Spence Smith » social networking

How To Use iPhone 4 Photo Apps And Take Great Pictures In Four Easy Steps

Spence Smith — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:49:53 +0000

I take a lot of pictures with my iPhone 4. I used to carry around a real camera, but since I’m not a serious photographer like my friend Keely, I’ve opted for a more practical approach… my iPhone.

What’s amazing is the iPhone 4 camera is actually really good. Once you learn how you to adjust the lighting with the use of the focus option then the rest is in the eye of the beholder.

NOTE: ALL of the photos I post online are taken with my iPhone 4.

For the camera geek in you, there are some really cool apps that replicate old camera models, which can be very fun to use. Hipstamatic and PictureShow are cool for this. I’m sure there are others, but I haven’t found the time to dive into all of them yet.

For the social networker in you, Instagram is great and growing in popularity. I have an account there but I don’t use it as much. I love it’s functions but what I’m looking for is a little broader in scope, yet focused and practical. I’m also a fan of Foodspotting. If you like taking pictures of your food then this is your app and tribe. Take photo of said food, Post photo of said food on Foodspotting, Eat said food. Easy.

I like to kept it simple. You have to figure out what this is for you, but my four suggestions are as follows:

I take all my photos with the camera for the iPhone 4.
I always have the HDR (High Dynamic Range) setting on. When HDR is on it will take two pictures. One with the original lightening and one with an enhanced view. This allows you to get a better shot in low light conditions without using the flash or over exposed lightening conditions. The flash on my iPhone is a joke. I never use it.
Once I’ve taken the photo, I decided if I want to touch it up a bit. The first good app to do this is called Photogene. It’s amazing and easy to use. Photoshop has an app now too but I like Photogene so much that I haven’t even messed with anything else.
Once I have fixed my photo in Photogene, it’s ready to send out to you. I’ve always been a big fan of twitpic but I was looking for something that would post the picture well in facebook as well as anywhere else I wanted it to go online with only sending it out once.

Flying over the rockies and edited with Photogene

My favorite for sending out my photos is Posterous.com. My posterous site is called Spence Smith’s Posterous Pics.

The only thing I use posterous for is posting pictures and video. Once I email the picture out to my posterous account. The photo goes straight to Twitter, Facebook and anywhere else I choose online. Posterous will hit all my sites i want to post a picture with sending only one email. I also have a link to My Posterous Pics in the navigation bar near the top of this blog.

Again… really simple to set up and easy to do. Take picture, (fix picture if needed), email picture out to my online presence. That’s all I want out of it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now… the most fun camera app I have though is 360Panorama. It’s just what you think it is and is fun to learn how to use. You can shoot a full 360 view or a really cool panoramic.

Photos taken with 360 Panorama

So that’s what I do. It’s easy, fun and works well for me.

How about you? What cool camera/photo apps do you use? What works well for you?

Building Quality Over Quantity Wins Every Time

Spence Smith — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:32:03 +0000

The more I dive into relationships online and offline, I notice the people I engage with are like a good wine. They get better with time.

I have a lot of friends… a few different circles of friends and honestly, it’s really tough for me to maintain all of the relationships I want to be tied into. But that’s ok… I do what I can and time with friends come and go. It’s the way life happens.

That’s why the time I do have with friends is precious to me. It’s about the quality time we have and the qualities we value in each other. The influence we have in each others lives is priceless, inspiring and makes me strive to be… well… a quality guy. I would rather have quality friends who believe in me and support me rather than quantities of people I know who I can’t engage with.

Back when twitter first started it was all about seeing how many followers you could get to influence the most people possible. But today, and back then… but much more importantly today… it’s about the quality of your followers.. not the quantity. Are they sneezers? Do they believe in you and support you? or are they taking up space in your follower column..

When it comes to your blog readers… a high number of readers is awesome… but if they are quality readers, then it’s even better. If they engage with you and spread what you have to say to their friends, then it’s even more amazing. As Randy Elrod says… It’s influencing influencers…

The quality of who you are and who you interact with will affect what you do or say… or have said online. So if your goal is to reach the masses.. The quality of your content HAS to come first.

However, if you aren’t putting out quality content… then what’s the point?

Your content is the foundation of quality online but if you want it to spread like wildfire and go viral, then you need quality tools to take you and your quality followers and readers to the next level.

Here’s a good place to start… check out what Michael Hyatt is saying about The Anatomy Of An Effective Blog Post and Four Actions You Can Take Now To Dramatically Increase Your Blog Traffic and what Randy Elrod asks about Twitter, Do You Make These Ten Common Twitter Mistakes?

