This is a guest post by David Murton, a professional writer and webmaster.

Image by: Lee

The long awaited week has finally arrived! *Drum roll* Let’s meet our honorable guest of the month – Chris Garrett! Chris had influenced me a lot about the importance of authority blogging. I’m proud to have him here for the first time and talk about how to become a social networking magnet. The stage is yours, Chris!

When I coach my consulting clients the conversation always comes around to networking. I would say having a strong network is vital to any business that wants to succeed online, and is certainly a vital asset for getting ahead in your career today.

We have all these tools, but still people struggle to make good connections.

People say to me “Chris, how do I reach influential people?” or “Chris, how can I get better opportunities to come my way?”, and most popular, “Why is my network not growing?”.

There is a simple answer to ALL of these challenges.

Want to know what it is?

The Simple Networking Secret

People have networking, and especially social networking, backwards!

Somehow people have gotten the idea that we should seek the benefits before putting in any value of our own. That we can take, take, take before we give.

Think of the most selfish, self-centred and greedy person you know. Do YOU find that attractive? Would you want to recommend them to others?

No?

Rather than think what your network can do for you, why should THEY have you in THEIR network?

How do you look from THEIR perspective?

See how simple it becomes when you turn the equation around? OK, so what you need to do become simplified, it doesn’t necessarily become easy.

Add Value Without Taking

When you start networking with a ‘take’ mindset you turn people off.

Instead you should be building up your value to them.

Ask how you can help. Share what you know. Introduce people without asking for anything in return.

Get known as useful and generous.

What happens is more people want to get to know you, people feel like someone they can introduce to others, and most of all you build a positive reputation.

Summary

Instead of seeking out people who can help you right now, or trying to get on the radar of influential people, work on being the most useful, approachable and well-connected person in your niche. Become known for making great contributions and introductions. Over time your reputation will spread and networking will be a matter of responding to invitations rather than hunting down prized contacts!

Chris Garrett is a blogging and internet marketing consultant. He is co-author of the famous book ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income and the founder of Authority Blogger course. Learn more about Chris Garrett and his blog here. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter @chrisgarrett and facebook too!

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Online content theft is not a new problem. We are so used to it that sometimes we chose to be ignorant of it. Can you imagine the time and effort we could spend on dealing with scrappers? Endless. Even so, does that mean it’s ‘okay’ to let it happen?

So obviously I have a good reason to blog about it again. It’s not the first time my article was scrapped by someone or autoblogs, but this time it has gone a little too far! I’ll explain why in a minute.

How Did I Found Out About the Content Theft?

Two ways, basically. Coincidentally I was running a duplicate-content-check of my post about 16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page, interesting finding:

1. Google Search


- I posted a random paragraph on Google Search and found out a site that ranks higher than mine in the results (possible more popular too):

2. Copyscape


- Copyscape is a free duplicate content detection software that helps to monitor and check for duplicate entries. I double-checked the results and they matched, of course.

More Detection Software to choose from: Detecting & Dealing with duplicate content

Now How is This Particular Case Upsetting?

It is not an autoblog and particularly ‘well-planned’. Despite the fact that I had spent the entire week working on the post, what upsets me the most is the lack of ethics from this scrapper – he sent in the stolen content as a Guest Post! This is serious, not only he jeopardizing his very own image but threatening the other site’s reputation as well! He modified the title, relocated the facebook app sequence and replaced my graphics with his. He removed all the backlinks to my site which is why I was unable to found out earlier. After all the ‘effort’ he left the sentences as they are, word for word. So, need I say more:

• No notification to re-use the content
• No link back or credit given to the original content
• Assuming the article belongs to him based on the way he responded to comments
• Getting link love and credit for his own site and service with stolen content
• Hurting another site’s reputation that published the stolen content

What to Do After Found Out about the Content Theft?

1. Inform/write to the site owner who published the content

Several ways to reach :

a. Email
b. Contact Form
c. Comment Section
d. Social Media Profiles

I wrote an email to the site owner reporting the case and requested for post removal. I had a good look at the site and the services it is using, so just in case the site admin decides to ignore me, I will know whom shall I report to.

2. Request for Opinions from Friends

I had requested opinions from fellow bloggers and friends, most of them agreed on reporting this and standing up for justice. I’m on their side 100%, and it’s a relief to see people are still valuing original content in the internet. Some suggested to request for credit instead of removal, that has to depend on how the discussion goes afterward.

Join us for the discussion at the fan page if interested, we’ll be happy to see you there too.

3. Write to Google and Inform about the Duplicate Content

a. Spam Report – Google Search Results
Request Google to remove the specific web page from appearing on the Google Search results with the keywords used. Stating your content is the original.

If you own a Webmaster account, you will receive a sent report to be followed up if needed.

b. Google AdSense DMCA Complaint Form

This is particularly useful if the site is using Google Adsense. By filling up this form Google Adsense will be notified about the suspicious act and review the troubled site whether their account should be blocked or fail to meet the requirement as a trusted site for publishers’ ads.

4. Other DMCA complaint form/methods for your reference:

Search Engines:
Yahoo: http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html
Bing: http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm

Blogging Platform: Blogger

More DMCA Contacts: Hostings, Social Media Sites, Hostings etc (some info may require updating)

What is the Situation Now?

From the Site Owner:
I received a response from them, requesting to grant a few days to sort things out. No specific date given but I hope they will look into this matter seriously and asap.

