Kfir Pravda wrote a post a few days ago about the 4 best ways to be extremely annoying on Facebook. Here is my version of it.  I will have to agree with Kfir regarding the 1st way.

1) Invite someone to the Vampire application. When he ignores - invite him to the werewolf one. And then to Vampire again. Repeat if necessary

2) List completely wrong friend details for how you know someone and keep sending it to them as they continuously ignore.

3) Send a message to a bunch of people on a topic that does not relate to them in a language that they don’t understand and keep adding messages to the thread.

4) Send someone a drink 5 times a day.

5) Ask someone to forward your message on Facebook to someone else …(no forwarding on Facebook, have you noticed?).

6) Create an application for Facebook that you need to continuously refresh (such as My Flickr).

What annoys you on Facebook? 

Plans are underway for the second annual Israel Web Tour. This event is the first Internet competition organized to bring 15 Israeli startups to Silicon Valley. CEO’s of the chosen companies will be flown to the US for exclusive meetings with the Valley’s hot startups, VC’s and potential partners. The upcoming tour will take place February 4-7, 2008 and is organized by CICC and sponsored by Silicon Valley’s internet giants.

Here’s a video from last year’s event.

Today I attended Wordcamp Israel 2007. Lectures and panels covered topics such as WordPress installation, blogging for business, and more. Lorelle Van Fossen who was the keynote speaker, gave a very interesting lecture regarding “Content Connections: the social aspect of blogging, comments, networking, linking, and how to start and continue the conversation on your blog.” 

For those of you who don’t know, Lorelle is one of the leading bloggers on the topic of WordPress. Her blog Lorelle on WordPress is a very useful source of information for WordPress users. Lorelle also contributes to The Blog Herald on a regular basis. 

Lorelle spoke about the importance of building relevant content on your blog that is worth linking to. She spoke about blogging as a form of conversation with your readers. She emphasized the fact that in order to be a good blogger, you need to be an authentic one. Blogging anonymously is not a sign of authenticity because when you don’t write your name on your blog it shows that you are not willing to take responsibility for your words. 

Lorelle discussed the significance of creating an identity that establishes you as a responsible expert in your domain. This is why the information you place on your about page is so crucial. If someone finds interest in your blog, the next thing he wonders is ”who is this person?” And then the next place he visits is your about page. 

Lorelle pointed out that a good blogger turns his posts into conversations with his readers. She said: “Start the idea but don’t finish it. Let your readers complete it. Make space for people to comment. Let your readers fill in the conversation.” For Lorelle, consistent readership is more important than traffic. Consistent readers become your friends and finish your ideas.

During her lecture, Lorelle also busted two myths. She said:

1) You don’t need to respond to every single comment you get, but you do need to make your readers feel like you’re paying attention to their comments and genuinely care.

2) You don’t need to blog every day. Don’t let a blog consume you. Blog according to your own schedule.

Lorelle gives another last tip: Create a consistent schedule for your blog. For example, every Wednesday, post your favorite video of the week. People will remember this fact and know to come back every Wednesday.

I thought Lorelle gave some very interesting blogging tips to all of us. However I disagree with some of the points. I myself do think that blogging as frequently as possible is important (even though I admit I haven’t been blogging as often as I’d like to in the last few weeks due to time constraints). I also try hard to respond to every comment I get. However, I do believe that Lorelle is right about not letting your blog consume you. You should blog as many times as you feel comfortable with and only as much as you can handle. Do not blog forcefully because 1) it will show in your work. Whether you are passionate about a topic or not definitely shows in your writing  2) once you turn blogging into a “task” you HAVE TO do every day (even if your schedule doesn’t allow for it), you will no longer enjoy it, and will most probably give it up at some point.

I also believe that the whole idea of turning your posts into conversations with your readers is a crucial one because the whole point of Web 2.0 and blogging is to engage in conversation with others who enjoy similar interests or topics of discussion, as you. If you’ve made your readers think and you’ve allowed them to finish your sentences, you’re one step closer to mastering the art of conversational blogging.

Thanks to Niv Calderon for the pic.

The below video was created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. It summarizes some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Yet another reminder that educational practices of today must be altered in order to keep up with the fast-changing times.

Most of you have probably heard of Shvoong. Shvoong.com is a world-wide center for abstracts, summaries, reviews, and short essays on a wide variety of topics in 34 different languages. The goal of Shvoong is to serve as a knowledge tool and summarize all that has been written in the areas of literature, scientific research, and popular culture throughout time. All the content is written by users who also earn royalties for their work.

Now Shvoong has come out with a new product - Shvoong Homework. Shvoong Homework lets students write and keep track of their class notes and homework online. They can even share it with classmates and friends. Shvoong Homework is designed to assist students of all ages manage and organize their homework. Instead of using disorganized notebooks, students can use Shvoong Homework to type-up their school work, keep it organized, and then share it with individual or groups of classmates, the entire class, students from other schools, or no one at all.

Some of Shvoong Homework’s key features include:

My Timetable -allows students create a Timetable for their personal class schedules using an intuitive wizard. Students can indicate specific lessons, add exam schedules and attach a teacher’s name.

