Posts Tagged ‘blogs’

Assignment: Capture a tweet and display it on your site or blog.

BlackBird Pie is a little script created by @robinsloan at Twitter Media that allows site publishers to easily display tweets.

The usual process for displaying tweets is to type them in then hyperlink to the original tweet. Or, maybe a site will go farther and take a screen shot of the tweet page then crop the image and add a hyperlink to the original tweet. It takes time.

With BlackBird Pie, I was able to capture a tweet by following these steps:

1. Go to a Twitter profile via Twitter Web and find a tweet to display.
2. Click on the time stamp link to see the individual tweet then copy the tweet’s URL.







3. Go to the BlackBird Pie page
4. Paste in the URL and click on the “Bake It” button.
5. Cut and paste the resulting script and paste it into your web site or blog wherever you want to reference the tweet

Here’s there resulting tweet:

Quick Notes
Apparently, this script does not work on Tumblr blogs, according to the Twitter Media site.

Review:
We just learned a simple way to reference an individual tweet on our site or blog.

Do you think you’ll start using BlackBird Pie when you reference a tweet? Why or why not?

Just finding out about WordPress? Then you my be wondering , “What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org blogs?”

WordPress.com is a free blogging site where you register and set up one or more new blogs. You blog’s Web address will be {mynewblog}.wordpress.com, where “{mynewblog}” is the domain you select for your blog.

WordPress.org blogs are blog sites that have WordPress’s free blogging system installed on them. This means you would download the code then install it on a server and run the blog from there. Many choose to use a Web hosting company that has a quick WordPress install. WordPress.org blog are often referred to as “custom blog installs.”

The following items are some of the key characteristics of WordPress.com and WordPress.org blogs:

WordPress.com

• Free, most of the time. You can pay for premium services like domain mapping and video-related upgrades
• Allows users to create multiple blogs under one user account.
• Does not allow users to run JavaScript code. This limits a user’s ability to add many types of custom widgets.
• Does not allow users to run advanced analytics programs like Google Analytics. This falls under the “no JavaScript” bullet point but is an important example of the limitation. WordPress.com does have a very basic blog stats feature though.
• Has a set number of available themes. However, WordPress recently expanded it’s Theme team and has been releasing a greater number of new themes.
• Has a new Slideshow tool that is wicked cool and even works with the new iPad.
• Has strict rules about the type of advertising that can be done on the blog.
• Has built-in widgets but does not allow for third party-plugins
• Has support at http://en.support.wordpress.com/. Note: there are different Support sites for WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites.

I recommend WordPress.com to:

• New bloggers or people who have only dabbled in blogging. The system is easy to use, it’s free, and if you change your mind about your blog’s focus, you can easily create a new blog under that same account. It also makes for a good introduction to WordPress.org blogs because the two function the same way.
• Anyone who is “testing out” blogging.
• Small companies and organizations that need a blog but don’t have the resources (time, people, or money) to manage a custom install blog.
• Small companies and organizations that need a Web site with a full content management systems, but don’t have the resources to build a custom site. There are several tweaks that can be made to a WordPress.com blog that can make it run as a “regular” Web site.
• Teachers/professors that want to teach blogging to their students. It’s an easy to use fully functioning blogging system.

WordPress.org

• Free WordPress.org code download. The download includes everything you need to get a new blog running if the server is properly configured. WordPress.org boasts of having a 5-minute install but it will take longer the first time.
• Allows for one blog per install. However the highly anticipated WordPress 3.0 release will allow for the creation of multi-site blog networks.
• Allows site owners to add plugins and code that contain JavaScript. WordPress.org runs on your site domain, so you can put any kind of code you want on it. There are thousands of free plugins to help customize your blog.
• Requires frequent updates to patch up new security holes and new builds.
• Can use thousands of different free and premium themes as well as custom-designed themes.
• Allows you to run any kind of Analytics program you like, including Google Analytics.
• WordPress.org blogs are open-source.
• Has its own Support site: http://wordpress.org/support/.

I recommend WordPress.org to:

• People, companies, and organizations that want to leverage the full force behind blogging and have the resources and willingness to learn a full-bodied blogging system.
• Individuals that want to build a personal brand.
• Techie tinkerers. There are a million and one things you can do with a WordPress blog.
• Anyone who wants to couple ecommerce and blogging.

So which is right for you, a WordPress.com or WordPress.org blog setup? Still not sure? Drop a comment or tweet me up on Twitter at @jesseluna.

Facebook unleashed its new wave of site integration tools including the new Like button for external sites. This button works like the regular Like button on Facebook, where you see a status update and can give it the thumbs up.

Please note, this post is rated D for Daredevil.

To implement these changes you will need to muck around in the PHP. So make sure you’re wearing your developers propeller hat and some sort of Star Wars attire.

