Just watched this video on FastCompany.tv:
Made me think a whole lot more about how I use – or better yet – fail to use a simple free Analytics systems – Google Analytics. This simple and free program gives me the ability to know a ton about who is visiting, what pages they are visiting, how long they stay, what links they click on, etc.
It’s really a great tool. I simply don’t pay enough attention to it.
I’ve been using twitter a lot more lately. I have to admit it, I’m not totally sure why. There are probably a couple of reasons. Some of the reason are good (probably). But, one reason is that I just feel like I SHOULD. As a web developer, designer, etc. I just sort of feel like I should be using it. I’m not sure I need to or am really gaining anything out of it. But, I feel the pressure to do the latest, etc. And, twitter is one of those… So, I’m using it.
In just a couple of months of using Twitter, I’ve run across 15 or so people I’m following and about the same number who are following me. I guess that’s good.
I’ve put out some requests (tell me about good books, etc.) and received back some decent input.
And, as much as I hate to admit it, one of my favorites on Twitter is Barack Obama. I love how often he (I assume his staff) updates, how they direct me back to web site, etc. He’s now like the #3 most followed person on Twitter – behind Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose (#1)). Possibly as a political statement – I can’t even find the “OFFICIAL” John McCain twitter. That has got to say something about the two campaigns.
But, perhaps the most interesting thought about Twitter was found in this link:
http://johnvoelzblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/twitter-church.html
Apparently, this church had a live Twitter feed going on during church. People contributed throughout the service. Very interesting. Not sure if it is the right technology or not, but it LOVE the thought. I love the idea that technology is about a whole lot more than just a cool web site, a new thing, etc. I love that technology can be about people. About community. About connecting people. I think that’s really the power.
Maybe Twitter is more valuable than I thought?
I really love working with WordPress. I’ve been using it for quite a while now for clients. I think it gives one of the easiest, cleanest interfaces for Content Management.
But, I’ve always thought that the admin interface was kind of boring.
Now, I’ve found a list of admin interfaces that jazz up the boring old interface quite a bit.
Here’s the link (with 9 different admin plug-ins):
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2007/12/28/9-wordpress-admin-themes/
My personal favorite is the NiceAdmin (http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/niceadmin/).
This new admin coupled with the Admin Drop Down (http://planetozh.com/blog/2008/04/admin-drop-down-menu-202/), make a great interface.
I think the admin drop down is almost a must have – it creates exactly what it says – admin drop down menus. So you have to do half as much clicking.
I just signed up for a new service that I find really, really interesting. It’s at iwantsandy.com.
Basically, it’s a personal e-mail assistant. I can e-mail things that I need to keep track of, reminders, to-do’s, etc. and Sandy will remind me of them.
It’s great for things that don’t really fit into the calendar time slots or the normal to do sort of things. For things that you want to remember, but you don’t want to fill up your calendar or to do with, I Want Sandy is the perfect solution.
I’ve just started using it – sort of testing it out.
All I do is send an e-mail to a special address set up for me. The e-mail may say something like this: “Print Flight Confirmation tomorrow”. Then Sandy will send me an e-mail reminder tomorrow – at 5:00 AM (the time I picked to send me information that does not have a time tagged to it). Or, I can e-mail “Print Flight Confirmation Tomorrow at 5:00 PM”. Sandy the will send me an e-mail reminder at 4:45 PM to remind me to print out the confirmation.
It can also do reminders via text message if that is more to your liking.
Finally, in another awesome integration – it has two more features I haven’t explored yet.
1. It can integrate with Jott.com – another service I use. This means I can use my cell phone to call in reminders, then Sandy will grab the info and e-mail it at the appropriate time. Very cool!
2. It can also provide an iCalendar feed that you can subscribe to via Apple’s iCal or Outlook.
http://iwantsandy.com
