Twitter and Pownce bring co-worker camaraderie to the self-employed hermit.

It’s no secret that this social butterfly has had a difficult time adjusting to the absolute silence and anti-social nature of her new work environment. I have been working from home since Feb 1st, so over 2 months now. Every day I write articles, build websites almost from the ground up (with graphics and troubleshooting assistance when needed), run reports, test and manage ad space, and participate in every social networking fad I can muster, all for the greater good. I’ve learned how to clobber through HTML, PHP, CSS, MySql, and a handful of other web design languages, and learned an entirely new field that I have never worked in before. And I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty damned good at it too. It’s fun, somewhat easy, creative, and rewarding in its’ own way.
But I do it alone, or at least that’s how it feels most days. As a self-employed content optimizer / SEO Apprentice / jack of all internet trades I felt lost in the massive sea of web traffic. This is probably my biggest pet peeve of the moment. I’m finding that being an entrepreneur in a business that trades only “intellectual property” is quite possibly the most unnoticeable, invisible, unrecognizable accomplishment I’ve ever achieved. I’m aiming to build a name for myself as a top-level content optimizer and master of affiliate revenue programs but everything I do is behind the curtain. I have no coworkers to cheer me on. No audience to applaud me. No customers to complain or compliment. I have no gauge of whether I’m breaking new ground, setting a bar, or just spinning my wheels.

Then along comes my testing on Twitter and Pownce. I had seen the internet buzz surrounding these social applications but never signed up, thinking it was a gadget for teens or just an opportunity to get spammed. However, in my testing I found salvation for my lonely soul. I built a network of local users who are also in the web marketing field as well as a few creative folks, and existing friends. I tried the standalone social applications, tested all the features, and managed to find something completely unexpected. Co-workers. People just like me out there on their own just rockin’ the internet world. People who understood buzzwords in my posts, and taught me a few of their own. People who pointed me in the right direction when I got hung up on a problem. People who gave me feedback on the ideas I mulled over. In the race for user loyalty Pownce is slowly winning my vote, but was an extremely close run.

For a more in depth comparison of the social networking tools that brought me out of the darkside, take a look at my full Twitter VS Pownce comparison post over at bUmp Interactive. And by all means, feel free to add me

WhiskeyChick on Pownce

WhiskeyChick on Twitter

Trying to build a presentation? Need a way to express your thoughts to those who require visual aides? Wish someone could take a lot of the work out of it for you? I would! I was looking for online presentations and webinars and stumbled across an awesome site called SlideShare that hosts tons of slideshow presentations covering just about any subject matter you can think of. You don’t have to be a member to view them, or to upload your own, and the search function is pretty reliable and accurate. The hardest part now is coming up with a speech to go with the presentation.