Google has already apologized for some of the problems with Google Buzz. One of those being Buzz automatically followed some users, a big no-no. The company may have said it was limited to people you emailed frequently, but that wasn’t the case for most of us.

Aside from that, Buzz has mixed reviews and a long list of things that need changing. I’ve listened. I’ve participated. I’ve complained. Yet, Buzz still has my attention. Like an infant, it has cute moments and messy ones. It still needs nourishing before determining what it will be when it grows up.

Using Buzz

Because I always have Gmail open, the growing number of new Buzz is distracting as it grows much faster than email even in spite of my being very selective about who I follow. I’m organized when it comes to my email and maintain inbox zero. It’s easy to see why the new Buzz messages annoy and frustrate people especially when the number climbed to 100.

It took a week to get used to that in the same way I let my newsletters and alerts labels sit with over 100 new messages. Those two labels have hundreds of new messages because those messages are “as needed” messages. So I applied the concept to Buzz and the annoyance factor dropped. Or I click “Buzz” and the number starts over.

Although some folks said they turned off Buzz soon after trying it out, I haven’t written it off because it’s new and evolving. First, I want to understand it better and figure out how to use it efficiently should it find its way. Twitter wasn’t a smash hit in the beginning. Neither were blogs. Facebook was limited to college students. Second, I’m stricter about the people I follow in Buzz than I am in Twitter. If I find someone I follow is Buzzing a lot of useless content, then I stop following without regret.

I haven’t decided if it’s a good idea to funnel my tweets into Buzz. I don’t blog daily, so tweets keep me out there. I’ve created new Buzz a couple of times and comment on Buzzworthy items. I haven’t tried using Buzz for any articles I write.

One-way Interaction

Buzz can import your blog entries, tweets and other content. However, if you reply to any of these, they stay right in Buzz. Well, when I see a tweet from Twitter in Buzz, I go in Twitter and reply there instead of within Buzz. Google lost an opportunity here. What if Google adds a checkbox that asks if I want the reply to go to the original source. Hence, if the source is from Twitter, the reply shows up in Twitter.

Google likely did it this way on purpose to keep people in Buzz. But some will go around it like I did. I hardly think I’m the only one to think of this.

Yes, Facebook lets you import the same information and keeps replies right inside Facebook. I just expect more from Google because many of Facebook’s users don’t use other social media applications.

Twitter Fail Whale = Buzzportunity

Recently, Twitter experienced serious fail whaling. People asked if Twitter was failing in Facebook and Google Buzz. Buzz was a better place to find out than Facebook. Again, so many people in Facebook don’t touch Twitter or any other social media. Those of us in conversation mode buzzed about other things knowing Twitter whaled out.

Multi-communication Integration

I don’t think Google, Facebook and Microsoft are onto anything in combining status/buzz with email. (Facebook is trying to build up email to become a powerhouse like Gmail.) When I want Twitter updates, I go receive them and nothing else. Not email. Not trivia. Not games. Nothing. Just short status updates and direct messages (DM). Of course, I could be wrong about this.

Buzz integration with email doesn’t work for many. It creates more noise and people haven’t come to the point where they want multi-communication opportunities thrown at them. They would rather have a choice, but a choice that goes beyond turning off Buzz. Perhaps, a way  to access Buzz outside of Gmail.

I remember when Newsgator would deliver feeds as Outlook email. I never liked that idea. When I tried it briefly, it overwhelmed me more than Buzz because it took more effort to delete those messages.

Social Media Expert: Is There Such a Thing?

Buzz demonstrates exactly why no one can be an expert in social media. Social media evolves and fast. New things pop up. You can’t become an expert on what works and doesn’t work as soon as it comes out. You have to see how people respond to it as they learn their way around.

Nonetheless, Google has accomplished one thing for itself — Buzz keeps people in Gmail longer as several have admitted this.

What do you think lies ahead for Google Buzz and unborn social media?

