By Author: Ben Parr

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Below are the latest articles from Ben Parr. The results are culled from all sources Workflow: Writing follows.

• WordPress.com Adds Its Own “Like” and Reblogging Features

  • Tuesday, 1 Jun 2010, 11:03 UTC (1 June 2010)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  WordPress.com’s millions of blogs are getting social with two new features: quick reblogging and the ability to “like” posts.The newly launched features are now accessible via a like menu item in the admin bar at the top of the page, although you have to be logged into a WordPress account to use them. The new like button is very simple — once you click it, it adds to a counter that shows the author how many people liked his or her post.Once you like something, the top menu changes to “You like this.” In that menu is the option to “Reblog this Post.” Clicking on that takes you to a pre-filled QuickPress tab, which contains the title, the beginning of the post you’re reblogging and usually an image. QuickPress is also new; it’s just a simpler, one-step interface to writing and publishing blog posts.WordPress has also created a tab that…

• Can You Blog From an iPad? I Just Did

  • Saturday, 3 Apr 2010, 13:45 PDT (3 April 2010)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  Disclaimer: I wrote and published this post, in its entirety, from my iPad.Apple’s “magical and revolutionary device” is supposed to be the ultimate content consumption tool. You can play music, watch movies, and surf the web, all from a device that is meant to be smaller, more focused, and more elegant than a netbook or even a laptop.For content creators though, there has been a strong amount of skepticism. Without the mouse and keyboard interface, how fast can you really type emails, photoshop pictures, and build code with just a touchscreen?These are questions that will be answered over the next few weeks as content creators push the iPad to its limits. In the meantime though, I’ve decided to run an initial test by writing an entire blog post from scratch, using the WordPress iPad app to fill the webpage you are reading now with elegant text. Here are some of…

• WordPress 3.0 Beta Released

  • Friday, 2 Apr 2010, 21:22 PDT (2 April 2010)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  WordPress fans, it’s here: The first beta of WordPress 3.0 has been released.In a late-night announcement Jane Wells, the UX lead at Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), laid out some of the many new features in the version 3.0 beta of the popular blogging software. The first thing she points out is a new custom menus system, which she makes clear “is not quite finished.”The newsworthy aspect of the release is the merger of WordPress and WordPress MU (multi-user), a fork of WordPress that allows multiple blogs to operate from a single installation. These two features are fully merged in Wordpress 3.0, although you should probably read the instructions before taking this feature out for a test drive.There are other changes to the UI and interface as well, including the addition of a new default theme, Twenty Ten, and custom post type functionality improvements.If you’re brave, you can download…

• Teens Just Don’t Blog or Tweet [STATS]

  • Wednesday, 3 Feb 2010, 18:09 PST (3 February 2010)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  A new study published today by Pew Internet finds that teens and young adults are blogging less and using social networking sites more, with the prominent exception of Twitter.Pew’s Report surveyed 2,253 American adults and 800 U.S. teens to get a reading of how they use the Internet, which gadgets they own, and which social media tools they use the most.Some of the data will surprise you.The Internet’s EverywhereHere’s a no-brainer: Young adults use the web far more than older adults. In its study, Pew found that 93% of teens and young adults go online, compared to only 38% of adults over 65 years of age. It surprises us that 7% of 12-29 year olds still don’t browse the web, but some just don’t have or can’t afford access. Among those teens going online, 63% say they go online at least once a day, with older teens more likely to…

• Posterous (Finally) Gets Custom Themes

  • Thursday, 17 Sep 2009, 13:00 PDT (17 September 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  In between the realm of full-featured blogs (e.g. Wordpress, Typepad) and the microblog (e.g. Twitter), there is the dead-simple blog platform Posterous. It has won the hearts and minds of many users with its bookmarklet, its easy photo sharing features, and of course, its ability to create blog posts via email.While these features have been winners, Posterous has lacked one major feature that larger competitors such as Tumblr offer: custom themes. Ever the Posterous blog has had the same yellow-and-white layout. The lack of this much-requested feature has likely turned some potential users away.Well guess what? Posterous now has custom themes. And it isn’t just installing a template – you can adjust the colors, the header images, and even make your own themes via HTML and CSS. Posterous ThemingLet’s explore Posterous theming for a moment. The company actually provides a useful theming overview on its blog. Here is the gist…