From the Scrapper:
Just out of curiosity, I ‘visited’ the scrapper’s site and after I ran a check on Google, no surprise he also scrapped from other sites for his own posts as well. Unsure if he is aware that scrapping is harmful to both his site and his service, which brought me to another major concern about:

Autoblogging: NO WAY to Build Brands & Provide Value

If you’re a new blogger, avoid automated blogging at all costs. Blogging is not a get rich scheme where you can trash other people’s work for own benefits and it will eventually hurt your site and own reputation in long term. If you cannot respect people’s work, how do you expect people to put trust in your service as well? Same as in real life, why would you steal to gain publicity at all? That’s not right and not worth to risk for it. Hesham has very good points stated in his post about Automated Blogging Plugins are no way to create a successful blog, and how it will destroy the value of internet. If you need more confirmation, kindly refer to these 6 reasons why you should avoid automated blogging tools.

Do Not Stop Caring about Content Theft

Yes, there is no way we can stop our content from being scrapped/stolen, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore this completely. Continue to report, inform your blogger buddies if you ever came across their work on other sites. If you decide to let them be, at least request for a link back with a mention to the original author. People say there is no more originality in this world wide web, but I do think it’s necessary to respect other people’s work after all. It’s about ethics, asking for permissions, respect and care about Copyright Infringement issues.

Also, always be careful with guest posts from unfamiliar senders. Check them thoroughly to avoid becoming the victim.

Now Is Your Turn…

Did you ever encounter content theft? How do you normally deal with such issues? Kindly share in your comments below.

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I’m delighted to present you an honorable guest here today – Hesham, the founder of Famous Blogger & MMOSocialNetwork to share some advises on managing busy social networking life. Without further ado, let’s roll out the red carpet:

First of all I would like to thank Ching Ya for inviting me to post on her blog today, it’s a great opportunity for me. I have titled this post close to the question she was asking and wondering about how I/we can manage our busy Social Networking life and still handling multiple projects/sites “wonderfully”!

OK, it’s a sunny day, so let me go to my backyard next to the swimming pool to get some inspiration while writing

Ok, that’s MUCH better!

How I Manage My Busy Social Networking Life

I really have lots of accounts on several social networks, I even run my own social bookmarks site at the same time, and also working on developing a new site called DesignGizer. Hopefully it will be ready by the end of the month, and in all cases I am trying to keep up with all my accounts and projects all together in one place, but this is not possible as each of my projects has a different type of back-end report system that I have to monitor separately, and at the same time each of these projects has it’s own accounts on social media sites, for example I have to create a Twitter account for each project, a Facebook Fan Page for each project, and so on.

So, talking about how I manage those several social networking accounts and projects and still can manage my person and offline life as well, I must say that there is no big secret or any hidden tools from any kind, until now I didn’t fall in love with a management tool better than HootSuite , Google Reader and my simple normal email account which keeping me updated with almost everything I want to know about!

Of course I had to used a powerful machine (laptop) to get all these working smoothly without problem and all at the same time.

My Laptop as a Tool

Maybe you know that before I became a bloggers I was working on the web-design field, and this is why I am used to powerful laptops, with big wide screens, I cannot survive with a 14” laptop anymore, so my Toshiba Qosmio laptop. I am using right now is a a very powerful one, it’s really helping me to do my work in a very easy and effective way, and also to keep up with all my social networks accounts as the big wide screen allows me to set more tabs on HootSuite to display them all together at the same time, which it’s impossible to be done with a small monitor laptop.

I remember you have commented on that post on My Life Thinking blog, that was so nice of you! I cannot deny that I was going for a Mac, but at the last moment I changed my mind because the Qosmio has 4 processors which is not available on Mac laptops yet, and to understand what I exactly do I have to mention that I never shutdown my laptop!

Actually, I am used to work on several projects at the same time since the beginning of my career, and what I mean by working on several projects at the same time is the ability to set priorities of tasks while you are opening each of your projects, so my powerful laptop allows me to open all applications I use at the same time without crashing, so let me tell you exactly what applications are running now on my laptop:

• Firefox browser with 2 open windows and 66 open tabs
• Google Chrome browser with 2 windows and 27 open tabs
• Internet Explorer browser with 5 tabs
• Notepad with 7 windows
• Open Office with 11 window
• Photoshop with 8 working projects
• Dreamweaver with 11 working pages
• Core FTP application

and some other applications that I use or I forgot to close them!

So, do you think I still need any other applications to give me extra information? I don’t know but I just have the feeling that everything is under my hands and control all the time while I am on my laptop, I can monitor all my social network pages, blogs, blog dashboards, and all other pages just by one click to the refresh all tabs button of a browser, and maybe now you got the idea and have a full picture of how I can do it without needing any extra applications, I even keep some blogs open on my browsers for days until I read interesting post before I close it, and the really beauty here is I save all my accounts passwords to the browser, and make use of the “Restore previous tabs” feature in case I have to restart my laptop for any reason.

In addition to what I mentioned above, I use some services like SocialOomph. Keeps me informed with who is retweeting me just in case if I missed something, and Tweepi is what I use to manage my Twitter accounts, and also a few Firefox add-ons like Google Wave Add-on to keep me informed with new waves I am part of. And of course I don’t want to forget that subscribing by emails to blogs RSS feeds and news letters is a very important thing because it’s easy way to get news early and ideas for my new blog posts.

My Nokia 5800 Cell Phone

By the way I am using the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone, it’s has kind of limited available applications compared to the iPhone, but like any other touch screen cellphones it’s a lot of fun to deal with, but not good as the iPhone of course but it does the work, I am using some nice applications on it like:

• Tweets60 to check my Tweets on the go
• Gmail application from Google
• Fring for Skype calls

Social Media Key of Success

The real key to success on Social Media in my opinion is to organize your networks accounts, email accounts and web-browser in folders, so there is a folder for everything and anything you can imagine on my email accounts and on the top of my FireFox browser toolbar, and it’s very important to check your emails regularly, and never leave some emails without a reply since you have opened it and read it, and what I mean by that is to check your emails more than once a day, and if you are on the road or a way from your laptop, simply connect via your cell internet service and check emails/reply to them if there is a need, and if it need some work to be done on your laptop then do it when you arrive to your small home office immediately, it’s not good to do the work “latter”, chances will not wait for latter.

