Welcome to EC 593/650 Students (Winter 2013)

I'm looking forward to assisting the 2013 students of EC 593/650 with their ongoing blogging projects. Feel free to send me any questions you have through this blog or by email. If you feel comfortable sharing your questions with the group, let me know and I will post your question and its response here so that others in the class can benefit.

Happy blogging!

Andrew Clemons

andrewkclemons@gmail.com

FAQ: What is the difference between a "follower" and a "member"?

This is a great question. There is a lot of ambiguity around these terms because each major blogging or social media site uses slightly different terminology.

Generally speaking, terms like member, follower, reader, subscriber, and friend mean the same thing. These terms are used interchangeably as a label for a person who can view your content.

Blogging sites like blogger and wordpress, as well as social media sites like facebook and twitter, offer you many options for how you share your content and with whom it is shared. These settings are usually found under tabs like "account settings", "settings", "privacy", etc.

It is a good idea to periodically review such settings for the blogging and social media sites which you currently use. Sites often update and change their structure and offerings, so regularly checking who can see your content will ensure your privacy is always maintained.


Keep the questions coming! 

Common Issue: Invited people cannot comment/view my blog...

Over the last few weeks, I have received many questions from bloggers who were having issues with their invited readers not being able to access their blog or leave comments on posts. One dialogue went something like this:

"The followers I have cannot see my blog and they cannot comment.  The setting for comments is for anyone.  I don't know what to do..."

Comments

To access your comments settings, click on the "settings" tab and click on "comments". From here, you can adjust who can comment on your blog (Who Can Comment?), whether or not you want to approve comments before they appear on your blog (Comment moderation), whether or not you want to be notified via email when someone comments on your blog (Comment Notification Email), and a host of other things. Everyone's preferences are different, so take the time to make sure that your settings fit your blog's purpose. Personally, I set my blog to be as open as possible.

Members and Readers... Your Blog's Audience

Under the "settings" tab, click on "permissions" to access your readership settings. Under "Blog Authors", you can invite others to have the same access to your blog which you currently have. If, at some point, you wish to expand your current blog to include multiple authors, this is how you would do it. Under "Blog Readers", you can invite readers, set your blog to be viewable by anyone, or restrict your blog to just the authors.

I hope this helps. Remember that, whenever you have questions about your blog, you can email me or leave a comment here.

Good luck!

prezi.com - and a deal for OU students and staff

For those who are not already familiar with prezi, it is a web-based presentation tool. Its growing popularity stems from its ability to create visually interesting and non-linear presentations which can be created and shown anywhere.

If you are interested in learning prezi, follow the link below and take a look at some of the videos here. If you use your OU email when you register, you will be able to receive a student discount. The Enjoy service (normally $59 per year) will be totally free.

http://prezi.com/

General Questions

Feel free to post any questions you have as you blog. Leave a comment asking a question or respond to someone else's question and keep the discussion going!

Also, keep an eye out for future posts related to specific questions as they arise.