I come up with crazy ideas all the time, and I occasionally snatch up domain names in case I have time to actually work on those ideas. Within the last few months, I’ve let these domains expire. Feel free to register theme yourself and/or at least take the ideas and run with them.

• agrg8.com would have been a Delicious-like bookmarking site for social sites. This came from my need to quickly find old tweets.
• reacht.com would have estimated the reach of an individual tweet. It would have taken into account the number of your followers who were active around the time you sent a tweet, how many people they follow (assuming that the more they follow, the less likely they saw your tweet), the number of retweets and who and when those retweets happened.
• rlbig.com would have been a gallery of “real big” pictures found on Flickr, Twitpic, and other social-photo sites. This was obviously inspired by Boston’s big picture blog.
• toupons.com would have been Twitter coupons. Since there are about 15 gazillion ideas like this running around, I actually developed lots of details for this one. Still have most of that documentation, but curious about what Twitter’s official advertising solution will be.
• tw8r.com would have scheduled tweets. I use Hootsuite, and occasionally SocialOomph to do this, but I hoped to address a few unmet needs. Those needs just aren’t important enough.
• tweiv.com was a really bad name for a service that would act as a sieve for Twitter. Now, I have the somewhat related storystreamr.com.

If you have a WordPress blog, you must customize your permalink settings to give your posts a fighting chance to rank high in search engines. In this video, Eric Stegemann (@EricStegemann) of Tribus Real Estate shows the March 6 crowd at #SMMOC, the Orange County Social Media Mastermind Roundtable, how to optimize WordPress permalinks for search engines.

For those of you watching with the sound turned down (don’t worry I won’t tell your boss), here are some details mixed in with an overview of what Stegemann explained.

What’s a permalink?

The word permalink is fancy talk for the web address of an individual blog or forum post. It is a blog post’s URL.

Search engines and URLs

Stegemann says the most important item for search engine optimization is your URL. For details about that, read the SEOmoz blog’s post “11 Best Practices for URLs“.

Content before settings

Before any of this technology can help your blog posts’ search engine rankings, organize your posts into a few main categories of content. See Lorelle VanFossen’s post on categories versus tags for help.

WordPress settings

First, an important note: You can’t change this particular WordPress setting on “WordPress.com” blogs (like the one used as an example in the video). Not sure which kind of blog you have? Follow along and you’ll find out soon enough.

From the menu of the left-hand side of your WordPress admin page, click on “Settings” and then “Permalinks.” Take a look at the image on the right. If you don’t see that “Permalinks” option, then you are probably on a WordPress.com blog; you won’t be able to make this change and you should head over to the Problogger post that explains how to move a blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.

Once you’re in the Permalinks settings, jot down the option currently selected under “Common Settings.” If “Custom Structure” is on, then also copy the text in that box.

Now, under “Common Settings,” click on “Custom Structure” and then enter “/%category%/%postname%/” (without the quotations) into the box immediately to the right. Here is what your changes should look like:

Once that’s done, hit the “Save Changes” button on the bottom and you’re done.

Everything changes

If you’ve made those changes correctly, every blog post on your site now has a new URL. What happens to links form external sites pointing to those old posts?

I’m not sure exactly how WordPress performs all of its magic, but I just made these changes last night and important links (from Google and from ReadWriteWeb) to my old posts are still working.

If you know of other sites that link to particular posts on your blog, visit at least a couple of those sites now. Make sure that the links to your posts still works. If not, you might want to consider reverting to your old settings.

OC Insight is a half-hour talk show focusing on issues impacting Orange County. It is the product of a partnership between California State University, Fullerton and KCET. In November, I was part of a (“Someone must have messed up. I don’t belong on stage with veterans Jeff Rowe and Jean Pasco!”) three-person panel on an episode called “The Orange County Media Evolution.”

I bit of background: I was initially contacted to be the “experienced blogger and new media practitioner.” By the day of the shoot, things had changed and the representative for the Orange County Register was no longer on the panel. I tried my best to shift gears to be “old media transitioning into new.”

Kudos to OC Insight for making this video available for embedding and for Christopher Bugbee for tracking me down on Twitter. Make sure to visit the show’s web site for a full list of episodes.

By the way, this is my television debut, and this show is in no way affiliated to The Kevin Sablan Show.

Last year, Steve Rubel waved goodbye to blogging and introduced many people to The Steve Rubel Lifestream, powered by Posterous. Since then, Posterous’ traffic has skyrocketed, possibly assisted by  Austin Statesman’s choice to use it to power their A Day in the Sun project.