Tools I Use to Manage My Projects

Talking about dealing with several projects, some of them are running, some other are under development, so it’s a little bit hard to keep myself motivated and concentrating on all projects if I am not using the old fashion way, I have tried every other possible way as a technology fan, but believe it or not, a simple paper or notebook and a pen is all what I really need!

I am sorry to disappoint you if you was waiting for me to list a great or a fancy tools and applications I am using, but I discovered that all these mind mapping software and other cellphone applications that reminds you on time that you need to do something important you set before is not working for me, I just find my self neglecting notifications all the time like if they don’t exists!

And this remind me with my manager at a company I worked for a few years back, he taught me this once, and told how to use a very simple technique to keep up with his daily/weekly tasks, and told me that he cannot work without his little piece of paper and whatever pen. I use the paper to write down main title of my projects, and I list all possible daily/weekly tasks under each title, when I finish a task I just mark it as done and forget about it, and so one, at least it’s the only way for me to see all of my projects going in one place, which is the paper!

One very important benefit of “pen and paper” way is it helps a lot on writing down ideas for new blog posts as well, or draw some charts, and basic layout of a design for example, I believe you know that Ching Ya because you are a designer, so probably you cannot live without a pen and a paper like me.

Hesham is a good friend, a hardworking blogger and designer that I’m sure you’re all familiar with his omnipresence in the blogosphere. He’s always commenting, supporting & setting up projects – I’m amazed with his ability to cope with so many things in one time! So I ‘drag’ him here to share his secrets of success regardless how busy he is. Thank you my friend! Don’t forget to follow him @famousbloggers.

This week I feel an urge to do something different. It is only first quarter of 2010 but a lot of changes going on and I have so many people to thank that I hardly get to. I’m writing this with a heart of gratitude, appreciating everyone who has blessed me with consistent support and friendship, regardless which networks we are on.

1. The Commenters

Some of you I get to know quite well, while some we just met for a couple of weeks. Many times I have inspired by your motivations and superb ideas! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you micro-blogging in the comment section, showing me a whole new perspective about a discussed topic. Here are some link loves for these talented bloggers:

Blogging
5 Tips to Increase Productivity while Blogging
5 WordPress Plugins to Add Google Buzz Button on Blogs
How to Add Your Google Reader Feeds as a Blogroll on Your Site
25 Basic Tips to Get Google Sitelinks
Imagine your Blog turning out into a Hardcopy Bestseller !
What Is The True Power Of The Blog?
How To Add A ‘Share This’ Button To Your New Blog

Social Media
10 Positive Social Media Experience Commandments
How to Edit and Delete a List on Facebook
You have done a lot of Social Media Marketing Mistakes! Now Stop Repeating those..

Plugin & Application Tips
Firefox 3.6; Now That’s What I’m Talking About!
2 Free Email Tracking Technique To Get Notified When Recipient Read Your Email
Google Pagerank Calculation
Diigo Extension for Google Chrome Browser
How To: iCal Birthday Reminders With Alarm (iCalBirthdays 2.0)
Friday Mashup: 10 Awesome Free WordPress Themes

Self Development
12 Kickass Ways to Love your Job and Life
How To Make A Quantum Leap
The “Should” Show: Give Your Shoulders A Rest
7 Steps to Overcoming Giants in Our Lives

Branding
Build Your Brand or Fold Your Tent
The Ultimate Online Brand Idea

SEO
Site Speed: An Important SEO Ranking Factor?
On-Page SEO Tips to Help Drive Organic Traffic to Your Site
How Do You Cover SEO *Per Post*?

Art & Designs
Designing For The Future
11+ Tutorial Sites For Adobe Photoshop CS4
Visualizing Psychology Canadian Edition

Breaking News
Facebook Blasts Ahead of Google Today!
Here’s Why I Unfriended Darren Rowse in Facebook

Fun & Leisure
PetLvr Guide – Pet Adoption and Rescue (free download)
Say It Quick
More Funny Typos! “Like A Bord On A Wire” — 15
Ten Questions to Ask Before Going to the Store

2. Social Voting Communities

My gratitude goes to these wonderful voting communities for their consistent support & link loves: Blogengage, Bizsugar, MMOSocialNetwork and Twitter friends/supporters who never ceased to help out whenever a new post is shared. I dedicate my thanks to P5o Allied Bloggers and Authority Blogger members for your friendship, uplifting messages that I deeply treasured; selfless recommendations I hardly deserve to receive.

3. Facebook Fan Page Supporters (a.k.a Fans)

I’m so grateful that Social @ Blogging Tracker fan page had passed the 300 mark in March. I owed my thanks to blogger friends who supported the page in the beginning and members who joined with the intention to network and learn from one another. I would love to make this fan page a mutually-beneficial community, where we get to assist one another in network visibility. Starting 1st March I have created some threads that will benefit the supporters by showcasing their newest posts & social profiles. Including Weekly Post Selection and Member of the Month which we’ll be acknowledging our active supporters for their continuous participation. We will be announcing our first Member of the Month soon so do stay tuned!

4. Last but not least… YOU!

Yes, YOU! There are some people who I carved their names in my heart, while some I didn’t get to know what their real names are! The visitors who came and left without leaving your mark, I thank you for visiting. To those who voted but never told me about your gracious act, you are an angel. Thanks to the rejections and obstacles in life, I met some good willed, compassionate people who relentlessly reminding me failure is a part of life that will only make us stronger, smarter. I constantly remind myself to never judge others based on ‘what we think’ how a good-will should be done; but when someone do, never take them for granted. Your kindness will be remembered all through my blogging career.