Related articles

• 10 Things You Should Know About Google Buzz (eweek.com)
• 30+ Google Buzz How Tos, Tools and other Resources (SEOptimize.com)
• Google Buzz No Facebook , No Twitter Killer, Google Exec Says (eweek.com)

Congratulations to George Angus for winning Laura Cross’ book tour contest! Y’all can still win a book from Elisa Lorello. Interesting that it’s President’s Day week. My 5th grade son has to do a report on Gerald Ford.

Brain food!

• Wordnik: Make word lists, comment on and tag words, record pronunciations, etc. [Link: Michael C. Cordell]
• Value of School Visits: Enjoyed reading this author’s story about visiting schools. This is one reason why I wish I’ve authored a children’s book. I think it’d make the visit more entertaining for the kids when I speak to them about people with differences. Several school visits have made a big difference in how the kids view people who sound different from them. Apparently, after I spoke to my son’s first grade class, they treated him like a king. That’s why I do it. For my kids. To avoid the second grade incident with my daughter.
• Why Google Buzz Is Brilliant and Deadly to Social Media 1.0: Incredible insight I had not considered.
• How to Write Effectively for Twitter and the Social Web: Collection of resources sorted by categories.
• The BS Litmus Test: My first priority is to always keep my current clients happy because really — the easiest and best clients are the ones you already have. I’ve already weeded out the ones where I didn’t enjoy the work. It’s also easier to keep the current clients than go looking for new ones that may not be a good match. I know what my current clients like and don’t like. It takes time to figure that out with every new client.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 100 Cupcakes Game: Guess what game each cupcake represents. Brilliant. And great artistry.
• Slightly off-color joke: An author passes a bookstore…
• 20 Funny Examples of Graffiti and 10 Funny Pie Charts [Links: Jason Pollock]
• 12 Most Controversial Video Games: These are NOT the kind of games I cover.
• A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything: Hope they recycled all that paper.
• How Those Famous Websites Have Evolved Throughout the Years: I found Amazon in 1995, I believe (when it was just a bookstore). The screen shot is definitely not the oldest. [Link: bkmacdaddy]

If you read this blog, you most likely have an interest in social media and books. A great combination to ask for your nominations for the Top 10 Social Media books.

More and more books on social media keep hitting the streets, but we can’t buy them all. So let’s help each other out by sharing our favorites. Once done, we’ll whittle the list to 10.

How to Nominate Your Favorite Book on Social Media

To keep things simple, leave a comment nominating one book. If someone nominates a book you love, you might want to nominate a second favorite as the voting will come later. Nominate your favorite by 11:59pm CST on January 31.

Let’s do it!

Most folks use Facebook for one or the other, not both. However, many freelance writers and I use Facebook for both personal and business. After all, when you hire us, you get our personalities and styles. I take care to watch what I post by remembering a future client, a former boss and family member could read it. Although I use Facebook’s settings to limit what some contacts can see, you never know what leaks from one realm to another.

If you’re not sold on Facebook for business, here are 50 writer uses for Facebook.

Ready to create an effective Facebook profile? Don’t worry about doing it in one sitting. Quality is more important than speed. Besides, I still tweak mine. It helps to do a review of all your bios at least once a year as you gain experience and new clients.

Facebook Profile Bio

1. Use your full name. This is especially the case for women writers. They might write under their maiden names or both maiden and married. Mine says “Meryl Kaplan Evans” because some knew me before I married and I used that name when I first started freelancing as a writer. If you have other names — past or present — include them in a logical spot such as your Info page under “Personal Information: About Me.” (See screen shot.)

2. Complete your profile as much as possible. The four sections in Facebook’s profile include Basic, Personal, Contact and Education and Work. Add publications, writing types (white papers, case studies, etc.) and other relevant information. Also ask yourself, “Do I want the client to know this?” so you don’t share too much.

3. Select an ideal profile photo. Remember you can share lots of photos on your Facebook photo page. For the profile photo, it’d be wise to use a professional one or a photo that shows you wearing clothes that fit your personality and style. BitRebels has great tips for looking good in photos.

4. Add your blog. You can import your blog entries into Facebook with several Applications like Networked Blogs, which I use. Not everyone is into reading blogs and Twitter, and you can find a new audience this way. What’s cool is getting comments from my local friends who didn’t read my blog until I fed it into Facebook.

