Thursday, May 06, 2010

Silicone Bitch: Sell Stuff, Read Stuff, Go to Stuff

News and notes about the South Florida social media and blogging scene, with a little tech thrown in for good measure. And maybe some other random events, too.


TALK SHOP ABOUT BLOGS

Ted Rubin of Open Sky was in town last month, treating a handful of bloggers to drinks at Monty's South Beach and lots of talk about how to monetize your blog with e-commerce. If you're a blogger who has become a trusted voice to your readers and are passionate about your subject, this is a monetizing strategy you might want to consider. Don't hesitate to contact Ted; he's got boundless energy and enthusiasm about this venture.

THEY DON'T JUST WRITE CODE ...

Three of our local geeks have published books lately.

Craig Agranoff, along with Herbert Tabin, came out with Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management. It's basically about how to save your ass when people say bad shit about you online.

SATB: What inspired you to write it?

Agranoff: As people become more and more social on the web, their names will eventually come under attack. This book will help you become proactive instead of reactive!

SATB: Can you briefly summarize what it's about?

Agranoff: If you know how to type in a web address, you can learn how to claim, repair, and monitor your online reputation. There is no software to buy, or computer languages to learn. This book teaches you how to get bad stuff about you off Google - and good stuff on.

Buy it here: Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management

Denise Jacobs also published a book, The CSS Detective Guide. This is more of a techie tome but as I know Ms. Jacobs, she is passionate about making things look beautiful on the web.

SATB: What inspired you to write it?

Jacobs: The book came about through delightful serendipity. I ran into my buddy Robert Hoekman, Jr. at a party at SXSWi 2009, and there, he introduced me to his editor Wendy. Wendy mentioned that she had a book that she wanted to have written about troubleshooting CSS, and I volunteered myself, based on my previous experience teaching web design/development and having developed an HTML troubleshooting guide for my students.

Ironically enough, during the time that I was teaching, many of my students suggested that I write a web development book. At the time, I couldn't imagine that I would be able to contribute anything new to what had already been written on web design and development. Looks like they knew something was in the works for me all along.

SATB: Can you briefly summarize what it's about?

Jacobs: One of the toughest challenges novice CSS developers face is when seemingly perfect code doesn’t translate into a perfectly rendered browser page—and with all the different browsers available today, this happens all too often. The CSS Detective Guide aims to help with that, by teaching real-world troubleshooting skills. You’ll learn how to track the trail of clues, analyze the evidence, and get down to the truth behind CSS mysteries. These aren’t pat solutions, but rather creative approaches and solid best practices for how to think about and apply CSS.

Buy it here: The CSS Detective Guide

UPCOMING EVENTS

Social Media Club South Florida this month is featuring Loic Lemeur, founder of Seesmic, LeWeb and overall web, tech and social media vanguard French dude, is presenting tomorrow, May 7 at the Eden Roc. We're really fortunate to have him here. Change whatever plans you have and don't miss it.

Murray Izenwasser, Senior Interactive Strategist at Biztegra, is holding a webinar on May 12th. Murray is brilliant when it comes to helping businesses with social media. This is a reasonably priced session, so take advantage of it.

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