Twitter For Beginners: The Basics (Part 2)

Use Twitter to answer the question: What are you doing?

In the last post, I gave you a brief overview of Twitter, the kinds of messages people tweet, and how to find people to follow. Now, let’s focus on you, getting your profile set up, and sending out tweets.

Twitter Profile

Your Twitter profile explains who you are to the world. Each component is optional, but they allow other users to find out and to see what you are about.

• Your name is your real name, not your Twitter username. Use your real name if you want people to find you using the Twitter search feature.
• Your location is your geography. Most people put a city name and a two letter state abbreviation.
• Your website lets you link to one webpage. You can link to your website, your blog, or you can develop a special Twitter landing page that tells people more about you and how you use Twitter.
• Your bio gives you 160 characters to give people a flavor of your personality.

You created these items when you opened your Twitter account. You can edit them at any time under the Settings option.

Others view your Twitter profile when they click on your Twitter username in a tweet, or when they visit your home page (http://twitter.com/yourusername).

Tweet Types

There are three types of tweets you can send out.

• General tweets go out to all of your followers and in the Twitter public timeline.
• @Replies go to a specific person and start with @username, but also appear to other users and in the Twitter public timeline.
• Direct messages are private messages sent to only one person.

@Replies

You send an @reply to a specific person, but a reply is not a private message. @Replies show up in the your timeline and the public timeline. They also show up in the timeline of every person who follows both you and the person identified in your @reply (the @username person).

Note: This is the default setting. You can also view all @replies made by the people you follow by changing your @replies setting under Notices in your settings.

Most likely, you see a tweet in your timeline and you want to reply. Move your mouse over the tweet and a back arrow appears on the right. Click this, and Twitter starts creating your @reply to that person. However, you can send an @reply to any Twitter user by typing @username at the start of a tweet.

You can view all @replies sent to you under the @Replies tab on the right of your home page.

Direct Messages

You can send a direct message to any user who follows you. You don’t use the Twitter message box on your home page to send a direct message. Instead, you send it from the Direct Messages page.

Use the drop-down list to select the person to receive your direct message, and type the message below. When you click Send, the message appears in the Direct Messages page for that Twitter user. Or, someone sends you a direct message, you can reply to a direct message with a direct message. Display your Direct Messages page, located the direct message, and click on the envelope with the left arrow. Twitter starts creating the direct message at the top of the page.

Note: The only way you know that you have a direct message is to check your Direct Message page. Keep track of the number of direct messages and you can tell when you receive a new one.

Additional Setup  Options

There are a few setup options you should complete before diving into the Twitterverse.

• Your picture (or avatar). Only Twitter newbies use the default user picture. For the most impact, upload a recent picture that focuses on your face. Square pictures are best if you can crop the picture before you upload. Twitter accepts all pictures up to 700k and reduces large files so you don’t have to do this. You can change your picture using the Picture tab in the Settings.
• Twitter background. Use one of Twitter’s themes or upload your own background image. Here is where you can get creative and establish your personal or company brand within Twitter. Use the Design tab in the Settings.
• Twitter colors. Based on the background or theme you use, you may want to adjust the Twitter colors to make it easier to read.

Last word: You now have everything you need to being tweeting away. Find your friends, find interesting people to follow, and start sending tweets. It fun and addictive.

Finding My Voice

With each writing project, you must find your unique writing voice.

I’ve been a blogger since 1995, and have written a wide variety of blogs. This is the first time I’ve written a blog for my company, and it has given me some interesting challenges.

First, I understand that my blog must help me meet the business goals I set for my company. However, I’m also in the process of re-visioning my company, so a few of my business goals are sketchy and a few are shifting. In other words, I have a moving target I must hit.

Second, along with the new business goals and direction, my audience is shifting. I’m writing not only to inform my clients and potential clients, but also to engage freelance professionals who currently contribute to my projects, as well as to locate and engage new contractors.

