Tech Tools or Systems to Use and Love
One of the February contests for ActiveRain bloggers is to write about two tech tools or systems that we use or love. My perspective differs from many members since I am now retired from the real estate business and my focus is more on social networking than the development of new business. Since I am writing this blog on the last day of February, you can assume that I was hesitant to enter this contest. However, I hope my comments will be helpful for some readers.
Photography is my primary hobby during my retirement and many of my blog followers are more interested in my photographs than the wording of my blogs. It is interesting to note that you can develop or expand your blog following simply by including nicely presented photographs in your blogs.
When you share photographs every day, you will quickly realize that the quality of the images is the factor that will attract attention. The tool that I have used to develop the needed quality is iPiccy.com, a free photo editing website. There are other tools that professionals use but I am not an accomplished photo editor and need a simple application that is fast and will provide the desired results. Being free is also a very positive factor.
If you are not currently editing your photographs, I will suggest that you are making a mistake and suggest that you give iPiccy.com a try. By the way, many of us used Picnik as a photo editor before switching to iPiccy.com a few years back. Edit every photograph that you share for the best results.
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I am a very active user and you will see many of my photographs. I post a high percentage of my edited photographs on Facebook before using them in ActiveRain blogs and before I share them on Flickr or Pinterest. I could easily just recommend Facebook or Pinterest as very effective social networking tools and I know that many of you already have experience with Facebook pages for your business.
My favorite use of Facebook is my participation in Facebook groups. Facebook groups are free and you can join existing groups or create and manage Facebook groups that reflect your personal or professional interests. Since I am interested in photography and specifically flower photography, I tend to prefer groups that share those interests.
I usually select one photograph a day to post in a number of Facebook groups and I normally receive hundreds of likes and comments for each photograph that I post. I have a world wide following and receive comments in many languages. Fortunately, Facebook does translate the comments and it is easy to communicate with group members in other countries.
Even though I am currently ranked at the top of the ActiveRain Leaderboard, my Facebook presence is far larger and much more reactive than my following on ActiveRain. That is easy to understand because of the social networking opportunities for a broader audience on Facebook.
My advice to those who have read this blog to the end is to edit every photograph before you share it and to take advantage of the networking opportunities provided by Facebook groups. And, plan ahead for those activities that will be interesting during your retirement years.
If I were going to write about a third tool that you should be using, I would write about Pinterest. Please follow my on Facebook and Pinterest, just for fun.
Orchids, Longwood Gardens Conservatory, Kennett Square, PA USA IMG 5924
Canon PowerShot G11 Camera, f/4.5, 1/125 sec., ISO-800, 30 mm, No Flash
Photograph by Roy Kelley
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
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