Tokbox is a free service that lets you talk with your friends over live video. Here’s how it works: you sign up and they give you a link. When you want to talk with anyone, just give them the link – they click and you chat.

Now out of the many ways that anyone can video chat these days why would you choose Tokbox? There is iChat, Gchat, Skype, etc… They all have video. I was introduced to Tokbox and impressed by Tokbox by my friend Rob Blatt. He was showing me how it works and we did a quick video conference call with 6 people! And the video was clear and the sound wasn’t delayed!

Needless to say I was amazed! Tokbox has a bunch of interesting features and it is a pretty new service so I expect it to grow a lot. One of my main complaints about it is the sketch factor. Early on I did not update my privacy settings and I got a video chat request from someone I did not know who just wanted to chat with me.

I wasn’t really ok with that. But once I updated my privacy settings everything was all good.

Tokbox also has twitter integration so that you can send out a tweet if you are on a public conference call you want people to be able to join in on.

There are a few different things you can embed with Tokbox. You can embed video chat right on your website or blog, or embed a video mail box where people can leave you video messages on Tokbox. So check it out and let me know what you think! You can also add me as a friend on Tokbox here.

It has been a long year for Random Sarah. I joined twitter, started a new blog, started video blogging, started a video podcast, created a community blog project, met a ton of people….man I’m tired already. But I had one goal when I started all this and that was to make it to SXSW interactive in 2009. I know it sounds like a strange goal, but I figured if I could only attend one conference all year I would pick that one.

The plan was pretty simple: Find a company that needed help during SXSWi and work for them for the week in exchange for a conference pass and accommodations. It was a plan that I had seen many other people execute before so it didn’t seem to difficult to me. However, over the last few months it has become very clear that this year we are dealing with SXSW recession edition.  More and more, companies didn’t have the same big budget for conferences that they once had. They were going to try and get by with as little as possible. And in this economy who can blame them.

But I still have a problem: I have a plane ticket to Austin and no conference pass. I am planning on shooting a few episodes of my show What’s it all about: Web 2.0 at SXSW but this all requires a sponsorship that I don’t have. So, I have come up with a new SXSW recession plan. I will be there for all 5 days of the conference. So I am looking for 5 Companies who would like me to represent their brand during the conference. (This idea was totally inspired by Girl in your shirt and I Wear Your Shirt)

The plan is simple: Each day I will wear the shirt of a different company. On your day I will be required to wear your shirt all around the expo and to any events I attend that evening. You would send me a company shirt along with something about your company that I would tell people every time they asked me about my shirt. I will be your active brand ambassador for the day. In addition to talking about your company, I will wear the shirt on my show that will be seen by many more people than just people physically in Austin attending SXSW. Your company will be the sponsor of that episode. All of this would only cost you $150 for the day! Seriously, I know you have $150 in your budget to sponsor a totally deserving blogger to go to SXSW!

UPDATE: In addition to having me wear your shirt and talk about the company for a day, and a sponsor spot on What’s it all about: Web 2.0, I will blog about your company before SXSW in a post about my SXSW Sponsors, and a post after SXSW, thanking my sponsors with links to all the photos, and videos taken of me during the conference. You will also get ad space on Random Sarah for the month of March. (125×125)

Why should your company do this? That’s easy! Because it would cost you a lot less than paying for my whole pass and hotel stay, and you get a up and comming girl in the world of social media to talk about your company all day. This is especially great for companies that may not have the budget to attend SXSWi this year. I will attend for you!

If you are looking for more information about me you can check out the rest of Random Sarah which is my personal blog, including my old video blogs. Check me out on Twitter and Tumblr. And check out my old episodes of What’s it all about: Web 2.0

Please contact me if your company is interested in me being your brand ambassador for the day.

Related links:

Want a brand ambassador for SXSW, meet Sarah (Sanford Dickert, Social Engineer)

Do you find yourself wasting time all day on the same websites?

Do you refresh the page every single time you see that there is something new?

Well if you answered yes then you are a lot like me.

Maybe this simple service would help us claim back a little bit of productivity. It’s called keep me out! and the premise is pretty simple.

