About Favorite {fvrit} Blog

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About Favorite {fvrit} Blog

Saturday, February 09, 2008 7:58 PM |

The favorite {fvrit} blog is maintained by Allen Harkleroad, a 42 year old guy from Georgia.

“They say if you write about your passions you can’t go wrong. I honestly believe this to be true. I believe I found my “voice” online in social media. I get excited about social networking, social news and other forms of social media. I love discussing the subject and listening to others thoughts and viewpoints on the subject.

I’ve never met a stranger either online or off, I strike up conversations wherever I go. I enjoy what others have to say. Many of my best ideas come from discussions I’ve had with total strangers while standing in line. Social media is about discussions and nurturing relationships with others. I’m not talking about intimate best friend relationships or love, but one of having common interests at heart and communicating them.”

I tend to have a different outlook on social media as a whole. I do not care how well funded a company is and I don’t care who is behind the scenes. On Favorite {fvrit} blog, you won’t find many details about how much a company or service is worth, or how much money a venture group gave them. I look at what a company has to offer to users in terms of features, ease-of-use, privacy, portability, etc.

I try to be fair across the board with all news I publish. While I do offer personal opinions of services and companies, I tend to champion smaller independent (un-funded) start-ups and companies. Many smaller companies have much to offer users, and frequently these companies or individuals do not get the press they deserve. I do my best to give them the same equal coverage that I provide to large funded and venture capital backed start-ups.

I am interested in all aspects of social networking and media. However, I do not show favoritism to any one company or service. With that in mind, if you would like me to consider running an item about your business or service feel free to contact me.

About Allen

Allen has been around a while in regards to the Internet. Allen tested Internet access on one of the first dial-up bulletin boards in Atlanta to offer access to the Internet. Using Windows 3.1, a flaky TCP/IP stack and an early version of Netscape that only rendered text on web pages (no images), he felt that the Internet was going to become something 'big". Shortly after that the Net exploded (1993-1996) with new sites and users and has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since.

Needless to say Allen has been involved with computer and Internet technologies for a good many years.

Allen launched his first online magazine in 1998 and is now known as Designer Today Magazine*.
* it was first "The Internet EYE magazine" and later "TIEMdesign", and is now Designer Today

Allen also founded Graphic Design Forum, which he later sold to Jupiter Media in 2005.

GMP Services, Inc, the company that Allen founded about 11 years ago is still in business today. Due to an extended illness and long recovery Allen is still struggling to rebuild the business. Allen launched Five Million Dots to sell advertising, so that he can raise money to pay a huge number of debts, send his daughter to college and help his church build a new family life center building. Advertisers on Five Million Dots get 10 years of image and text advertising starting at 100 dollars. The site also has a blog that covers getting out of debt and financial freedom.

Designer Today Magazine just added a design wiki for design companies, freelancers, software companies, etc. to create pages and receive addtional exposure.

Allen also travels around the southern United States on photography assignments for clients. See examples of his work and descriptions of his services at Allen Photography.

Also is also involved in 3D at Poser World, a 3d content site dedicated to the Poser 3D software.

Allen also recently launched a tech support forum for Windows, Macintosh and Linux users. It covers quite a few areas besides operating systems, such as general networking, security, gaming, performance and modding.

Allen also launched a software developer site, The Developer Times, in the fall of 2007. Being that this is a part time project it may take time for it to become popular.

If you like social media, social networking, social news, graphic design, technology, etc. you can add me as a friend or as a fan on the following services.

Mixx
http://www.mixx.com/users/allen_mvp

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620679020

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/allenharkleroad

Twitter
http://twitter.com/AllenHarkleroad/

del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us/AllenHarkleroad