I think this is the way to go….

Just took a long maternity leave. Now I hope to continue here.

Found a worthwhile site for Web 2.0 resources.

http://www.diosacommunications.com/highereducation.htm

Social Network Design: Examples and Best Practices

50 Ways to Get Your Site Noticed

It’s time to get back in action and develop some new innovative web projects.

Since I will be traveling to Ethiopia later this Spring and raising an Ethiopian-American child, I have great interest in environmental health in Ethiopia and making a difference there.

I was passed a nice web site that teaches chemistry in a more interesting way. You are able to click on elements within the periodic table and watch a video to learn more about that metal. See http://www.periodicvideos.com/#

It got more interesting when the University of Nottingham went to Ethiopia and helped the students make a periodic table in their language of Amharic. See the video below.

Here is additional information that shares the environmental health challenges of Ethiopia. Partnering universities are a great way to make a difference.

And this is great about how nice it is to give an Ethiopian scientist a new experience.

There is a new “Health eHome” on-line that is quite impressive.   This content was created from an educational collaboration between WebMD Editorial and Healthy Child Healthy World.

Within this eHome, people can go room to room  and learn about the various toxins around their home. Most toxins can easily be replaced with alternatives. For some, such as personal care products, it takes being a “being a label detective”.  Can you pronounce all of the ingredients? That is a start.

The engagement factor combined with the valuable information provided and enhanced with videos, makes “Health eHome“a real winner!

I came across this great article on measuring ROI of on-line buzz. Measuring Social Media

Within the document is a link to the slides of a PR News Workshop given by KDPaine & Partners, Web-based measurement firm. I thought is was a worthwhile read. Included is a link to “Measuring the ROI of social media.” .   Below is a David Letterman list from the slides that I thought was worthy of repeating.

10 signs that this is the end of the world as we know it
10. Business Week writes a story about Twitter on Twitter
9. Gatekeepers? What’s a gate keeper? Deadline? What’s a deadline?
8.A start up company got 100 great marketing ideas for free from Twitter & Two women
raised over $6000 in a day Twittering about frozen peas
7. $0-budget YouTube videos about Barack Obama were seen by 120 times the audience of
Hilary Clinton’s “largest town hall meeting in US history” that cost millions
6. IBM receives more leads, sales and exposure from a $500 podcast than it does from an
ad
5. Procter & Gamble is “co-creating” all its marketing with its customers
4. Advertisers are starting to admit that all their measures are flawed
3.Google has replaced the thesaurus, the encyclopedia, the dictionary and my short term
memory.
2.Wikipedia is nearly as accurate and just as credible as the Encyclopedia Brittannica and
a lot more people use it.
1. Measurement is easy

Rules from CEO of Go Daddy, Bob Parsons.

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
2. Never give up.
3. When you are ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
4. Accept the worst possible outcome.
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
6. Take things a day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward.
8. Be quick to decide.
9. Measure everything of significance.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
12. Never let anybody push you around.
13. Never expect life to be fair.
14. Solve your own problems.
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
16. There’s always a reason to smile.

I will admit it, I’m hooked on Facebook. And finding people that I went to kindergarten with is kind of interesting. And I love seeing pictures of my friend’s kids. And even sometimes I like what someone is thinking and doing that day.

On just a bit more of a serious note, Facebook is a powerful tool. The more people that use it, the more powerful it gets. And many more people are using it. Here is a great article that came out today called, How Facebook is taking over our lives

His ultimate goal is less poetic – and perhaps more ambitious: to turn Facebook into the planet’s standardized communication (and marketing) platform, as ubiquitous and intuitive as the telephone but far more interactive, multidimensional – and indispensable. Your Facebook ID quite simply will be your gateway to the digital world, Zuckerberg predicts. “We think that if you can build one worldwide platform where you can just type in anyone’s name, find the person you’re looking for, and communicate with them,” he told a German audience in January, “that’s a really valuable system to be building.”

I just suggested to a community group that they have a Facebook page to promote their activities and build community. It’s all about building relationships and so many groups are taking advantage of Facebook…. very effectively and successfuly.

This is a worthwhile video for all educators!

I stumbled on the web site Social Media Today.  I wanted to share an article they had on measuring social media success. This is the big challenge for me and others who rely on grants and must show the impact of incorporating social media into a project plan or program.

See – Tools and Metrics You Need to Measure and Monitor Social Media Success

Another amazing resource on this topic and other related topics are written by Beth Kanter at Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

I will find out what happens when you combine beer with bloggers in Corvallis. A group just formed and the inauguration is this Wednesday, Dec. 10th at Block 15 from 5-7 pm. Join the group on Facebook.