Another offering is Peter J. Wacks' "The Little Airship That Could".

(From “Seven Clockwork Angels, All Dancing”)

If a clock has ticked, it must tock, and thus time moves along. And in every tick and tock, there’s a story. Sometimes more than one.

Once upon a tick and tock, there was a great Lord and Lady, who were Patrons of the Arts and Sciences. They endowed libraries and laboratories, and commissioned portraits and poems and marvelous machines that could pay chess or spin a silk thread so fine you could barely see it or build their own, even tinier machines that could make tinier machines in turn, and so on and so on, until they produced the head of a pin inhabited by seven clockwork angels, all dancing.

The Lord and Lady loved the works they commissioned, but they yearned to produce something of their own. One day it came to pass that the Lady announced to her Lord that they had collaborated very well indeed, and that she would soon produce an heir.

RAWR!

If you want an example of SEO in action, take a look at the links and the titles, since the majority of these were created by writers with an interest in SEO. Notice that most of the URLs are made of search friendly words, rather than numbers. Many of the titles take the form phrase:phrase, in order to maximize the keyword juiciness.

Contents:
General Social Media Resources
Facebook Resources
Google+ Resources
LinkedIn Resources
Pinterest Resources
StumbleUpon Resources
Twitter Resources
SEO Resources
Google Analytics Resources
Youtube Resources
Promotion Resources
General Blogging Resources
Social Networking and Blogging News Resources

GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES:

Mentioned in class:
Comparing the top five social networks: http://mashable.com/2011/08/10/social-network-comparison/
Comparing the social networks: http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
Way to shorten URLs and monitor which are being reshared: http://www.bitly.com
Way to check your name on social networks: http://namechk.com/
Way to look at your social media presence: http://www.klout.com
Social Media and Privacy: Best Practices for Maintaining Your Personal and professional Identities: http://www.nten.org/blog/2010/04/28/social-media-and-privacy-best-practices-managing-your-personal-and-professional-identities
Cartoon History of Twitter and Social Networking: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/cartoon-history-social-networking_b6160

Technical:
10 Social Media Mistakes We Bet You’re Making: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-social-media-mistakes-we-bet-youre-making-2010-9
10 Things Social media Marketers Should Know about Millennials: http://socialtimes.com/socialmedia-marketing-millenials_b31715
Best Free Social Media Tracking Tools: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/02/18/social-media-tools/
Five Myths About Pushing Social Media Marketing Content: http://socialtimes.com/five-myths-about-pushing-social-media-marketing-content_b55978
How to Actually Become Friends with Social Network Connections: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-powerful-connections-through-social-media-2011-1
How to Crack the New York Times Popularity Code: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/12/20/how-to-crack-the-new-york-times-most-emailed-list.html
What Social Network is Right For You? (2010): http://lifehacker.com/5472223/which-social-network-is-right-for-you
Winners and Losers of Social Networking: http://mashable.com/2011/04/12/social-networks-infographic

Food for Thought:
Fantabulous Lists of Social Media Case Studies: http://socialmediatoday.com/igiedrius/268023/fantabulous-lists-social-media-case-studies
Google+ discussion of Wal-mart’s use of social media data:
https://plus.google.com/109581870574956225297/posts/2KKuJAUUruo
How governments are using social media: http://mashable.com/2011/07/25/government-social-media/
Innovative Uses of Social Media: http://mashable.com/2011/04/07/innovative-pr-social-media/
On Social Media, Most People Don’t Want to Be Heard: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2030594/social-media-people-dont-heard
Six Verbs You Need to Understand for the New Web:
http://www.spinsucks.com/social-media/six-verbs-you-need-to-understand-for-the-new-web/
What Social Commerce Can Learn From Social Gaming: http://socialcommercetoday.com/what-social-commerce-can-learn-from-social-gaming/
Why Social Accountability Will Be the New Currency of the Web: http://mashable.com/2011/07/28/social-media-influence-accountability/
3 C’s of Social Networking: Consumption, Curation, Creation: http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=briansolis/233806/three-c-s-social-networking-consumption-curation-creation
5 Social Good Sites Aimed at Youth: http://mashable.com/2011/07/22/social-good-youth/
How 3 Cities Are Crowdsourcing for Revitalization: http://mashable.com/2011/07/20/crowdsourcing-city-tech/
5 Innovative Food Truck Social Media Marketing Campaigns: http://mashable.com/2011/07/21/social-media-food-trucks-marketing/
25 Terrific Social Media Infographics: http://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/266010/65-terrific-social-media-infographics

