Information as of October 2009
SlideShare (http://www.SlideShare.net)
At a glance…
· SlideShare is a website that lets users upload and share presentations.
· The number of uploads is unlimited, but each file can be no larger than 100 megabytes.
· SlideShare supports a variety of file formats, including:
o PowerPoint - .ppt, .pps, .pot, .pptx, .potx, .ppsx
o OpenOffice - .odp, .ods, .pdf
o Apple Keynote - .key, .zip or .pdf
o Microsoft Office - .doc, .docx, .rtf, .xls
o iWork Pages
· “Slidecasts,” podcasts link to glossary combined with presentations, can be created by adding streaming MP3 files to presentations.
· Presentations can be shared on social networks and embedded in blog link to glossary posts.
· User demographics (Source: http://www.quantcast.com/SlideShare.net):
o More than 2 million active monthly users in the United States
o 52% are male
o 38% are between the ages of 13 and 34
o 58% are between age 35 and older
o 61% are Caucasian
o 53% report a household income of $60,000 and less
o 59% have completed or partially completed their college education
o 55% have no children 17 years of age and younger
What is it?
SlideShare is a presentation-sharing website, featuring over 17 million worldwide monthly visitors and hundreds of thousands of presentations.
The site can be used in combination with other social media sites by embedding your presentation on a blog or on social networking pages. Presentations may be made public, limited to a group of approved contacts, or kept completely private.
Usefulness
Organization. With a SlideShare account, you can keep all your presentations together in one location and make them accessible to others.
Increased exposure. SlideShare lets users share information with colleagues, other professionals, and supporters. It could also be used for educating the public, volunteer outreach, or as a visual record of an event or project.
Leverage resources and sharing. You might also search for SlideShare for presentations that others have made public in order to educate yourself, or to save time when preparing for an upcoming presentation. It’s also a nice way to share your presentations so that others may use them.
Features
Storage
SlideShare users may upload as many presentations as they wish, but each file is limited to 100 MB. This feature is great for organizing collections of presentations and making them available to others.
Research
SlideShare’s broad scope of subject matter and its large community ensure that other users will likely have information on a topic of interest or will have done a presentation on it. It’s a good resource for information and a connection between your organization and other users who share similar interests.
Community
SlideShare offers social networking features that connect you with other users. Users are able to make comments on presentations, send private messages to one another, create events, and join groups.
Widgets
The following are some of the widgets link to glossary that SlideShare generates for users to embed in their blog, website, or profile:
· Playlists—Design a custom playlist of presentations and documents.
· Presentation Pack—Group together multiple presentations.
· Mini Badges— Create a badge to use on other sites that links back to your presentation on SlideShare.
· Sidebar Widget—Embed your presentations in a large sidebar format.
Registration
These are the steps to register for an account at SlideShare:
· Navigate to SlideShare on your web browser.
· Click “Sign up.”
· Enter your desired username, email, and password and select your account type.
· Click “Join.”
· On the next screen, submit:
o The name of your organization.
o Your country, city and state.
o Your website/blog address.
o Your industry/cause and number of employees.
· Enter the verification text, accept the terms and conditions, and click “Sign up.”
Following are the steps you take to upload a presentation:
· From your account, choose the “Upload” tab.
· Choose from:
o Bulk upload
o Single upload
o URL link to glossary upload
o Email upload
o Upload via plugins link to glossary
o Import from Google documents
· Select file(s) to upload by clicking “Browse and select files”
o For a single file, browse to the presentation file on your computer.
o Enter a title. A description, tags link to glossary and assigning a category are all optional. If you plan to be a heavy user, you will want to take the time to complete this information for easier retrieval in the future. Also, the more information you include, the easier it will be for others to find your presentation.
o Check the “Allow download” box if you want others to be able to view and save your presentation to their local drive.
o The default privacy setting is “Public.” Change to “Private” as needed.
o If you have selected “Private,” you are given the options to get a “Secret URL” and/or “Allow embedding outside of SlideShare.” The “Secret URL” will allow you to share your presentation with others even though you have made it private. This could be a good choice for a work in progress or if you only plan to share the presentation with a handful of people.
o Click “Upload.”
Measuring Success
If you are using SlideShare for messaging or education, there are three methods of evaluation available. In the “My Slidespace” section, just below your identifying information, is a tally of followers. Do you have any? How often do they comment? Are the comments positive, negative, or nonexistent? In addition to followers, for a public presentation, there is a tally of how many viewings there have been. If you have checked the “Downloadable” button, there is also a tally of how many downloads of your presentation there have been.
If you are using SlideShare as a private storage space for your presentations, any evaluation of its success comes from you. Are your presentations easy for you to find? Is uploading simple and timely? Are you able to embed your presentations in the outside websites you use most often?
If your use of SlideShare serves more as a workgroup toolbox, success is measured by whether or not people are accessing the tools. Ask them if your presentations were easy to find and useful to them. Review user comments for feedback regularly, and keep track of any comments made verbally that you may hear.
Best Practices
· Check your Slideshare account regularly to monitor latest activity, messages, and comments.
· If you use Slideshare to find presentations and reference material, check the site frequently as content is always being added.
· Consider using the social potential of Slideshare. Many people use the service simply for storage and embedding features, but you could miss out on new contacts if you don’t participate.
Time Requirements
The time necessary to maintain a Slideshare account is minimal. Checking the site weekly for the latest updates, minor research, and new correspondence should be sufficient. If your organization only uses SlideShare for storage, use will be infrequent and consist of a simple act of uploading new presentations when available.
Please see the SlideShare video tutorial link to tutorial for detailed information on how to use this social media tool.