• Enter the address of the website you visit too often.
• Bookmark the KeepMeOut alias and use the bookmark to navigate to the website instead.
• Reclaim your life!

Let’s test it to see how well it works! Post your results in the comments below.

Next week is Social Media Week in NYC. I am most excited about being able to attend the Social Communications Summit.

At SocComm, we will explore the state of Social Communications, where things are headed in the future and where the money is today and will be tomorrow.

It’s shaping up to be a great day with some wonderful speakers.

The last time I attended a Jeff Pulver event I wrote this post and it quickly became one of my most commented posts ever. I know great things will come from me attending SocComm. Jeff Pulver was kind enough to award me a scholarship so that I would be able to attend (since there was no way I could afford the nearly $500 pass). I know great things will come from me attending SocComm.

Here is the rest of the event schedule for social media week.

Feb 09:

• Fireside chat with Karp and Forman (7pm-9pm Venue TBD)*
• SocComm: The Social Communications Summit (VIP Dinner)
• O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (7:45am-6pm)

Feb 10:

• O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (7:45am-6pm)
  
• SocComm: The Social Communications Summit (8:30am-7pm)
  
• FYI’s ‘Social Media + Video = Social Entertainment’ (12pm-2pm)*
  
• Fleishman Hillard’s ‘When Social Media Becomes Unsociable’ (4pm-6pm Venue TBD)*
• 33 Million People in the Room – Book Launch (Venue & time TBD)*

Feb 11:

• O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (7:45am-6pm)
• Online Community Unconference: East (8am-7pm)
• World Record Appreciation Society (7pm-11pm)
• The Shorty Awards (7pm-late)

Feb 12:

• Social Media Breakfast (8:30am-10:30am at Roger Smith Hotel)
• The Politics of Social Media (12pm-2pm Venue TBD)*
• drop.io stream ‘speakeasy’ (4pm-6pm at Drop.io offices)*
• NYC Twestival (7:30pm-10:30pm at M:2)

Feb 13:

• Urban Music meets Social Media (5pm-7pm Venue TBD)*
  
• Social Media Week – Closing party/drinks (7pm-9pm Venue TBD)*

RSVP details for SMW events will be available shortly.

* Official Social Media Week events

As much as I love digital tools, over the years I have always kept moleskin notebooks to keep my thoughts in. I was reading some of them today and I came across something I wrote not too long ago. I was in a womens studies class while my professor was talking about being a part of the womens liberation movement in the 60′s. She said that they had no idea then of the profound impact that their actions would have on history.

I wrote down in my book that I felt the same way about the social media world I had stepped into. I know that things I do today as part of my normal everyday life, will completely change the face of media forever. It is hard to see what affects this will have, but I know that it has an affect.

Today there was a story that College age kids make up less than 25% of Facebook. Last year 42% of facebook users were 18-24. It just goes to show that social media is always changing and the game will never stay the same. This made me realize that now more than ever, everything I do has the power to really change the future of media.

Some days I think I must be crazy to keep up with so many different social networks, and different blogging platforms. But at the end of the day, every single one of those communities is teaching me something. There are people with valuable knowledge everywhere and I always want to learn more. If a day goes by that I do not learn something new, that is a waste.

I found this cool tool that lets you create a mosaic of all your twitter followers (or all the people that you follow) I made one of my followers (although I don’t think this is all of you) because you all enrich my life every day and I wanted to give you some props!

Get your twitter mosaic here.

I have been in the tech/social media community for about a year now, and I have met a ton of great people in our space, but I feel as if I am not doing enough. At some point you keep meeting the same people and none of it really leads anywhere. I have attended a lot of conferences, and been a part of lots of larger networking events. I have met some great people and more importantly some great new friends.

However, I would like to start networking on a smaller level. I love talking about social media and tech, and I always seem to be full of random ideas and references relating to media. So if you are in the NYC area and have any interest in meeting up with me in any capacity let me know. Even if you want to just get together and bounce ideas around, or if you are interested in getting into blogging or podcasting, I would love to meet you!

I am also looking for a company in need of a brand ambassador to attend SXSW, so if your company, or anyone you know, fits that bill I would really like to talk to you. I would love to work at your booth or do videos for your company.

