One of the ways you get your mind around something in social media is to, well, start doing it. Which is why you’re seeing a Google Friend Connect widget on the sidebar of this blog. (Unless you’re reading this post in a newsreader, in which case I have no idea what else you’re seeing. I hope it’s good.) And why you’re now able to comment here under your Facebook identity, through the miracle of Facebook Connect.

The idea behind both of these options is to let you use your identity from their network out In The Wild. Comment here as a Facebook user, and your comment will show up in your activity stream on Facebook. Join the site using the Google widget, and… well, I’m working on why you’d want to do that. For now, let’s just say my face is getting awfully lonely down there.

• 404 Error Pages, One More Time | Design Showcase | Smashing Magazine
  Get some inspiration for making one of the web's more frustrating experiences a little less annoying. Includes a tasty page from our design partner, Veerle Pieters of Duoh!
  (tags: design webdesign showcase humor 404)

One of the most gratifying things about my Noise to Signal cartoon has been seeing it picked up far and wide. How far and how wide? Here’s a handy map of some of the blogs that have reposted N2S over the past several months:

View Larger Map

• Why your web startup will fail
  Surprise: it probably won't be because of competition. A good, sobering look at what can bring down any young venture.
  (tags: business advice ideas failure startups entrepreneurship)
• Online Ammo
  The Center for Media and Democracy lists several U.S. military social media initiatives.
  (tags: twitter social_networking social_media case_study youtube blogging usa government military)
• Air Force Blog Assessment
  A flow-chart explaining how the U.S. Air Force decides whether to engage with a blog post about them. You know, this isn't a half-bad approach for a very cautious organization in a highly-charged environment.
  (tags: pr blogs government military blogger_relations workflow usaf airforce flowchart)
• YouTube – CanRevAgency's Channel
  The Canada Revenue Agency is now on YouTube, with an anti-underground-economy video contest apparently targeted to youth.
  (tags: web2.0 social_media youth video youtube canada engagement government contest casestudy canada_revenue_agency tax)

• Widget List « WordPress Codex
  The perfect gift for the recently-widgetized WordPress blog template: a list of widgets to drop in.
  (tags: widgets wordpress lists)
• Layers | Screen forensics
  Wow: screen capture software that saves each window as a Photoshop layer, including menu thingies and desktop icons. Must…think…of…practical…application…to…justify…purchase…
  (tags: tools utility software osx graphics photoshop screenshots)
• Drip!: FlashTip #1: Drawing with a Brush
  How to draw cartoons using the brush tool in Flash. Guess what I'm trying some evening this week? (And even better news: the best software for this is Flash MX, the writer says. Turns out my failure to upgrade may be a boon after all…)
  (tags: tutorial software flash illustration drawing cartooning tutorials)
• Women in Nonprofit Technology Who Rock: Adding to Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology List
  Beth Kanter's list of the most awesome women in non-profit tech. It's a goldmine of brilliant women's voices and action – well worth diving into. (And did I mention Alex is on the list? Alex is on the list.)
  (tags: web2.0 list nptech women bethkanter bestof fastcompany)
• Advancing open video with Theora
  The Mozilla Foundation puts a chunk of money – $100,000 – behind improving Theora, an open video format. Video remains one of those online areas where open technologies are still seriously lagging the proprietary guys; it's nice to see some real support behind efforts to change that.
  (tags: video opensource mozilla standards theora)

(young hip guy talking to older man in suit, who is punching numbers into an adding machine) Sure. But if you assign an ROI figure to ‘fun’, then our web team actually turned a small profit in the last quarter.

• HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume
  Mashable's guide to making yourself an attractive hire through the miracle of social media.
  (tags: web2.0 howto socialmedia work jobsearch human_resources resume)
• Intel Social Media Guidelines
  Guidelines for Intel employees who want to dive into the world of social media. Not a bad resource to draw on if you're developing your own policies.
  (tags: socialmedia policy work human_resources)

A pie chart depicting the information on the Internet. While most of it is serious, meaningful stuff, a tiny slice shows ‘YouTube videos of people hurting themselves in amusing ways’. According to the chart, that’s also what most people actually watch.