What does hashtag mean?

You hear and see the expression everywhere - follow me on # and then the company or individuals name (or you hear follow me on hashtag then the company or persons name -  - but what does that mean....
 

One of the most popular questions we are receiving in classes and via email is this one..  “What is a hashtag”.. Simply put, it is the “#” sign...

“Hashtags” are used by quite a few social media sites to indicate a name to whom you can then send/or follow for messages & updates...  Social media sites using “hashatgs” are those like Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, Tout, Google+, Facebook and others...

For example.. if I said to you what are each of these next two phrases in red.....

www.anycompany.com – you know it is a web address because the prefix is “www”

Susie@anycompany.com – you know it is an email address because of the @ sign

And if you hear.....

#anycompany,  it indicates that you can follow/connect to that person or company's group of common messages by entering their #hashtag id on the social media site you are registered with... Yes, you also have to be registered with that specific social media site with your own #hashtag name...

Colorado River Computer Club Meeting-Tuesday, April 2nd-6pm

We wanted to remind all of you in Lake Havasu City and surrounding communities that the Colorado River Computer Club meets at 7:00 pm on the first Tuesday of every month in Community Room B of the Mohave County Library in Lake Havasu City, AZ.

The New Users Group meets at 6:00 pm with a presentation for people new to computers.  

This Computer Club is a non-profit organization established to aid members in achieving better results from their computers. It is not connected with any commercial or private business.  Each month there is a guest speaker and you will have an opportunity to ask questions...


This month, April 2nd, Cherie Houston from Mohave Community College will be speaking about Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Blogging (handouts will be available)


For more information, visit their website: http://crccaz.com/- , which we have listed on the left column of our blog under "Student Favorites" for future reference...

What is a "Read It Later" service?

Whether you use your computer, tablet, laptop, eReader or other mobile device - such as a Smartphone or iPhone to "surf the web" we all have the opportunity to read numerous articles, watch videos and other information from friends & family on Facebook, Twitter or maybe Pinterest; or you get News Feeds from your favorite media websites... BUT you don't have time to read or view them all now..  

That's how a "Read it later" service or app can help.  These "apps" saves the information - link - etc. so you can view the article, photo, video later at your convenience (yes-this is also cloud computing).  So with thee services, you establish an account, meaning you have to have a username & password and that allows you to access "your account" and whatever you've saved... 

Many of these services are free (including my 2 personal favorites) but some are not - but they all allow us to  manage articles and other media that we want to access later...  Apps for these services can be downloaded to your computer, tablet or other mobile device and they are very very easy to use..... 

If you have a Pinterest or Twitter account they also offer this service and Facebook will offer it very soon....

I've been playing with 2 different services and really like them both - and yes, both are free

Evernote is my personal top choice abs quite honestly the one I now use daily, because I can store anything I want to remember including quick reminder notes (my family and associates will tell you I'm a constant list maker so this is great for me), but I can save anything I want to view or read later.. www.evernote.com

Pocket (formerly known as Read it Later) is my 2nd favorite and worked wonderfully.... www.getpocket.com

Others you may want to check out...

Instapaper, website is:  www.instapaper.com - Free and paid versions

SnipIt, website is: www.snip.it/#welcome - Free 

Side note... For those of you with tablets and other "Android based devices" some of my students in Arizona are loving this new free app - called "CRACKLE" which is a totally legitimate app offering free streaming of TV shows and movies.  I found that it doesn't have all TV shows, but there are lots of old favorites and some of the new ones as well; same goes for movies...  But again, it's free so a great way to play with "streaming" before you move on to one of the paid services, such as Netflick or HBO... so you might want to give it a try... I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the picture... 

Update-heard from several "Apple/Mac" users and I was wrong - Crackle has been available for  "i" devices for quite a while now... so enjoy everyone.....

Check it out: www.crackle.com

Who and what is Pinterest..

Pinterest - Social Networking site-Yes; but different from Facebook & Twitter... 

#1 – everyone seems to agree that this is the fastest growing Social Networking website today…

#2 – so many people, including some of our own daughter-in-laws – seem to feel it is “seriously addicting”

Pinterest’s goal is different from Facebook, Twitters and the others – as more of a bulletin board forum and Pinterest hopes hope to connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting sharing inspiration and ideas…

Pinterest is very popular with teachers of all ages, moms and grandmas, brides to be, those looking for ideas to spruce up their homes inside and out, or throwing a party or other event, looking for a new recipe… and it’s a great source for sharing “deals” before spending money…  An everyone seems to mention that it’s bright – colorful – and easy to view…

Check it out today at www.pinterest.com and if you like what you see, you can go to the top of their Home Page and request an “invitation to join”.  As with most email and social media sites, you will need to establish an account with a user name & password and give them an email address…

Pinterest is very new – in December 2009, it began development by co-founders Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra.

They first launched an iPhone app in March 2011 and by Aug. 2011, Time magazine listed Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" article and by Dec. 2011 Pinterest was one of the top 10 largest social network services with 11 million total visits per week (most of whom are women)

As of March 2012, it is said to be the 3rd largest social network in the United States (Facebook & Twitter being 1^st & 2^nd) and it has surpassed Linkedin and Tagged…

What is a smartphone?

We are all hearing the phrase “smartphone” – but how is a “smartphone” different from a cell phone?

Typical cell phones allows us to make and receive telephone calls; text messages and to take, send and receive photos and videos…

Smartphones offer greater functionality than regular cell phones, so that you can...

