As many of us know, Twitter is a great way to publicize blog posts. With this in mind, an efficient and convenient way to help spread word about your blog posts via this medium is by installing a service called TweetMeme. This is a site which acts like a social bookmarking niche for Twitter, but instead of the voting system, sites gain popularity by the method of retweeting.

TweetMeme is completely free, and can be added to your blog posts, so that you and/or other readers of your blog can retweet the subject and URL with just one click. With this service, you can see how many retweets the specific blog post has, along with other Twitter users that have retweeted it. As you can see, I have just added the service to this blog.

To install TweetMeme on your blog, I have provided a link to a quick tutorial from the W3CGallery Blog. WordPress users can add this as a plugin to their blog via the WordPress Plugin Directory and enabling it in the Plugins section of the admin panel.

This is a viral (and addictive) way of getting your blog (and blog posts) noticed on Twitter and the blogosphere!

Happy Blogging!

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This past week, WebProNews interviewed Matt Cutts of Google on his latest project, Google Friend Connect API. Cutts had some awesome things to say about his new project:

What got my attention was when Cutts referred to a WordPress plug-in that will be integrated using this API. This would be a great feature for bloggers, because you could jump from one WordPress blog to another without having to enter your name, e-mail, URL, etc. when leaving a comment. You would automatically be signed in using your Google, Yahoo, OpenID, or AIM account.

What are your thoughts on this new API from Google?

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Hi everyone! I just found this nifty WordPress plugin while looking at my Twellow Pulse, and thought I would share it with you.

Business Directory For WordPress allows you to add a web directory to your blog in just a few, quick, and easy steps. This is a great way to promote business websites on your blog, and from an SEO standpoint, provide a backlink from your blog to a specific business.

Feel free to try this plug-in out!

Happy Blogging!

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If you have not found this feature yet, you may now be able to specify a post as “sticky” in WordPress. Sticky posts are for when you are wanting a post to remain at the top of your blog above all of your other posts.

This can be done when you are in the Add New Post section of the 2.7 admin panel. Under the Publish menu on the far right-hand side of the page, expand the Visibility area by clicking “Edit.” This will bring up options of how your post will be visible on your blog. Click on the “Stick this post to the front page” check box, then press “Ok,” and your post will automatically be set to be “stuck” at the top of your blog.

Although, WordPress 2.7 doesn’t have to have all of the sticky posting fun. A plug-in called wp-sticky can be installed for older versions, but it will work slightly different.

What is your experience with sticky posts in WP? With 2.7 or the plug-in for older versions. Have you used sticky posts in your blog?

Happy Blogging!

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If you are new to the blogging scene and looking for ways to get involved in the blogosphere without spending money on servers and domains, I have listed a a few popular services below that will get you started…

• Blogger – This is a great place for a first time blogger. Blogger provides a clean and user-friendly interface to help you start your blogging experience.
• LiveJournal – This blogging site provides a social community where you can link to groups and networks that have a presence within the livejournal realm.
• WordPress – You have seen me mention WordPress on here as a blogging platform, but they do also host free blogs on their .com website. This is a great way to get introduced into the WordPress system.

If anybody out there has any favorite free blogging services that they use, feel free to post them in our comment section. Please also leave any feedback regarding the above services.

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Earlier last month (December), the latest release of WordPress (version 2.7) became available for download. If you have downloaded it already, you have have noticed some interesting cosmetic changes to the admin panel as shown in the image below.

Below are a few insights of the new version, and would be a good read for those who have not yet made the switch:

Dashboard
The sections from previous Dashboards are still there, but now in a columnized arrangement. You may even click/drag elements around on the Dashboard to an interface that better suits you. If you do not utilize a certain element and want it turned off, you can toggle it on or off by hovering your mouse over the far-right where you will see a drop-down to select it’s visibility setting.

A new feature that you may see is “QuickPress.” This allows you to make a post if you do not require any of the additional features that are found on the “Add New” posting page. The only functions of the QuickPress element are: Title, Upload/Insert (image, video, audio, media), Content, Tags, and Publish. If you are working writing a post that you will refer back to later, you may always save it as a draft from the QuickPress element as well. This is a great feature if you’re a blogger on the go!