5. Skip your Twitter feeds. At first, I sent all of my Twitter tweets to Facebook. However, after seeing others doing the same, I realized it would probably bother more people than not because even I was bothered by the frequent updates. If you don’t use Twitter much, then it might work for you. But status updates aren’t meant for frequent updates like Twitter. Besides, we all know that Facebook attracts people from all walks of life including those whose only social network is Facebook. Now I just send relevant tweets to Facebook through Selective Tweets by adding ”#fb” to a tweet for posting in Facebook.

6. Capture writing career information on profile home page. A paragraph appears beneath your photo on your profile home page. This is your chance to tell people the most important thing about what you do as a writer. Keep it simple and to one or two key things otherwise people won’t remember you for anything. Questions to ask: What do you want potential clients to know about you? What do they get from working with you? Other things to consider: industry, client type, writing type. (see “Facebook Profile Bio” screen shot.)

Privacy Settings for Profile Information

7. Review your profile information privacy settings. Click some of your friends’ friends links. After looking at a few, you’ll notice some have almost empty pages while others reveal more. This is the information people see when they search for someone not yet connected. Understandably, some set profile settings to very private that we only see a name when we search for them. However, they might not be the only one with that name and you can’t discern if you have the right person. I open my profile photos and “Education and Work” to everyone. This way they know if they have the right person and learning about what I do. (See “Privacy Settings” screen shot.)

8. Manage privacy settings. I assign “limited profile” to people I only know on a professional level or through another contact. This assignment allows them to see specific parts of my profile based on the assignments I set. You can do the same for every photo album: open one to all, open another to everyone except those on “limited profile” and another that exempts certain people.

If you need help with your Twitter bio, here are tips for creating a Twitter profile for writers. It’s unbelievable how many people use a shortcut service URL for their URL instead of the real thing.

How do you manage your Facebook profile for business?

Image credit: Shlomit Wolf

Yee haw! (I’m a Texan, I can do that.) Happy to do another Middle Zone Musings “What I learned from…” project. This time, we share our favorite posts of 2009. I put this together based on what I thought were most valuable to you based on your feedback.

7 Traits of Bad Twitter Followers: The things to do if you hate Twitter.

50+ Writer Uses for Twitter: Who knew there were so many things you can do within 140 characters?

50+ Writers Uses for Facebook: Facebook can do more than connect you with friends and family.

Short, Powerful and Favorite Books: If you crave reading a book without a lot of time, these are the ones sure to fulfill your reading desires.

How to Join Twitter Chats: And videos to help. One of my favorite things to do… connect with intelligent individuals and participate in conversations without barriers.

How to Manage Your Time with Social Networks: Writing is a lonely business and it’s very easy to fall under the hypnotic trap of social media.

Twitter Success Means More Than Numbers: Stop asking, “How can I get more followers.” It defeats the purpose. I know plenty of folks with about 200 followers who are great tweeters.

40+ Writer Uses for LinkedIn: You can do more than just connect with people.

Watch What Your Blog, Post and Tweet Online: Many times I’ve thought about tweeting something and then I’d back off.

27 Most Used Applications in a Writing Business: I was surprised how well-received this one was. I guess we all like to peek into people’s work.

10 Commandments for Writers on Using Social Media: I had fun with this one. Wish I were inspired more often.

How Muscle Memory Affects Writing: I found some old English papers from college. Eww! It does show me I write faster and better thanks to years and years of practice. And I am still practicing!

Applying the Pomodoro Technique in Writing: This technique can range from simple to full-blown. What I like about it is that you can just focus on the 25-minute, break, 25-minute aspect. It works.

How to Create a Twitter Profile for Writers: A couple of tips that some of us experienced users may not think about.

Image Credit: Alex Bruda

No rule book exists to tell us how to behave ourselves in social media. With no eyes peeking into ours, we forget real people are out there reading our stuff and we  make an impression with every sentence we write online. A colleague told me about an agent who posted in public that his or her writers were undergoing plastic surgery and a vasectomy. Joke or not? Who knows. But even if it was a joke, not everyone read it that way.

