Twitter Widgets (Pt 1): Profile Widgets

Twitter is becoming more and more popular as time progresses. People like the ease and swiftness with which information can be obtained. As a result many people want to add their Twitter Newsfeed to their blog or webpage. One way in which you can add the Newsfeed is by creating a custom widget!
There are several types of widgets you can add: profile, search, faves and live.  Today we'll discuss how to add a profile widget.


To Add a Twitter Widget
1.    The first step is to log into Twitter .At the bottom of your homepage, select the Resources link.

2.    Select “See all Widgets." 

Select “My Website.”

Now it’s time to pick the type of widget that shows the Tweets you'd like to be displayed on your website: profile, search, faves or list.

•  “Profile Widgets” to display recent Tweets from a specific user.
•  “Search Widgets” option will display highly customizable search results in real time (This is best for live events)
•  “Faves Widgets,” Tweets that you have marked as Favorite will be displayed.
•   “List Widgets” show off a list of users you've added. This feature is wonderful for showing off Tweets from people you think are interesting.

Profile Widgets
Profile widgets display the public tweets of anyone who has a Twitter account. We suggest you enter some usernames to see if you like this feature! See below for instructions.

1.    Type in the user name of the person/business who you wish to display in your widget. (see image for example)

2.    You can select “Appearance” to change the colors of your widget. This feature will help make your Widget unique to your website or blog!

3.    By clicking the “Dimensions” tab, you can change the size of your widget. Please note that you won’t be able to preview your new Widget size until it’s been finalized and saved.

4.    Before you save your widget, we suggest that you use the “Test Settings” to make sure you like the way everything looks.


5.    When you are done with your widget and ready to put the code on your website, select the “Finish & Grab Code” at the bottom of the page. After that code has been added to your website, your widget will be up and running!

 Monica Pierce is a Communications major and the head intern of the Social Media Committee at the Texas Social Media Research Institute located at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. You can find her on Facebook and on Twitter.

Finals and Social Media, or, Getting Things Done (TTT #15)

Welcome to Tarleton Tip Thursdays, where every week we help you harness the power of social media.  This week, in preparation for upcoming finals,we'd like to provide some helpful study tips, including how not to let social media distract you when studying for final exams.

Image via www.brandeis.edu

Tip #1:    Use social media platforms, such as Google Docs, to study review material with classmates.

Tip #2:    Make a checklist or calendar and plan your study strategy. You can use Google Calendar to plan study time with classmates.

Tip #3:    Enlist study buddies. Group study sessions can be conducted on campus (study rooms available in the library) or online using platforms such as Google Hangouts or Skype.

Tip #4:    Use campus resources such as the writing lab, tutoring services, or counseling services to deal with the stress.

Tip #5:    Take care of yourself and make time to move! Try to eat healthfully by avoiding fast foods and caffeine, and take short breaks by going for a quick walk. This helps keep you alert and helps to retain more information.

Image  via collegelifestyles.org

Hopefully these tips will help you prepare for your upcoming finals. Just remember, your social networking friends will be there when you are done studying. You can “unplug” for a few days to ensure you do your best work on your finals.



Deana Coan is a Communications Major and an intern with the Social Media Committee of the Texas Social Media Research Institute at Tarleton State University.  You can find her at on Twitter as @DeanaCoan.

A Photo App For Fun and Profit (TTT #14)

Welcome to Tarleton Tip Thursdays, where every week we help you harness the power of social media.  Have you ever wondered how people are starting to post not only one image on Instagram or Facebook, but two within the same frame?

Did you know that iPhone and iPad users frequently use an  app called Diptic?  For just 99 cents you now have the power to upload multiple images in the same frame. Talk about scrapbooking gone virtual!  Instead of sharing one special memory at a time you are able to share multiple memories at the touch of your fingertips.

This app has brought photo editing to an all new level, and can also act as a personal and/or professional promotional tool.

Think about this, your company is having an additional 50% off shoe sale on a particular brand. Many people want their information quick and as fast as possible. What better way then having a frame divided in three ways? Like so:

Now just upload to your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and watch your clients come in!

Brooke King is a Social Media Committee Intern with the Texas Social Media Institute at Tarleton State University. You can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Agriculture Gone Digital: Online Resources

You don't need to be a professional to take an interest in the subject of agriculture. Indeed, anyone who wears clothing and eats food on a regular basis is indirectly involved. There are many online resources: everything from farming statistics to studies on beef to how to be better at animal husbandry.

General Websites

www.USDA.gov The United States Department of Agriculture is your one stop shop for agriculture questions. Regulatory programs, consumer services, food safety, and rural development are just a few of the links offered for consumers and producers.

www.AgriHelp.com  Agri Help has resources for first-time ranchers and third generation cattle professionals, including free ranching software  developed by Oklahoma State University. There is also a “neighbors” section where people who have questions about farming and ranching can ask experts.

www.animalagalliance.com  Animal Ag Alliance was developed to communicate the important role of modern animal agriculture to our nation's economy, productivity, vitality, security, and that animal well-being is central to producing safe, high-quality, affordable food and other products essential to our daily lives. This site offers information about current issues, from the latest legislation facing agriculture to animal welfare.

Cattle and Dairy websites

www.beef.org The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association website has compiled many beef-related websites and brought them to you in one place. There is everything from a cattle learning center to the Beef Quality Assurance Program where you can learn the safest and best way to treat and work your animals.

www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com This site offers information to consumers,  from how to buy beef and what to look for at the meat counter to nutritional information. This website also has the information about the Beef In An Optimal Lean Diet, or BOLD, research project that defies everything you thought you knew about beef and your health.

www.dairybiz.com Dairy Biz offers many resources for dairy farmers. They have links for equipment, news, information for children, and farm locations.

