VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Bruce · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:12 pm Post subject: 2008 kinds of questions

Blogs, blogs everywhere. I certainly admire all of you who maintain active blogs*, but how on Earth are we supposed to read all of them, or even any large number of them? It would take forever to pay attention to the blogs that might interest me as well as cruise all of the Social/Networking sites that might be appropriate. I mean, a person could spend their entire day doing no work and just "communing" in the Internets*.

Speaking more on Social/Networking sites, what do you do when someone wants to be your "friend" but you have no idea who they are? I could see being a networking "friend" with almost everyone I've had dealings with on this board, but what do I do when, let's say, a voice talent I don't know wants me to be their "friend" on a networking site? Do we get extra Brownie points for every "friend" we accumulate? Is their a prize for having the most? Am I a bad person if I don't accept their invitation?

I'm in a small quandary over these modern social concerns.

Thank you for your help, dudes.

B

*1 I'll probably start one myself one of these days...I've got to start a new political party of, by, and for the people, damn it.

*2 Some people think Bush is not with-it because he calls it the "Internets", but I think he's right. I've seen URL's with WWW, WW2, WW4....they're out there, multiplying!
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

louzucaro · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject:

Accept ALL friend requests. Especially from strippers, porn personalities and people wanting to sell you stuff or send you to websites that will steal your banking passwords.

That's how I do it!
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject:

Blogs. Do yourself a favor and get an RSS reader. It comes as a standard part of IE7 and Firefox, I believe. You can also use Google Reader if you want it portable.

Every blog has an RSS feed as do all of the major news sites. Simply hit the subscribe button on your reader and when someone posts a new blog post, the headline and body will be pushed to you. The item will appear as bold in your list of feeds. Click on it to read it, all in the comfort of a single application.

The idea of surfing around for new blog posts is a huge waste of time when you can have them delivered to you.

My RSS reader has 1322 different feeds.

I'm happy to walk you through setting one up, Bruce.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

todd ellis · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject:

jeff - how many of those 1300-odd sites do you regularly visit?
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:51 pm Post subject:

That's the point, Todd. I don't visit them. The new posts, headlines, etc come to me.

Every morning, there are about 300 new posts to the various sites (including Garfield minus Garifield). I use Google Reader which puts them all on one page, so I can quickly scan through them to see if anything is interesting to me.

In IE7, you'll have your master list of feeds and if a blog is updated, it will turn bold. Click the bolded link and the read the article. You're not actually going to the site at that point, you're just reading the article that's been pushed to you.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

voicy1stef · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Bruce,

I know what you mean about being overloaded.

I check out the profiles of any friend requests that I receive. If I could see myself having a chat with them in 'real life' or there is something on their page that resonates with me, that I have in common with them. I accept. If not, I have to let it go. If I see lots of messages/comments for them on their page from peeps I wouldn't like to know. I let it go as well.

cheers! Inoccent

_________________
Intuit and do it!

British-American voice artist based in England for the past umpteen years. I say, has it really been that long!

http://www.stefsvoice4u.co.uk
Podcast: Positive Affirmations and Audio Stories, on iTunes, Spotify etc.

Bruce · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject:

No problem Jeff, I've got an RSS reader through my Google Home Page.

Maybe I should slightly rephrase this....It's just the sheer quantity of posts that are available to read. Bob Souer must list at least 120 VO related blogs on his blog...how many posts does that make on an average day? 20, 30, 40? There are 5 or 6 other VO sites I could peruse everyday, and 7 or 8 general sites I enjoy....hundreds more I could visit daily.

Aren't we being lobbied to enter a state of information overload? I can hear the ad now, "Do you suffer from TMI dysfunction? Do you only see your family by webcam instead of joining them for breakfast?"

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:02 pm Post subject:

If I had to visit all those sites, I'd go nuts. But since I can just quickly scan through the headlines, it's not difficult at all.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Deirdre · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

In terms of actual time spent using a networking site: I ignore everything except Linked In.

I entertain "friend requests" from NextCat and MySpace only because I have profiles there, but I don't do anything with those profiles at the moment. If I do take the time to update anything besides Linked In, it will be the MySpace page.

I think it's vaulable to have profiles in places like your High School's alumni page. It's not just VO people browsing there.
Most of the traffic any of us get on our websites is from other VO people.

Re Blog-keepers:
God bless yiz all.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

Lizden · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:

Gregory Best · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject:

Who has the time??? I don't. I can barely get here on a regualr basis and thru the actual emails I get daily. I am with you, Bruce. We are in the age of information overload.
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Gregory Best

greg@gregorybest.com

Audiogal · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:21 pm Post subject:

Jeff's right, the RSS reader helps tremendously, but even scrolling through those headlines takes time! I'm always trying to figure out ways to cut back. My suggestion is to add a bunch and follow them for a bit. You'll quickly be able to see who is regularly posting content that is a "must read" for you. Edit as needed.

Be sure to subscribe to Bob's blog. He's fabby about posting links to other noteworthy VO biz related stuff. (Thank you, Bob. I don't know how you do it. You must be a speed reader!)
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Mary

bobsouer · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject:

bobbinbeamo · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject:

No time to work...just network. Ha!
Bruce, I feel it's getting a bit crazy, isn't it?. I try to read feeds from v/o blogs, maintain "pages" and/or profiles all over the place. Making "friends"-
Trying to keep it all prioritized, in balance and staying connected.

All you can do is what you can do. I feel comfortable enough, just getting unplugged sometimes.
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Bobbin Beam
www.bobbinbeam.com
blog.bobbinbeam.com

Chrissy · Guest

I check Bob's blog every day. You're great at posting useful information. As I've said before, I don't think Bob sleeps. He takes 5 minute cat naps throughout the 24 hours and then he's good to go for another 55 minutes.

Chrissy