Social media gives writers a place to find and connect with writers, editors, agents, readers, publishers and others in the publishing and media industry. Keeping your name out there not only leads to gigs and opportunities, but also shows future clients and publishers that you already know how to market your work. Don’t think marketing is important enough? You might want to read Jane Friedman’s 5 Questions for Those Who Don’t Have Time to Market/Promote.

So, here are 10 commandments to do right on social media, build up a following and mind your manners.

1. Thou shalt listen

This helps you get a feel for how people use the social media site or blog. It also encourages you to respond to others after you’ve heard them. Chris Brogan offers tips on listening.

2. Thou shalt do unto others to help without any expectations in return

One word: Karma. Even if karma isn’t real, helping others makes you feel good about yourself and drive you to do more. Plus, people will remember you for it and it’ll strengthen your relationships. Sarah Evans asks, “What have you done for your community today?”

3. Thou shalt read a diversity of resources and people

Spread your eWings and visit blogs, Twitter IDs and other accounts you haven’t read  (check blogrolls, Twitter followers, etc. to find new ones) and check your friends’ connections. Sticking with same people limits your ability to meet others.

4. Thou shalt respond

If people ask you a question or take the time to leave a comment in your blog, you can take a moment to reply. Notice this says, “Respond,” not “Respond to every single message directed to you.” It’s overkill to thank every single person for mentioning you, retweeting you, linking to you. Instead, return the favor by pointing to their stuff, responding in private or commenting on something else they wrote.

Also, write more than “I agree,” “Great post” and “Thank you.” We have so much content online, a lot of it wasteful. Compliments are always nice, but not in a public response that adds clutter. Email the person, if you can’t think of anything else to say.

5. Thou shalt be genuine

Be genuine about mentioning and promoting others. Be genuine about the things you say. Be real. Be you. Some mentioning other people come across as phony looking to ride the wave of someone else’s popularity or kiss up to that person. You love it when someone mentions you, right? And you tend to remember them better, right? Well?

When you write a blog, article or tweet — look for genuine opportunities to link to other people’s stuff, quote them or credit them. Notice this post has a few links to other people’s high quality content that explores a topic further for those interested. Bonus points if you mention a competitor.

6. Thou shalt play nice

It’s incredible how many arguments turn nasty online and how many people say things in a mean way. We all have different opinions. (That’s a good thing — it’d be a dull, dull world otherwise.) We just need to remember to play nice and show respect. It goes a long way.

7. Thou shalt remember that everyone can read your content

Mom, kids, editor, publisher and people who might hire you. You’ve probably heard a few of the stories about people landing jobs only to lose it because of something they said online.

It’s also wise not to cuss in public. Granted, some popular folks cuss. But not everyone can get away with this. You wouldn’t cuss in a job interview, would you? Think of the Internet as one big job interview. After all, writers don’t always do one gig forever.

8. Thou shalt not obsesseth with thy numbers

Email newsletters … Twitter followers … Blog comments … Blog readers. People email me asking how I got so many Twitter followers. Well, it didn’t happen in one night, one month or even six months. But who cares how long it took? The point is to have high quality conversations. Spammers have figured out how to gain high numbers in Twitter — so obviously, quantity means nothing.

Listen and deliver valuable stuff. They will come.

9. Thou shalt not gossipth

The kind of talk of someone else’s private business makes a person look like a gossip and future clients might fear you’ll gossip about them. Yes, skip sharing private details even if the subject is open about it.

10. Thou shalt forgo the hard sell

Social media helps you gain trust and credibility, which will build your relationships. People WILL connect with you and ask about your content. When you do, at least add value by telling people what they get out of it. How much should you self-promote? Maria Schneider thinks 60/40, but I believe it should be closer to 70/30. That’s between Pareto’s 80/20 and Maria’s suggestion.

Not convinced that writers need social media? Maybe Joanna Penn can convince you.

Agree? Disagree? Please share your thoughts in comments or create a blog post of your own and let us know about it.

Want to win a book? We have a few authors stopping by here. Caryn visited yesterday and more will be here in upcoming weeks.