Third, I’m still exploring my new business area, and I’m working to build mastery with new tools, new thoughts, and create new business strategies for myself and others at the same time.

So with all of this change going on, you might ask me why I picked this time to begin the company blog. (I’ve asked myself this question many times.) Despite the obvious challenges, my instincts tell me that this is the right step at the right time. When all of my analysis doesn’t give me a clear answer, I always rely on my instincts. Besides, it’s never the ideal time to start a new blog.

Personal Transparency

So why do I think you care about my struggle to find my own voice here?

I’m not sure that you do care, in fact, I’m sure that some readers don’t care. (They have already stopped reading so I feel free to talk about them.)

I’m writing this post because of my own reaction to my recent posts. As I reread the content here, what strikes me is the evidence that I’m experimenting and that I’m stretching to find my voice for this blog. It’s obvious to me. Perhaps it is obvious to you as well.

I’m writing this post because I feel that issue is the elephant in the blog, the obvious thing that everyone notices but no one talks about. If you know me in real life, you know that I do the same thing in person, even when the reaction is icy stares and pressed lips. I can’t help but say what I observe. (Hello, my name is Charlene and I’m a compulsive observer.)

I also know that some of you reading this post want to start your own company blog, or have started and abandoned a company blog. For you, I want to admit that even for an experienced blogger, a new writing venture is (almost) never easy, and that we all face these sorts of challenges. The important thing is to keep going, to keep writing, keep adjusting, keep trying new things. Eventually, with some good advice and focused effort, you (and I) will figure it out.

For those of you who don’t see my struggle, I’ll explain this. I feel like I’ve selected good topics (mostly) and I’ve laid a good foundation for discussion in each one. What I feel I’m missing is the dynamic, brilliant observation that brings the issue to a head, either with a sense of closure or with a burning question that leaves you searching your own thoughts for the answer. It’s like I’ve only written 75% of any topic, and the conclusion was truncated.

For those of you who see clearly where I am and what I struggle with, your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Please stick with me. I promise that I won’t rest until I break through to the next level in this blog.

Tell Me A (Back)Story

Mixing backstory with your content puts a personal face on your work that people want to hear.

My business writing career taught me to write content for a specific audience. With a few fun exceptions, I write user assistance tools that help people integrate software into the workplace. I design information solutions that lie in the intersection of adult learner theory, information mapping processes, and just-in-time learning methodologies, among others. It’s a very structured and specific writing style.

I write answers to questions I anticipate people will ask.

These people, my readers, don’t want to know about the bells and whistles of the software they are using. They don’t care about how the software differentiates itself in the marketplace. And don’t even think about forcing them to wade through a discussion of the myriad of decisions I made to craft their help system or training program. They only want to read the answer to the burning question that keeps them from completing their job right now.

Backstory Defined

Over the last few years, as the blogging world has matured and the social media world erupted, there is a new type of content out there: backstory. Strictly speaking, backstory is not the content, but is the behind-the-scenes look at how the content author did her job. Backstory is not new, but is more visible than ever before.

Previously, backstory was defined as the untold story that explains how a set of characters arrived at the start of a novel, movie, or other storytelling format. For example, George Lucas wrote a backstory for himself that explained his characters before the openning scene of Star Wars (Episode 4: A New Hope) that he later turned into episodes 1, 2, and 3 of that series. In other words, he knew that Luke and Leia were siblings before he started writing the first movie.

In blogs and other social media tools, we start to see how people create their content. Bloggers tell the story about how they find their stories and write their posts. For example, Brian Williams writes in The Daily Nightly about how they put together the NBC Nightly News. Sometimes, the backstory becomes the introduction to the content, other times, it stands separate from the content. Think about the blogs you read, and start sorting the posts into categories of backstory and content. (If you don’t read any blogs, pick a couple from the right column and get started!) You can do the same things with podcasts and other types of communications. For example, we learned the backstory on how Prego created extra chunky spaghetti sauce from Malcolm Gladwell in his TED presentation.