Thank You, my dearest blogger buddies & supporters, you are my angels. *HUGS*

Ahh.. one of those dreaded moments for the guys.

We all know the pressure here. Oh yes, we’re tricky. But you know what? A little wisdom can definitely save you off the hook. But first, you need to know your partner better- the ground rule before all tips and tricks.

How does this have anything to do with social media? Every bit of it – urgency and the consequences of a reckless response. Regardless celebrities or politicians, even us normal people are responsible for the words we blurted out in the open. You’ll be surprised a simple joke can either build you or crush you, especially when we’re networking with users from different cultural backgrounds and status.

Art Of Communicating in Social Networks

In order to interact better with people from various social networks, identify:

• Who are they – readers, followers, business partners, potential customers, random chatters ?

• What are their backgrounds ?

• Where is the boundary; When shall the line be drawn ?

• What’s the amount of ‘Trust’ built or given to both sides ?

• What are the possible conflicts that may be or had already existed? If none, will you continue to avoid it ?

• What is your personal branding in the public eye ?

Cautiousness in social networking does not forbid you to express freely, but the courtesy to think twice before responding. Our mind reacts quick to disagreements, fast to defend and attack. Self-protect instinct like this can easily blur our judgments. Ask yourself,

“Is building credibility important to me? Am I encouraging it or another way around?”

Let’s brainstorm based on some possible answer(s) for your partner below:

1. Silence : “… …”

In Social Networking:

Social networking does not tolerate silence. If you’ve spent 5-10 minutes on a post surely there’s something about it that triggers your interest. Share your thoughts in the blog comment and create continuous conversations with other commenters. Hitting that ‘close’ button is easy but not if you wish to make all your blog visits worthwhile. Do SOMETHING.

For the guys:

Silence does not always mean safety. Advisable to have the ‘response’ ready if you are not prepared with the answer. Prevention is better than cure. Appear doubtful and troubled may sell you out at that instant.

2. Diversion: “Ah, It’s late! I’ll tuck the kids in bed. KIDDSS.. !! ”

In Social Networking:

Diverting people’s attention to our network seems logical, but not always welcoming if you hard push it. If you think people shall read your work, state out why and be convincing. Never flood people’s Facebook Wall and inbox with self-promoting post links for it is rude. You can easily jeopardize the friendship and trust people have in you.

Another kind of diversion is to run away from problems. I remember there were times I had trouble with the comment form in Blogger platform. Never occurred to me in trying out other commenting systems before I finally decided to move to WordPress from Blogger. Now I only regret for not doing it sooner, same thing with DoFollow.

For the guys:

Yes, temporarily this may solve your problem but don’t grumble if the question pops up in some most unlikely moments. The earlier to deal with it the better.

.

3. Honesty: “Then mood swing it is !”

In Social Networking:

There’s nothing wrong with honesty but mind that virtue involves. It is one of those ironies that got people wondering why it sounds much better in theory but not in practical. Going through the questions again and weigh in the consequences of each possible actions. We are not talking about your family members or closed friends who have known you for years but acquaintances who just shared a few conversations with you. Take into considerations all factors and risks involved. Shall this be done in private emailing or out in the open? The impact may cost your digital footprints and branding so you need to think twice.

For the guys:

Gals dig that, Right? For some lady friends I know, this can both be a straight forward question or a tricky one. Sometimes it is not just about the honesty alone, but the way you respond to the question. For some who can accept honest feedback, a little tip: no ‘must be’ or ‘it’s KILLING me’. Don’t forget you are being honest to help her, not trashing her self-esteem.

4. Skillful: “I love you just the way you are!”

In Social Networking:

Be thoughtful. You don’t add burden to an already troubled-mind. If you’re commenting on a site which the author talks about bankruptcy out of a poor judgment, don’t say ‘Stupid! I wouldn’t do that if I were you’ but be compassionate. There’s a line between hypocrisy and skilled communication, so make sure you know where to stand.

For the guys:

So far this has been chosen as the best response according to my female friends. Safe, they say, and can be the honest truth. You can’t really change anything, can you?

How To Deal With Tricky Questions?

There’s no definite answers on how to deal with tricky questions. It’s all about the art of communicating, how you willing to give and take in different situations. Perhaps it’s not common for us to face tough questions but someday when you do,

• Understand the question thoroughly. It’s easy to ‘assume’ and misinterpret so always be SURE you know what exactly is in demand here.

• Test the water with a brief remark; or provide scenarios (if needed) to understand the motive.

• Be thoughtful. You can’t please everyone but don’t blind yourself with self-absorption.

• Try to know your readers/followers personality through their writings or on social media connections.

• Listen more.

• Consider the consequences of each action.

Now It’s Your Turn…

Have you ever encountered any tricky questions? How do you deal with it? Kindly share YOUR art of communicating in the comments below.

If you like this post, a little sharing would be nice.

There have been continuous debates on how one shall use automated messaging in their networks. Having bombarded by auto-direct messages before I was never too keen into making this part of our discussions here. However, recently I was triggered to view it differently because I’ve seen how automatic scheduling can be a blessing to some when it is used wisely in social networking. After giving this a good thought then it hits me…

It’s All About Personal Ethics

Let’s try look at it this way…

Link droppers constantly messed up our comment boards, did it stop us from commenting seriously? No, it didn’t.

Spam bots misuse Twitter to spam our streams with useless info, did we stop using Twitter then? No, we didn’t.

Some said do-follow will encourage spamming on blogs, does it mean do-follow blog directory is to be taken down? Heck no!

Seriously, if one tends to misuse the scheduling feature solely for Me!Me!Me factor, there’s much to concern about his or her network ethics. Blaming the application for the wrongdoings is far fetched. Since personal reputation is at risk here so I wouldn’t suggest you to jump into scheduling whirlpool before knowing what to expect.

