Tech Thursday: Finding Your Audience

Okay... back on track.

Let's talk about Twitter today.

Why should you be on twitter?

Well, it all depends on your audience. Who do you want as your audience?

This blog has some amazing infographics about the audience on twitter, but let's look at a couple of these charts:

 What do you notice?

First... there's a lot of pink... in this case, that represents females. 

That doesn't surprise me. Most of the people I follow are women. Oh, I follow some men for music information, entertainment purposes, and sports, but the majority of people I follow, respond to, mention, etc. are women. 

Second: Notice the age range... 10-20 year olds make up the biggest group followed by 21-25. Once again, females have a lead on males in those age categories.

So, if that's your audience, you should go where your audience is and join the conversation. Don't push your way into the conversation.

It's like when I go to a party. I look around and I found the group of people who I can identify with the most. Or I hope to see a friend nearby. Then I head in the direction of that group. I slide in and listen intently. And then join with my thoughts when appropriate. And suddenly, you're accepted. People respond to you. You're part of the conversation.

So... find your audience. Be there and listen intently.

Listening works both for finding your audience and also dating. Just sayin. (Of course... I'm giving myself that advice because apparently I need it...)
 

Tech Thursday: Digital Media and Teens/Kids

Sometimes, as a 20-something year old (I can still say that for another 6 months), I believe that my generation rules the world. We are the ones developing the cool social media tools. But I really think that social media explodes when the next generation gets involved. 

I have a niece who is on Instagram and she explodes my feed when she's with her friends. I love it but let's be honest, she's going to keep Instagram going, not me who uploads every few days (and if we're honest, it's mostly of food).

The following is an infographic I found about how "youth" (or teens/kids as I like to call them) are using social media:

 [source]

I love infographics. Really, if I could be a graphic designer, I would love my life. But I just don't think that way. 

The most interesting finding to me is that information skills are acquired through personal and social activities can benefit learning in the academic context. It's really important that with all of the social media teens and kids are exposed to, that they have an opportunity to interact in real life and learn important skills that are necessary for their further success.

So, while we let the kids and teens on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, let's make sure that they're also hanging out with their friends IRL (in real life).

Tech Thursday: Making It Pretty

So... maybe it's bad to start my week off having to do three blog posts. Apparently, I can't get my act together on Tuesday to do these posts. So, we're going to switch to Thursdays...

Today's topic: Making it Pretty.

I'll admit that I'm on the Internet a good portion of my day. I'm on my computer for work and every once in awhile, I surf around. I'll hit up my favorite social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. And the other place I'll go is Google Reader. It's my go-to tool for RSS feeds.

I follow a lot of blogs. Friends' blogs, but also blogs of people I've never even met. Photography blogs or people's blogs where they tell their story. I find it fascinating that we can connect on a level just through blogs. 

But I'll be honest, the first thing that I look for when I go to a new blog is the layout. Is it inviting? Or is it cluttered with sponsors and music (I loathe automatic music on blogs) and slideshows that slow down the loading time? If it takes forever for the blog to load, I'm already turned off. 

After the design has drawn me in, I look at the writing. Do I like the writing? Does it speak to me? Sometimes I'll follow a blog, only to realize a few months later that I hardly ever read that blog anymore. And so I'll unfollow. Maybe I really just liked that one post. It's hard to say. But I want to at least give it a chance. 

Here are three blogs that I follow with Google Reader:

Elle Apparell

I love the clean look, the straight lines of Leanne Barlow's blog.

It's the color of the pictures that draws your eyes in.

Plus, I'm trying to home my sewing skills, so this is a perfect blog for that.

But she's added "tutorials" to the top menu, and then pictures on the side that link to the specific tutorials. She makes it so easy to find stuff.

Story of My Life

Again, the pictures make this blog, but I think Jenni does a great job with the sponsors.

The sponsor links don't clutter the rest of the page. They're organized and my eyes are still drawn to the blog post. Plus, her writing is beautiful (and so is she).

A Little Sussy

If there was one blogger I wish I could be like, it's Nicole Hill Gerulat. 

The photos are stunning (she is a professional photographer after all) and I love how she uses the photos to say everything.

The design is super clean. Yep. I aspire to do this.

Those are just some blogs that I follow because they first drew me in with the design and then the content really solidified my need to read. 

As we're building websites and such, we need to make sure that the design is inviting (I really need to take my own advice on this), that it's easy to load, and that our content is top-notch. Make it a pretty place to stay (or ruggedly handsome... I don't know what the non-pretty term will be. It's been too long since I lived with my brothers...).

What are your favorite blogs to read/visit and why? What makes you want to "follow" a blog?

Note: This post is not a plug for these other blogs. I really do read and love them and admire their design. I didn't ask them if I could link to their blog or tell them that I was going to do this. They have no affiliation with me or my blog.