The best way to reach me is to email me at: sarah.k.cooley [at] gmail [dot] com or contact me on twitter

A few things to note:

I am also available to talk via video conference if you are not in the area.

I am available for consulting at a small capacity.

I look forward to meeting more people and expanding my view of this world we call the social web.

DEAR NEW YORK INTERNET PEOPLE:

(and internet people EVERYWHERE!)

BarCampNYC4 NEEDS A HOME!

BarCampNYC is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants. The Fourth BarCampNYC is looking for a home, and we need your help!

Some of my friends and readers might know that I am helping to organize barcampnyc4 and we have been having trouble getting a space.

What we need

• Capacity: 300 people
• Classrooms: 7ish + Auditorium
• Cost: we can afford $1,500ish for space
• We Need Internet: Wifi or wired
• BarCamp is traditionally an Overnight event: (but we can move the overnight to NWC)
• Prospective 2009 Dates:
• - 3/28-3/29- 4/4-4/5- 5/2-5/3

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

Help us find a space! Maybe your school, work, or exceedingly large home could be a venue. Help spread the word! Blog, twitter, email your friends, shout it from the rooftops.

Please, do contact us if you’re interested in sponsoring BarCampNYC4!

For more information: barcamp.org/BarCampNYC4

Contact: info@barcampnyc.org

#barcampnyc4

This is a re-blog of a post I wrote for New York Tech Scene which just officially launched today. It’s a community blogging project that I have been trying to get off the ground for a while. Check it out!

I became compelled to write this post after seeing a twitter update from @naterkane.

I started to ask myself the same question. It seems like everything that I do, create, or attend seems to have 2.0 slapped on the end of it. Why is this? Why do we seem to have this fascination with this term? I decided to check the @replies to see what other people’s thoughts on the subject were. I found one from Jonathan Vanasco that was very interesting.

While I think it was a little harsh, he had a point. Adding 2.0 is you trying to say something about your event, product, etc; that you can’t seem to put into other terms. I myself have fallen victim to this trap. When it came time to title my video show I titled it “What’s it all about: Web 2.0″. While I don’t think that my offense is that bad because I am using the full term “Web 2.0″ I tend to have a problem with people slapping 2.0 on everything, especially in places where it makes no sense.

2.0 alone seems to refer to some kind of upgrade. There was version 1 and now there is version 2. It made sense and it was a system that worked until the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004 where the term web 2.0 is credited for being coined. But now the term 2.0 seems to describe a group of people that are in the Web 2.0 community, and anything that they do, even when not tech related at all must have 2.0 on it.

At some point I guess we all excepted it as the norm, until someone comes along and questions it. But to end this on a light note, in my search I noticed a comment on Gary Vaynerchuk’s HUGE announcement today.

So the first year of Random Sarah has come to an end. But I can only look forward to the future with great joy and high expectations for myself. So I thought I would post some of my goals for the upcoming year in hopes that all of you might be able to keep me on track with my goals.
But first a look back at Random Sarah in 2008

here is one of my favorite early videos posted on April 14th

then on August 1st, this happened!

and everything changed!

here are some of my favorite posts from this year:

Generation Wh-Y does it matter?

A Vegetarian’s Favorite Burgers

Hacked my iPhone 3G

The State of the Web: Summer 2008

More Random Videos

if you are missing a lot of the old Random Sarah randomness….check out my tumblr

2008 has been a great year for me and I hope that 2009 will only get better.

So here are some of my goals for 2009:

Make more videos! It has been a while since I posted a video blog on here, and my other show has also taken a little break…but I am hoping that 2009 will be a great year full of great videos!
Go to SXSW! SXSW last year was one of the main things that inspired me to start a video blog. I hope to attend the conference this year and get even more great ideas!
Reach 1,000 followers on twitter! This would be awesome, and I am already so thankful for all the followers I have that put up with my random updates!
To grow my community and network of awesome people because everyone I have met in this space so far is AWESOME! And I can’t wait to meet the rest of you!
And to be anywhere near as awesome as this guy!

2008 has been great, and just wait….

2009 is going to be even better!