Are We Encouraged to Try Automated Status Updates?

Again, we can’t control how one is running his social networks. Automated Status Updates is a feature, a CHOICE, not a must. Don’t use it if you don’t need it; but if you insist, then take responsibility and revise your purpose before doing so. Bear in mind that if you despise spammers, people will too. Knowing what to avoid and don’t get dependent on it will be a good start.

I have met several people who are using status-scheduling under special circumstances. I didn’t bias to shut them out before I get to know them better in person. They have the decency to not overuse but keep everything moderated. I agree that it helps in both productivity and online presence. It suits their purposes well and so far, no one is complaining.

So what else you need to consider before using automatic status updates?

6 Points To Ponder Before Using Automatic Status Updates

1. Moderate Your Scheduled Status Updates

More doesn’t mean better. Recurring updates are to be handled with care or it will hurt badly. Do not suffocate your followers with endless info, separate them into different time slots if must. It’s tiresome to filter our Twitter streams and live feeds, don’t make us annoyed and shut you down for good. We’re not saying you can’t promote your own stuffs, but keep them moderated at all times. Here’s a clear example by Chris Garrett just how ugly it can get in real life.

2. Don’t Put Others’ Reputations At Risk Just Because You Can’t Follow the Rules

Some people are using it in special circumstances: getting messages across about rescheduling a tweetup, alerting others to beware account impersonations, call to actions in meaningful causes etc. Just because you’re desperately to be heard, sabotaging your chance with repeating self-centered updates can alter people’s judgments for both the application and the person who uses it. Do not force the spamming marker to be placed on others simply because you can’t follow the rules.

3. Avoid Self-Promoting Link(s) in First Direct Message to New Friend or Fan

It’s the same nature why people dislike salesmen, they have only one purpose – to sell. If you’re not, why rushing to push products? Take time to engage, find out what your followers truly like. Wouldn’t that be a much better approach? Think ahead and don’t limit yourself shortsightedly. Sometimes it’s not just about the revenue, but the word of mouth, long-lasting trust and friendship that worth so much more in social networking. First impression counts, don’t ruin it.

4. Personalize and Edit Your Automatic Status Updates According to Relevancy

Sometimes  a pre-scheduled updates can be outdated or irrelevant. Make corrections and add values to them if needed. It should be as genuine as your other live tweets or news feeds. If the purpose of using online scheduler is for productivity, it shouldn’t be a problem for you are just as enthusiastic to enhance them for more retweets and bookmark-friendly. Make your updates count or no updates at all.

5. Knowing the Acceptance Limit of Your Audiences

Always, the acceptance limit of your followers or fans, not your own. Think on their behalf of how many updates are going their ways and how you shall engage with them during intervals. Many people forgetting the need to follow up and connect but depending lazily on online scheduler. People don’t want to talk or listen to a robot. My advise is, do not schedule too much updates before you  manage to get in and start conversations or reply to a feedback. A stream without engagement is monotonous. That’s the last thing you need in social networking.

6. Personality and Sincerity of Wanting to Connect Should Be Well Delivered

Forget about affiliate links, ‘visit me’ blog links, help-me-to-help-you type of messages. These will turn people off before they get to know you, which is a pity. It’s not too late to change, try apply a mixture of scheduling of post-sharing for blogger friends, collecting data from poll questions dedicated to people from different timezones, offering freebies or job positions that will end someone’s misery. It doesn’t sound all that bad now, does it? Good things do happen if you know when to use automatic status updates, and when to stop.

Special Tip:

You can even add a special hashtag as in offline or a short message indicating you’re currently unavailable for chatting. Making it clear that it’s a good information you think worth a look, even you’re not there in person. In that case, no misunderstandings will put you in a difficult position but people will aware of your absence. Promise to feedback to them when you get online and keep your word. I have yet seen this been done anywhere but thought could be a considerable thing to do.

Now It’s Your Turn…

What advises do you think people need to hear before using automatic status updates? Kindly share your experience and constructive suggestions (no hate messages) in the comments below. We’re in this together to make our network a better and reliable place to be in, encourage correct mindsets and reduce unwanted noise with social media applications.

A review is coming up so stay tuned for next posting.

It has been several days now since I’m out of internet service at home. The area seems to go static with no connection whatsoever while some areas in town are not affected. As a fulltime blogger I find that a little devastating to start my new week. Negative thoughts crept in but I knew my foremost task is to eliminate them for good — by being practical!

Yaro said it, nothing goes right all the time. Funny how pressure can lead you into believing everything is doomed, but it’s not. Just several hours ago I did 7 productive things that put me in an uplifting mood. Here are some friendly references to some of you who are unable to sit quietly through the crisis:

1. Accept Reality and Fine Tune Your Mindset

You are probably worrying over all the pending tasks and the eagerness to get in touch with your contacts online. “Time is money, chances may pass you by; somebody is waiting for your reply at this very instant!” I’ll say these negative thoughts will eat you up alive before you know it! Those words were in my head on the very first day. We have deadline, urge, that’s true. However, never ever push yourself over the edge before dealing with it. There ARE always plans installed for you no matter how tough the challenge may seem. ADSL not working? Use dial up if you must. Phone someone or go to a cyber cafe or hotel lobby that has the connection. If not, then.. read along.

2. Brainstorm Ideas for Future Posts

Let me introduce you to my Blogger First Aid Folder – the inspirational articles I stored over the months from self-development to blogging tips and handy references. As I was having the disconnection crisis, I ran through the First Aid folder and came out with at least 10 new topics that I like to cover for the next few months. Bloggers are thinkers, don’t say you can’t think of anything because you CAN. Kindly refer to the topic of this post.