Backstory as Content

In today’s world, the backstory is becoming content. As communications become more informal, and as self-publishing technologies allows anyone with ideas and time to create and distribute content, people are devouring both content and backstory. There is something voyeuristic about hearing the details of how a favorite author got a story idea from a conversation in the doctor’s office waiting room, or how one blogger set out to meet another blogger in a different city and ended up getting lost. Backstory takes content and puts a personal face on it.

As a content creator, you must decide if your audience wants only content or both content and backstory. If you provide both, you must also find the sweet spot to the balance between content and backstory so you don’t dilulte your main message and lose your focus. Whatever format you publish within, your audience expects content and not just to hear your autobiography. Tell them enough backstory to bring your content to life and build a personal relationship with them that goes beyond the value of your content. That is how you build customer loyalty and create buzz around your content.

Audience Segmentation

I’m struggling to find a way to share the backstory with my audience. The key I’ve found to solving this challenge involves segmenting my audience. For example, I won’t be mixing backstory topics into my help systems or training programs going out to the software users (one audience segment). However, I can share backstory on my design and development process with my client’s staff who sell and distribute the content I produce (another audience segment). Sometimes, the reasons why I include a topic, or how I created a graphic, or how I decided on a teaching metaphor can help my client’s staff to talk enthusiastically about the help system or training program to their customers and users. For my situation, the backstory audience is a segment of the total content audience that I can reach through a client blog. You may find that audience segmentation helps you to define your backstory strategy as well.

Last word: Identify who wants to hear your backstory and find the balance between your content and your backstory to build better customer relationships.

A Social Media Community Built on Caring and Content

You have to build your social media community on caring and content.

I read a lot of blogs. I love when I find someone who has captured an idea that I hadn’t quite put into words for myself. Or when I find someone who challenges me to take the next step in my thinking. Both happened for me today while reading Jason Baer‘s blog, Convince and Convert. I wrote such a long comment to his blog that I decided to blog about it here.

Jason’s main idea is that with social media, we need to pay attention to the people who turn off our services, the email newsletter unsubscribers, or Twitter unfollowers. He says that we need to care more. I completely agree with Jason that we need to pay attention to our audience, and to care about their needs. Social media is about a dialog with real people, and not about statistics, the size of the network, or other impersonal metrics.

Jason gave an example of a guy who unfollowed him on Twitter, and explained the actions he took to find out why the guy left. (For those of you who don’t use Twitter, an unfollow is like unsubcribing from a newsletter.) I thought his note was brilliantly written to find out why the guy quit, and I love that he did this.

My Social Media Reach

In the last year, I have vigorously engaged in the social media realm. Through trial and error, by lucky choices and complete mistakes, I’ve started to develop a social media strategy for my business. My decisions come through the filter of my business, my business goals, and my personality. In a nutshell, I’m doing these things:

• Launched a new blog (you are reading it now).
• Began commenting on blogs focused around my business and business goals.
• Launched two separate Twitter accounts (personal and business).
• Built a personal site on Facebook.
• Built a professional site on LinkedIn.
• Built a professional site on Biznik.
• Compiled a feed of contributions through FriendFeed.
• Post personal photographs on Flickr.

Because of this increased social media activity, I’ve started to evaluate tools and methods for keeping track of my social media presence, and other ways to make myself and my business available for conversations with the community.

My Twitter Strategy

Twitter has become one of my main social media tools, and I use it every day. As a result, I’m getting pretty clear about why I use it, what I expect from it, and how I use it. (I will write a blog entry about Twitter for newbies and those of you who don’t use it later.)

I recently implemented a change in my Twitter use that I believe has increased my effectiveness. I can’t control who follows me, but I am in charge of whom I follow. This means that I control the quality, the quantity, and the focus of the conversations available for my participation. Based on my experience, I have become more selective about the people I follow. I use the following guidelines to determine whom to follow.

