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How to Create Your Own TV Channel for Your Blog

Posted on January 6, 2008 by jessestay

I’ve been considering doing this for awhile – we’ll see how long it lasts and when my wife puts an end to it. If you look in the upper-left corner of the blog, you’ll see the “Ask Jesse” Show stream. If I’m online, when you click play you’ll see me, live, as you are on the blog!

Here’s how I did it:

Create an account at Ustream.tv

Click on “My Shows” – there you can configure the look and feel of your show page if you want

Click on the “Go to Show URL” link next to the “Broadcast Now” button

You’ll now see an “Embed Stream” html snippet in the lower right of the page – copy this, then paste into your html layout for your blog

Click “Broadcast Now”, and you’re live for all your voyeuristic viewers to see!

The Camera I’m using is the Logitech Quickcam Communicate STX. It has great picture, includes a built-in microphone that detects how far you are, and the camera comes in with built-in software that follows where your face is (or two faces if you’re more than one person). I’m half-way across the room, and you can still hear me well, and the streaming results are almost real-time! (Scott Lemon says it took just 14 seconds from him Twittering to me saying I received the Twitter)

Some issues to watch out for:

Make sure you’re appropriate when your camera is on! Put a sign up or something reminding those entering the camera area that they are being recorded.

Be careful if you talk to sensitive business clients. You may want to mute, or stop the stream altogether so sensitive information isn’t broadcast out to the entire world

Be sure your router can handle the bandwidth. I use a Gigabit Linksys WRT350N Router, and my Comcast connection has 8 Mb down, and about 3 or 4 up (at times). Search for “Comcast Speed” in the search box in the upper-right for some tips on how to speed up your home internet

My big prediction for 2008 is it will be the year of streaming video, and you’ll see more and more people embracing such technologies. I think I’ll try this for a bit – I think this can be a great way to drive people to stay on your blog longer. People are naturally voyeuristic, and want to know more about the person whose writing they are reading. If they can actually see them and chat with them, they are likely to stay longer, bringing more traffic to your site.

SocialToo.com — Your Companion to the Social Web

Posted on January 5, 2008 by jessestay

I’ve been working on a little side project lately, that I think will solve a lot of the headaches caused by lack of certain features in the Social Landscape. In the spirit of the book Jason and I are writing, my company, SocialOptimize.com is announcing the beta launch of SocialToo.com. What is it? It is intended to be a companion to the Social Web – the features you can’t find in the social landscape you will find here. Will it replace your Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or Plaxo account? Probably not, but it will make your experience in those Social Networks much better and compliment that experience.

Over the coming weeks (I have a strong release early, release often policy), you’ll see new features launched on the site that will make your Social experience better. The site is still very basic, but as a taste of what’s to come, for all those that sign up now we’ll enable auto following of all those that follow you on Twitter. Within the next week we’ll add the ability to blacklist those that follow you (so it doesn’t follow them). Soon after that we’ll add statistics, better bulk operations on your followers and following, and many more features. Soon we’ll start to incorporate Facebook data, linking your Twitter account with your Facebook account. After that, maybe Plaxo, or MySpace, or LinkedIn. These are all ideas of where we’re going with this.

So, I encourage all to register to find out what’s to come. Again, all those that register with their Twitter username and password will be automatically given auto-follow capabilities on their Twitter account! Keep following here and I’ll update as we progress.

Plaxo’s Mistake Costs Scoble His Facebook Account

Posted on January 3, 2008 by jessestay

There’s a storm a brewin’ in the Bay Area today, and it’s not just those rain clouds coming their way! For those following the Twitter Storm, and Scoble’s blog, Scoble was banned from Facebook today due to some testing he was doing with an unreleased version of Plaxo Pulse. While Scoble is understandably upset, I think he is unfairly putting the blame on Facebook.

In the book, we quote a point in the Terms of Service which says that you “[can’t] use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Service or the Site;” It would appear that Scoble might be better off blaming those at Plaxo that he trusted to have read that before giving him a script that explicitely violates the agreement. I think Scoble’s blame of Facebook is somewhat unfair. I hope Plaxo has apologized profusely to Scoble!

Here’s what I think Facebook should do in the future, now that another publicity nightmare is ensuing:

Of course, they should reinstate Scoble’s account – maybe a slap on the hand with an explanation for the rule if you still can’t allow that practice, but Scoble’s account should have never been disabled in the first place!

Whitelist Scoble, and any other A-list blogger from all your disable scripts! – Do this now! Scoble is not the first, and I guarantee won’t be the last if you keep doing this!