3. Transform Your Rants into Helpful Solutions

One of the best inspirational moments is to live through challenging circumstances while discovering solutions to the problem. As myself at this very state of mind, I know exactly how people with similar experience would feel. Of course, they won’t be googling about this right now but it’ll help before it drives you up the wall when occurred. Who says ranting cannot be a post? Sure it can but do remember the ‘WIIFM’ (What’s In It For Me) factor. It applies in all types of writings, especially when the blog isn’t all about your personal stories.

4. Write Off Topic Articles to Other Directories

It’s not easy to get my attention off the screen. Sometimes I still like to make up to the time I lost in writing, even if I did all I can, drafted what can possibly be done offline for my social media posts. Whenever I feel like that, I continue to write but off topic articles to other directories or local newspapers instead. For the latter, they have a column for readers where we get to write in and share our thoughts in various topics. I like to do that as an interest and it gives me satisfaction when I get to use my time for a similar activity yet different prospect! Movies? Music? Life stories? Anything I feel like writing. The more expressive I become the more energy I accumulate to deal with negativity.

5. Clean Up & Check Your OS, Backups

I’m keen in making folders. They are easily misplaced and I can find duplicates in different drives sometimes! Those are not intentioned but they really cramped up my memories. I do month-end backups but why can’t I do it now? Ended up clearing 5GB of free spaces, transferring unneccesary files off my working PC. Doubled my backup discs just in case. Feels good when all the tiresome yet important tasks are off my mind.

6. Working on OFFLINE Pending Tasks

Don’t have any? Good for you.

Sadly for me it’s easy to leave offline work piled up unintentionally when you’re working more than 10 hours a day. I went through my closet and tidied up the wardrobe, gave my toilet a cleanup which I was thinking of doing a week ago, sent out greeting cards for the coming Chinese New Year occasion in February. It put me at ease knowing I won’t have to be nagged about those things again. *YAY!*

7. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

I know you’re not in the mood for exercise now, but you got to get your negative energy out somewhere! ‘Swearing’ won’t make you healthier or slimmer but ‘Sweating’ will. I got on my bike and paddled for about 20 minutes and it felt good! I know my muscle is going to ache the next day but I’m cool with that.



So Now It Comes to This…
Here I am, sipping my coffee while preparing to give this post a happy ending (at internet covered town area). Maybe it’s another life lesson to break through pressure. Jim seems to be handling that very well even surrounded by cops! I could use some rhumba right now. LOL !

I believe once in a while we all need a little inspiring input. If none of the above helps, maybe these 50 Simple Ways To Stay Productive will. Do share with us how did you overcome downturns and pressuring moments when you can’t blog? We could all use some ideas from one another.

I’m currently on day-21 of my family vacation in Penang Island. It’s the longest leave I’ve ever taken in a year. Despite of a blue screen laptop that failed on me few weeks back, I’m thankful at least I can use my nephew’s PC to declare:  I’m very much alive and never been kidnapped by aliens, thank you.

Social networking is pretty much on-going here alright. Sometimes it’s even more challenging when you’re around with family members who you only meet once every 2-3 years. Nevertheless, this trip is of a great value. I won’t have a better place to share it if not here with you guys whom I missed dearly.

8 Lessons to Boost Up Blogging Experience

1. Don’t Give Yourself Reasons to Feel Old & Sloppy

Keep Young At Heart - I like to remind myself that whenever I feel I’m too old for something new. Stop blaming ‘age’ for the things you cannot do or we won’t have much fun growing older. Put that aside and think about how much you’ll celebrate if you manage to overcome age barriers – confidence, knowledge, connections and energy. The more we tried, the more we realized where our ability stands.

Negative mindset is all you need to stop miracles from happening. Let your writing be filled with excitement! Use words and pictures to capture readers’ interests! Remember, aging will only make you wiser, never a loser in blogging.

Root of Inspiration:

Kids! I’m surrounded by my nephews and niece (aged 3, 5, 6 & 8 ) who are constantly energetic and curious about EVERYTHING! Learning is the best way to stay young and ahead of the curve.

2. Life is About Taking Chances, So Is Blogging

Life can open doors when one is willing to take chances. I quit my job to pursue my dream when people are looking for one; I submitted my work to bigger names when low self-esteem had crept all over me; I tried my hands on social media when people are less likely to believe their potentials. All doubts replaced by new theories one by one. I learned if I don’t take chances and overcome my fear, I’ll never discover my full potentials. I would probably still working in a cubicle, sighing and waiting for the day to end!

Root of Inspiration:

In Amazing Race, competition can make people overcome their fear in an instant, because they have a higher goal to reach. We worried because we presumed the worst we can reap from an action. Of course I don’t mean putting yourself in danger but with thorough understanding of your own ability, you’ll know when it’s the time to go full force for one thing. The picture is just an indication. While you admiring my courage, the snake-tamer actually stood beside me after handing me the tail.

3. I Deserve to Spoil Myself Once in a While

When I work, I work hard; when I play, I play hard. That’s the rule. All work and no play I’ll soon bored you and me to death. I’ll have nothing useful to share. Words will be meaningless for life is boring! That’s the last thing you need in blogging! Give yourself a treat for doing a good job. Vacation is the time of the year I let myself go with a reasonable manner. Before this I usually have a financial plan to make sure I won’t go overboard and drown myself in debts. If I want to play or spend, I’ll make sure I can afford it. Having fun should be rewarding, not to trouble us afterward.

Root of Inspiration:

I eat and I shop. I bought new clothes to replace old ones at home, which I’ve sold online or donated. Year End Sales with discounts up to 50 – 70% always a charmer. Be a smart consumer. Don’t get ripped off while you’re at it. Bottom line, have fun and enjoy life the way you want it.