• 6 Tips for Customizing Your Small Business Blog

  • Tuesday, 15 Sep 2009, 14:03 PDT (15 September 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.If you’re like most socially-savvy companies, your business probably has a blog. It’s a great way to connect with your customers, announce new products, and provide a human face to your company’s image.While writing insightful and informative blog posts is the most important thing to do with a company blog, the design and implementation of your blog is key as well. The right plugins can help you get discovered on Google, while a cluttered design can turn off potential customers.With that said, here are some of my top tips for customizing a small business blog so that it is professional, productive, and easy to discover.1. Install some top blog pluginsIf you are using blog software such as WordPress, then you can add plugins to customize how your…

• HOW TO: Use Social Media for Enterprise Business

  • Tuesday, 30 Jun 2009, 07:54 PDT (30 June 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  Companies such as Zappos, Dell, and JetBlue are all known as successes in harnessing the power of social media for business. However, the aforementioned businesses sell directly to consumers. How about the business that sells products to other businesses? What if you’re a company that builds inventory software or datacenters for the likes of Walmart? Is Twitter, Facebook, Ning, or a company blog going to be any use?In fact, the answer may surprise you. There are business-to-business companies that are utilizing the social web to find customers, to build up a reputation, and to get the upper hand on landing the big deal. There’s a great deal that social media offers to the non-consumer business. Here are four of the best ways to use social media when you’re in enterprise:Step 1. Build a reputation of expertise What use is a company blog if you only have 10,000 customers, rather than…

• Scribnia Helps You Discover and Rate Bloggers

  • Monday, 8 Jun 2009, 16:31 PDT (8 June 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.Name: ScribniaQuick Pitch: Scribnia is a web community where users can rate and discover bloggers, columnists, and other online authors.Genius Idea: A blog’s content is only as good as its authors. They are the ones doing the research, finding the content, talking to companies, and creating the articles that you either love or hate. Most people, in fact, have not only favorite online publications, but favorite authors and bloggers as well. Scribnia is a social community based on that premise. Its goal: to help you discover new writers based on analyzing user ratings and your preferences. Scribnia is divided into publications and authors. Authors provides and overview of hundreds of…

• Write4net Offers Blogging for the Casual Writer

  • Friday, 5 Jun 2009, 11:11 PDT (5 June 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.Name: Write4netQuick Pitch: Write4net is a solution for those people that publish content casually. They don’t have a blog or personal website but every now and then they want to write a review, share an opinion or publish their thoughts.Genius Idea: While many of us in the social media space are neck-deep into blogging or building websites, most people aren’t. Yet while they don’t maintain their own blog or tweet 20 times a day, they do want to have their thoughts heard. If they see a great movie, they want to publish their opinion to others. But setting up accounts and getting readers isn’t an easy affair. Write4net helps fill…

• Top 20 Ways to Share a Great Blog Post

  • Sunday, 29 Mar 2009, 13:27 PDT (29 March 2009)
  • By: Ben Parr, Mashable | The Social Media Guide » blogging

  One of the best things about the web and social media is how much great information is written and produced every single day. If you’re a regular reader of blogs, you probably come across great articles that you just want everyone to know about. But what’s the best way to share these posts?
  Luckily, there’s no shortage of ways to spread the word. Blogs, social networks, instant messenger, and mobile phones are some of the many ways to let others know about the best content on the web. Here are our 20 favorite ways to share a great blog post:

  Sharing Via Social Media:

  1. Using Twitter to Tweet and Share: Perhaps the fastest and most effective way to share a great blog post is through Twitter. Sharing or retweeting a link in Twitter can spread like wildfire. Use a URL shortener such as tinyurl or bit.ly to shorten links…