Posted in Apple, Technology on 25. May, 2010
Last night, the news broke that mega-retailer Walmart would be offering a 16GB Apple iPhone 3GS for the bargain basement price of $97.00. The news quickly spread like wild fire. Why? The same model… [{To Read More, Click On The Link Above]]
Posted in Mobile, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 25. May, 2010
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. The goal of recruiting is to find the right person at the right time. Logically, that means one source is never enough. You’ll want to tap into diverse mediums to find the best candidates. Social media is no exception. Each platform has its own unique demographic. You’ll want to consider that audience when making the decision about which applications to use for your recruiting efforts. Regardless of the application, there are some common elements to using social media for recruiting. Here are six things to consider when using any social media application for recruiting. 1. Create an Online Presence That Reflects Who You Are Having a nice avatar, succinct bio and current contact information will make people want to connect with you. Be sure to organize your social media profiles to provide potential contacts with a better idea of who you are so they have a reason to communicate with you and form a relationship. “It’s about being human”, explains Bill Boorman , author of the Recruiting Unblog . “People connect with people, not brands. Connect with everyone because you never know who will make that referral or connection for you.” 2. Make the Most of Your Time A large part of any success with social media is involvement. This is especially true if you want to use social media for recruiting. While mobile applications can help with this, Boorman agrees, “It takes a big investment of time to build a talent community.” To target your efforts, he suggests asking people directly which channels they use and looking at what your competitors are doing. “Consider directing your messages to a single point, like a relevant blog or company website.” 3. Individualize Your Approach At some point, you have to connect with people you don’t know and become a part of their conversations. “I actually find it easy,” says Chris Havrilla national recruiting manager for Hitachi Consulting , a global leader in delivering business and IT strategies. “I have found if you communicate with people in a meaningful and thoughtful manner, you can never go wrong.” Havrilla’s approach is to connect with people who have a genuine interest in his business and industry. “I follow or connect with people related to that space, ‘listen’ to and learn from the conversations, and participate when appropriate. If you are connecting with someone directly, be ‘individualized’ in your approach — take the time to understand who you are reaching out to and be respectful of their time and attention.” 4. Be Authentic Recruiters always want to see the ‘real candidate’ and in order to do that, they have to be real as well. Amanda Hite , founder and CEO of Talent Revolution Inc. , says when it comes to social media: “Remember it’s NOT about the tools it’s ALL about the relationships.” So don’t be afraid to be yourself. Hite adds, “Being the authentic, unapologetic you is totally on trend. But more importantly when you embrace your own authenticity and stay committed to ‘being you’ no matter what, you’ll attract the kind of clients and employees that do the same and are the best match for you.” 5. Share Interesting Stuff All work and no play is boring. So sharing news, tidbits, etc. of general interest can create what might be the equivalent of “social media small talk,” which leads to bigger conversations. Sylvia Dahlby works for SmartSearch , a leading talent acquisition system and recruiting business software solution firm. She works from home and lives in Hawaii. “Before social network sites like Twitter and LinkedIn , I belonged to dozens of old-style online newsgroups. Now, I leverage the new social networks much in the same way,” Sylvia explains it’s still important to interact with others. One of the things Sylvia mentioned was her Twitter account because she mixes her recruiting knowledge with Hawaii tidbits. “My Twitter account is for personal branding and making connections. I mostly tweet about my work, my product and the recruiting industry during business hours, chat with friends and business associates throughout the day, and throw in a mix of my hobbies and certain interests (such as Hawaiiana). I treat Twitter as my office ‘water cooler’ or after-hours ‘cocktail party’ where I can catch the news and buzz from people in various online communities around the world.” 6. Focus on Substance If someone directs a question at you via social media, find a way to respond, even if it’s to take the conversation offline. “The key is substance,” says Steve Browne , executive director of human resources for LaRosa’s Inc. , a Cincinnati based regional pizzeria with 63 locations. “I’d recommend people using social media for recruiting [focused] on substance and not just resume information. Look at how the candidate is connected in the social media arena, and are they contributing to their profession, or just lurking. If they’re engaged online, chances are they would be engaged working for your company.” Many recruiters realize that when it comes to recruiting, social media tools are just that – tools. The real value is in how the tools are used. Havrilla explains, “Social media can give you a great and efficient way to engage with your community – candidates, clients, customers, partners, prospects, etc. – on a very level playing field with the companies you are competing with for talent (or business). The key is to make sure you have the time to invest in to it. At a very basic level this is all about networking. The use of social media tools has greatly enhanced my ability to build, grow, and nurture my network. These tools are not a magic bullet though — to get value from your network, you have to add value to it.” For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – 10 Essential Tips for Building Your Small Biz Team – HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Offline Networking Events – HOW TO: Market Your Small Business With No Budget – 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Leverage LinkedIn’s New Features – How Data is Redefining Business Relationships Images courtesy of iStockphoto , alexsl , mikkelwilliam
