1. From the Google Chrome toolbar, click the wrench icon, and select Bookmark Manager.
2. From the Organise menu, click Export Bookmarks, and save the file.  (It saves automatically in .html format.)
3. From Firefox, from the Bookmarks menu, select Show All Bookmarks.  The Library opens.
4. Click Import and Backup and select Import HTML.  The Wizard opens. Use the Wizard to locate and open the backup file.  Bookmarks from Chrome are merged with Firefox bookmarks.

It’s hassle free!

Also, see below Jim‘s Firefox addons tips.

I love Wikipedia.  It’s one of those sites – along with YouTube and AskMen – that I could spend hours on.  And often do.  So thank you, Wikipedia, and happy 10th birthday!  But birthdays can be times for reflection and questions.  Is it too complicated for many to use? How much can you really learn from it in one hour?

My view is that you have to evaluate something in terms of what it is rather than what it is not.  You don’t blame a pot noodle because it can’t blow up a tank.  That is not its purpose; it was designed for another task, namely, to give you the illusion of imbibing nutrition while still leaving you starving.

And so it is with Wikipedia.  Many people blame it for things that it is not supposed to achieve.  It is not made to provide academic-quality articles with deep-level analysis.

OK, so sometimes the odd blooper gets in.  This makes me laugh with Wikipedia and laugh at the pretensions of those encyclopedias who imagine that it doesn’t happen to them.  OK, so sometimes the information is a little shallow.  Hey folks, its a website we’re talking about here!  This is the nature of everything on the Internet. Suck it up.

So what is Wikipedia good for?  Well, here are the multiple uses I get out of it.

Launch-padding: By this I mean, starting out on a journey to research a topic of interest.  Wikipedia is great for giving you the lay of the land.  Then its helpful “references” give you some idea as to where to go next, as well as sections with “further reading”, “external links”, and complete topic overviews.

Dot-connecting: With a standard, paper-bound encyclopedia, the end of each article might contain a “see also” section.  So does Wikipedia.  But it also contains hyperlinks throughout the article itself.  This not only highlights special points for attention, but also provides with you the opportunity to explore a little wider before returning.

Peer-viewing: Wikipedia is not exclusively written or peer-reviewed by ‘experts’ i.e. professional academics.  That’s fine by me.  It means that the articles are written by people like me – informed, interested, and involved.  Therefore, through reading the articles, I’m able to get a sense of the word on the street about the topic.  While I wouldn’t claim that this is scientific trend-analysis, it’s certainly a part of it, and useful even for smart market-research.

Hole-spotting:  Sometimes what is excluded is as interesting to me as what is included.  People or things that don’t have an article, or much of an article, suggest to me either: (a) I’ve gotten their importance totally wrong, or; (b) I’m on the cutting-edge to the extent that other’s haven’t noticed it yet.  Usually its (a)…

Total-learning: Sure, I can read some words in the Wikipedia article.  But I can also gaze at – and expand! – pictures, diagrams and other images.  I can ask questions or get involved in discussions.  I can listen to word pronunciations, music and sounds from nature.  I can watch videos.  I can do everything except smell Jimmy Wales‘ cologne.

Are you addicted to Wikipedia? Apparently some are.  They are called wikiholics.  They have their own Facebook page.  Are you one of them?  Take a test here.

I would take the test but I’m too busy reading an article that links German nihilism with Lex Luthor.

Information just doesn’t come sweeter than that…

Image credit: jimbo_wales.

The web is a big place.  It’s full of porn, and social networking sites, people flogging all manner of dubious health products and even more dubious information on how to be happy.  Much of it is pretty useless.  How do we sift through the dregs to find the cream?

What I’ve noticed recently is a profusion of hyperlocal sites.  I used to bemoan the fact that websites mentioned England, or America, but forgot about here.  No longer.  People want information.  They want it about their area.  And, they want to be able to filter it by county and town.

So, who’s doing hyperlocal well?

Trip Advisor

Following a very bad experience with a hotel a few months ago, I don’t even do an overnight anywhere, without consulting this site.  It’s a review site, designed to give those booking holidays, trips, and other visits an idea of what a place is like, before booking.

People review for one of two reasons in my opinion:

1. The customer service experience was outstanding.  And, let’s face it, that’s not very difficult in Northern Ireland.
2. The customer service experience made them feel like adopting a life of Asceticism, with need for neither food nor shelter, nor any other frivolities.