Add New Post
The interface for the Add New Post section will look very similar to WordPress 2.6.x. Thus, giving the user/writer continuity for the most frequented section of the WordPress admin panel, and also keeping it simple and clean.

Turbo
You will notice on the top-right-hand side of the admin panel a “Turbo” link (right next to “Log Out”). This link will prompt you if you would like to install Google Gears and integrate them with your WordPress interface. However, this not recommend if you are blogging from a publicly used computer since it copies various design elements of the WordPress themes to your computer. More on Gears for Wordpress can be found on the WordPress Blog.

Prior to performing the upgrade on a live blog, I would highly recommend creating a test site (or subfolder/domain) of your blog to test the new version’s functionality. This is extremely crucial, especially if your blog contains and utilizes various plugins as some may not fully work in this new version.

Please feel free to leave any feedback that you may have on 2.7, and how it has either improved or disproved your blog.

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The beta release for WordPress 2.7 has been released, and available for for the public since the start of this month (November).

Even though this beta release is not stable enough in IE and Opera, it is very secure within Firefox and Safari.

I have previewed some of the release feature notes on the WordPress Codex Site regarding the 2.7 beta release, and have listed some key advantages below…

• Sticky posts
• Reply to comments from admin
• Comment threading (without having to use a plugin)
• Upgrades/install over SFTP

I have provided this link if anyone is interested in trying out the new WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 release.

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Wordpress was apparently hit with a denial-of-service attack this morning. Brian Heater at AppScout (re-posted at PC Magazine) says though service has been restored, the company is still working on resolving the issues. He also got a quote from a spokesperson for Automattic (owners of Wordpress):

“I think maybe a few blogs were down for just a little while this morning, but most of them were just running a bit slower…We have three data centers. Our system is designed to lose a data center and keep running.”

I guess I was not using Wordpress this morning when it went down, but from the sounds of it, it wasn’t down for too long.

Did anyone have trouble this morning?

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Lately there seems to be a lot of efforts being made to make blogging even more social than it already is. I have written several times on sites like WebProNews and SmallBusinessNewz about some of the things different platforms like Movable Type, WordPress, and Blogger are doing to make their services more social, and why blogs are really kind of like social networks anyway.

Rather than rewrite these articles here, I will just provide you with a few links. I don’t intend for posts on this blog to just be collections of links in the future, but since I am new to the blog, maybe it will give you a little taste of where I’m coming from.

- The Social Part of Blogging

- Google’s New Blogger Features

- Movable Type: Blogs Not Social Enough

- Facebook Connect Plugin for Wordpress Glimpsed

Anyhow, I just thought the topic of blogs as social tools seemed like a good topic for me to start with here, so I thought I’d throw these at you.

As far as this blog itself, you can start expecting at least one new post usually about 5 days a week. So those who don’t subscribe to the feed, please come back frequently!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Links! Every Friday, I reward the active members of this community by featuring an interesting post from the top commentators.

If you would like to see your post featured here, just join the conversation by commenting regularly and next week you just may make the list.

• Steven Snell lists 45 photo editing tutorials for Photoshop.
• Sharon Hurley Hall reminds us that it’s never good to count your chickens before they hatch.
• Michael Martine has posted some photos and videos from SOBCon 08.
• David at DavidNordmark.com decides to change the direction and focus of his blog.
• David at FullTiltBlogging does a little bragging. Keep up the great work David!
• Eric Brantner has a few tips on selecting a domain name.

Let’s also take a look at few of my favorites posts from the old feed reader this week.

• Men with Pens wants you to discover your MonkeyBoy. One of the best posts I’ve read in a while.
• Blogtrepreneur has a resource you want to check out if your looking to add a job board to your blog.
• CommunitySpark wants you to decide who you are before you start blogging.
• MsDanielle turned 31 this week. Happy birthday!
• eXtra For Every Publisher wonders if Google is getting soft.

Have a great weekend!

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