Umstattd Media is pleased to announce the launch of our new website intended to help authors with technology related issues. Feel to check it out and subscribe to get free tips as they come out.

Recent Tips for Authors:

1. 5 Things Visitors Don’t Wan’t From Your Author Blog
2. How to Get Your Book on Virtual Shelves
3. Authors: Piracy is Not Your Enemy
4. 5 Tips for Getting The Most Out of Twitter
5. What is a Podcast?How to Get Twitter on Your PhoneThe Best Way to Track Site Statistics
6. How to Get Your Avatar to Show Up Everywhere
7. Does Your Website Pass the Radio Test?
8. 8 Quick Search Engine Optimization Tips
9. How to Get Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status

Main Areas of Help for Authors

1. Twitter
2. Blogging
3. Facebook
4. Websites
5. Podcasting

Technorati Profile 6ee83k9xdc

Here is a list of Mount Hermon Attendees who are on Twitter. If you or someone you know who attended Mount Hermon this year is missing from this list leave a comment and I will add you. Or send a tweet to @ThomasUmstattd.

Mt. Hermon Attendees on Twitter:

• Alisandrea DelCore @Alisandrea
• Amy Sorrells @AmySorrells
• Andy Merrick @AndyMerrick
• Annie @AnnieBlogs
• Beth Thompson @BethThompson
• Benjamin Whiting  @BenWhiting
• Brandilyn Collins @BrandIlyn
• Carol Cox @CarolCoxBooks
• Cheryl Ricker @CherylRicker
  
• Corrie Phillips @CorriePhillips
• Curt Iles @CurtIles
• Connie Brzowski @ConnieBrz
• Dee Aspin @DeeAspin
• Diann Mills @DiannMills
• Ginny Yttrup @GinnyYttrup
• Holly Gerth @HolleyGerth
• Janet Grant @JanetKGrant
• Janet Collins @JanetAnnCollins
• James Scott Bell @JamesScottBell
• Judy Mikalonis @JudyMikalonis
• Katie Vorreiter @k8ev
• Karen M Barnett @KarenMBarnett
• Mary Demuth @mdemuth
• Mary Hampton @RefreshMom
• Melodee Helms @MelodeeHelms
• Mount Hermon @MH_Writers
• Mount Hermon @mounthermon
• Kim Bangs @KimBangs
• Keli Gwyn @keligwyn
  
• Jonathan Clements @jmantn
• Rusty Shelton @PhenixAndPhenix
• Thomas Umstattd @ThomasUmstattd
• Wendy Lawton @WendyLawton
• Susy Flory @SusyFlory
• Sarah Markley @SarahMarkley

Christian Publishing Tweeps You Want to Follow

• Renae Brumbaugh @RenaeBrumbaugh
• Michael Hyatt  @MichaelHyatt
• Terry Whalin @TerryWhalin
• Gail Martin @GailGMartin

Great Twitter Guides

• 12 Reasons to Start Twittering by Michael Hyatt
• Twitter Guide by Thomas Umstattd Jr.
• Twitter Tips for Authors by Book Pros
• The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter by Michael Hyatt

You may have already heard of it but Digg is a people’s newspaper. Millions of people add articles to digg and then “digg them” which is a vote of popularity for that article. Instead of an editor picking what is news you pick what is news. Its a great way to find what happening right now on the web.

What is Digg good for:

• Driving traffic to your blog, podcast or video. The digg effect is when an article makes it to the home page of digg. That site will sometimes get so much traffic that the server crashes. Making it to the homepage of digg is not easy but if you do you will get millions of hits.
• Search Engine Rankings: Google likes digg.
• Driving traffic to to blog post you like. Think of it as a ballot box in the arena of ideas.

How to Use Digg

• Go to Digg.com
• Sign up for an account.
• Look around and digg what you like.
• Some sites like ThomasUmstattd.com have digg buttons built right into the page so you can digg them right from the site.
• You can also submit a new article to digg by adding it manually.

You will notice a political twist to today’s New Media Monday. I did some media consulting for a local political candidate and I prepared a guide for him on Viral Video. He ignored my advice but I hope you will find it helpful.