Still need more nominations for favorite books on writing before we take a vote.

• How to Write a Novel Using the Web: How does Mashable come up with the most brilliant topics? Meryl’s brain, get to work!
• MFA Confidential: Applying for an MFA: Like to get an MFA someday, or at least take writing courses. Schedule is full.
• 13 Writing Tips from Fight Club: A Novel author: Over a year old, but still relevant. He’s not big on web writing. If he were, he’d use the tip topic instead of numbers as the bolded headers. Instead of “Number One,” I’d write, “Use the egg timer method.”
• 80+ Social Media Policies from Social Media Governance: We’ll be seeing many of these showing up in organizations as social media because an important factor in building brands and customer service. These will give you a starting point to create your own.
• 100 Tips, Tools and Resources for Twitter: I glanced at it quickly. Didn’t want to tempt myself to take on more addicting twitter apps. But maybe you can use it.
• Building Your Tribe: 6 LinkedIn Case Studies: Explore using LinkedIn for freelancers, selling products and strategies for everyone.
• How to Make Knowledge Work Fun: Simple graph, powerful message.
• Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter: Good content is #1 in my book.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Hello, Kitty gone wild: Scroll down… the gun is only the start of it. Ahem… who knew that kitty had such a sexy following. In honor of my friend Frances… lover of all things (maybe not after this) Hello, Kitty.
• Museum of Kitsch is open for bidness!
• Good Night and Tough Luck by Chirstoph Niemann: Explores the world of sleep…
• Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries: Incredible libraries. The only one I’ve been to on the list is the Library of Congress.
• Giant Tetris: Whoooaaa….
• Spongebob does Queen’s We Will Rock You.

The previous post has a quick and dirty list of the applications I use most often in my writing business. Some apps may perplex you or you’d like to know more about how I use them. This provides the magnifying glass edition so you can decide if you’d like to look into them.

Browsers

I used to rely on just Firefox with the occasional use of Internet Explorer because some applications didn’t work right in Firefox. Now I use Google Chrome almost as much as Firefox. Sometimes I open Opera — I love its look, feel and speed. Firefox hangs and slows down often, but it has the best and most useful plug-ins. Jump to Firefox add-ons to see my faves.

Bookkeeping and Invoicing

QuickBooks: Had I started my business within the last couple of years, I might not be using QuickBooks. It’s the only software that almost beat me in the battle of gal vs. app; eventually I got the hang of it. It may be a good thing because I’ve used a popular web-based invoicing application from the client point of view. It would not let me pay the 50 percent payment due at the start of a project. Sure, the vendor could’ve sent me two invoices: one for the first payment and one for the final payment, but it didn’t make sense to do that as it’s all one project.

I appreciate keeping my finances and invoices on my computer rather than in the cloud (web-based). I can’t access the app if I’m away from my home. However, when I’m away — I don’t do invoicing. If I traveled frequently or for longer periods, then a web-based app makes sense.

Writing

Microsoft Office: No matter how you feel about Microsoft, Word has everything writers need. I’ve tried web-based apps, which made me feel constrained. Favorite features: Counts (word, character, etc.), Review (tracking), Comments and Thesaurus. Excel keeps track of data or create a spreadsheet of information for a project or client.

Notetab: Cleans content and frees it from the invisible and bloated code that apps like Word add to it. If you copy and paste Word content into a blog post, it often brings a lot of useless and wasteful code with it. Notetab sheds it all.

Communications

Gmail: Thanks to Gmail, I stopped micromanaging my inbox.

Thunderbird: Friendly, easy, smooth and simple. My Fave Thunderbird add-ons.

Google Talk: Instant messenger apps used to be a regular part of my toolbox, but then some people abused it to talk to me about nothing and it disrupted my work. However, I needed a way to stay in touch with family and Google Talk allows me to be invisible yet able to connect with my spouse. We also use it on our BlackBerrys instead of SMS. No offense if you’re one of the people I’ve chatted with IM. No one can see what I am doing, so no one is at fault.