Photo by Hannah Miller.

Pork

www.pork.org The Pork Checkoff has industry news, resources, and certification for anyone in the pork industry.

www.porkbeinspired.com This site for people who are interested in cooking pork and in it's nutritional information.

Photo used with permission from Morgan Wagner.

 

Sheep and Goat websites

www.sheepusa.org Sheep USA has the latest reports on sheep, hot topics, research, online education, and things that you can do with wool.

www.sheepandgoat.com This site gives you all the information you need to raise sheep and goats. It shares tips on fencing, healthcare and more.

Photo used with permission from Megan Pepper.

Social Media

Facebook: The Truth About Agriculture is a good page to follow if you don’t know a lot about agriculture, they share many stories targeted to non-agriculture people, encourage questions, and share resources about  different aspects of agriculture.

Facebook: The U.S. Departmentof Agriculture updates their page frequently with a variety of information. USDA stays on top of the most recent research that is happening in the agriculture world.

Twitter: @AgChatFound Their mission is to empower farmers and ranchers to connect communities through social media platforms. They have tweet-ups each week to talk about suggested questions.

Twitter: @AgBlogFeed is a huge assortment of agriculture bloggers. This Twitter feed offers a place to find a new blog to follow or someone to answer your agriculture questions.

 Hannah Miller is an Agriculture major and a Social Media Committee intern with the Texas Social Media Research Institute at Tarleton State University.  You can find her on Twitter as @ambitiouscattle.

A Guide to Social Media Lingo

Have you ever been stumped by the use of certain social media vocabulary? Here’s how to bluff your way through a conversation with 12 social media terms found on the Internet today. 

Creeping:  A light form of safe and appropriate stalking, via Facebook. You might be reminiscing about the one who got away, so you look him or her up just to see how much they have aged.

Tweedos:  Your Twitter followers. Twitter is a microblog, meaning you have only 140 characters per message, or tweet, that goes to all of your tweedos.

Hangouts: Where you and your friends can virtually “hangout” on Google Plus without leaving your La-Z-Boy. On Google Plus, you and eight friends can video chat in real time. You can share documents or even share your screen. Currently, it’s free, but you must sign up for the upgraded Google account. It is perfect for that small committee meeting.

Pinning:  A form of liking certain pictures, quotes, recipes, etc. — all with the click of the mouse on Pinterest. Highly addictive, Pinterest allows you to create virtual bulletin boards for anything you want. For example, you might start a board for potential vacation destinations or recipes you wish to try.

Unfriend:  The act of technologically unfriending, or deleting, someone via Facebook rather than face to face. 

Hashtag (#): Remember when a pound sign literally meant a pound sign? Now, it’s a hashtag, which is used on Twitter for marking keywords or trending topics in a tweet. 

LOL: It doesn’t mean “xoxo” lots of love, but rather laugh out loud.

Tagging: We aren’t talking about the “tag you’re it” game, though it works similarly. On Facebook, tagging is identifying your friends who are in a certain picture with you. It is like naming them in a caption for the yearbook. The picture is then placed on their Facebook page for even more people to see. 

The famous “@” sign: Don’t worry readers, the @ sign is still used for emails, but also to address Twitter users. 

Mayor: If someone other than Nancy Hunter says they’ve been declared mayor, don’t panic. They are probably talking about FourSquare, a social media site that marks online where you are in the physical world. If you walk into your favorite restaurant, you can check into FourSquare. 

Trend: Also “trending,” is reaching beyond wardrobes and into your social media sites. Trending can be known as talking about the same topic or sharing the same link — on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Farming: Now don’t get excited when your children use this term. It does not mean going outside and planting seeds. It’s the term found on Facebook for playing Farmville, a virtual farming game. However, it is not the farming we are used to in Stephenville, Texas. 

Learn these 12 terms and you are bound to sound like a social media guru during your next Facebook post or Google Hangout. 

If you have a question about social media, email TSMRI at texassocialmediaresearch@gmail.com. The Texas Social Media Research Institute, based at Tarleton State University, is a cross-discipline collaboration focused on social media. Intern Brooke King authored this column.

Note: This post was originally published as a column in the the Stephenville Empire-Tribune and is reprinted with permission.

Social media recipes: If This, Then That (TTT #13)

Picture obtained from "About" page of ifttt.com.

If you haven't heard of the service IFTTT (If This, Then That), you might want to check it out.
It lets you connect your various social networks to perform unique tasks (also known as "recipes").  Although you don't have to have a cell phone or smartphone to use it, it works best if you do.

Here are some of the tasks you can complete using IFTT:

• Automatically send your Twitter favorites into Evernote for safe-keeping
• Sign up for an automated wake up call
• Have a text sent to you letting you know when it might rain
• Get an email with a list of new streaming movies on Netflix

and many, many more.

You can sign up at ifttt.com.

How Private Are Your Facebook Photos, Anyway? (TTT #12)

Welcome to Tarleton Tip Thursday, where every week we give you tips to help you harness the power of social media.   Here's how to make sure only your friends can see your photos on Facebook.

1.    Log into your account.

2.    Click the drop down arrow on the top right hand side of the screen.

3.    Click on "Privacy Settings."

4.    In the privacy settings click on “Custom.”


5.    A pop up box will appear. Under “These people or lists” choose “friends." Make sure to un-check the box saying “friends of those tagged”. You can also use this box to hide pictures from a specific person.

6.    Click “Save Changes.”

Now only your friends that you have added can see your photos. Previously, anyone who was friends with your friend could view your photos.



Hannah Miller is a Social Media Committee Intern with the Texas Social Media Research Institute.  You can find her on Twitter as @ambitiouscattle.