. I do read all the links my Facebook friends add to their profile and their status updates and join relevant Facebook Groups. Some of my favorite Facebook groups range from Lunch 2.0, Girls in Tech, She's Geeky, MOMocrats to the newest one I just joined: "I have more Foreign Policy Experience than Sarah Palin" and "1,000,000 Strong Against Sarah Palin". Lunch 2.0 and Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners groups allow me to find out about great events (like the Facebook Garage) via Facebook events. I have a mix of friends, business associates, bloggers and other interesting yet random people as my Facebook friends - so I don't load up any pictures of my kids (nor any bikini pictures - not that I ever wear bikini's). I upgraded to the new Facebook and also read the livefeed section. Yet I still wonder about the right way to interact with people on Facebook.
I happened to read my Digg RSS feed and one post popped out from Cracked.com "The 10 Commandments of Facebook" by Ross Wolinsky. Although I would always rather Kirtsy then Digg, that post did catch my eye. Take a read, and add your own commandments. HERE ARE MINE:
I received an interesting Facebook message tonight from another mom:
Your ass looks not bad in this video.: http://%79ou%74ube.su%62do%6D%65n%79.com.pl/?a=F0F2E... (lots more letters/symbols after this - too long to bother including in this post)
Because I have a background in Internet security, I did hesitate before responding.. Well, that and the fact that another mom would probably not compliment me in such a way. So, if you don't have a background in Internet security (and like when people compliment your a**) let me give you a hint:
Now compare THAT link to the babbling link I was sent in Facebook. Does that link look anything like a YouTube link?
NO!
Instead of clicking on that link (HINT: never do that), I sent a message back to that mom asking "What's up with that message". She replied that she had clicked on a link from her friend and her Facebook friends are randomly getting that message - without her directly sending it.
In the end, this seems to be some sort of virus like spam that is being spread. So do yourselves a favor, never click on any link you get on email or on your social networks without reviewing the link - and the message.
RELATED POST: Charlene Li also blogged about the Facebook Virus
I am just getting back down to earth after a whirlwhind couple of weeks.. Backlogged with technology posts (can't wait to talk about my Jawbone) - but so happy with the non stop action and excitement. These events were planned with the knowledge that many of the Silicon Valley Moms Group contributors (that I am a Co-Founder of) were coming out to San Francisco to attend the BlogHer conference. I will post more gory details in the weeks to come, but here is a summary:
1. Organized the technology and developed the site for the Silicon Valley Moms Group "Moms Road Trip". Including an interesting clip on CBS News... Followed the Mom Road Trip for their last 30 miles in my mini-van filled with swag bags for activity #2...We had a FUN stop at Guy Kawasaki's house.
2. Worked with the other founders of the Silicon Valley Moms Group to plan summer parties for our fabulous contributors. There were also fab swag bags.... All the hard work was worth it - meeting up with our contributors was a real treat!
Oh - and between all of this managing three boys at two different summer camps - that change every two weeks.. Ah, those relaxing summer days... More details to come...
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