I don’t intend to switch to Posterous anytime soon (I agree with Mark Krynsky’s thoughts on Posterous as a lifestreaming service), but I did select it recently when I created Freedom Communication’s Social Freedom blog, mostly because of the ability to create posts via email from multiple contributors.

The magic

In the two weeks of using Posterous, a rarely mentioned Posterous feature has totally impressed me. It magically (okay, “programmatically” might be the factually correct word here) transforms web addresses into pictures, videos and audio players.

I’ve created a post on my personal Posterous blog to illustrate this feature in an admittedly overstated way.

The magic is that I didn’t have to download, crop or resize any of the images that you see there. I didn’t have to embed an MP3 widget and tell it where to find the audio file. I didn’t have to copy and paste any embed codes for the videos. I didn’t even have to tell Posterous the width of those videos or images. See, I told you. It’s magic.

Bonus Wordpress magic

Much to my surprise, previewing this blog post showed met that Wordpress also has similar URL-transforming tricks hidden up its already-powerful sleeves.

I now invite all blogging pros to chime in with “how did you not know about this” comments below.

For those who were as shocked about some of this as I was, I’ve copied and pasted what I typed into the Posterous example. Here, you can see how it turned out in Wordpress:

Text from Posterous

Posterous magically transforms web addresses into media. The images, sounds and videos on this page were all embedded by simply pasting the URL from the source into the Posterous edit screeen. This works with posts sent via email, too.

Clicking on the media will bring you to the original source. I’ve copied and pasted some of the descriptions of the videos.

If you want to see exactly what I entered to create this post please read my other post, Posterous is a magic URL machine.

Flickr:

Twitpic:

http://twitpic.com/10hqjf

MP3:

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/sounds/13.mp3

YouTube: Richard Edelman, CEO, and Neal Flieger, Chair, StrategyOne, presents 2010 Trust Barometer findings at an employee presentation on January 22.

Hulu: In this episode of Community, “Dean Pelton talks Jeff into becoming the new editor of the campus newspaper.”

Viddler: What qualifies someone to become a Social Media Director?

Blip.tv: Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, spoke to students at Howard Rheingold’s Stanford Digital Journalism class, 1/20/08

TED talks: Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways.

http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us.html

Dailymotion: Broadcast Journalist David Heathfield’s report investigating the impact of citizen journalism on war.

Citizen Journalism at War
Uploaded by 18doughtystreet. – Up-to-the minute news videos.

Google Video: How Newspapers Came to Be Where They Are Today

Funny or Die: Journalism Challenge is a reality game show in which teams of two race around the world against other teams. Teams must compete in journalism themed challenges that test their news skills.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/70dcfc66ad/the-amazing-race-journalism-challenge

Last week, I became part of a small team of Freedom Communications employees who will, for 90 days, explore social media and the ways in which the company (which owns over 100 newspapers and eight TV stations) and its employees should participate in social networks.

As part of that experiment, we launched Social Freedom, a blog to track our research and learnings, from each other and other web sites and organizations.

To avoid some redundancy, I will be posting less about social media here on Almighty Link, my personal blog.

Please come join me and my teammates on Social Freedom. The blog is powered by Posterous, so you can “follow” us if you have a Posterous account.

Photo courtesy of Hazarizal Zainodin via Flickr.

Valleywag recently revisited Adrian Holovaty’s call for more “technical people” in newsrooms, citing examples of “how programming can grow naturally out of writing.” That same week, Editorchat devoted a session to discussing the question “Do editors need writers who are also software developers?”

I agree that some journalists could benefit from picking up coding skills, but I’m not sure that the journalist-programmer path is one that most journalists should pursue.

Most reporters and editors publish content on sites that rely on traffic for revenue. Yes, we need to diversify our cash sources, but I’ll leave those arguments for other blogs, sites and panels. For now traffic equals income, so journalists need to generate page views simply to keep news organizations in business.

Let’s see if programming skills contributed to the most popular New York Times stories last year.

It looks like readers of The Gray Lady were more interested in interesting stories than flashy software. The same is true when you examine the most-viewed posts from the Times’ City Room blog or Bits blog.

Maybe journalists are more interested in pieces storytelling technology than “regular” readers. A quick look at Poynter’s top media stories of the decade blows that theory out of the water.

Well, surely fans of tech-centric sites were interested in programming-driven stories. Not so much on Engadget, Macworld or the ultra-niche Lifestream blog.

Even a look at Techipedia’s best internet marketing posts and Time’s list of 25 best blogs don’t point to content that relies on anything more than basic HTML skills.

Of course, web traffic is only a small part of the big picture, and the sources listed in this post are a very small sample of the many stories that people read, but I have to wonder how critical are programming skills for most daily journalists?

