Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Collections of Songs
So, just to reiterate a little bit, when we purchase songs we can buy them one at a time (a single), in albums, or as a part of a playlist that another fan has created and shared over the Internet (or via iTunes). In the music world, a song can also be purchased as a part of a compilation, Best Of CD, or a movie soundtrack if it happened to be used in a movie. The bottom line for songs is that they are ubiquitous.
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The thing about containers for content is that the containers really are not whats important, its the content. An album isnt any good without the CD, for example. Think of the different things in life that arent any fun at all when they are empty. Pools, for example, absolutely need to have water put into them before they are usable. Or, how much fun could a child have with a sandbox thats empty?
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I was shouting into the wind than really accomplishing much. And, what about everybody else who dont follow me, or arent even on Facebook? This is why I focussed on setting up a place where all of my content will go once its done being shared on social media. While crowdsourcing is common on the Internet, it was hard at first for me to wrap my mind around this idea because Ive always thought that my job was done the moment a piece of content went live. Its important to think of content as having several life cycles. When its life on the web is over, it begins anew inside an ezine or book. I started a container for a family newsletter I call The Morgazine at https://sites.google.com/site/themorgazine/. Even before I have content assembled, I launched a new issue of The Morgazine. This might seem a little backwards, but I think it really is a reflection of how fast content changes on the Internet. My plan is that this issue of the Morgazine will be a work in progress throughout the month of May. As I think of things to write, Ill write them and post them in this site. At the end of May, Ill compile all of the articles together and publish either a magazine or an ebook. Instead of publishing my content inside the Google Site for the Morgazine, Im actually writing it with Google Docs, and then inserting the docs into separate pages. When you view an article inside the Morgazine, you are actually viewing a Google Doc that has been embedded. Not only does this make it easier to update the document, but it allows me to share it separately via different channels. Scribd.com, for example, makes it very easy to import Google documents and convert them into HTML5 publications. Google docs themselves can also be downloaded in different file formats. Im also experimenting with importing the Google Docs into Currents for distribution via their mobile app.
About Trello
Trello is a free, web-based tool which was released by Fog Creek, the company which brought us Fogbugz. With Trello you can basically set up several columns, referred to as lists, where you add and move around cards representing parts of a project or maybe ideas during a brainstorming session. Actions completed within Trello are tracked on an activity feed, plus you have a lot of granular control over your boards privacy (members only, company only, or
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public). You can also grab a short URL which allows you to easily share a card from the board with a friend or audience.
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down its content structure really is: Article headline, First paragraph of an article, and link to full article. It is basically a portal to several different content providers on the Internet. This is important to understand because the next element in my content stream is very portallike. I always ran into problems when I posted links to articles on networks like Facebook, because they never did the content justice. Either they would pull the first couple of lines and a photograph, or just the text, or just the link, and visitor to my page would sometimes only read what was displayed inside my wall instead of following the links to the full article. So, the Morgazine has a supporting site which acts as a portal for the content Im storing in Google Docs. If you go to http://projecthover.weebly.com/the-morgazine-may-2012.html, you will see a page Ive started which lists the headline of an article, a photo, and a summary for the article. After you read the summary, you click a link which takes you to the Google Sites website where I am displaying the full article. This is similar to the way that readers browse content inside Flipboard. When I write articles, I am getting in the habit of writing the text for the posts ahead of time so that Im ready when I need to reference an article on the Weebly site. Once its entered in with a photo, I can then post a link on Facebook or Google+. The reader goes from my profile to Weebly and then to the Google Site.
In Summary
The bottom line is that the methods Ive described make it very easy to distribute your content. Im hoping that distribution will be so easy that I will be able to put the effort thats needed for content creation. So, after reading this I hope that you will be able to see content differently. Start by ignoring any and all containers, then brainstorm on ways in which you can get your content out to a broader audience. Trust me, your readers are ready for it. Before you begin broadcasting your content, think about how it should evolve. Could your blog posts be collected in an ebook, for example? Build up that container, then work backwards until your content will have a clear path all of the way to the end.
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Social Media Post
The first thing I realized a year ago was that I needed to see the content as separate from its container. Once you commit to seeing things this way, it becomes as simple as separating the sand from the sandbox: ones plastic, and the other is....well, sand.
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Index Collections of Songs Containers and Sand Separating the Content from the Container Identify your distribution network Dont Wait for Readers to come to you Start with your Container Represent your content About Trello Implementing a Board for Content Flipping around Flipboard Using your Channels In Summary Social Media Post Activity Feed URL