Are You Blabbing Yet?

Blab, blab, blab … are you blabbing yet? I did … well only once … so far!

Social media platforms seem to come and go. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram seem to have caught on and arguably a few others. Now along comes the latest, perhaps greatest social media platform of them all … B lab.

Blab provides an on-line, live, streaming video and audio platform to host discussions that participants can pop in or pop out as they choose. Blab allows you to have up to four discussion participants and have their video and audio feed appear live in the dashboard. The Host can move participants into or out of the dashboard as they want to. Other participants can view and hear the live broadcast in a passive mode or if they have registered as a blab member they can ask to “go live” and have their feed featured in the dashboard. As a Host you have the option of recording your conversation and posting to YouTube or to your website. Blab also hosts your discussion so that viewers can watch your discussion long after you have recorded it.

I first heard about Blab last week on Andrea Lindal’s [Lexabi Communications] Business & Digital Marketing Linkedin Group. Michael Stelzner of the Social Media Examiner thinks it is fantastic and is becoming a pioneer in using this technology.

The business applications of Blabbing are immeasurable at this point. Imagine having live on-line conversations with your customers or your followers. It would seem to be a great way to develop your brand and promote your cause … whatever it may be, business or a social one.

As a Host, you can create an on-line event (discussion) on a topic of interest and schedule guest speakers to participate in the discussion. They have to register first as a Blab member though. Registration is easy … if you have a Twitter profile in place. Blab pulls your data from your Twitter account and creates a new Blab profile. Once you do so, you can go into your profile and tweak it as you desire.

At any time, there are numerous blabs airing live that you can drop in on and view. If you are registered as a member, you can participate in the discussion and perhaps have the Host bring you into the live stream on the dashboard if you can add to the discussion.

I hosted my first Blab this past week around a tagline to promote Toastmasters. Talk Up Toastmasters: Membership Building 101. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was prepared to talk about the subject for half an hour or so if I had to, not knowing if anybody would be even watching it. I’m happy to say that several fellow Toastmaster members from Ohio, Georgia and Australia joined me in a lively discussion. What I was hoping would last thirty minutes or so went on for over two hours. As well as the live participants we had about 20 or so that were watching the discussion and typing in their questions. It was a lively and informative conversation.

I’ve created a website at http://talkuptoastmasters.org to feature upcoming Talk Up Toastmasters discussions and serve as a resource for anyone who chooses to visit the site. It will be fully integrated with social media so that people can continue the discussion that was started in the videos. I’m planning

a series of Blabs continuing to focus on Toastmasters and I’m giving serious thought on how I can utilize it for my own business ventures.

So now that you know that being called a Blabbermouth isn’t a bad thing … what are you going to blab about?

Rae Stonehouse is an Okanagan-based author, speaker, personal growth coach, power-networker and Toastmaster Extraordinaire.

He is the Author of: Power Networking for Shy People : Tips & Techniques for

Moving from Shy to Sly!

PROtect Yourself! Empowering Tips & Techniques for Personal Safety: A Practical Violence

Prevention Manual for Healthcare Workers.

E=Emcee Squared : Tips & Techniques to Becoming a Dynamic Master of Ceremonies.

Power of Promotion : On-line Marketing For Toastmasters Club Growth

To learn more than you probably ever wanted to about visit the Wonderful World of Rae Stonehouse, 50 Shades of Rae if you will, at http://raestonehouse.com