• use a full “qwerty” keyboards for easier typing
• have access to the Internet to access your email, Facebook and Twitter accounts
• work with all your Office documents, such as word & excel,
• sync data with personal and business computers
• send & receive instant messages
• play music
• show streaming video
• edit photos
• get driving directions from the GPS
• play countless games and
• work with hundreds of other “applications referred to as “apps”

All of this is in addition to making phone calls of course.. And many of the smartphones have touch screens..

Smartphones are actually mini-computers with an OS-Operating system (such as the BlackBerry OS; Palm OS or Windows Mobile OS); Smartphones have internet access so that you can download countless applications, including GPS systems, you can link to your social networking & email accounts; many smartphones give you the ability to not only take photos but edit them; you can view, update & edit Office documents and they can be synchronized with your computer for all the updates you make, as well as synchronizing your address book, calendar and tasks list quickly and easily – similar to what a PDA used to do – only faster and more easily… And of course the applications allow you access, via the internet, to hundreds of games, music, video and other sites…

This, like all other computer related technology, is changing almost daily so no doubt, as soon as you buy a new “smartphone” it’s going to be outdated and topped with a newer version with more bells & whistles… leaving us all to wonder where it will end…

What is Twitter & What are Tweets!!!

Twitter began in 2006 and is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc. and based in San Francisco, CA, but has several other locations in the US including San Antonio, TX and Boston, MA.

Twitter is another free social networking site (like facebook) where users can send and receive “tweets”.

A “tweet or tweeting” is a text message/post with up to 140 characters and all you need to use Twitter is an Internet connection or a mobile phone. You can follow many different tweets and followers can follow you..

You must join Twitter - which is free and you will be required to “sign up” and create a username and password as you do with all Internet accounts..

Twitter is used world-wide by individuals, celebrities, businesses from breaking world news to updates from friends …

Check it out for yourself at http://www.twitter.com/ - Twitter website makes it easy to join and offers lots of helpful tips for those of you who are learning to use their service. And again, it's free and simply another new way to "stay in touch"

Texting Lingo - What do those letters mean?

The following expressions are often called acronyms, but they really aren’t – they are shorthand being used for text messaging (texting) and InstantMessaging (iMing) twittering (tweets) and sometimes blogging.. These are just a few of the hundreds used by kids and adults alike - some are quite innocent - some are quite graphic; check out a complete listing at this popular website..

www.netlingo.com

ADR - Address
ASL - Age/Sex/Location
BFF – Best Friend Forever
BRB - Be Right Back
BRT - Be Right There
F2F - Face To Face
FOAF - Friend Of A Friend
GYPO - Get Your Pants Off
HAK - Hugs And Kisses
ILU or ILY - I Love You
IWSN - I Want Sex Now
KFY - Kiss For You
KPC - Keeping Parents Clueless
LMIRL - Let's Meet In Real Life
LMK - Let Me Know
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
MOOS - Member(s) Of Opposite Sex
MorF - Male or Female
MOSS or MOTSS - Member(s) Of Same Sex
NALOPKT - Not A Lot Of People Know That
NIFOC - Nude In Front Of Computer
P911 - Parent Alert
PAL - Parents Are Listening
PAW - Parents Are Watching
PIR - Parent In Room
POS - Parent Over Shoulder
SorG - Straight or Gay
TDTM - Talk Dirty To Me
WYCM - Will You Call Me?

Remember these are constantly being added to, so check "netlingo.com" often…

What is Journaling VS. Blogging VS. Twittering:

What they all have is common is a way to express yourself - but they differ because...

JOURNALING - For some of people “journaling” is a great option – when you journal, you are keeping a private journal (diary or logbook) and most people decide their own format – maybe to put in an entry or two each day of what they are doing and or thinking…And remember – journal’s are private…

VS. BLOGGING - According to Wikipedia, A BLOG (a contraction of the term weblog) is a website, usually kept up by an individual with regular entries of comments, descriptions of events, or other info & graphics or videos and typically they are displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Our class blog is: www.saseniorpcgeeks.blogspot.com

VS. TWITTERING
Twittering is certainly the rage – and is another social networking tool users can send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.

What is Social Networking?

JOURNALING VS. BLOGGING VS. TWITTERING, FACEBOOK & MY SPACE - All of these are various aspects of "social networking" - since we were children, we've networked with other people in various groups - today, because of the internet, our social networks are unlimited by geography... These are some common terms and what they mean...

JOURNALING - For some of people “journaling” is a great option – when you journal, you are keeping a private journal (diary or logbook) and most people decide their own format – maybe to put in an entry or two each day of what they are doing and or thinking…And remember – journal’s are private…

VS. BLOGGING - According to Wikipedia, A BLOG (a contraction of the term weblog) is a website - resembling "newsletters" usually kept up by an individual with regular entries of comments, descriptions of events, or other info & graphics or videos and typically they are displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Many families today create their own BLOGS to share information throught the family - they can add photo slide shows, videos, calendars with important dates to family members and much more - TIP-most families set the privacy settings at private so that only those family members invited can see what is on their blog.. Whomever established/created the BLOG can also invite others to "author articles - known as "POSTS" so that information can come from different sources...

Our class blog is: www.lhcseniorpcgeeks.blogspot.com

VS. TWITTERING
Twittering is certainly the rage – and is another social networking tool users can send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.

POPULAR BLOG SITES:

• www.blogger.com
• www.thoughts.com
• www.livejournal.com
• www.xanga.com
• www.typepad.com
• www.worldpress.com
• www.diaryland.com
• www.pitas.com

Such as FACEBOOK & MYSPACE… very popular with younger people - with all social networking sites - be sure to check your settings often - as the technology changes so do the privacy setting options, making it easier for you to protect yourself and your family...