Confused but still curious ... Skype here we come!

I have finally today managed to install Skype! First go took hours, have no clue why it took so long to down load and for nothing. I did though learn what a web browser is, where the application folder is found and believe it or not managed to get the Skype icon in the application folder! The language and all these abbreviations are driving me bananas ... The next challenge is to find how to dial, get the number off my friends who have Skype and learn to dial to mobiles and landlines. I did try to find my friend Marianne's contact details but at no avail as she is the only one I know who has Skype! I probably shall get some head phones as well. I have to say the thought to be able to phone for free is a carrot in itself. I probably will find out that I have more friends than I thought who have Skype, I am the one lagging behind.

Whatch out for those phone calls!

Tips - Google any questions you have when trying to figure out what they really mean! Takes a bit of time but well worth it!

LinkedIn is coming on and I have even managed to update my profile, still some more to do there. I have also managed to connect a few more colleagues which is great and found some that I have now reconnected with which felt a bit like a triumph.

Tonight at a dinner party I brought the discussion up about LinkedIn and asked if the two gentlemen I was talking with where on LinkedIn? I was amazed that they had never heard of it! Even I had heard of it before I was completely converted!! It was interesting to have to inform them why it could be a good idea. I actually felt quite convincing even if they were far certain if it was such a good idea. They both had interesting comments why it would not work in their business. I actually felt they were missing out on something, imagine! Even if I have to admit I am not quite sure yet what I actually will gain from it. One thing I have noticed for sure is that this game is full of surprises...

Tips - found a lot of contacts by going through my contact list and looking a their contacts!

Twitter is still something that I have not quite come to terms with - will see what I can do tomorrow...

I must also decide if this blog is worth making others aware of and if it can be of any interest to others!!??? Only two followers so far and they are whiz kids on this stuff.

More challanges and for sure more frustration to come ....

This is just so stressful!!!!

Why can I never start anything on the internet without getting stuck on remembering all these passwords!!!! Even getting into my blog tonight I got it wrong to start with but finally remembered! I have now started a file on my Blackberry where I can make a note of all these passwords, for easier access. You smart people out there have probably thought about this ages ago... I have of course written them down somewhere securely. You know in a book with lock and key and hidden underneath something .... Well not very digital so let us see how this works? Hurrah I just have to remember ONE password, this is what I call progress and it has taken my only half an hour!

Twitter

So what progress have I done since that first day of our Master Class in New York? Well I did start a twitter and did twitter with great enthusiasm during the duration of the course but sadly I have not done much twittering since. Why, because now I am stuck again. I know how to send a twitter to the Master Class a they recognise a sensitive world like grrrrrr no hash sign on my computer, why???, hmc. No idea how to send it to the Goodwille's twitterpage. I will have to set that to be my homework for tomorrow. I like the idea of twittering short and quick and you can say it when it is on your mind and not wait until you have your computer to hand. Well that is of course if anyone is interested in it except me of course ...

Facebook

Already on Monday 19 October I signed up on Facebook! I shocked my sons who have already threatened to bloc me as they realise that I actually is checking what they are up to, they had definitely not expected that I should put it into action. Actually they think it is rather cool that I am 'out there'. I think I already know more about what is going on in their lives, in the nicest sense. What have I missed out on until now and imagine what I could have missed out on in the future? I have also managed to have lunch with a girl friend with whom I regained contact through Facebook, another crazy one, fantastic. Apparently the fastest growing group of members on Facebook is strangely enough women like myself, who would have thought that? How could anyone have time for such silly nonsense? I think I have 35 friends now. Just imagine to be able to keep track on how many friends you have. I noted that Kevin Swanepoel has over 600 friends. How is that possible? Well on Facebook ... I have however decided to keep Facebook for friends and for business I am on LinkedIn. Of course I see my business acquaintance as friends as, so do not worry.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn I started a while ago but I have done absolutely only the basic and it is a high priority to at least up date my professional profile properly - it looks as if I have done nothing in my life!

BBM

My goddaughter Nina managed to set me up on BBM so the two of us can now send messages to each other. I have to say it is so much easier than sending a text message on a phone which I only do if absolutely necessary. Here you can quickly type the message and you receive them as you receive a mail. I just now need to find out who else of my friends can be connected and learn how. You need some sort of a pin code that should be synchronised I believe. By the time I have figured this one out I probably have an Iphone anyhow and to be honest it sounds to complicated to contact people and ask them if they are on BBM. I am really pleased though that I am connected to Nina. If you like to be connected let me know.

My MAC

My other great challenges are to understand what everything means on every page that comes up whatever I am doing on my computer or when I am on line, on my blog etc. You navigate differently on Facebook and LinkedIn, they way you enter and up date matters. I will need to learn about Flickr which I had never heard about until my Master Class, which sounds so useful. When asked at the Master Class if we all had to be on Wikipedia, even I could raise my hand confidently, thank goodness, I think I would have had to leave if I hadn't, puuuhh. Imagine everything else they could have asked, fills me with horror to think what it could have been. Well I am working hard not to ever come in that situation. I have finally taken full advantage of my MAC instead of working on my PC. It is at once so much more user friendly than PC.

The biggest challenge is that I am, as far as possible, not going to ask for help! Help... I think my patience is going to be tested to its full on this point. I who like things to happen NOW.

No, no I am not going to say it, how am I going to have time for all this, it is a no no if I am going digital and not to die!

Go Digital or Die - here we go!

How on earth I got talked into starting a blog I do not know? Here I am and it is due to a comment made by one of the participants at a Master Class arranged by Hyper Island in New York between the 15 and 18 of October 2009 namely Rob Schwartz. By now I have talked so much about it that I thought I better get on with it!

The main objective of this blog is that I will write down my own experience and thoughts during my journey into the digital world. Everyone who knows me today know that my knowledge of surfing the net, being technical ie I hate reading instructions, being part of the social media world etc etc is extremely limited! In other words I have never made the time to sit down and learn and play ... Who has the time???? Well I have now realised that if I will be part of the evolution that is taking place in the media world I just have to dig in there. If I shall be really honest I have now for the first time understood the reason for it and I will never say that I have not got time for social media and all that other stuff! It is going to be like getting fit, taking a bit of exercise every day....

Watch this space!