I follow:

• People in my geographic community (who are relevant to my real life business and personal interactions).
• People in my business realm (who contribute to the ongoing conversation about issues and improvements).
• People who talk about things that I’m interested in (outside of business) that inspire me to be the person I want to be.

I run into a lot of fascinating people because they follow me on Twitter, people who are making very interesting contributions to the community. Yet, I choose not to follow them because I simply don’t have the time. I don’t have the time to listen and dialog with everyone out there. By limiting my following list, I can spend more time listening and talking with the people I do follow. As I said to Jason:

“It’s not my judgment of their value to the community at large, it’s only my evaluation in terms of my limited personal bandwidth.”

Time will show me if I have really improved my effectiveness. I expect to constantly monitor and tweak my strategy based on my experience.

Back to Jason’s Point

I like Jason’s strategy to conduct an exit interview with people who stop following me on Twitter, and may adopt something similar myself. If I discover that someone stops following me because I didn’t follow them back, I’m not going to worry about that. However, if someone stops following me because I’m not relevant or my content is thin, I will look at that carefully to see if that feedback can help me to improve my contributions.

I want my community built on content and caring. I don’t care how large it gets, or what social media ranking tools have to say about my work. I want the individual people in my community to join me because I get it, I say things that have value for them, and I listen to them. Those things happen when I care about my community, and that is what Jason is talking about.

Your Turn

You’ve heard what I think. What do you think? How and why do you use social media? What do you expect from the people you follow?

Online Transparency: Who Is Right?

Online communication differences break along generation lines.

A lot of people say things online that curl my hair!

It makes me wonder what they are thinking that allowed them to say such __________ (insert word here) things to a public audience in a medium that never forgets a single word (thank you, Google).

This Is A Generation Gap

The young adults today (affectionately known as Millennials or Generation Y by the marketing and cultural anthropology crowds) grew up with the Internet and don’t see any problem with posting their inner thoughts and private behavior for the world. Their friends do it, and they all talk about it together.

But the older Internet users, those of us who remember the world before the Internet, hesitate to air our dirty laundry online. We were indoctrinated into the world where you put your best face forward, and keep your inner world secret.

In the one group, you have people who embrace transparency and use social media to publish their transparency. In the other group, you have people who protect their privacy and often don’t understand the appeal (or power) of social media.

Which One Is Better?

That’s impossible to answer.

I talk today with members of Generation X and Baby Boomers who want to embrace social media, but are not comfortable sharing their feelings or having the kind of personal transparency they see online. Maybe some of their resistance is personality driven, but a large portion is generational. They want to come and play, but it doesn’t feel natural. They think about the possible consequences of online indiscretions and stay within topics that feel safe and unoffensive. They want to err on the side of caution.

When I talk to my nephews and other Millenials about their online presence, they don’t yet understand the politics of the workplace they are newly entering. They don’t understand that their boss isn’t going to like pictures of drinking (or worse) posted online and tagged to their employees (and the company). They are not indoctrinated into that culture. In fact, they seem bent on changing that culture and refusing to cowtow to the rules and structure that currently runs American business.

Where Does This Leave Us?

There’s no easy answer to address this challenge.

For Gen X and the Boomers, it’s the personal journey to push the envelope of transparency to find a comfort zone that allows them to participate in social media without offending their sensibilities. It’s about stretching and experimenting with new behaviors and trying out new ways of thinking. It often feels risky.

For Millenials, it’s about realizing that the rest of the world (i.e. older people) think differently and that they really could benefit by finding a common ground. Until the Millenials rule the world, they have to collaborate with people that may not be as enlightened on personal transparency. And for those Millenials who are not willing to take that journey out of a spirit of good will, there are new horror stories that have the potential to strike fear in their hearts. For example, just last week the BBC reported that Virgin Atlantic fired 13 employees for their posts on a Facebook group that reflected negative views on passengers and the company.