Posted in Social media, Technology, Twitter, USA, World on 25. May, 2010
Sometimes flinging a virtual cupcake at a Facebook friend just isn’t enough. As you may know, Facebook has offered the option of purchasing real gifts since last summer. A big pro here is that you don’t need to know the person’s address to send them a physical gift. And like the Twitter gifting services we recently rounded up, the service makes it easy to integrate birthday, anniversary, and holiday shopping right into your favorite social network. Take a look at our quick how-to guide below, and if Facebook’s in-house offering doesn’t quite do it for you, check out the three alternatives we’ve also detailed. Buy Facebook Credits First things first: You need to get yourself some legal Facebook currency in the form of “ Facebook credits .” You can purchase this virtual currency by going to the “Payments” tab in “My Account.” Options to pay include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover or JCB credit cards, PayPal or via cell phone. At the moment, one credit equals 10 cents, so you can buy 50 for $5, 100 for $10 and 200 for $20. Head to the Gift Shop Once your virtual wallet is full of money, head over to the Facebook store where you are presented with the options of “Music and MP3s,” “Virtual Gifts,” “Charity,” “E-Cards,” “Sports,” and of course, “Real Gifts.” Enter the name of the person you want to send the gift to and you can then choose from toys, flowers, candy, baked goodies from Mrs. Fields, various items of jewelery, some smaller consumer electronic items, Fandango movie tickets, and our favorite — all sorts of geeky products from ThinkGeek . A nice touch is the ability to choose the delivery date. If you’re super organized and know your Facebook friend has a birthday coming up in the next few weeks, you can get the gifting sorted ahead of time. If you do know the address of the person you want the item sent to, you can add it. But the system works on the basis of the giftee confirming a delivery address once they get the wall notification (with a message personalized from you) that you want to post them a present. And that’s it folks. And by the way, if the person refuses your gift for any reason, then the order will be canceled and Facebook will refund your credits — but not your feelings. 3 Alternative Services 1. DashGift This Boston-based startup offers a limited service at the moment, but is certainly one to watch if they manage to sign up more partners. The premise is quite simple: You post a gift on your friend’s wall via the Facebook app. Your friend hits a link to get a DashCode and then goes to the local store/venue to redeem it for the item. At the moment, some elements of the service are limited to the Boston area, such as SWEET cupcakes, a beer voucher for Tommy Doyle’s Bar, and Finale Desserts. But Fandango movie tickets and the $10 global giving donation are open to all users. Expansion into other local areas is planned this summer, so be sure to bookmark this app. 2. Friendgiftr Friendgiftr has had no trouble signing up partners. Its social gift card service currently works with around 150 companies, many of which are major names. You can buy a gift card from any of the stores and present it to a friend on Facebook. Your friend can then either shop online with a card code, request a hard copy version to be mailed to them, or — and this bit is cunning — swap the card for one from another retailer. So if you send someone a Lands’ End gift card, but they’re really more of an L.L. Bean kinda guy, they can do a switcheroo without you ever knowing. 3. ParcelGenie ParcelGenie is a fantastic resource for small, affordable and fun gifts, such as candy, buttons, key rings and the like. Via the Facebook app, you can chose a gift, select a friend to send it to, and personalize a message that will be posted on their Facebook wall, after which they need to let ParcelGenie know where to mail the item. The app cleverly displays Facebook friends’ upcoming birthdays, so you may end up sending more than you expected to. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More Facebook resources from Mashable – 5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips – HOW TO: Find Long Lost Friends on Facebook – HOW TO: Disable Facebook’s “Instant Personalization” [PRIVACY] – 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Profile Pic – 5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For the Worse) Image courtesy of iStockphoto , kutaytanir Tags: DashGift , facebook , friendgiftr , Gifts , how to , List , Lists , parcelgenie
Posted in Apple, B2B, Marketing, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 24. May, 2010
