Friday Roundup (Feb. 15/08): Five Social Media Sites to Kick Off Your Weekend

One thing I am loving right now is having the time to try out new media tools and better explore some old favourites. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Joseph Jaffee on OoVoo
Originally uploaded by ConnieC

1. Podcamp Toronto - I've been helping organize this new social media unconference coming up next weekend (February 23 & 24, 2008). It is fabulously free, and a fantastic opportunity to learn about podcasting and other social media as well as meet a diverse, interesting group of people from Ontario and beyond. I had such a fantastic experience last year as a newby, I dove head first into helping this year. Notably, check out our podcast episodes on the blog in which I am learning to podcast from Sean McGaughey. Episode 10 should be out later today.
2. Talkshoe - This is a call-in platform that allows you to record a "talk show" style podcast. I have been calling in to Greg Schwartz' weekly library show Uncontrolled Vocabulary periodically, and recently filled in as host. Since then, we have hosted two episodes of the Podcamp Toronto Podcast (#9 and #10) over on Talkshoe. The format takes getting used to, but with each attempt I am getting better at it.
   
3. Slideshare - I've had colleagues share presentation slide decks with me from this site in the past, but only woke up to how great this site is this week. You can make presentations public or private. You can share with people so they can watch on the site or download the presentations for their own use. Coolest use of all, it allows me to repost presentations to my blogs. I have had a great time exploring the presentations of other people with similar interests. People can set the copyright and Creative Commons licensing, so it is very clear whether we can re-use each others' presentations. Great site! Check out my page. I am going to have to hunt back through my computer for some past presentations for y'all.
   
4. Flickr - I've long known the virtues of posting and sharing my photos on this photo sharing site, but I have been neglecting this favourite for a while. To warm up your winter weekend (for those of you in the winter climate, that is!) here is my photo and recipe for a spicy Ground Nut (Peanut) Soup. I don't recall the origin of this recipe--probably something I cut out of the newspaper--since I just remember the basic recipe and play with it. One of my goals this year is to get photos of past vacations and conferences finally posted. Stay tuned!
5. ooVoo - I have saved the most exciting for last! Earlier this week I took part in a video chat with well-known new media marketer Joseph Jaffe and four other people. That's us in the snapshot I captured. It was part of the promotional series of chats called "myooVooday" starring some of the top names in social media and communication. Jaffe has written a good write-up, as has my fellow video chatters Sherman Hu based in Vancouver and Mitch "Studio Nashvegas" Canter in Nashville. Sherman included a brief video clip from the session, while Mitch went one better and recorded and posted the whole thing. I didn't say a lot because I wasn't sure how well my mic was working, but my fellow Podcamp Toronto organizer Eden Spodek obliged and said a lot of what I was thinking. Also on the call was entertainment management consultant Allen Mostow. What an interesting group. We mostly talked about virtual world Second Life. Anyway, we came to the conclusion that this is definitely a great tool for communicating with a group of people at a distance. A pretty good computer is needed, with video camera, microphone, and headphones. So, not accessible to everyone. But still, we are sure getting there with the technology!

Thanks so much for following me on this journey! Have a great weekend. For those in Ontario, enjoy the new Family Day holiday if you have it off!

Cheers,
Connie