How do you build quality into your online world and offline world? Are you engaged and are you equipped with the tools you need?

Social Networking is…

Spence Smith — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:49:11 +0000

That part of my life that extends from the real world into the online world and finds it’s way back to my everyday life.

That part of my life I show in order to connect with more people.

That part of my life where I can influence others.

That part of my life that loves building friendships where depth and meaning take on a whole new way of growing.

That part of my life when I go offline, I’m still able to engage my social network around me.

That part of my life where my circle of friends becomes many circles of friends and some of those circles are online.

That part of my life I can use to build trust with others.

That part of my life I can show my family and friends where I’ve been, where I’m going and what I’m thinking.

That part of my life that I can use to help keep me accountable to the goals I set for myself in a public forum.

That part of life that allows me to consult people in how to be more effective online.

That part of my life that allows me to build brands online.

That part of my life that says there are no more limits and the rules have changed.

That part of my life that is literally at my finger tips, ready for the next idea to form and throw out there for public consumption.

That part of my life that allows me to get quick and honest feedback.

That part of my life that allows me to create content for conversation.

That part of my life that allows me to collaborate and build community.

That part of my life that allows me to convert people into a brand fan, a buying customer or… a follower.

That part of my life that costs me very little money if any at all and allows me to build something far more reaching than a marketing budget that costs millions of dollars.

That part of my life that allows other to share in my passions and adventures in life.

That part of my life that allows me to connect…

To You.

What is Social Networking to you?

Create A Presence Online & Build Traffic To Your Site Using Social Networking & Blogging

Spence Smith — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:16:28 +0000

If you are brand new to the internet and have no idea what it means to have a presence online or maybe you already have a presence online but you haven’t figured out how to make it really work for yourself or you business, then come spend the day with Randy Elrod and I at LifeWork 2.0 Seminar on Saturday, January 9,2010.

We will show you how to start a blog, use social networking sites like Facebook, build a following on Twitter and make it all work together in a way that doesn’t take up every minute of every day of your life, but just becomes one part of life while driving traffic to your brand and increasing loyalty among your clients, customers and fans.

If you are a CEO and you want to learn how to bring employees into your world, put a better face on your company and lead the charge into the new business model of the digital world, then come let us show you how to build a better experience for everyone in your sphere of influence.

If you are a business looking to build a more loyal customer base, we will teach you how to create a conversation with them and get the kind of feedback that gives you the ability to go to the next level in your business.

If you are an artist or author looking to build a larger fan base that is truly interacting with you, we will show you the how to build a strong fan base through authenticity, transparency and conversation.

If you are a leader in the church and you want to learn who to grow your congregation though the internet, we will show you how use blogging and social networking to create an atmosphere that brings people into the life of the church.

If you are a mom who has something to share and wants to be more involved in the mom blog community, we will show you how to get started and build a fun network around you.

We will also give you the behind-the-scenes tools to use Search Engine Optimization to bring traffic to your site without having to pay a dime for a sponsored link or ad.

All of this in one day as we show you how to manage your online reputation. Did you know you have a reputation online? The question is Who is leading the conversation? You or someone else? We will show you how to lead the conversation and rule your online world.

Its a fun day and it’s packed full of useful information. We hope you will join us.

So if you want to sign up… just click HERE for registration and more info or click on the LifeWork banner in my side bar.

Building Relationships = Social Networking

Spence Smith — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:09:15 +0000

One of my favorite things in life is connecting people to each other.

Sometimes I meet a person and hear their story and I inevitably say to them “ hey have you met …? You two should really get together and talk about this. You two have a lot in common in this area.”

It happens a lot.

When I look at my friends, sometimes I look at them through the lens of a series of connections. I’m not one to use my friends to get to others nor do I have an agenda for all of my friends. I think there is a time and place for that and a very appropriate way to do that if the opportunity makes itself available.

What I’m talking about is seeing the opportunity my friends have in them… not me… and making sure they are connected to the right people to see them either grow personally or professionally… or both.

For example, look at Facebook and Twitter and you will find a series of connections within a wide level of relationships. Most people think of Facebook and Twitter as social networks but never consider that the circle of friends you experience real life with are the real life version of a social network.

Why is this important to know?

Some of you have a hard time figuring out what to do with all of this social networking/social media craze. If this is you, I would encourage you to just start here. Build relationships that foster growth. Sounds like a no-brainer I’m sure, but are you surrounding yourself with people that are helping you grow personally and professionally? You should be. We all need friends who challenge us.