More importantly, what skills should journalists focus on?

Your thoughts?

When is the last time you used Delicious as a discovery tool? That’s right, it’s good for more than just saving bookmarks.

Go to the Delicious popular tags page and (in the field labeled “Type a tag”) enter one word related to a topic you cover. Then hit the return button to get a list of relevant popular posts. For example, here are five popular items recently tagged “journalism.”

1. How News Happens: You’ve likely read many blog posts about this Pew Research Center study that called 83% of the news they examined as “essentially repetitive.” Oh, this was the same one-city, six-storyline study that was blogged and tweeted ad nauseum with triumphant proclamations that 95% of originating reporting comes from traditional media. This link was first saved on Delicious by frasernz.
2. There is no new revenue model for journalism: Robert Niles argues publishers need to review their three options for revenue generation. Then, they can “work to find a publishing and production model that allows a news publication to live within its current income means.” This link was first saved on Delicious by Daniel Latorre.
3. Cut This Story! The Atlantic examines stories from The New York Times and The Washington Post says to make the point – in roughly 1,800 words – that newspaper articles are simply too long. This link was first saved on Delicious by smashcut_media.
4. iPhone News Apps Compared: No, these aren’t the best tools for mobil journalists. Instead, it is a good roundup of 14 sites that deliver news on Apple’s device. This link was first saved on Delicious by hungrymarshall.
5. Finding Dolly Freed: When The New York Times pulled a story two days before it was to run, freelance writer Paige Williams decided to transform her 1,200-word newspaper article into this web site. She also add a slightly humungous “support the journalist” button to accept PayPal donations. This link was first saved on Delicious by Katharine Beutner.

Tales of journalists using social media, and non-journalists committing acts of journalism using social tools, are starting to sound like stories of people using their telephones. Social media is becoming part of everyday communication for many people in general. Journalists rely on communication tools to get their job done. Does that mean that social networks like Twitter working their way into the infrastructure of today’s journalism?

I threw the question out – on Twitter of course – and here are some of the responses that I got back.

Roundup

1. 
   ksablan Is Twitter becoming part of journalism’s infrastructure? @ckanal @robquig @donlemoncnn @jeffpulver @danielhonigman @davewiner 08 Jan 2010 from web
2. 
   cophotog @ksablan I think so. 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to ksablan
3. 
   schoolofold @ksablan For some people yes, but I don’t think it’s quite as widespread as those of us that are deep in it think. 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to ksablan
4. 
   sona23 @ksablan It definitely is, though I think it’s coming to a point where papers focus on it too much and not enough on other tools. 08 Jan 2010 from web
5. 
   DanielHonigman @ksablan Not yet — it’s not paying the bills. Once Twitter traffic — and conversations — become monetized, then that’s a different story. 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to ksablan
6. 
   ckanal @ksablan Not sure about Twitter specifically, but certainly SM & real-time Web are part of journalism now & there’s no going back IMO. 08 Jan 2010 from HootSuite in reply to ksablan

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Tribes

1. 
   cophotog @schoolofold @ksablan people will resist it the same as being web first. But will journo’s pick up on it before it loses it’s effectiveness? 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to schoolofold
2. 
   ksablan @cophotog They are picking up on it. Are you predicting Twitter will eventually lose its effectiveness? 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to cophotog
3. 
   schoolofold @cophotog @ksablan Who knows but if people think its just some silly trend that doesn’t apply to them, it’s their loss. 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to cophotog
4. 
   cophotog @schoolofold @ksablan I think we’re starting to see the ‘tribalization’ of Twitter. People converse with smaller groups based on geography. 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to schoolofold
5. 
   cophotog @schoolofold @ksablan and I agree about the trend, but they aren’t use to an audience that can talk to themselves. They want to feel needed. 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to schoolofold
6. 
   ksablan @cophotog or topic-driven tribes that transcend geography. @agahran @asteris @alexgamela @mathewi @kevglobal @justinlevy 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to cophotog
7. 
   cophotog @ksablan @agahran @asteris @alexgamela @mathewi @kevglobal @justinlevy agreed. 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to ksablan
8. 
   cophotog @ksablan I want to do a heatmap that shows a users replies over time based on the physical location of the person they’re replying to. 08 Jan 2010 from Tweetie in reply to ksablan
9. 
   ksablan @cophotog That’s a great idea. It would be great to compare that to a person’s IRL conversations. 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to cophotog

