So, in addition to giving my three rules of social media, I’ve also issued a challenge to these guys: How do the social media evangelists stop “preaching to the converted” through social media forms, and start engaging and exciting the huge population of folks who don’t even know what they’re missing? In the podcast I give my answer the question to get the conversation started.

I hope you all enjoy the podcast. And CC, Joseph, Mitch: I hope you’ll respond to the challenge!

Note: The podcast is at the bottom of the post in m4a format. I tried to get it up on iTunes but didn’t have the oompf to wrestle with it and this headcold at the same time. Enjoy! 

Things I’m working on and will be blogging about:

1. The dissertation!!!! **insert dramatic music here** Yes, it’s alive but the pings from the life support machine had begun to slow a bit. Time to inject some energy back into this baby and get it done.
2. A new book. SL for Dummies is about to come out and I’m working on another book about using Web 2.0 technologies in business and marketing. Should be fun to write. Not sure of a schedule yet. Still ironing out details.
3.  Another blog. I’ve been asked to start a new blog. It’s all on the hush hush at the moment but I’ll be sure to announce it here as soon as things are official. It’s an exciting idea that I’m looking forward to working on.
4. Lots of travel! In January alone I’m going to Akron, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. Phew! Better get those suitcases cleared out from the last trip.
5. Media Sauce island in SL. With the new book coming out I think it’s time to get our island looking ship shape. It’s private right now because we’re still kicking around ideas of how to use it. This is the problem of working with so many creative folks. We all have more ideas than time.

That about covers it for projects currently on my plate but there are so many things on low simmer that I’m sure this year will be every bit as exciting as 2007. It’s been quite the ride this year with a new job, new house, new car (known at the Intellamobile, ha!), kids starting school, books written, three international conferences and over 20 domestic, several book chapters to be published in the next few months…..phew! No wonder I’m tired! I’m very grateful for all the great stuff that happened in 2007, for all the incredible people I’m lucky enough to call friends, and for my amazing family. It’s awesome to be at the end of the year thinking about how next year can be just as awesome rather than thinking “I have to do better.”

Thanks to all of you who read this and I hope that you’re as excited about the possibilities of 2008 as I am. Let’s go kick some butt!

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Virus indicated in Bee Decline : Apparenly bad movies, not a virus or cell phones, are causing declines in bee populations

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Depression Leads to Worst Health : This band is responsible for all your health problems. Can their music be that bad?

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LaCrosse Player Seeks 30 million in settlement : Maybe it’s not money the Duke player is seeking but a campaign to fill a viking settlement with 30 million people. Those would be some crowded long houses.

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Bush and Putin Seek to Engage Asia : I just don’t have any idea how this image is even closely related to the search terms “engage asia” but it would be funny to put Bush and Putin in this pic.

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Rock Report: Not only the good die young: The study itself is quite the joke without a funny image to go along with it.

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Black Comedian Cut Short for Using N-Word: a lesson for Michael Richards. When you search “n-word” you now get his pic. This is how internet infamy gets started, folks. Be careful.

What funny key-word searches can you find?

I often coach businesses on how to blog for increased corporate transparency, better relationships with customers and business partners, and as a way to develop their vision in a larger conversation. For an individual it’s not that much different. A blog, whether for a CEO or a grad student, is a way to reach out to others to engage in dialogue. The concept of dialogue or conversation through blogging is important to me. It’s not a monologue I’m writing here. It’s not a soap box. It’s the opening volley of a conversation. “I think this. What do you think?” and then I wait eagerly for comments, rebuttals, additions etc. However, if I want those conversations then I have to keep in mind who is reading and write about things they’ll want to comment on, not just read and close. So we end up where we started, writing something that will please others rather than just expressing our own ideas. It’s not a bad place to start but it can stump you if you don’t know who is reading your blog.

Back when I was blogging on my Second Life Education Research blog I had huge traffic. It was a very niche blog with an observant, engaged audience but since I moved to Ubernoggin (a move I made because I’m not teaching this semester) I’ve struggled to reestablish a significant body of readers. I’ve watched the traffic in response to certain entries, kept up with link backs etc. to stay in the conversation, but it’s been a real experiment in practicing what I preach to other bloggers about how to build traffic and establish a steady readership.

So, after all this pontificating, I want to make a list of the ways I try to increase the number of readers who come to participate in the conversations I start here:

• Be sure your blog is registered with search engines like Technorati, google, and Pubsub so people can find you.
• Use categories in Wordpress. Be sure the category tags are descriptive, specific, and popular with your desired audience.
• Write often. The more you write, the more your page is updated and the higher your search rank. If you don’t have time to write often, write several entries at once and post date them to post later in the week.
• Use headlines that are descriptive of the content not kitch or puns.
• Let your network know you’ve written. Don’t spam your friends with your blog address but posting it as a Twitter message, a Facebook status update, or even a gmail status will let your friends know you’ve written something they might be interested in.
• Link to other blogs you like and pay attention to your trackbacks. If someone references your blog go read what they have to say and participate in the conversation on their blog.
• Include your blog address in your email signature and on all online profiles.

What would you add to this list? How do you drive traffic to your blog? How do you encourage conversation? (btw, ending with a question will encourage people to comment and engage in your conversation as well!)