4. Capture and Utilize Inspirations Wisely

An artist will appreciate inspiration more than normal people. They will value and inject it to their work before it vanishes. I’m no where near an artist but I figure if I’m able to capture it in words or pictures, I’ll know how to present myself in the next post. Inspirations are important for bloggers to be expressive. We need a lot of input to make things happen. During vacation, everything is fresh with new surroundings; people are handling matters differently which may enlighten us how we run our lives. I tend to bring this back with me in blogging and everything I do at home.

Root of Inspirations:

I was greatly inspired by my brother who is an amateurish photographer. He has a keen eye for the surrounding. Look what he painted on his wall, the photo frames will be fully up on the coconut tree in less than 6 months, I’m sure.

Opportunity might occur once in a lifetime, grab it while you still can. The hibiscus in the garden only blossom for a day before they died the next. If I didn’t capture that moment, nobody would have known they existed.

5. Appreciate & Treat Your Work as a Legacy

Today will be remembered for many years to come by your descendants, if you left them a legacy. People may shrug or yawn when they enter a museum or art gallery, but we are made from those history. Without the past, we won’t enjoy the luxurious lifestyle; without the inventions, we have no ways to communicate or work from home. Culture made us who we are today and we are still living it, renewing its definition every time with improvements and discoveries. I’m living to create my page of history today. I’m looking forward to telling my grandchildren how their grandma live through the adventure daily.

Root of Inspirations:

I came across this old light house that I never knew existed at Fort Cornwallis. It was built in 1882 and 21 meters in height (renovated a couple of times in early 1900). The view up there was wonderful! I climbed to the top, admiring the view. Imagining what it would be like to have its light beaming at night, guarding the ships to reach the shore. And the wall carving from Kek Lok Si, looks magnificent isn’t it?

6. Embrace Your Childhood for Innocence & Excitements

Think about the good qualities a kid possesses: innocence, pure intention, cheerful! I love how they come around and try to solve a puzzle by themselves. We were once a kid and loving it! We knew how to have fun. We appreciated things easily and forgot why we just cried. We enjoyed simplicity and contentment. I like to keep a bit of childlike in me — not to be naive but fast to ditch the sadness and anger; ready to go out and start a journey all over again.

Root of Inspirations:

For a net-goer like myself, living with kids is hard to adapt at first. Tasted all the bitter sweet of having kids around but it’s always wonderful to put us in somebody’s childhood.

See how happy I was at the Toy Museum? I was totally a big child there!

7. Be An Initiator in Your Social Network

We are in need to communicate daily. Whenever I’m on a social media site, I look forward to the engaging conversations. That’s how I like to treat blog commenting as well. I may not be the best writer or grammatically impressive, but I will try to express my thoughts in words that people can understand. To reach out first has earned me friendships and learning opportunities. Never be afraid to make mistakes for it’s a chance to be better.

Root of Inspirations:

When I was riding the Singapore Flyer, my husband and I were greeted by this friendly couple from England, Mr and Mrs Potter. Mr Potter was kind enough to offer us a hand in photo taking. Later we had a nice 10 minutes conversation before we landed. It was a pleasant experience! On my way back to Penang Island, I sat beside a couple from South Carolina, US. We talked briefly and wish each other happy holidays before getting off the plane. It’s fantastic when we get to practice what we preach online about social networking.

Last and most importantly,

8. Treat Bad Experience a Learning Point

Perfection is ideal, but how many of us can reach there? We made bad decisions and failed, but who doesn’t? Ask any people who succeed, almost 90% will tell you it’s more than just luck. Failure is discouraging but one can still claim the victory if he’s not been struck down by it. My work had been rejected before. Disappointment is inevitable but you need to get out from the mourning asap. Don’t forget another door opens when one closes. You just earned a second chance to try and be better! How good is that!

Root of Inspirations:

I hurt my back a week ago, painful and hard to sit straight. My laptop left me a blue note and currently on strike for overworked.  Fine! I’m not gonna grumble.  I’ll ease my pain and rest more instead. Spend more time bonding with the kids. Took this pic while Javon was attempting to bake a Strawberry cake. Yum!

Hope this post can turn on your holiday mode! It’s a time to rejoice and be glad. Get ready to wrap up 2009 before starting fresh in 2010!

Now Is Your Turn…

Did you learn something from your vacation as well? Have it told in a post or share with us in your comment below. If you didn’t go anywhere this year, do update us with your work so far. What does your year-end-review tell you?

In the mean time, how about a little love-sharing on social bookmarking sites?

I Can Still Remember Clearly…

It was a scorching hot afternoon, my husband and I were driving our way home from a nearby town. The approximate road distance was about 200 km.  Since we weren’t in a hurry, my husband had been maintaining the speed well around 90km/hour.

The two-way traffic was less busier than usual with occasional palm oil trucks passing by. After the winding roads, we turned into a long straight one. Coming from the opposite direction was a taxi, followed closely by a four wheel drive – both with a considerable speed. As we getting closer, suddenly the four wheel drive sped up and drove in our lane! The guy was crazy enough to try overtake the taxi with just 150m distance away from us! My husband honked hard and repeatedly to alert the car with me gripping the car handle tightly. The taxi quickly slowed down to give way. The big car was still half in our lane when my husband hit the break and steered into the side road immediately with limited space. I could feel my heart racing like mad when the reckless driver drove past us in minor distance! Close call!

This wasn’t the first time we had a near death experience. A land cruiser rammed into us last year and I still freaked out when thought about it.  Not a day goes by when we don’t feel grateful about being alive.

Treasure Your Life: Even The Smallest Thing Counts

There are many times in life I grumbled ‘how unfair life has been! Why can’t I have what others are having?’ It took me a long while to appreciate how fortunate I am to live my very own life. You don’t always need a big incident to tell you how blessed to be just YOU. Life is not a bed of roses, but it’s not all thorns either. Comparing ourselves to those unfortunate ones who have no love, no food, no education, no home,  no peace…  how one has the heart to complaint? Why can’t  we see our glasses being half full instead of half empty? Envy, greed, selfishness and other negative thoughts enough to confine us in a grumpy mood, what more an unsatisfactory life?