Work with Plaxo on an acceptable solution to the problem Scoble is trying to address – this could be an excellent opportunity to calm the waters, work with the two parties, and solve an issue of one of your biggest users and supporters

Disable the 5,000 limit for all those whitelisted above – Twitter has exceptions to their API and request limits, why can’t Facebook? All those generating serious traffic to Facebook should be treated as royalty IMO. Scoble deserves much better treatment.

What I think will come of all of this is I think something will finally be done to address some of the biggest issues facing Facebook today. I think finally some sort of Export method will be allowed for contacts (with privacy limits, I’m sure!). I also think the 5,000 friend limit will finally be lifted for Scoble, and the traffic on his site will more than double over today and as the situation unfolds.

Why I think Facebook Mail is a Good Tool

Posted on January 2, 2008 by jessestay

My Co-Author, Jason Alba, is having a bad day today. I’m sure I haven’t helped, as we both have had somewhat heated discussions over the design of the cover of our book among other things (we think we’ve got a good idea for it though!). Not just that, but now I’m going to disagree on the points he made in his blog today.

While I’m of course very much for social networks (please, invite me to more!), while I’ve also probably sent Jason several large attachments as we’ve discussed our book back and forth (did I mention we now have a Facebook Page – become a fan!), while I’m sometimes a jerk, and I’m definitely a genius :-P, I understand his points in those items. What I don’t agree about however is that Facebook mail can cause people to pay less attention to you.

You see, I’ve actually used Facebook mail to my advantage several times. There are several of my Facebook friends, and even non-friends (remember, I only add people that a) are truly interested in me, or b) I have personally interacted with – this ensures my network stays strong) who I know receive thousands of e-mails per day. I also know people are generally hesitant to use Facebook mail due to its current limitations.

Because of this, using Facebook mail actually had the reverse effect one would think it would. My mail got attention from those users – some times they asked me to e-mail them personally after my initial contact, but now they knew who I was and had established a personal communication with me. Not just that but they had my picture and profile information to find out more of who I was. I now stood out in their mind, and to me, that’s valuable.

While Jason may not want to be contacted via Facebook, I suggest you try it some time to another person you need to get in touch with. I guarantee, while they may not contact you right away, they will be more likely to read and pay attention to your Facebook mail than they would a regular e-mail from you. After your first contact – sure, go ahead and send them normal e-mail!

Now, as to the issue on Cc: vs. To: that Jason mentions, Gmail takes care of that for me! Everyone is a To: in Gmail’s terms, so that’s all I have to see. Now, if Facebook could just have a Cc: and forwarding/reply system. 🙁

Susan Reynolds, Blogger, Soon to be Cancer Survivor

Posted on December 18, 2007 by jessestay

I don’t know Susan Reynolds very well, other than our occasional chats on Twitter. She found me, actually, following me for my updates on BYU Football Games. I know she is a huge Ohio State fan, and she has been very vocal on Twitter. She is also very involved in Second Life. Overall, I think she is a very impressive lady I’d love to get to know better.

On December 6, 2007, Susan Reynolds found out she had Breast Cancer. It has been amazing to read her blog, and her Tweets as she goes through this ordeal. She is a trooper, that’s for sure.

For those unaware, my Grandmother died of Breast Cancer when I was about 12. Ironically, she was born on December 5th, just a day before Susan’s diagnosis. My grandmother was diagnosed several years before her death, overcame it (sort of) several times, but in the end, it took her. She was one of the greatest ladies I knew, early to bed, early to rise (my sister’s middle name is “Dawn”, named after my Grandmother because they were born on the same day), gave birth to 12 children (and raised them well!), always walked several miles each morning even in her old age, and loved every one of her 50+ grandchildren – I still have the sweater she knit for me when I was young, something she did for all of us. She too, was a trooper, and an amazing lady. I feel an obligation to show my support for Susan because of this, and hopefully encourage and inspire others to show their support.

This Friday, Susan is going in for surgery for her Cancer. In support, Twitter followers everywhere are showing their support by including peas in their avatar graphic on Twitter (Susan started it with a (clean) picture of her icing up her bruised areas with a package of peas). You can see mine in this post. If you use Twitter, and would like to show your support, please do so by editing your avatar, and notifying me in the comments (or just add me on Twitter). I’ll make sure Susan knows you support her. Let’s keep Susan in our prayers and show some support through our Twitter avatars!

You can follow Susan’s Cancer treatments through her blog at: http://susanreynolds.blogs.com/boobsonice/