Marketing and Connecting

Blogging: I have both Wordpress and MovableType installed. All of meryl.net uses Wordpress except for Bionic Ear, which uses MovableType. Writers don’t all need to have a blog. If you interact regularly on social networks and visit other people’s blogs while leaving meaningful comments, you’ll be fine without your own blog. It’s still important to have your own web site rather than relying on social network profile to be your web page. Visiting other people’s blogs takes precedence over writing in my own as I want to hear what they have to say and respond to that.

Social networks: This includes blogs, Twitter, Twitter Search, Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed. I’ve set up my accounts to feed into each other so they stay fresh without requiring my visiting each site daily. You don’t have to do cold calling to make it as a full-time writer. I do zero cold calling and instead take the Quiet Marketing approach. Few Twitter notification apps have proven to remain consistent about sending you an email letting you know when someone mentions your name or brand. Twitter Search is the best option for accurate results.

Tweetchat: This one is my app of choice for joining Twitter chats. Video on how to use Tweetchat.

Tweetdeck: Organize and manage my Twitter accounts and groups. Has some non-intuitive features that I handle on Twitter.com instead.

Personal Information Manager aka Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Memos

In the past, I needed to have my personal information manager (PIM) data with me and carried my Palm device everywhere along with my cell phone. When I upgraded to a BlackBerry, a superior phone to my previous, I decided it was time to let go of the Palm. Besides, I interact more with the PIM on my computer than I do on a handheld.

So the ability to update the PIM on a computer outweighed the need to update it on a device. That said, I needed to sync my data with the BlackBerry. I don’t like the BlackBerry’s PIM apps because they take too many steps and have too many features. It took me seconds to add a new item on the Palm yet minutes on the BlackBerry.

I still use Palm Desktop. It loads fast. It has just the right features without overkill — although it could stand a few more features. Originally, I synced the Palm with Outlook and let Outlook update the BlackBerry.

Now I’ve taken Outlook out of the equation thanks to CompanionLink’s Google Sync. It syncs all four Palm Desktop apps with Google. While its process for transferring memos isn’t elegant — it offers the best option. Google Sync then updates the BlackBerry. I update Calendar and Contacts in both apps and the rest in Palm Desktop. You can find more sync options.

Miscellaneous

Team work: Some clients and assignments involve working with a team. Each has its own web-based app for communicating. No one stands out or dominates. All apps have strong and weak areas.

Filezilla: Managing files on my web site’s server.

Bit.ly: Shorten URLs.

Dropbox: If I work on an article on both computers, I save it on Dropbox so I can access the file from anywhere. Once finished, I archive it on my PC as MyDropbox should be like an inbox — hold as little content as possible.

Online backup: I have an external hard drive for saving my work, but — G-d forbid, if something happens to my house, I’ve got my data online.

SnagIt: It’s amazing how often I use this screen capture software. It helps explain things or problems with few words. It loads faster than my photo editing software, so I use SnagIt to crop and tweak.

Adobe Acrobat Professional for saving work, invoices and other documents in its original format.

Firefox Add-ons

Links to all of these are in my Firefox Collection.

AI Roboform: Because Google Chrome doesn’t have add-ons, I turn to Firefox more often. For one, I prefer Roboform to Last Pass for managing my passwords. I tried Last Pass because of its compatibility with Google Chrome, but it requires extra steps. Roboform sometimes annoys me with its pop up box when I don’t need it.

Better Gmail 2: Gmail stays open in my browser all the time and receives equal — maybe more — attention as Thunderbird. Yes, the app can be worrisome as it goes down form time to time. But I can access email from anywhere, any computer. Better Gmail 2 enhances Gmail’s features by adding “sub-labels” (Gmail doesn’t have folders).

Download Status Bar: Instead of a pop up box, downloads appear in the status bar at the bottom of Firefox out of your way. Right click downloads to open, rename, delete or clear them. What could be easier?

Print/Print Preview: Don’t you hate it when you think you’re printing a short page only to see the first print out is blank and the contents show up a page or two later? Print/Print Preview puts the printer icon in your toolbar and lets you select Print Preview so you can control what you print without overdoing the tree killing.