This micro video tutorial shows you how to find the Facebook button code, add it to your site’s template code, and get it up and running. However, this video only shows you how to add the Like button to the Single Post page in your blog. You’d also want to do the same thing with your Main Index Template page.

If you really don’t want to tinker with the template code, there are some plugins floating around. I’ve seen three different plugins already but haven’t tested them out yet. If you developed a Like button plugin, drop a comment with a link to the site. I’ll add comments to this post as I see them as well.

Related Posts/Resources:

• Facebook Like Button Developer page
• Adding Facebook Like Social Plugin to WordPress
• Just Launched: Facebook Like Plugin for Every Post on Your WP Blog!

Code Snippet: the modified Like button code

And this is a zoom-in of the Single Post template page where I pasted in the iFrame code.

Facebook Like Button Code in WordPress Single Post Theme

You can now read and post to WordPress.com blogs using Tweetie2, a third-party iPhone Twitter application.

This is cool because it’s like having mobile Twitter but for blogs. You can read and post to your blog and also read other WordPress.com blogs.

This is an overview of how it works, for specific instructions view the WordPress.com blog post on this new feature:

1) Set up a new account in Tweetie2 for your WordPress.com blog. Tweetie2 charges $2.99 for the app. I didn’t have it yet so finally ponied up the cash and it’s rockin so far.

2) Change a setting so that it uses the special link to a Twitter WordPress API. This tells Tweetie2 that you want that Account to do WordPress things, not Twitter things. That means that you will not be able to tweet from that Account, which makes sense since it’s pointing to your blog and not Twitter.

3) Set up your blog using your WordPress.com username and password information. You’ll still be configuring this new Account at this point. Since WordPress.com allows multiple blogs under one account, your default blog will be the one that Tweetie2 can post to. But, you can change that setting by going to your WordPress.com site’s Profile page (see below).

To change the “controlling” WordPress blog that will be updated from the Tweetie2 Account, just select the blog from the “Status updates will be posted on this blog:” drop down menu.

4) Configure geotagging. While you’re in the WordPress.com Profile page, you can also decide if you want to allow geotagging which attaches location information to your blog posts. You must have geotagging turned on for the specific “controlling” WordPress.com blog for this to work. If you want more information on geotagging, I created a video tutorial on how to turn on the geotagging feature on a WordPress.com blog. My tutorial was also picked up by WordPress.tv.

I tested this and posted an update to my geotagging enabled WordPress.com blog. After a while, the post showed up on the Tweetie2 Account but it took a little longer for it to show up with a little red flag next to it. The red flag indicates that if you click on the item you’ll also see a map.

5) Add in your friends! Not only can you read and post to your selected blog, you can also read other WordPress.com blogs. In order for that to happen, these WordPress.com blogs must be added to your “Blog Surfer” list. You can access this area by logging into your WordPress.com blog site then going to My Account > Blog Surfer. If you’ve previously added blogs to this list, they should already show up in your Tweetie2 WordPress Account “stream.” If you want more to show up, just enter the URL in the “WordPress.com url” text box and click on the Add button.

This is a view of the Blog Surfer page:

Once you add your favorite WordPress.com blogs, it takes a few minutes for them to show up in your new Tweetie2 WordPress Account feed. Refresh Tweetie2 if you don’t see them after a few minutes. Items appear in the stream in chronological order so you may have to scroll down to see older posts – yes, just like Twitter.

6) Post away! Now you can post to your blog just as you would compose a tweet for Twitter. You still only have 140 characters, there are no attachments, and no special fields for adding links. You’d have to type or paste in any links you want to include in your post. Once again, if you have geotagging turned on for this blog, that information will show up for that blog post and will show up for any of your friends that subscribe to your blog via the Blog Surfer feature.

You’ve just learned the process for creating a new Tweetie2 Account to give it Twitter-like connectivity to your WordPress.com blog network.

So tell me, will you use it? If so, do you think you’ll post to your WordPress.com blog more?

There’s nothing wrong with using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. In fact, Twitter recently changed its pages to use more SEO friendly page titles to get better “Google juice.”

But if that’s your only focus then you can end up going down
some unsavory paths.


There are large companies out there that will help your site improve its Google rankings by creating multiple blog sites, each containing blog posts on various random topics (because they serve many different clients), and include links back to your site.

In the long run, this strategy will not serve you.

Sometimes the “SEO-optimized” blog post will end up complete gibberish because it’s main job is to associate a set of keywords back to the main client site.

It might help your Google search rankings for a bit, but it will mostly help damage your brand.

Nowadays, blogging is easier than ever. Use your blog to share your expertise and attract fans. Remember, content is still king.

[Photo courtesy of @Vermyndax via his blog]