FredMcKinnon.Com

My buddy, Joel Klampert … well, he started this conversation.  It’s one that I’ve been having “in my head” for a while.

Let’s face it.

Twitter and Facebook.  They have really changed the way we experience “community” online.

For a season, you learned what you know about me, and about what I know (which isn’t necessarily all that much) through this blog.  Now, if you follow me on Twitter (which also connects via Facebook) you get a LOT more information.

According to Google Site Analytics and Feedburner Stats …. there are more of you subscribed to and visiting this blog than ever before.  Thousands.  Can I say thanks?  Thanks.

Yet … there is less commenting and community …
I have to confess, I rarely have time to visit many of your blogs these days, but I see your tweets.  Sometimes, I click on them and read your blogs.

So … is this horse dead?  Why keep riding it?  Why keep blogging?

That’s the question I’ve asked.  Soul-searching.  Pondering.

But, I’m still doing this thing called “blogging”.  Why?

Because …

* I can’t tell you some of the stories of my kids in 140 characters or less.
* I can’t ask the questions I have about Scripture in 140 characters or less.
* I can’t share vision and invite you to be a part of in 14o characters or less.

For those who know me personally, I can’t answer the simplest question in 140 WORDS or less, much less 140 characters.  My childhood nicknames were:
Motor Mouth
Mouth of the South

So, there you have it.  292 words to explain why I can’t condense my community to 140 characters or less.

Will you help me make this blog a better community, where we can go a little deeper with one another than 140 characters allows?

Jump in.

I hear it several times a week from friends, co-workers, and others …

“You must be on Facebook all day – how do you get any work done”?

So this blog post has been “brewing” in my toolbox for a couple of months now.
(my toolbox, and what’s in it – coming soon)

Here’s the deal.  If I were on Facebook all day, I would NEVER get my work done. If I didn’t get my work done, you’d notice.

So here’s how I seemingly stay connected throughout the day (and even throughout the night, or midair during flight!) to Facebook.  (go to my Facebook Profile)

1.  Twitter
Plain and simple.  I have “Tweetdeck” on my Mac, and incredible application that allows me to view multiple twitter accounts simultaneously, including my Facebook feed.  (which I have turned off, by the way).  When I take 30 seconds to post Read more »

Today I continue my 2-part series on Twitter.  Yesterday’s post discussed my “Revised Twitter Follow Strategy“.  I talked about how the use of “Auto Follow” caused my Twitter feed to explode with irrelevant, irreverent, and spammy tweets.   Despite the fact that I could always overcome this by simply adding people to a special “group” in Tweetdeck, I still couldn’t stand seeing myself as a “follower” of all those various accounts.

As promised, today I bring you ten reasons I would stop following someone on Twitter.  These reasons Read more »

Hey Everybody,

(special request:  to all of my readers, I’m trying to determine the effects of “StumbleUpon” on readership – after reading and commenting on this post, please click the “Share” button at the bottom and give a “thumbs up” to this post on StumbleUpon.Com – or you can simply click here after reading this)

In lieu of my traditional “FreePlay Friday” or “Fitness Friday” posts – I want to take today and tomorrow to discuss some changes to the way I’m using Twitter.  I’ve been planning this post for a couple of weeks and just today, received an email from someone via my website. They said “I tried to dm you on Twitter, but you aren’t following me” ….

For those who have no interest, I hope you’ll join me back here on Sunday for “Sunday Setlists”.

My Original, Follow-All Twitter Strategy:

Several months ago I jumped aboard the strategy that many prominent bloggers promoted – the “auto-follow” or “follow everyone” strategy.  Using TweetLater.Com, I setup my @fmckinnon to follow everyone who followed me.

I started following A LOT of people – including Read more »

So here’s my “Monday Muse” question for us all today.

“FriendFeed” - do you have it?  Do you use it?

I stumbled upon this site a while back and created a profile but only started using it last week.  I was getting dozens of “____ has subscribed to your friendfeed” emails and wasn’t sure what that meant or why.

Basically, “FriendFeed” allows you to aggragate your online activity into one, continuous stream.  For me, that’s more than a stream, that’s whitewater rapids!  (and all my local buddies who see me at church and say “man, you twitter WAY too much” sound out a hearty AMEN)

Thanks to my buddy Scott who sent me these tips for getting started and using FriendFeed.  In addition, I’ve discovered that it can be quite Read more »