FACEBOOK RESOURCES

Mentioned in Class
Facebook News: Allfacebook.com
How to Facebook: http://www.weejeemedia.com/next/2011/01/how-to-facebook-2011/
Facebook Page Guidelines: http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php
Facebook Privacy Tools: http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/tools
What You Cannot Do On FaceBook: http://www.marketinggum.com/what-you-cannot-do-on-facebook-page-admins-read-these-rules/
(Example) Cat Rambo on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/catrambo

Technical:

Best 11 Facebook Promotion Apps: http://www.socialnomics.net/2011/03/01/11-facebook-promotion-apps/
Difference Between a Page and Profile on Facebook: http://www.socialreflections.com/difference-between-a-page-and-profile-on-facebook/
How to Avoid a Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-photo-tagging-2009-12
How to Create a Facebook Business Page in 5 Simple Steps: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5492/How-to-Create-a-Facebook-Business-Page-in-5-Simple-Steps-With-Video.aspx
How to Optimize Your Brand’s Facebook Page for Search Engines: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/04/optimize-your-brands-facebook-page-for-search-engines.php
How to Stop Facebook from Posting Recent Activity to the News Feed – http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-recent-activity-2010-01
More Americans Are on Facebook Than Have a Passport: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/22/more-americans-are-on-facebook-than-have-a-passport/
Why You Need Facebook’s Like Button on Your Site: http://www.allfacebook.com/why-you-need-facebooks-like-buttons-on-your-site-2011-03

GOOGLE+ RESOURCES

Mentioned in class:
Google+ Cheat Sheet: http://mashable.com/2011/07/12/the-google-cheat-sheet-pic/
Mashable’s Complete Guide to Google+: http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/
Google+ Privacy Settings: http://www.christianpost.com/news/google-plus-privacy-settings-how-do-i-change-them-52623/
(Example) Cat Rambo on Google+: https://plus.google.com/112476991545055404616

Useful Information:
5 Chrome Extensions for Google+: http://mashable.com/2011/07/14/google-plus-chrome-extension/
5 Ways Journalists Are Using Google+: http://mashable.com/2011/07/17/journalists-using-google-plus/
Google+ as a Professional Communications Tool: http://idratherbewriting.com/2011/07/18/google-plus-as-a-professional-communications-tool/
Google+…minus Women, Kids, and Businesses: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/google-minus-women-kids-and-businesses/
How to Integrate Google+ into Your WordPress Site: http://mashable.com/2011/07/22/wordpress-google-plus/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/google-minus-women-kids-and-businesses/
How Google+ Ends Social Networking Fatigue: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218283/Elgan_How_Google_ends_social_networking_fatigue
Is Google+ a Bigger Threat to Twitter than Facebook?: http://gigaom.com/2011/07/11/is-google-a-bigger-threat-to-twitter-than-it-is-to-facebook/
The Mounting Minuses at Google+: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249341403742390.html

Food For Thought:
Controversy over Google+’s insistence on using real names:
http://point7.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/google-the-pseudonym-banstick-and-the-netizen-cultural-schism/
Who is Using Google+ and How Often: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2095877/Who-is-Using-Google-and-How-Often-Stats
Why Google+ Kicked Out William Shatner: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/why-google-kicked-out-william-shatner/

LINKEDIN RESOURCES
10 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Business: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/10-Ways-Promote-Your-Business-21005.S.111833109
100 Ways to Use LinkedIn: http://linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin/
LinkedIn Best Strategies for Businesses: http://e-strategyblog.com/2009/05/linkedin-best-practices-for-business/#.T6SveZpYvfI
(Example) Cat Rambo on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/catrambo

PINTEREST RESOURCES

7 Dos and Donts For Pinterest: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223489
10 Creative Ways To Use Pinterest for Marketing: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/02/pinterest-marketing/
Pinterest Etiquette: http://pinterest.com/about/etiquette/
Why Does Google Think Pinterest is a “Extraordinary” Problem Solver?: http://gizmodo.com/5903581/google-pinterest-is-extraordinary
Is Pinterest the Next Facebook?: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/22/pinterest-silbermann-photo-sharing/
(Example) Cat Rambo on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/catrambo/