My friend Randy says this all the time…. “Rising tides lifts all ships”

Then, if you haven’t joined Facebook, Twitter or some other social network then try one. Hey… try two if you can. For me the most fun ones are Twitter and Facebook.

Try them for 30 days and see what you think about it and see what kind of connections you make. You will find business peers, friends from college or friends you haven’t seen in forever, new opportunities, new technology or pieces of information you never knew existed. It’s all there for.

But remember this. Relationships are about engaging each other in conversation. This is true offline… as well as online.

Ask yourself… What I am doing to foster relationships that help challenge me and create growth in areas of my life that could use a change? Build Relationships… Engage yourself in a social network…

Search Engine Optimization and LifeWork 2.0 Seminar

Spence Smith — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:21:42 +0000

Some people have no idea what we are saying when Randy Elrod and I start talking about Search Engine Optimization(SEO), and having a presence online…and simply the ability to be found online! . Sure… you might have an easy dot COM name that is simple to find if you Google it (spencesmith.com). But that’s just one part of it. And it’s one part of what we teach at LifeWork 2.0.

If you want people to find you because of the products you offer or because your content is of a particular subject matter, then learning how to optimize your site so that the search engines (google,yahoo,etc) recognize what you are about is crucial. This is a huge way to create traffic and key to creating a conversation online with your fans and clients.

There are a lot of SEO (search engine optimization) experts out there who are getting paid a lot of money to get a company to pop up on the first page of Google. In fact some of these people are on monthly retainers. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as you are getting what you want.

At LifeWork 2.0, Randy and I teach you ways to do this on your own in such a simple way that YOU can do this yourself and save YOU and YOUR company a lot of money in the process.

We consulted one company who had misspellings in their keywords. They were paying a guy who was an “expert” thousands of dollars a month for good SEO and in a matter of minutes Randy and I showed them how they had been wasting their money. For them it was like paying a mechanic to fix their car but for some reason they had to always get their car fixed. HMMM I wonder why? Job security maybe?

Google makes it very easy for us everyday-non-programmer-types to do this well. But in order for a person to learn how, there are a few valuable components that you must know in the process.

So… During a LifeWork 2.0 seminar we teach Search Engine Optimization that anyone can do. But it’s just one part of the day.

If you so choose to come to one of our seminars, you will learn all about online reputation, blogs vs. traditional websites, social networking as well as twitter from beginning to advanced uses.

Come join us and let us teach you how to create a two-way conversation with your fans and clients. It will be fun… I assure you… and you will leave with your head-spinning full of refreshing new ideas for the future of you and your brand.

The next LifeWork 2.0 Seminar is July 30, 2009 in Nashville, TN and it’s hosted by our friends Michael Hyatt and Lindsey Nobles from Thomas Nelson. You can follow them on twitter too. @michaelhyatt, @lnobles, and @thomasnelson.

Click here to register for LifeWork 2.0.

Facebook Offers Control To Users

Spence Smith — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:00:16 +0000

YES! This is what social networking is all about. Someone creates a site that is user to user and the user gets a share in calling the shots. It’s not a free for all and there are boundaries with this move but I’m encouraged to see Facebook take this bold and transparent step.

Here’s a little bit from the article online which you can read HERE.

Users had complained that it appeared Facebook was claiming ownership of their data – even if they delete their accounts.
The founder said: “We do not own user data, they [users] own it. We never intended to give that impression and feel really bad that we did.”
Facebook has announced a new set of governing principles and rights and responsibilities.
Under the changes, users will be able to first comment and then potentially vote on future changes to the documents.
Facebook will enact a vote on changes to its governance when more than 7,000 comments have been made by users on a topic.
Mr Zuckerberg told BBC News: “We think that is pretty reasonable.
“We have designed the votes so a small minority of users cannot create a binding election.”
Facebook is the largest social network in the world, with more than 175 million users.

This is a great example of the kind of thinking we teach at LifeWork 2.0. If you aren’t willing to be transparent enough to listen to the voice of your client or fan and in this case FB’s users, then you will lose out every time with your audience. Your audience will eventually go where they are heard and communicated with. This is what it means to ENGAGE your audience, your fan base, your clients. Listening and responding with action builds your followers and builds their trust in you.

Are there times you feel like you weren’t listening and you could have responded in a way that would have worked better? If so, don’t let the status quo keep you from engaging in a way that makes sense and seems natural.

Go for it… it’s your choice, your career and your online reputation☺

Why Facebook and Twitter Are The Social Search Engine