Scribd: What?

Well, I have to say, after I started on Twitter, I have enjoyed meeting different people but I have especially enjoyed finding these wonderful tidbits of great information.

And this is how I found out about Scribd. One of people I follow (and I am sorry I don’t remember who you are) posted a tweet and I followed it to a podcast where these two gentlemen were talking about how Scribd was being utilized by users of Twitter to post the document such as Obama’s Energy Plan or McCain’s Energy Plan.

I have written this post for infomational purposes fro now, as I haven’t used Scribd yet. I did set up an account and I am planning on doing a follow up post similar to my 30 day journey with Twitter.

Well, this is how this post came to be….I am so loving twitter and the other social media to find such great finds to share with others.

Define it

Scribd is a place where you can publish your documents in a variety of formats (.xls, .doc, .docx, .pdf, .jpg and ppt). In fact, it is the largest document sharing community on the web.

*You need to make 100% sure that you own the copyright to the items you place on Scribd or you can have your account suspended immediately.

A bit of history

This was started with a couple of guys who wanted to find a way to publish their school papers online….cool, huh?

And what is that phrase, “If you don’t find what you are looking for…create it yourself.” These guys did.

Scribd was founded in 2006 by Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, and Tikhon Bernstam.

How to get started

When you first get onto the scribd home page you will see it similar to other sites where you will need to create an account to become a member.

Click on blue “login” button on the top horizontal navigation bar. Type in your username and password. Once you have created an account, you can start uploading your documents.

However I would first suggest you complete your Scribd profile by clicking on the “My Documents” tab in the top navigation bar.

You can upload a single document or if you have several bigger files, you can use their uploader (still in beta)

You have the option of searching either by category, subject or just browse in the library.

A few other features

iPaper

You can also send email attachments using their document viewer called iPaper (this is similar to Youtube where is used Flash widgets you utilize and embed into your web pages)

Scibd Platform, which is a set of tools you can integrate with your website. You can also find ways to monetize your documents on your site.

The Scribd Blog to gain news, announcement and updates regarding Scribd. For instance, the most current blog post on Scribd was talking about Manuals Mania – an online collections of

Become a part of the Scribd community, add friend, send message, create a group, and communicate with others in the Scribd community.

A few things you can’t do with Scribd

1. You can not use documents, images or any file you do not own the copy rights
2. Not able to use ipaper if you are using Wordpress. However you can still use Scribd to share & publish your documents on Scribd
3. You can not upload a image solely. The image needs to be a part of a document in order to be shared using Scribd.
4. You also can not use document such a ebooks with affiliate links
5. No documents for pure self advertising or self promotion purposes.

So I would like to ask others who have used Scribd, your thoughts, suggestions, tips about Scribd?

Here is a full FAQ section for Scribd

Teresa Morrow is on the Florida Board of Advisors with The WECAI Network ™ (http://www.wecai.org) and an Editor at Large at WE Magazine for Women ™ (http://www.wemagazineforwomen). She has over 15 years working with various industries to include property management, landscape architecture and financial planning firms in executive administrative positions. In 2007, Teresa started Key Business Partners, specializing in online event promotion management for coaches, speakers and writers. She cares about her clients and is available for 20 minute free consultation. You can contact her via email at keybusinesspartners@verizon.net or visit her website at http://www.keybusinesspartners.com.