Recently I had an inspirational read of Regina’s 50 Timeless Life Lessons in which I learned a great deal about contentment. How I should be grateful about being enough, treasure my family more and people I met along the way. Life is too short for grumbles. If we can all learn to be appreciative for the smallest things in life, our perspective about ‘not having enough’ can be changed tremendously.

Ways To Spend Thanksgiving Differently On Social Media

For those who are reading this, you are owning a powerful asset  – social media to spread this wonderful spirit among your network. It’s a moment to really think about Giving instead of Receiving all the time:

• Post about Awareness Months & Thanksgiving ideas to create awareness among others.
• Promote meaningful and inspirational posts via social media bookmarking sites.
• Make an effort to comment as a way to support writer’s effort and hard work.
• Promote users on Facebook by sharing selective tweets when necessary. I acknowledge my Facebook fan by Weekly Selected Posts or occasional tweet about their latest posts in my Facebook Page and Twitter.
• Join Tweetsgiving today and share your story within your network. It’s an annual occasion with wonderful events you can take part in.
• Other References: Top 5 To-Do’s for the Gratitude Season.

It’s time to give back. If not financially, a prayer, a post or a shout out in social media can make a huge difference in people’s lives. We spent too much time worrying about personal matters; our eyes are constantly upon ourselves that we forgot the compassion we should have for others in need. Let’s try to be observant and caring, share the message about love and gratitude today. One Small Step for Us, a Big Step in Humanity.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit the TweetsGiving site to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

Have you ever been confined in your own limitations?

Are there obstacles stopping you from reaching your blogging goals?

Ever thought about quitting?

Some negative thoughts, you would say. In fact, they may hide somewhere inside your mind, waiting to strike once you hit the blogging downturns.

We all have ups and downs in life. No one ought to judge another as each has his/her imperfections when dealing with real life matters. I had visited a few blogger friends recently who are in the process of picking up their paces in blogging; or holding their online passions temporarily due to other matters.. That’s perfectly understandable. I have nothing but respect for their courage and perseverance in continuing what they believe in — “It’s tough but I’ll survive.”

Life is not a bed of roses, what really matters is how you able to withstand the challenges and pick up from what you left off. As a blogger friend of mine, David Doolin said it – beat the blogging blues!

How To Pick Up From Your Blogging Downturns?

1. Prepare Your Mindset

- Believe it as our minds control our acts. We are easily influenced by things we see, hear and feel. Before  you’re getting into negativeness, correct your mindset asap! Don’t let discouragements overrun you. Avoid vulnerability and get warmed up, set your mode to READY- SET- GO!.

2. Restructure Your Site & Blogging Goals

- Treat this an opportunity to rebuild your site with energy. List out steps required for modifications: change your theme, make your blog do-follow, give your presentation a breath of fresh air. Always a good idea to use mind mapping strategy if you’re unclear of your present goals.

3. Reconnect with Readers/Blogger Friends

- Relationships are hard to build, remember those who diligently send you regards and wondering how’ve you been? Reach out to your readers through emails and visit their sites, explaining your comeback and how much you appreciate them sticking around your site while you’re gone. Asking for opinions on what they expect to see in your site’s revival. Spend time doing blog/social networking. To me, that’s just as essential as getting a killer blog post ready.

4. Release your come-back-post with a BANG!

- As any comeback, first post is EXTREMELY important! You may need to explain your hiatus or disappearance but needless to go far with it. Why drain yourself more into negativity? Set it aside and go towards positivity. Either reward your readers with some giveaways, announce new blog plans and what to expect in coming posts etc — but make sure you’re really on to that. Don’t give false promises.

5. Get the Ball Rolling with Momentum

- You may need to do a little bit more to capture the attentions. I would suggest to either increase your posting frequency or give them the killer posts that you used to do! Provide visitors reasons to come back and support you. Remember, continue to build quality networks. A blog is useless without audiences. Return favors and be insightful in your commenting, you’re representing the NEW you and your blog. Don’t underestimate the power of such exposures.

6. Not Being The Forgotten

- Do you used to be active in forums? May be a good time to return and help out in answering some threads. Active in social media sites? Then get right on to it! Listen more to follow up the trends in your niche. Do not get yourself buried. You can even get in touch with your blogger friends and see if they’re willing to help out in a mention for your post in Twitter etc. I believe it’s not too much to ask, don’t get too ‘egoistic’ to ask for a tiny favor. Ever heard of a friend in need is a friend indeed? Time to find out.

7. Patience. And Never Ever GIVE UP!

- To have everything under control you need to first keep away the loser thoughts of ‘I CAN’T!’ as far as possible! It’s normal to get discouraged or horrified with so many ‘extra’ things you need to cover to make a come-back, or when you’re not getting the results you hoped for. However, I can assure you every effort counts! Remember how you started blogging? It didn’t take just a week to get PR 6 right? The condition now is way much better – you have connections, you exist in search engines! With experience and new determinations, you can still go a long way.

An Inspirational Clip That Moves Me

I was deeply moved by the clip below. Came across it while searching for ‘Motivational Video’ in conjunction with my husband’s birthday. I never watched the movie before, but this is truly a valuable find. I dedicate this to all my beloved readers and blogger friends — never underestimate your ability to do something bigger. Throw away the negativity and push to the limit if you have to. Do your best and live with no regrets.

It’s Your Turn…

I would love to hear you ideas on how you pick up from your blogging downturns. If you never experienced one, kindly suggest some relevant ideas on how to deal with the problem in the comments below. You just may help someone who needs them. ^^