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A recent conversation with a client set me thinking.  They wanted accounts set up at various social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc and have everything automated (rss feed from blogs, automatic responses, etc) so that they could literally ‘set and forget’ the tools. This isn’t the first client who has requested this – I’ve had others ask for it too, thinking that engaging a Virtual Assistant to set things up for them and do occasional maintenance was all that is needed.  I don’t agree.

It made me realise that they didn’t understand the reason why these tools exist.  They’re not for automatic promotion of business services and products to generate quick sales, but rather to facilitate networking, relationship building and over time, may generate business. In fact I know they do because I’ve seen it happen for me and know others personally who have had that experience too.

In this day and age of instant gratification and quick responses, people tend to forget that some things need to have a seed planted, nurtured, watered and carefully grown over time.  And networking is one of those things, irrespective of what vehicle or tool is used. What do you think?

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Networking, Social Networks, Twitter, Yahoogroups by Kathie Thomas
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I’m looking for questions that ‘newbies’ would ask about blogging. Things like what is it, how do you do it, how does it work, why?, etc.

If you haven’t yet entered the blogosphere, or are relatively new to it and looking to learn more, what are the things you would like to know?

Or, if you’ve been blogging for awhile but there are things you still can’t work out or always wondered about.

Please either leave your questions here or if you feel a little embarrassed about asking, feel free to send a message to me direct. Your questions will assist in a presentation I’m doing next month – having been a blogger for a few years now there will be things I take for granted that others do not know.

Thank you in advance.

Tags: About Blogging by Kathie Thomas
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We often read about how someone starts out with a hobby and because they do that thing so well, others ask for help or assistance in that area and before they know it, that person suddenly has a business developing they hadn’t planned on.

In some respects that has happened to me.  I’ve adopted and explored things that clients asked me about in my Virtual Assistant business, and then became so absorbed by those things that they became activities outside of my business (such as blogging and social networking) and eventually they became new arms to my business and services I could provide for others because I had honed the skills needed.

My latest passion is photography.  Actually it’s been a passion for most of my life, since my early teens. I was always snapping pics of anything and everything.  As my own family grew up I recorded their lives and events which we have in albums or on the computer and stored away.  My husband tells me that if it hadn’t been for me, we wouldn’t have many family photos and that is most likely true.  But I’d never taken it much further than that.

Last January I shared how my husband gave me a new camera for Christmas and I was sharing some of those pics on my photoblog at that time. Well, I’ve taken it much further now and joined a couple of forums online (best way to learn is to mix and mingle with others who have the same interests) and also joined a local photographic society.  I’ve also signed up for a course and a photographic expedition coming up very soon.

My photoblog (pictured below) has now got a brand new look and is hosted on my server, with new pics being loaded on a daily basis.  I’m even entertaining thoughts of taking this passion much further and exploring possibilities as my knowledge increases and my photos improve.  Last weekend I was at a mountain bike race in Mt Beauty and took over 700 photos!  I won’t be publishing all of those online but you can see some here.

Tags: Author's Thoughts, photography by Kathie Thomas
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Seems a lot of new words being created these days, all thanks to Twitter.  If you still don’t know or understand what it is about, perhaps this Twittervideo will help explain about Twitterverse, or was that the Twittersphere?  All tongue in cheek of course!  Thanks to Alex who brought this to my attention. Enjoy!

Tags: Social Networks, Twitter by Kathie Thomas
4 Comments »