Each Timetable is linked to Notebooks and allows Students to easily navigate between their Timetable and any particular Notebook they created.

Students can even receive email alerts for upcoming assignments and exams.

My Notebook - lets students write-up their class notes, homework, summaries, and exam preparations. The number of Notebooks students can create and the amount of content in each Notebook is unlimited.

My Notebook features include:

· A text standard editor embedded in the Shvoong Homework interface

· Uploading of Word or TXT documents.

· Sharing functionality: My Friends, My Class, Everyone, Private. Students are alerted whenever any of their classmates/friends finish a homework assignment that is shared.

Shvoong Homework supports 30 languages. These include languages such as Hebrew, Hindi, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, and Farsi.

Shvoong Homework is currently holding its first essay writing competition for American high school students in grades 9-12. Students need to write an essay on the topic: “If you were elected President of the United States, which issue would you work on first?” Other students will vote on their favorite essay entries and determine the winner. Ten semi-finalists will be chosen first by the public based on entry ratings and popularity (number of visits). The final three finalists will be chosen by an independent panel of judges, appointed by Shvoong Homework and judged based on creativity, appropriateness for the theme and overall presentation.  Finalists will then be posted on the Contest webpage where visitors may vote for the winners. Cash and other prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners.

Shvoong created this product because it noticed that student-oriented Websites were overlooking many of the “2.0 advancements” that have become so prevalent across social Websites. Eyal Rivlin, the CEO of Shvoong explains: “We spoke to teachers who were frustrated with their students’ lack of dedication to homework. We then spoke to the kids and asked them what would make doing homework more fun. We then took all their feedbacks and created Shvoong Homework… With so many distractions it’s no wonder kids don’t do as much homework as they should. We decided to revolutionize homework and make it fun. The result is Shvoong Homework.”

It is a known fact that educational practices of today need to be revolutionized in order to keep up with the fast changing technological and social evolution we are facing. In today’s age when students are spending a great deal of their time on the net and specifically on social networking sites, Shvoong Homework can definitely serve as a friendlier and more enjoyable platform for students to do their homework.

Below you’ll find Shvoong Homework’s introduction video:

1) Your first association with the word cloud is tag

2) When you get back from a trip, the first thing you do when you get home is post your pics on Flickr

3) You have more drinks on Facebook than in real life

4) Nobody asks you what’s up anymore. They already know from your Twitter and Facebook status updates.

5) You think that “reach out & touch someone” means poke them

6) You wake up, reach for the phone to update your Facebook status, and then make coffee. Then you update your Facebook status about it.

7) You have many friends all over the place. But you’ve never met most of them.

8 ) You’re in a good mood because your Technorati authority is up

9) You got poked by Jeff 6 times…only today

10) You call yourself Blonde 2.0

Thanks to Chris Campbell for the pic.

In the last week I had traveled to NYC where I had the pleasure of attending Stephanie Agresta’s Birthday 2.0 party. Stephanie is also a social media expert and we connected online through Facebook and emails in the last year. It is always exciting for me to meet my online friends face to face for the first time. I am a big believer in extending online connections to the offline world and since I am living in Israel and many of my connections are based in the United States and Europe, connecting offline is often hard but always very fulfilling.

I came back to Israel just in time to attend Jeff Pulver’s social networking party for his Facebook friends last night. The place was packed with people from the Web 2.0 industry and gave us all a great opportunity to do some business networking in an amazing social setting. Throughout the night various people came up to me and expressed how much they enjoyed reading my blog. This was the highlight of the night for me. There is nothing more fulfilling than hearing from your readers that they enjoy your writing and learn from it. I hope I continue to interest you with my posts.

Here are some pics from last night’s event:

In this pic: Nimrod Lehavi, Liron Lev, Ron Shoshani

In this pic: Liron Lev, Michal, Yaniv Golan, Dror Gill

In this pic: Liron Lev, me, Dror GIll

Thanks to Niv Calderon for taking the shot of Jeff and me.

Technorati tags: social networking, stephanie agresta, social media, facebook, jeff pulver, web 2.0, blog, nimrod lehavi, liron lev, ron shoshani, Yaniv Golan, Dror Gill, niv calderon

Kent Newsome, Dave Wallace, and Mike Seyfang had invited me to be a guest on their podcast show last Saturday. We had a great discussion regarding social networks, Web 2.0 applications, conversational marketing, the technology industry in Israel, personal branding on the Web, the best and worst ways to market within an online social network, and more.

Here are some key issues we raised:

 - The multitude of social networks have a dilutive effect on the online
social experience.
- Facebook’s momentum is in the more social aspects of online connections.
- LinkedIn has a more business-like approach, and perhaps it blew an opportunity to gain more mind share.

- The inevitable evolution and shakeout of social networks; survival of the fittest.
- The need for a cross-platform application to update profiles across social networks.
- The role and importance of proximity and face to face contact in social and business networks.

Here’s the show. Hope you enjoy it!