Challenge Week #3

Week #3 Challenge

Congrats to all who have completed the first two weeks of Challenges. Weeks 2 and 3 can be found below for easy access.  I hope you are finding some of these useful in growing your PLN or expanding your learning.  I wanted to start out week 3 with a quick video from Todd Nesloney. As I mentioned before, Todd was my inspiration for this challenge. I asked Todd to share his story with all of you.  I have never met Todd in person but we have shared many resources and he has contributed so much to my learning.  Whether you agree with Todd or not I hope his message stretches your thinking around where you are in your own learning and how you share and grow professionally.

Click on the link below to hear Todd's story:

https://vimeo.com/100241748

So this week's challenge:  Todd asks us to try something new, share,  collaborate.  Below is a list of a few tools many in my PLN use to collaborate, share, and communicate. Some may be familiar to you, others you may not recognize. Your challenge is to click on and learn more about at least one of the free tools below. Think about how you could use these tools to share.  Notice I did not put Twitter, however I will still continue to encourage you to learn more about ways to use Twitter for your personal growth, reflection and sharing.  You can also choose Twitter instead of one of the tools below.  Once you have learned a little more about the tool(s) click HERE to complete the challenge.

         1. Skype: An oldie but goodie, Skype is still one of the best online tools for collaborative communication. Voice,                 video, and text chats to your team are completely free; you can even share files. In addition to the Windows, PC, and Linus versions of Skype, there are also iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, which truly make this a versatile tool. Free.

2.        OneDrive: If your team works in a Windows environment, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a natural choice. Part of Microsoft’s Windows Live suite, OneDrive offers a place to share files, like docs, videos, and photos. The tool's filing systems allows for various permissions, which is particularly useful for team collaboration. Free basic account.

3.       Google Drive: Google Drive, formerly Google Docs, is an excellent alternative to SkyDrive. Anyone with a Google account can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations to share with the group. Permissions and other sharing features make Drive even better for collaboration. Free.

4.       Dropbox: There's no easier way to share big files in any format with your team than with Dropbox. This tool offers shared storage, right on your desktop: simply drag the file you want to share into a collaborative Dropbox folder, and your whole team can see, edit, and download. Free basic account.

5. HootSuite: Every good marketer needs a good tool for scheduling social media. HootSuite will link up with many of the most popular accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ business pages, and LinkedIn. Pre-schedule posts for any time, monitor your accounts, ping yourself for certain keywords, and more. Free basic account.
6. Prezi: Prezi. This online app lets your group create beautiful, dynamic multimedia presentations that incorporate photo, video, graphs, and text. Prezi also works as a shared whiteboard. Free basic account.
7. Flickr: From blogging to social media to email marketing and more, you need lots and lots of high-quality images. Flickr is a great tool for storing those photos in one central place – keep your images private, and only your team will have access – and also allows you to search Creative Commons for images you can use freely. Free.
8. Jing: Screenshots and screencasts are indispensable. With Jing, your screencasting goes pro with images, voiceovers, and other multimedia support. Free trial.
9. Zoho: This online, collaborative productivity suite offers a robust toolset, from shared calendars to collaborative discussions. But what's really great is the team wiki, which has nearly infinite applications for your marketing projects. Free trial.
10. Google Everything: No, Google isn't rolling out a new productivity suite called Everything; it's just that I didn't want to fill this list with 25 Google tools. So here's a basic rundown of team collaboration tools you can't miss: Gmail, Google Alerts, Google Analytics, Google Apps for Business, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Google Insights, and Google Talk. Whew! All free.