What is the world coming to?

Ignite Phoenix Promises to Inspire

Mark your calendar for Ignite Phoenix II on Wednesday, October 29th at 6 pm.

Ignite Phoenix is an ongoing event in the Phoenix metropolitan area designed to inspire people from the business, technical, and creative communities. Several times a year, the group sponsors a presentation night. In one sitting, you hear 16 passionate speakers talking for 5 minutes about their projects, their hobbies, or anything else that captures their imagination. The first Ignite Phoenix was held in July 2008, and the second one is next week on Wednesday, October 29th. It’s free and open to the public.

I didn’t attend the first presentation night, but the buzz about it was so great that I volunteered to help with the second presentation night. It’s one of those amazing volunteer projects where people are excited about the event and even the meetings run smoothly. Everyone contributes based on available time and gifts, and every action is appreciated and acknowledged. The guys leading the charge, Jeff Moriarty and Roger Williams, are fantastic to work with, and guys I’m pleased to include in my network.

Event Details

Ignite Phoenix II will be held at the Jobing.com offices at 4747 N 22nd Street, Suite 100 in Phoenix, roughly behind Ruth’s Chris steakhouse on Camelback Rd. It starts promptly at 6 pm and runs until 9 pm. There will be two presentation sessions with a short break in the middle. I hear that we will have delicious cupcakes on hand!

This event promises to be spectacular. What other event pulls together such a diverse audience from the creative, technical, and business communities and gives you a chance to hear so many different ideas in one sitting? If you are in Phoenix, you really should plan to attend. But arrive early to make sure you get a good seat (and a cupcake).

Mini-Ignite Phoenix at Podcamp AZ

In addition to Wednesday night’s presentation, there will be a mini-Ignite Phoenix event on Saturday, November 1st in conjunction with Podcamp AZ. This event features three speakers and starts at 8:45 am. If you are planning to attend Podcamp AZ, don’t miss it. And if you don’t know about the greatest local unconference about podasting, check out Podcamp AZ.

More About Ignite

If you live in or near Phoenix, you can sign up for the Ignite Phoenix emails, follow us on Twitter, and join us on Facebook. Check the website for other ways to connect.

If you don’t live in Phoenix, check out the Ignite website. If there is an Ignite program in your city, get involved: volunteer, submit a presentation proposal, and above all–attend it. This is a grassroots movement that you should not miss. There are new Ignite programs just announced in cities all over the US.

Disclaimer: I was selected as a speaker for Ignite Phoenix II and will be presenting my topic (Cinema Therapy) at the Podcamp AZ mini-Ignite Phoenix. I would still be this enthusiastic if my topic was not selected!

Better Blogging: Storytelling Through Images (Part 2)

Think about the image you choose from the viewpoint of your audience.

Last week, I covered the basics of image copyrights. In this post, I’ll give you ideas for where to find images and how to select an appropriate image for your blog posts.

Finding Images

I’m posting two blog posts a week, so I’m looking at about 100 images a year. Obviously, I want to find cheap or free images because I need so many of them. If you are posting more frequently and need more images, you have even greater budget impact.

The following sources provide free images:

• Microsoft Office Clip Art Gallery includes photographs. You can use this searchable resource with a license for Microsoft Office and selected Office components. These images are royalty free.
• Flickr allows individuals to post images under Creative Commons licenses. Make sure you understand the appropriate use for each license before using them. A recent issue of Pandia post provides some tips for searching through Flickr images.

The following sources provide low-cost images:

• Fotolio provides inexpensive photographs starting at $1 for small images. Their images are royalty free, and they explain prohibited uses for each image license.
• iStockPhoto provide inexpensive photographs starting at $1 for small images. They offer both pay-as-you-go and subscription options. Check their contract for prohibited uses for each image license.

You can find additional resources by searching “stock photography” and adding “royalty free” if you plan to use images more than one time.