Lookaly

Consider Lookaly.  Most reviews are positive, perhaps because we all know each other.

(But those that are poor, are very poor.)  Lee Munroe is not doing the reviews, his users are.  User-generated content.  It’s the way the whole thing’s going.

WhatsOnNI

Jacqueline McGonigle from WhatsOnNI has been very clever in establishing multiple categories on her site.  That means I don’t have to trawl through a reem of Antiques / Crafts / Collectors Fairs for example, to find what I want.  Much of the site’s content is user-generated, like with Lookaly, though she is also very busy blogging, tweeting and Facebooking these events too.  (I wish someone would come up with a Facebook verb.)

People therefore can follow WhatsOnNI using a method of their choice.  It takes time and effort to build a following though, be warned.

Business Events Hub

This is a public Facebook Page, so you don’t need an account to view it, though you will if you want to participate in any discussions on the page.

It’s maintained by Tracy Gilpin from Gilpin Consulting.

Alive on the Coast

Alive on the Coast is surfisode2 from Alive Surf School, for all you Bryan Wilson wannabes out there.   (Incidentally, he never set foot on a surfboard.)

Look at all the good stuff that’s happening locally.  Unstrap yourself from all your cables, phones, laptops, TVs, put on a big hat and coat, and go enjoy it!  You couldn’t beat it with a big stick!

Readers of this blog will know that we have an interest in the topic of depression and mental well-being.  Among other things, Dawn and I run training sessions for the local anti-depression group Aware Defeat Depression, and I run workshops on positive psychology (NOT positive thinking).

So I was fascinated by new research that suggests a link between ‘internet addiction’ and depression.  Debate rages around two points.  (1) Is the internet a cause of depression, or do they go to it as an effect of depression?  (2) Is the internet a sole cause, or does it accompany an excess of other activities, such as TV watching and shopping.

The mention of TV got me thinking.  It’s true of course that when you’re on the internet, you are watching the same sort of screen as when you’re watch TV.  The mind is performing the same kind of activities, especially if you’re using the internet to watch video clips or play games.  So is there a link between TV addiction and depression?

It took me about 5 seconds with Google to find an answer in the affirmative.  Research last year by the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Medical School found that ‘the amount of time teenagers watch television increases their risk of becoming depressed as an adult’.  Another study by the university of Maryland claims that ‘happy people read and socialize while unhappy people watch TV‘.  It was Csikszentmihalyi who first pointed out to me that the average mood while watching television is mild depression and apathy!

An interesting question is, What is the opposite of depression?  Health and happiness, yes, but what do these look like?  One possible answer is engagement (which is in part what Csikszentmihalyi means by flow).  Engagement with what?  With real people, with the natural environment, with productive achievement, with bodily exertion, with all our senses, with goal-directed effort, with future plans and prospects.  In a word, with life!

No doubt the internet can become an aid for life or a tool in life.  The problem I believe rises when it become a substitute for life.  Sometimes the internet deliberately offers us a second version of reality (as with Second Life).  At other times we can slip into using it in this way, as it eats up more of our time and priorities until we cannot spend a day without it.

Possible acid test – do you take your laptop and dongle with you on your holidays?  If so, please return to the start of the blog and read again…

Image credit: sskennel.

The Big List is a collection of useful web tools and resources, particularly for those who’re adopting social media tools for business, but feel like they may just have walked into a maze!  It will contain short descriptions of each tool and suggestions of how it might be used, to help you negotiate your way through.  It has been promised for some time, and is finally almost ready…

Initially, the first version will be made available to those who are signed up to our email newsletter, and updates will be sent periodically.  If you’d like to receive this new resource, sign up to the email newsletter here.  You will also receive emails on events and other useful articles.

Who is the big list for?

• Attendees from our social media and online marketing workshops.
• Anyone else who is new to social media and needs definitions of terminology and a simple explanation of what the online tools do.
• Anyone else who wants to learn and adopt some new tools that will help save them both time and money, in their marketing nad networking efforts.

All suggestions on good blogs, websites, Twitter tools, Facebook applications, social media tools, hints and tips, or mobile technology  are very welcome.  Add your suggestions – or questions – in a comment.

Image credit: Tim Green aka atoach.