Why YouTube is Important

Why did we have no good presidential candidates this year? George Allen was an attractive articulate Reagan conservative who people liked. He probably would have been the best republican presidential candidate if it had not been for YouTube and one word:  Macaca. Right now, Youtube is where conservatives go to die. I hope that will change

Conservatives aren’t the only ones who die on YouTube. Obama’s 1984 add was the begining of the end for the Clinton Dinetsty. That “anonymous” add started Hillary’s long decline from 70% democratic approval down to oblivion.

The temptation for Christians is to flee to GodTube because the content is cleaner. But the people are not at GodTube they are at YouTube. If you want to reach people you need to post your videos to YouTube.

12 Tips For Effective YouTube Videos

1. Keep it Short – The best videos are short no longer than 5 minutes best if under two. The longer the video the more it must change scenes. I have seen effective videos go as long as 8 minutes but they do this by splicing together 15-30 second clips.
2. Low Friction Transfers – Videos must be easy to share. These means embedding and email functions should be built into the video itself. YouTube does this for you. Uploading an .mov or .wmv to your website is not good enough.
3. Be Funny – Funny videos get more views and are remembered well.
4. Offer a service – How-to videos go all over the internet. Help people and they will spread the word about your video.
5. Find a strategic partner – Only political junkies knew who Mike Huckabee was before Church Norris endorsed him. Now that there is a YouTube Video with Chuck and Huck it gets tens of thousands of views a day and Mike is growing in the polls.
6. Be relevant – Videos on current events get lots of hits. On the internet current means less than 24 hours and preferably less than 12. Posting a video response to a presidential debate on YouTube for example will likely get lots of hits but only if it is posted an hour or less after the debate.
7. Pick a Interesting Thumbnail & Title – Make sure the thumbnail is interesting and high quality. There are millions of other videos on YouTube. If you want someone to watch your you must convince them that your video is more interesting than all the other videos on YouTube. Your title and thumbnail will either save you or kill you.
8. Promote Like Crazy – Don’t expect your video to just take off. If you want the video to go viral you need to infect a lot of people all at once. Otherwise the other 100k videos will drowned you out. Get your blogger friends to post your video, get it on Facebook & MySpace. Here is a site with
9. Use a Tripod – If possible use a tripod will give much better quality than handheld. This is particularly true with compressed videos like the ones on YouTube.
10. Good Audio Quality – If there is one thing that kills online videos it is poor audio. If you want a successful video, tear the microphone out of your camera and get creative. Ways of employing good audio include:
    1. Use clips off of the TV – This is considered fair use for short clips.
    2. Consider Using Only Music – Videos that use music, pictures and text can be effective. The key is to have good music, powerful pictures and well worded text.
    3. External Mic – If you want live footage use a handheld mic, shotgun or a lapel mic.
    4. Good Compression Quality – The best way to keep the quality up is to upload directly from Apple iLife 08. If you don’t use a mac for your video editing consider it. The higher the resolution the better.  Use an effective codec (like H.264) if you can’t upload directly from iLife.
11. Use Studio Lights – Video is not as important as audio but is still vital.  The key to good video is good lighting. Investing in some lights and an external mic will do more for you videos than buying that fancy new camera you’ve been eying. It’s probably cheaper too.
12. Advance an Issue not a Candidate – People don’t care about candidates. Unless your candidate used to be a professional wrestler he is boring.  Politicians all have the same haircut and wear the same red tie white shirt blue blazer.

    But, if you can offer best explanation for why the Trans Texas Corridor is bad for Texas, people passionate about the Trans Texas Corridor will forward your video all over the internet. One of Fred Thompson’s most popular videos was about federalism not Fred Thompson.

    If you champion the causes of the people, the people will champion you.Another benefit of advancing issues over candidates is that even if you loose the issues you stand for have still be advanced which can lead to victories down the road. Ros Perot lost but we did have a more balanced the budget in 1993 because of his advancement of that issue.

Helpfull Recources

• 10 YouTube Promotion Tips More YouTube Tips
  
• YouTube For Dummies Learning the Ins and outs of YouTube takes more than a blog post.
  
• How to Do Everything with YouTube Another YouTube Book
  
• Digital Video For Dummies Shooting video is important.
  
• Izzy Video Free & paid video guides for shooting better video. Best place to learn ninja camera skills.

What Do You Think?

Have you posted a video to YouTube? Share it with us in the comments.

In this issue of New Media Monday you will learn:

• What is Micro Bloging?
• What is it good for?
• How to use Twitter
• How to Follow me
• Who I Follow

continue reading "Twitter & Micro Blogging (New Media Monday)"