Selecting Appropriate Images

I enjoy the process  of selecting an appropriate image for my blog posts. It’s one of the most creative parts of the blog publishing process for me. For some blog posts, selecting an image is easy. When the post is more abstract or covers a wide topic, it is harder to select a single good image.

Here are some guidelines I use.

• I pick the image after I’ve written and edited the blog post.
• I mentally summarize the post content to a single word or concept. I use this summary term to search through my photography resource. This limits me to key words that the artist attached to the image.
• I think about the single word or concept and think up a short list of images that might work, and search through my photography resource with this term.

A few examples illustrate how this works.

• For this blog post, I summarized the content to “finding an image.” This isn’t likely to appear as a key word for any images, so I reduced the idea down to these key terms: finding = map, magnifying glass, flashlight; image = photograph, camera, artist canvas on easel. I used combinations of these terms to search through my photography source and found the image on this post.
• For the post The Rumors Are True, one of the most important concepts was the idea of cleaning up your social media presence before looking for a job. That was the thought I wanted to leave with my readers, so I searched for images about cleaning, housecleaning in particular because it is something relevant to everyone’s life.
• For the post How Do You Use Your Cellphone?, one of the most important statistics was the number of people who use their phone for texting more than phone calls. I knew I wanted a picture of someone using a phone to send a text message.

When The Going Gets Tough

If you can’t find an image that really works for your post, try selecting an image that fits the mood or theme of your site. For example, I tend to pick images with white backgrounds and where people appear at odd camera angles. I feel this fits the underlying theme of my blog, to communicate information from a slightly different perspective than other people might share the same content. I want people to look at the same information in a new way. When I’m at a loss for an image that exactly fits a specific post, I have a selection of this type of photograph I can pop in that support the theme of my blog.

Final thought: With a little effort, you can find an image that supports your blog post message and helps to crystalize your message for your readers.

What Not To Say

Sometimes, what you don't say is as important as what you do say.

I generally believe that things work better when I focus on what I want rather than what I don’t want. It’s part of having a glass half full mentality, and helps me to keep an open mind about the future. While this strategy serves me well, I have learned to appreciate the value of sometimes focusing on what isn’t wanted. Specifically, I mean focusing on words that I really don’t want to use.

When I started my first job in Phoenix, my boss informed me that she had a list of words that no one could use in a status report. She laughed as she told me that I would have to discover her forbidden word list the hard way. I started keeping a list of her forbidden words in a file I called my anti-dictionary. In creating style guides for my writing projects and clients since then, I’ve been forthcoming about words to avoid, and I’ve always included a list of acceptable substitute words with the project’s anti-dictionary.

In today’s New York Times, David Pogue writes his anti-dictionary for technology terms. While I agree with his strategy for using the best and shortest word for each situation, I do take exception with a few of his comments. My exceptions and comments include:

• Content. There are times in my role as a content developer that I need to use this term. Generally, I agree that we should avoid using it with the user audience (and our clients) when there is more specific word we could use instead.
• Dialog. According to the Microsoft Manual of Style, “dialog box” is exactly what we should call that screen feature.
• Display. I use “display” in instructions to describe the effect of the user’s action, such as “[Application name] displays the xxx screen.” I’ve tried to find a different word, but end up back with display. It fits within the Microsoft Manual of Style as well.
  
• Enable. I don’t’ use this word, but I take exception to his dig at the industry.
• Functionality. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when someone uses this word in my presence.
• Price point. This term comes from the retail industry, and like all jargon, there are times when we should use it.
• URL. I use “web address (URL)” the first time I talk about any URL in a manual, but not to introduce the term for future use. I include URL in the index for each occurrence of “web address.”

What do you think of David’s list? Do you agree with my comments? What additional words do you keep on your own anti-dictionary?

Better Blogging: Storytelling Through Images (Part 1)

You must understand the rights of the photograph owner before using an image in your blog.