STUMBLEUPON RESOURCES

Background and Statistics:
StumbleUpon Drives More Than 50% of Social Media Traffic
The New Wave of Personalization and Who is Joining the Game
StumbleUpon Sent 700M Pageviews To Other Websites in December, Is Growing 20% Monthly
StumbleUpon Sponsored Stumbles vs. Google Adwords
(Example) Cat Rambo on StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/CatRambo

Technical:
4 Ways To Increase Your Traffic with StumbleUpon
8 Tips for Going Viral with StumbleUpon
An Addict’s Guide to StumbleUpon
How to Drive Website Traffic with StumbleUpon
How to Get StumbleUpon Traffic
How to Use StumbleUpon for Your Business: The Definitive Guide
The Secret to Getting Highly Targeted Traffic From StumbleUpon
Use StumbleUpon to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
Using StumbleUpon to Drive Website Traffic

TWITTER RESOURCES:

Mentioned in class:
Hashtags: http://www.hashtag.org
Backing up Tweets: http://tweetake.com/
BrandTweet Statistics: http://twitter-friends.com
Schedule updates: http://twuffer.com/
Share pictures: http://www.twitpic.com

Useful Information:
5 Reasons Why You Should Be on Twitter Even If You’re Already on Facebook: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-reasons-why-you-should-be-on-twitter-even-if-youre-already-on-facebook_b3012
5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter: http://www.copyblogger.com/go-viral-on-twitter/
5 Twitter Metrics Beyond Follower Count: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-twitter-metrics-beyond-follower-count_b4312
5 Ways to Stand Out on Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-ways-to-stand-out-on-twitter_b2504
14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users: http://hyder.me/social-media/14-tools-of-highly-effective-twitter-users/
Are Twitter Chats Part of Your Social Media Strategy?: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/twitter-chats/
Are You Extending Your Tweets? Then You’re Missing The Point: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/are-you-extending-your-tweets-then-youre-missing-the-point_b7659
Documentary about Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/a-documentary-about-twitter-staffed-by-twitter-users-and-crowdsourced-on-twitter_b8950
Happy Fifth Birthday, Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/happy-fifth-birthday-twitter-congrats-on-your-600k-new-users-who-signed-up-yesterday_b11567
How to Boost Your Google Rank with Twitter: http://oneforty.com/blog/how-to-boost-your-google-rank-with-twitter/
How to Join a Twitter Hashtag Chat: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/how-to-join-a-twitter-hashtag-chat_b1650
Radio Shack’s Twitter Campaign: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/an-anatomy-of-a-great-twitter-campaign-radio-shacks-ifihadsuperpowers-promoted-trend_b93
Secrets to Getting 50,000 Followers on Twitter: http://www.webinknow.com/2011/02/the-secret-to-getting-50000-followers-on-twitter.html
Three Tips for Writing a Killer Twitter Bio to Get Targeted Followers: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/3-tips-for-writing-a-killer-twitter-bio-to-get-targeted-followers_b133
Top 10 Twitter Tools for WordPress Blogs (2010): http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/top-10-twitter-tools-for-wordpress-blogs_b40
Tweeting Often and On Weekends is More Effective: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/03/tweeting-often-and-on-weekends.php
Tweet Volume Influencing Search Position on Google: http://www.socialreflections.com/tweet-volume-influencing-search-position-on-google/
Twitter 101: Why Use Hashtags?: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-101-why-use-hashtags_b2571
What to Do (And What Not To Do) If You Regret a Tweet: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/what-to-do-and-what-not-to-do-if-you-regret-a-tweet_b4327
What Twitter’s Good At, In Light of Google+: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/what-twitters-good-at-in-light-of-google-plus/241791/
What’s In a Name: Twitter Was Almost Called Jitter or Twitch: http://techland.time.com/2011/07/18/whats-in-a-name-twitter-was-almost-called-jitter-or-twitch/
Why Favstar.fm Should Be Part of Your Twitter Strategy: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/favstar-fm-twitter-strategy_b3848
Why Google+ Won’t “Kill” Twitter: http://techland.time.com/2011/07/13/why-google-wont-kill-twitter/
Why Some Twitter Hashtags Take Off and Others Fail:
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-some-hashtags-take-off-and-others-fail_b3003
Why You Can’t Ignore Your Twitter Background: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-you-cant-ignore-your-twitter-background_b3414
Why You Need to Create a Tweet Schedule: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-you-need-to-create-a-tweet-schedule-now_b1514

