1. Download the WordPress Database Backup Plugin
2. Install and activate (tools > backup)
3. Select how you’d like the backup delivered and its frequency. You can download to your computer, email it to yourself or back it up to a server. Backups can be delivered hourly, daily or weekly.
Merlin Mann of 43 Folders and John Gruber from Daring Fireball got together for a talk at SXSW last month to chat about turbocharging your blog and essentially, capitalizing on your passions. It’s a very entertaining 60 minutes and I’d encourage everyone who is struggling to find their voice or wants to take their blog to the next level to listen in. The insight they give could be applied to many different industries and topics. Here are some of the highlights.
I’m a business intelligence developer for a Fortune 100 manufacturer here in Memphis, TN. At work I build web reporting solutions that highlight meaningful trends within the millions of actions taken by our manufacturing, delivery, and sales units on a daily basis. At home I like to take walks to the neighborhood park with my wife, our daughter, and our dog. Lately we watch a good bit of network TV on Hulu.
Sharing at Work is about helping people get things done in a contemporary office environment. Since I work in IT many posts are about applications that I’m testing for use at my office. I also post on more people-oriented topics like “how to get the rest of your office interested in your new social media project”. That part’s usually tougher than finding some serviceable tools.
I think we’re going to collectively move away from private one to one communications like email and start communicating in public as much as possible with services similar to Twitter and Facebook. We’ll still need email-type services for private messages, but doing our knowledge work in the light of day winds up benefiting more people in the long run.
My current big idea – I’m still working on it – is taking my grassroots effort to promote internal social networking away from the IT organization and trying to locate “collaboration champions” in other departments. Training, communication, and diversity are some obvious departments to speak with, and they might be better positioned to promote the “sharing at work” cause.
“How can I convince the business world to stop using e-mail as the center of our office productivity workflow?” I know that sounds a bit odd, but that’s what I’m thinking of 9 times out of 10 when working on the blog. E-mail has been the default in business for a decade or two now. I won’t say we need to get rid of e-mail entirely, but it’s used in many cases where we’d be far better served with tweets, wikis, or phone calls.
I’m currently reading Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It’s a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy thing that I got in a free promotion on the Amazon Kindle store. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read, but the novelty of reading a book on my iPod has supplemented its entertainment value enough to keep me going for a few hundred pages.
My favorite blogs are Heather Armstrong’s Dooce (parenting, family life, and the business of running a blog about them), Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist (career advice with a lot of Ms. Trunk’s personal life thrown in), and Scott Jennings’s Broken Toys (MMOGs, virtual economies, virtual worlds, game design). I probably read a hundred other blogs but these three are the ones I come back to the most often. Other favorites are Louis Gray‘s early adopter tech blog (where I have occasionally submitted an article of my own) and Gates of Memphis, a local blog focused on the city.
I tend to like most of my posts, and if I don’t I’ll revise them. Here’s one from last week that bottled some workplace-related energy I was feeling and connects it with several pet ideas on internal social networking: Setting up an internal Facebook might just solve your company’s communications and engagement problems.
Friendfeed is my #1 online destination. Find me as user Daniel J. Pritchett / dpritchett.
If you collaborate with others on developing and executing a social media strategy, it may be important that you keep some sort of calendar or record so that everyone is focused and headed in the same direction. That was the main reason I created this social media calendar template last year. I know it’s an old-school Excel file, but feel free to download, mashup and hack this template any way that fits your needs.
What’s your blog all about?
My blog is about being a father, husband, and all around dude. I talk about anything that pops up on my radar from funny stories about my kid, pop culture, and events in Memphis. 
Where can people find you online?
Blogging at Buck’s Blog, Rules For My Daughter, Supernatural Blog and contributing to Dad-o-Matic. Also on twitter, facebook and myspace
What do you consider being your best blog post?
This two fold. I think my best post is a tribute to my wife, but my most popular is my 99 Things to Do and Dying Ain’t One.
What song best represents your blog?
As much as I love, I can not be confined to one song. One song that always moves me and inspires me is Off’s “O Fortuna”
What’s your best blogging/social media/online marketing tip?
Don’t use automatic devices. Connect. It is called is called SOCIAL Media for a reason
If you could have known one secret about life when you were a teen, what would it be?
That is okay to be you. The worst that ever is going to happen is someone laughs at you. Laugh first and you leave them unarmed. I spent a lot of time being shy.
What is the one thing that you constantly think about?
I want to become a novelist. It is constantly on my mind. The only other thing that I think about more is my family.
What are you reading right now?
Online- I read a lot. I read both of the papers here in Memphis daily. Commercial Appeal and Memphis Flyer. I read this blog, Lifehacker, and pretty much anything that is linked in my blog. I use my links on my blog as my personal reader. I have a lot of stuff in Google Reader too.
Offline – Four to Score, Four Hour Work Week, Dexter in The Dark, New Moon, and The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery. Yes I am reading 5 books at the same time.
What 3 things that you think will be obsolete in the next 10 years?
Home Phones, Radio, and Me.
What was your last great idea?
To speak to the dark hair girl who was cleaning the bar with me at work 4 years ago. She probably would have never spoken to me but since I ordered her to fetch me a beer, it was love at first sight.
Micro-blogging service Twitter is all the rage these days. It allows you to stay up to date with friends and family no matter where you are or what you may be doing. It’s fun and it’s engaging, but in my humble opinion, the application lacks certain features. Where Twitter lacks, the open market has filled in. Check out some of the services below to get more out of your Twitter experience
Find more people – Sure, you’re following lots of cool people, but even they get boring from time to time. Find people in your local area with Twitter Local. Still not exciting enough? TwittEarth, TwitterVision, TwitterHolic or TwitterPoster are a few of the most popular sites that let you see what’s going on worldwide at any moment. Find out who’s got the most followers or discover new people twittering about subjects that interest you.
Mobile - Yes, I know that Twitter already has features for updating through your mobile phone, but to me it still lacks something.
Hahlo, PocketTweets or BrightKite are three easy ways to update and interact through your mobile device.
Coordinate with a group – If you’re following a lot of people on twitter then it may be difficult to cut through all the clutter to find those conversations that are most beneficial. GroupTweet allows you to interact and broadcast your message to a selected group of friends through one main group account. This could be very useful for small teams or even communicating with family members.
Search - Interested in hearing what other people are saying about a certain issue, product or article? Punch your query into Summize and find all related Tweets. This service can be especially helpful for business owners hoping to listen in on the conversations that are going on about them. For more ways to capitalize on Twitter in your business check out my past article – Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
Polls – Want to get feedback on a question or dilemma that’s been on your mind? Check out Straw Poll Now or TwitterCensus for informal polling and feedback.
Software – Wouldn’t it be nice if you could interact with Twitter in other ways beside your browser or mobile? Spaz and Snitter are two good looking Adobe AIR applications that can sit right on your desktop.
Fun - Life’s too short, have some fun with Twitter. Check out Overheard or get a sense of what people are feeling at Twistori. If you’re rocking a Mac, then there is a hidden feature that will show your Twitterverse within your screensaver.
Additional Resources:
What is Twitter? – 2
Twitter in Plain English
Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
OneHalfAmazing on Twitter