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Other tools

1. 
   sona23 @ksablan It definitely is, though I think it’s coming to a point where papers focus on it too much and not enough on other tools. 08 Jan 2010 from web
2. 
   ksablan @sona23 Good point. Focusing on the tool seems a little silly, really. When’s the last time we spoke this much about telephones? 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to sona23
3. 
   sona23 @ksablan Right. Building a strong online community requires attention to several areas: social media spaces, blogs, story comments, etc. 08 Jan 2010 from web

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Value

1. 
   ckanal @ksablan Not sure about Twitter specifically, but certainly SM & real-time Web are part of journalism now & there’s no going back IMO. 08 Jan 2010 from HootSuite in reply to ksablan
2. 
   ckanal @ksablan Twitter’s value is clear now, to me & many others such as yourself. But many people don’t see it; that could impact it long-term. 08 Jan 2010 from web in reply to ksablan
3. 
   ksablan @ckanal Agreed. I figured I would phrase the question more narrowly for a start of the discussion. Thanks for the reply, Craig. 08 Jan 2010 from HootSuite in reply to ckanal
4. 
   ckanal @ksablan Absolutely. Interested to read others’ responses & see where the conversation goes. 08 Jan 2010 from web

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Photo courtesy of Nathan Gibbs via Flickr.

There’s a good chance you followed a link on Twitter to get to this post. I thank the person who sent you this way. If that person retweeted this link, I’m confident that he or she checked it and didn’t blindly hit the retweet button.

My resolution isn’t all that exciting, so I searched Twitter for interesting link-related resolutions to share with Almighty Link readers. My favorite find was this message from self-proclaimed political junkie Diana Lynn W. (@La_Diana):

Here are more 2010 promises and goals that people on Twitter have made regarding hyperlinks.

1. 
   pixelcurious New Years resolution: to post at least one link to something creative every day. Design, music, cooking… or just something small & nifty. 28 Dec 2009 from web
2. 
   juliaschrenkler 2010 resolution: Spread the gospel to abolish “Click here” for links. If you can’t give it up just use a late 90’s web design on the page. 30 Dec 2009 from web
3. 
   Bama_GLori I think my fellow tweeps resolution for 2010 should be: more original tweets, less links. #ohyeahiwentthere 30 Dec 2009 from web
4. 
   larrysivitz SEO New Year’s Resolution 002: One link from each of the .edu, .org and .gov TLD gene pools each month. #seoresolutions 30 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck
5. 
   twittposers Happy New Year back! My resolution (for this account) is to link to a website so I can give more info. Can’t always explain in 140 chars.. 31 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck
6. 
   kevinbmcdonald http://tinyurl.com/yel5ods My resolution…post one link and profile of a missing child each day. Maybe if people pay attention, we can help 31 Dec 2009 from web
7. 
   DonSchnure My New Years resolution – kill Twitter spam. Tweet a link selling something and I WILL delete you. U won’t waste my time in 2010 31 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck
8. 
   dvdmon I have a resolution 4 Twitter – stop with the marketers – ban anyone who has marketing keywords in their profile or posts links re markting! 01 Jan 2010 from Brizzly
9. 
   Madmotion 2010 resolution – I will not follow any link preceded by “check it out.” 01 Jan 2010 from Tweetie
10. 
    laurathornton My #1 resolution is to know my network better. Let me know what your blog link is. I will def. check it out and comment. 01 Jan 2010 from web
11. 
    ourbuddydave Resolution for @scj: Fix CMS *again* so links work on smart phones! At least links work at @dmregister and other newspapers I read online. 01 Jan 2010 from Tweetie

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

If you liked this post, you might want to read “Imagine Twitter without links.”

This is an edited version of the fictional examples that appeared in yesterday’s post, “Imagine Twitter without links.”

Do the links make for better tweets? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below, or feel free to send me a tweet.

• “http://twitpic.com/135xa – There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.” Here is the original tweet by Janis Krums.
• “I agree with what Pogue said about Google Voice. What do you think?” Here is David Pogue’s New York Times column from August: “Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?“
• “I know a good auto shop that can help. No site, but I’ll email a link to the map.” Let me take this time to personally thank Costa Mesa Auto Glass for a great job recently. They were fast and professional and arrived ahead of their ETA.
• “Orange County #followfriday: @jonlan @MelAclaro and @RochelleVeturis“
• “You have to check out that one Lego Star Wars video. You can watch it on YouTube.” By the way, here is the story of the 9-year-old Orange County kid who made that one.
• “@ksablan that is just plain wrong.” I can’t really provide a link for this fictional tweet, but feel free to follow my tweets. You’re sure to find all kinds of things that are “just plain wrong.”
• “Does Scoble, Brogan and Vaynerchuk just tweet all day?
• “Use TinyURL to shorten that long link.” Here is Danny Sullivan’s impressive comparison of URL shorteners.