SEO RESOURCES:

Mentioned in class:
Keyword resource: www.trackur.com
Free tools for SEO analysis/marketing on your website: woorank.com, websitegrader.com
Way to see how search engines see your site:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/c/B52807846359D2EA

Technical:
Beginners Guide to SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
SEO Basics: http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics#
Search engine ranking factors: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Keyword investigation: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/building-a-monthly-seo-action-plan-whiteboard-friday
Conversion Tweaks: http://www.copyblogger.com/test-and-tweak/
Dirty Little Secrets of Search Engine Optimization: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1
Get Ahead with a Grasp of Semantic Web: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10755.asp
Google’s Cat and Mouse SEO Game: http://www.seobook.com/googles-cat-mouse-seo-game
How Google Makes Its Billions: the 20 Most Expensive AdWords Keyword Categories: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2095210/How-Google-Makes-Its-Billions-The-20-Most-Expensive-AdWords-Keyword-Categories
How Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
Intelligent Site Structure For SEO: http://yoast.com/site-structure-seo/
Keyword Discovery Tips: http://www.suite101.com/content/keyword-discovery-tips-a126098
New Google Search Algorithm Update Targets Web Spam: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2170391/New-Google-Search-Algorithm-Update-Targets-Web-Spam
Penguin Analysis: SEO ISn’t Dead But You Need To Act Smarter (And 5 Easy Ways to Do so!): http://www.micrositemasters.com/blog/penguin-analysis-seo-isnt-dead-but-you-need-to-act-smarter-and-5-easy-ways-to-do-so/
SEO Copywriting: The Five Essentials to Focus On: http://www.copyblogger.com/on-page-seo/
SEO Higher Learning: http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Algorithm-Matters/SEO-Higher-learning.html
Shoestring Budget SEO Tips For Small Businesses: http://www.seobook.com/shoestring-seo
Sitemaps XML format: http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
Tutorial: Web Information Retrieval: http://www.tcnj.edu/~mmmartin/CMSC485/Papers/Google/icde.pdf
Website Optimization: The Art of Making Websites Awesome: http://www.sofionik.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/website-optimization-the-art-of-making-websites-awesome
What Social Signals Do Google and Bing Really Count?: http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389
Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
5 Easy Ways to Boost SEO: http://socialmediatoday.com/len-ostroff/268803/five-easy-ways-boost-seo
5 Free Tools for Keyword Research: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-free-tools-for-competitor-keyword-research/28015/

GOOGLE ANALYTICS RESOURCES:
Google Analytics Lessons: http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=indexSplash&rd=1
Google Analytics Web Channel: ttp://www.youtube.com/googleanalytics
Tutorial on Determining Social Media ROI: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2075044/Google-Analytics-Tutorial-Determining-Social-Media-ROI
Google Analytics & Why You Probably Don’t Need the Rest: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/google-analytics-why-you-probably-dont-need-the-rest/
Maximizing Visitor Retention with Google Analytics: http://webtoastie.co.uk/maximising-visitor-retention-with-google-analytics/
Web Analytics Demystified: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/web-analytics-demystified/

YOUTUBE RESOURCES:
How to Embed a YouTube video in a WordPress post: http://weblogs.about.com/od/writingablog/ss/YouTubeWordpres.htm
How to Get Started Marketing on YouTube: http://mashable.com/2011/07/20/how-to-marketing-youtube/#y5Igz0vKJho
How to Market Yourself on YouTube: http://mashable.com/2011/07/20/how-to-marketing-youtube/#y5Igz0vKJho
Partnering with YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/partners
Video Creators: 7 Ways to Make Money on YouTube: http://socialtimes.com/make-money-on-youtube_b38190
(Example:) Cat Rambo on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CatRambo

PROMOTION RESOURCES:
4 Reasons To Use Contests: http://mashable.com/2011/07/21/contest-marketing/
How to Write a Press Release: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/12/12/how-to-write-a-press-release-that-gets-attention/
Getting People to Take Action: http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/content/action-presentation/
How Timothy Ferris Hit the Amazon Bestseller List: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/how-timothy-ferriss-hit-the-amazon-bestseller-list_b1944
Social Media Contest and Promotions Best Practices: http://www.convertiv.com/social-media-contest-and-promotions-best-practices/

GENERAL BLOGGING RESOURCES:

Mentioned in class:
Find Images to Use and Reuse with the Creative Commons Search (Yahoo): http://www.ysearchblog.com/2009/05/26/find-images-to-use-and-reuse-with-the-new-creative-commons-filter/
How to Use Content From Other Blogs Without Infringing on Their Copyright http://socialfresh.com/how-to-use-content-from-other-blogs-without-infringing-on-their-copyright/
How to find out who owns a domain: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post with a Bang: http://www.copyblogger.com/5-simple-ways-to-open-your-blog-post-with-a-bang/
8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers: http://www.copyblogger.com/effective-blog-habits/
8 Incredibly Simple Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content: http://www.copyblogger.com/scannable-content/
10 Amazing WordPress Plugins For Flickr: http://speckyboy.com/2008/10/14/10-amazing-wordpress-plugins-for-flickr/
21 Killer Ways to Increase Your Influence Online: http://www.marsdorian.com/2010/10/21-ways-to-increas-your-influence-online/
125 Tips For Building an Irresistible Brand: http://www.copyblogger.com/irresistible-brand/
Essential Blogging Tips: http://www.successfulblogging.com/essential-blogging-tips-from-2010/
Figuring Out Your Niche: http://www.tyroneshum.com/day-1-analyzing-the-viability-of-your-niche-2/
How I Got 6000 RSS Subscribers in 12 Months: http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-i-got-6000-rss-subscribers-in-12-months.html
How to Become a Blogging Superstar: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-become-a-blogging-superstar
How to Embed Practically Anything on Your Blog: http://mashable.com/2011/06/05/embedly-how-to/?WT.mc_id=obnetwork
How to Run a Newspaper Using WordPress and Google Docs: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/how-to-run-a-news-site-and-newspaper-using-wordpress-and-google-docs_b4781
Man’s Head Explodes in Barber’s Chair: http://www.copyblogger.com/smart-people-headlines/
Mobile Design: Websites vs. Apps: http://contentini.com/web-content-strategy-sites-vs-apps/
Start With a Question: How to Write a Blog Post that Engages Your Readers: http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-blogger-madeleine-drake-author-of.html
Starting a Blog From Scratch: One Blogger’s Tale: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/starting-a-blog-from-scratch-one-bloggers-tale_b2462
The Truth About Blog-to-Book Deals: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10830.asp
Write Epic Shit: http://thinktraffic.net/write-epic-shit
Where To Find Original, Local Stories Online: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/where-to-find-original-local-story-ideas-online_b4352

Places to Find Blogging and Social Networking News:

All Facebook – http://www.allfacebook.com/
All Twitter – http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/
Blogging Pro – http://www.bloggingpro.com/
Daily SEO Blog – http://www.seomoz.org/blog
Mashable – http://mashable.com/social-media/
Search Engine Watch – http://searchenginewatch.com/
Social Times – http://socialtimes.com/
Techcrunch – http://techcrunch.com/social/
Techmeme – http://www.techmeme.com
WordPress News – http://wordpress.org/news/
WordPress Planet -http://planet.wordpress.org/
Cat’s links – http://www.delicious.com/Catrambo/blogclass

Sometimes trying to figure out what's going on in social media feels like guesswork at best.

All Facebook
Current and breaking information about Facebook.

All Twitter
Current and breaking information about Twitter.

Electronic Privacy Information Center
Social media and privacy issues.

Google+ Developer Blog
Best source for finding out about changes and new features to Google+

Mashable.com’s Social Media Section
News blog that covers many areas of tech news, including social media.

Search Engine Watch
Search Engine Watch provides tips and information about searching the web, analysis of the search engine industry and help to site owners trying to improve their ability to be found in search engines.

Social Media Today
Social media news.

TechCrunch
Technology industry news.

Cat’s Social Media Links on Delicious
This is where I store useful links related to the class.

As we all know, the true purpose of the Internet is the collection of cat photos, and StumbleUpon is a great source of them. This is Raven, emerging from a box

I’ll be posting several pieces over the next week with information gathered for the Bellevue College blogging class, whose second session takes place this Saturday. I teach an online class for writers interested in building an online presence; the next one is July 23, 2012. We’ll be talking about social networking and social bookmarking, which are two related but different concepts. Social bookmarking sites include Delicious, Digg, and Reddit along with the largest one of them all: StumbleUpon.

What is StumbleUpon?

StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site. Users submit links to content they want to share, an act that is called “stumbling” the link. Other users can give a link a thumbs up or a thumbs down using the StumbleUpon toolbar, which a user can install when registering a StumbleUpon account. Content is tagged according to interests, and users randomly browsing content (also called “stumbling”) will see more popular content more often.

Three Reasons to Care about StumbleUpon

1. StumbleUpon can drive a significant amount of web traffic - over 50% (50.34 from August to September in 2011) of social media traffic in the US. That’s right — more than Facebook (37.4%) or Twitter (3.23%). Last year it passed the 25 billion click mark. 2.2 pages are added to StumbleUpon each month.
2. StumbleUpon pages keep gaining traffic long after that FB post has dropped off your wall and that tweet has vanished from your Twitter stream.
3. StumbleUpon is an addictive pastime, particularly for bored workers. They’re stumbling for stuff that they’re actively interested in, and I know as a writer that there’s plenty of engaged speculative fiction fans in that pool of users.
4. StumbleUpon’s paid attention to the growing number of people accessing the Internet through mobile devices, a trend that will only continue.

Basic StumbleUpon tips:
As with any social networking or bookmarking site, quality is crucial. An account that has a long-time record of interesting sites will do better than a new account with a handful of suspiciously similar links. Don’t stumble your own stuff more than occasionally (at most).

• Set up a complete profile.
• Stumble other people’s content.
• Connect with other people by following them.
• Join channels pertinent to your content.
• Include images.
• Use the service.
• Use the Stumbleupon shortlink, as Kathryn Hawkins details here.
• If you have the traffic, set up a StumbleUpon channel.

StumbleUpon Resources
Background and Statistics:
StumbleUpon Drives More Than 50% of Social Media Traffic
The New Wave of Personalization and Who is Joining the Game
StumbleUpon Sent 700M Pageviews To Other Websites in December, Is Growing 20% Monthly
StumbleUpon Sponsored Stumbles vs. Google Adwords

Practical Guides:
4 Ways To Increase Your Traffic with StumbleUpon
8 Tips for Going Viral with StumbleUpon
An Addict’s Guide to StumbleUpon
How to Drive Website Traffic with StumbleUpon
How to Get StumbleUpon Traffic
How to Use StumbleUpon for Your Business: The Definitive Guide
The Secret to Getting Highly Targeted Traffic From StumbleUpon
Use StumbleUpon to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
Using StumbleUpon to Drive Website Traffic

I’m Catrambo on StumbleUpon; feel free to follow me, I’ll happily follow people back.

Pinterest can prove strangely addictive. Can you make that addiction part of your social network branding efforts?

So what is Pinterest?
Pinterest describes itself as a virtual pinboard. You can think of it as a way to save links and organize them by image or you can think of it as a way to save and organize images. I like it because people often put together collections that are beautiful, disturbing, evocative, or worth reading.

What makes Pinterest interesting?
It’s interesting partially because it’s a new way of sorting information. Some of us think in images rather than text, and this may be more accessible for them.

It’s also interesting because it’s become identified as a woman-centric social network – or at least that’s something the media has focused on, to the point where a male friend stated definitively and somewhat defiantly, “I don’t know a single man who uses Pinterest, but every woman I know does.” (Reported figures seem to actually put women at 60-82% of the users). Women adopt new social media more readily than men, which may account for some of it, but the odd tone that some of the reporting takes on makes it a phenomenon worth taking a look at.

And it’s interesting because it’s growing FAST to the point where it’s the number 3 social network.

How can writers use Pinterest?
Well, an obvious one is a board that features their book covers. For example, Stephen Hunt’s Books Worth Reading (by me) displays 24 covers, including foreign language editions. It’s a nifty way of showing one’s output.

You might choose to create a gallery of fan art as both a way of gracefully acknowledging fans while driving recognition of the stories they illustrate.

Pinning research is an obvious thing. M.K. Hobson’s pinned reference images for her book, The Warlock’s Curse, and there’s plenty of interesting stuff to look at there.

Using it isn’t difficult, not is incorporating it into your website. There are plenty of WordPress plug-ins for Pinterest already; I use one to provide additional visual interest to my website.

Why might you want to avoid Pinterest?
Plenty of questions have arisen about Pinterest and copyright, although the company has been responsive to concerns and revised its terms of service as a result. While some avoid Pinterest for these reasons, some advocate embracing it, as Trey Ratcliff does in his essay, Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining about Copyright and Embrace Pinterest, pointing out that it drives website traffic.