Blogging is all about storytelling. With each post, you add a chapter to the story of your life, your event, your business, or your favorite project–your blog subject. Each blog post reveals a new facet of your story. By crafting your words, you engage your readers and build an enthusiastic audience that can’t wait for the next installment.

As a long time blogger, I’m always looking out for new and better ways to tell my stories. Some of the bloggers I read are truly gifted storytellers, and I learn from them how to improve my own blog. In the past, I’ve mostly kept blogs filled with words and have only included pictures when they were relevant to the story. But over the last year, I’ve come to realize the value of including images in all of my blog posts.

Adding images presents three challenges for the blogger. First, how do I select a good image for my post? How do I find an image that helps me to tell my story and not distract my reader? Second, where do I find images I can use without spending a lot of money (or even for free)? And third, what about copyrights and how do I know if I’m allowed to use an image I find?

These are big issues, and I’ll give you some quick and simple answers here and in the following posts. I’ll also point you in the direction for getting detailed answers.

Image Copyright Basics

If you are not used to dealing with photography and copyrights, here is a brief overview of the important terms you need to understand.

• Copyright is a legal protection given to anyone who creates a work of art (like a photograph) so they can earn a living from their art. You need to develop a good understanding of copyright basics as a blogger, not just for photographs, but for written works as well.
• Royalties are fees paid per use of some copyrighted materials. Royalty-free images allow you to use the same image more than once without paying a per-use fee (royalty).
• License is permission to use a copyrighted image. The license spells out what you can and cannot do with the image. Often, you pay more for a license with greater freedom of use.
• Creative Commons is an organization that encourages artists to provide their works in ways that are easier for people to use. The owner of the work can assign one of six Creative Commons licenses to a work that allow you to use it within the license limitations.
• Public Domain refers to any work that is not protected by a copyright. This includes items after their copyright expires, or works that the creator gave up his copyright.

Evaluating Photography Copyrights

In the next post, I’m going to cover where to find photographs. When reviewing photographs for use in your blog, it is your job to evaluate the copyright status of each photo or image before you use it. The paid image sites include detailed information about the license you purchase, and may charge a different fee based on how you want to use the photograph. You must understand what you can and cannot do with each photograph license, or you can face legal action.

Many people mistakenly believe that any image you find on the Internet is in the public domain. That is not true. The person using the image may own the copyright, or may have purchased a license that allows her to use it. You may not take an image and use it without permission.

Up next: Where to find photographs for your blog, and how to choose a great image for your post.

Standing Out From the Crowd

Get certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist.

Did you know that there is a way to prove that you have outstanding skills with Microsoft Office products? Microsoft’s Office Specialist program conducts competency testing on the full range of Office products, and offers four levels of certification.

• Specialist certification. The first certification level, Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS), requires you to take a specialist exam in one or more Office products, including Microsoft Office Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Access 2007, and Outlook 2007.
• Expert certification. The second certification level requires you to take an expert exam available for Word 2007 and Excel 2007.
• Master certification. The third certification level requires you to take the expert exams for Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 and one additional expert exam of your choice.
• Specialist Master Instructor certification. The highest certification level requires you to complete the expert exams and provide proof of your teaching experience.

Preparation & Testing

Microsoft provides online resources to help you assess your current skills and prepare for the specialist and expert exams. They also have information about special offers for certificate preparation courses. You and also use their website to locate local testing centers where you take the tests.

Certificate

After passing the test, you receive a certificate and can add your certification level to your resume. Having this certification makes you stand out in a stack of resumes. If you are a relatively new writer, it can make the difference in the hiring process because it proves your ability to master this tool and your ability to go the extra mile to learn new skills in your field.

Certified Office Specialists may also be eligible for one semester of college credit through the American Council of Education (ACE) at the more than 1,500 cooperating colleges and universities.

So, what are you waiting for? Join the ranks of people who got better jobs because they became certified in Microsoft Office products.