Read it Later: Another reason I choose Firefox over Google Chrome. Click the checkmark in the URL box to save an article for later. I have yet to let my reading pile up. I tried a bookmarklet app in Google Chrome, but Read it Later works better.

Word Count Plus: As a writer, word count is important data. It can count anything you select.

Xmarks: Sync bookmarks across computers. I use a laptop often so I can work outside of my home office. I don’t have to do a thing to keep both computer’s browsers set up the same way.

What are your favorite apps? Why?

Everyone has their own preference for what apps make a difference in their work. Mine might work for you, or they might not. We all try, download and install many apps and add-ons. Bet  the Pareto Principle applies here: We use 20 percent of the applications we have 80 percent of the time.

Not all of these apps relate to the act of writing, but contribute to my career as a writer.

Browsers: Yes, more than one!

1. Firefox and Firefox add-ons (my favorite)

2. Google Chrome

3. Opera

4. Internet Explorer

Bookkeeping and Invoicing

5. QuickBooks

Writing

6. Microsoft Office

7. Notetab

Communications

8. Gmail

9. Thunderbird and Thunderbird add-ons.

10. Google Talk

Marketing and Connecting

11. Blogs: Wordpress, MovableType and other people’s blogs

12. Twitter and Twitter Search

13. Facebook

14. LinkedIn

15. FriendFeed

16. Tweetchat

17. Tweetdeck

Personal Information Management

18. Palm Desktop

19. CompanionLink

20. Google: Calendar, Contacts and Mobile Sync

Miscellaneous

21. Team apps: SocialCast, Basecamp and GroupSite

22. Filezilla

23. Bit.ly

24. Dropbox

25. Online backup

26. SnagIt

27. Adobe Acrobat

Not software, but must share. Love working with two monitors.

Next entry: The details behind these apps for those who wanna know.

What apps do you depend on for your writing business?

Talented writer Thursday Bram presented me with a Proximidade Award, on the condition that I pay it forward to eight bloggers. According to the rules of the Award, I am to chose bloggers who are “exceedingly charming, blogging friends who aim to find and be friends” and include the following text in my post.

“I am grateful for an opportunity to award this to a few bloggers who are very special people. I include the following bloggers who may have received this award in the past but I’m sure won’t mind receiving it again.”

My eight choice are as follows:

1. Christina Katz, and her blog The Writer Mama
2. Karen Swim, and her blog Words for Hire
3. Brad Shorr, and his blog Word Sell
4. Joanna Young, and her blog Confident Writing
5. Tim Beyers, and his blog The Social Writer
6. Robert Hruzek, and his blog Middle Zone Musings
7. George Angus, and his blog (yes, I know he received it — but notice we can do it again!) Tumblemoose
8. You, and your blog [your awesome blog]

• 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation at (Company) [pdf file]: Steal this policy to easily implement one in your company. No more excuses for not having a policy. A company that tries to control too much of social media will choke in its SM efforts. Also see how to create a winning corporate social media policy and Publicity Hound blog.
• The Power of Continuous Improvement: This applies to everyone including a small company and a one-person show.
• Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs: About time. It’s been tough to find b2b-specific blogs and contacts [Link: Valeria Maltoni].
• 10 Successful Facebook Business Pages: Like to see some that target businesses. All of these target consumers.
• Screenr: Easy to create screen casts!

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Wordoid: “Wordoids are made-up words. They look nice and feel great. They are good for naming things.”
• 10 Weirdest College Mascots: Aw, Fort Worth’s TCU is on there. I went there over 10 years for speech therapy and attended my freshman year in college there. The mascot costume is a little weird, but not the mascot itself. While growing up in Fort Worth, I’d see many horned frogs. Unfortunately, they’re scarce now. Nonetheless, the list shows stranger ones than froggies.
• 10 Coolest Pens: I love finding pens that write smooth without the squeakiness of a fine pen.
• Q-Block: Create 3D Pixel Art [Link: makeuseof]
• Printer Choreography: Who knew printers could dance? Warning: Lots of trees involved [Link: makeuseof].
• 12 Steampunk Gadgets and Designs: Ooh, cool looking PC.