It must be spring: the swallows have returned and the parking lot at QFC has drifts of fruit blossom petals, blowing across the pavement. I took this shot out at the Marymoor P-Patch garden.

But first I wanted to mention that this Sunday Louise Marley and I are doing our online First Pages workshop again. You give us the first 500 words of your novel and we will talk about what’s getting set up for the book, what you might want to watch for, what you’re promising (or not promising) your readers, world-building and how important it is in that first section, marketing, titling, advice on agents and sending the manuscript out, and a scad of other things. It’s a workshop that participants come away from feeling charged and ready and with pages of notes about things to do.

Here’s the description:

First Pages:
Co-taught with Louise Marley. Louise and I have done this workshop several times with great success – this is our online version. You give us the first page of your novel and we’ll critique and discuss it in a way that will be helpful with the overall work as well as talking about agents, and editors and how important the first page is when engaging them. More than one student has told me this was the single most useful workshop they’ve ever had. Single two-hour session.
Date: April 22, 9:30-11:30 AM PST

I’m willing to extend the $99 price up until Sunday morning 9 am PST (the class starts an hour later and all we need from you are those first 500 words.) (I will also discuss barter and sliding scale, because the more people in the class, the more successful it will be. )

The class is conducted on Google Hangouts, and you can do it in your pajamas if you like, since we’re all in the safety of our own homes. People who’ve taken it online or in-person from me can attest that it’s a great way to get started on getting your manuscript ready to send out.

This steampunk zeppelin comes from "Robur the Conquerer" by Jules Verne.

Cons and their pros:
Chance to connect with people. To make the most of this, do a little legwork beforehand and contact the people you want to make sure to connect with, try to have coffee or lunch or whatever. Sometimes people buy me lunches or drinks at cons in return for asking advice; if you plan on really pumping someone for info, this is a graceful gesture, and one I need to be better about.

Chance to build some recognition. To make the most of this – participate in panels and be a good participant who comes with some interesting things to say and has done a little thinking and/or research beforehand. Also, be good at public speaking. If you want to do this and are bad at it, it might be worth investing some time into practice. Connie Willis told me Toastmasters participation is very good for this. If you really want to make the most of panel participation, take notes to use as blog post fodder (and then remember to post them, I always think I will and manage it about 1 time out of 3.)

Chance to sell things. Have promotional material and think about how you’re going to use it. In my experience, stacks of postcards dumped on a table yield little return; it’s much better to be passing them out yourself and talking them up a little. Here again – be a good guest first and a sales rep second.

And they can be fun!

Cons and their cons:
They’re expensive! Be aware some of that may be tax deductible and if so, keep your receipts scrupulously. Ways to save at a con – get a roommate, bring a box of granola bars so you can skip the inevitably expensive hotel breakfast, learn where the sources of free food at a con usually are (con suite and green room are usually a good place to start for that, also parties).

They take time away from writing. Take a notebook with you and spend some time doing it, but also remember that con time is work-time for you, and treat yourself accordingly.

I just came back from a GoH stint at MidSouthCon. While I was there, I tried to be a good guest — I participated in everything asked of me, I spent time mingling, I was friendly and approachable for fans, and I made sure I knew what was expected of me. (Which made a great con experience even greater!)

I should have spent more time researching the dealer’s room and making sure the dealers had my books if I’d wanted to be even better about things. I did take a number of books, but mainly I swapped them or gave them away as thank yous while there.

And hey, I’m reading there tomorrow at 11, come see me! It’ll be the story from Apex, “So Glad We Had This Time Together,” which I think most of you haven’t heard. Talk to me while you’re there, and I’ll give you a coupon for $50 off an upcoming online class! (To see what’s coming up, click on “Upcoming Classes” up above.

In news about my writing classes, I’m pushing the start back a week in order to get a few more students signed up. For details, click on “Upcoming Classes” up above!

If you’ve got a favorite story that appeared online this year — yours or someone else’s — go nominate it!

(And if you’re wondering what stories of mine are eligible, they include Long Enough and Just So Long, Swallowing Ghosts, Pippa’s Smiles, Love, Resurrected, Bots d’Amor, Whose Face This Is, I Do Not Know, The Immortality Game, and Zeppelin Follies.