Suaad Sait is co-founder of Workstreamer , a business listening platform that delivers actionable, real-time information to business professionals. As businesspeople, we now have an unlimited amount of constantly updating information at our fingertips. It holds the promise of great value (and more importantly, profit), but it is also voluminous and fleeting. Powerful new search engines, newfangled social CRM systems, and a preponderance of social sites and services leave us sitting at desks, feverishly fetching news and updates throughout the day in an attempt to stay up-to-date. The trick, of course, is making sense of all that data, and putting it in context of what companies — and who exactly at those companies — matter most. Increasingly, we have the palpable desire to turn good data into good decisions and profitable relationships. But how can you take advantage of that tsunami of information without risking death by data? How can everyday businesspeople get value out of these data-heavy services and sources? Relationships Still Rule The answer to these questions starts by first acknowledging that it’s the same as it ever was: Business is still all about relationships. This should be soothing to many for whom the data web is a brave new world. The business world still runs on relationships, and data is as much at home at a cocktail hour or on a conference call as it is in a slide deck. The game has not changed much at all. The difference is that today’s business data has put everything in stark relief, at very high resolution. Opportunities and risks have been amplified. For example, if I notice a partner’s company’s stock surge at the opening of the market and tie it to a news item on quarterly earnings, I can now send a timely congratulatory note and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss leveraging that momentum for a proposed joint venture. Or, say I am alerted to an old college friend changing his contact info on a social network, and as a result, track down a few details on his role at a new company. I might subsequently notice via a status update that he is departing for my home city in a few days, and now I can initiate a reconnection and invite him to participate on a panel I’m organizing. Today’s most actionable business data comes from living and very human sources like social networks, wikis, microblogs, crowdsourced contact directories, collaboratively filtered finance communities, real-time search engines, hyperlocal news sites and more. Managing that data can involve a lot of mixing and matching, comparing and contrasting. Relationships Run on Data Strategic relationships with colleagues and contacts both create and consume data. In fact, data isn’t cold and impersonal at all — that’s an important misconception to put to rest. Many of your most successful and trusted business relationships now likely run on data. “Networking” in the traditional sense used to take a lot of time and effort. But in truth, all networking has ever been is the act of information-gathering — of scouting and collating. We used to start with an idea of a person we were trying to do business with, without nearly enough relevant information about them. That has changed as a result of the personal data now available via social media sources. Now, when you finally meet someone in person, or run into them at a conference, the interaction can be immediately more rich and productive precisely because of data — you can get right to the heart of the matter because you’re having a more informed, in-depth conversation that matters. From crunching data and doing your homework, to finding a path through your existing relationships, to setting up that first meeting with a timely and well-researched missive, the new data-driven way of doing business can be infinitely more productive. Conclusion Remember the under-the-table note sharing going on in high school? Well, imagine having the smartest kid in school organize, prioritize and collect notes for you, no strings attached. That’s the kind of information advantage that is now available to us, through an ever-growing array of new social business tools. And it’s not considered cheating, either. But even despite all this new data and these new tools, relationships are still the beginning and the end of every business decision. There is little doubt that there will be a fundamental overhaul in the skill-set of the average businessperson in the next five years as companies grapple with, and realize the upside of making better use of data, both internally and externally. Today, the technologies and techniques that were once the exclusive domain of Wall Street analysts and Silicon Valley engineers are finally trickling down to everyday businesspeople. But no matter how the world has changed, listening is still paramount -– listening to customers, listening to prospects, listening to colleagues, and listening to entire companies –- indeed, listening to data. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – How Data Will Impact the Way We Do Business – HOW TO: Make Sure You’re Tracking the Right Data – 4 Tips for B2B Marketing on Facebook – What Facebook’s Open Graph Means for Your Business – HOW TO: Cultivate Your Brand’s Super Users Image courtesy of iStockphoto , Sportstock , stevecoleccs Reviews: Facebook , Twitter , iStockphoto Tags: business , data , small business , social media , social networking
Posted in B2B, Marketing, Social media, Technology, Twitter, USA, World on 23. May, 2010
Dallas Lawrence is Managing Director of Burson-Marsteller’s Proof Integrated Communications . He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence . The recent firestorm over Facebook’s approach to securing the privacy of its more than 450 million users continues to reverberate around the globe this week as thousands of news outlets cover the unfolding drama with almost breathless zeitgeist. And while traditional outlets are grappling with what it all means for the future of Facebook , online denizens have trumpeted their angst about the company’s most recent changes with more than 25 million blog posts . The current crisis of confidence leveled against Facebook once again centers on the core issue of how the social networking platform manages access to its users’ information. PC World columnist JP Raphael noted earlier this month that with the significant new changes announced by the Palo Alto-based social giant, “achieving maximum privacy on Facebook now requires you to click through 50 settings and more than 170 options — and even that won’t completely safeguard your info.” According to news reports this week, the company may finally be reversing course (again) and returning to a streamlined security process . To be sure, Facebook is no novice when it comes to navigating the controversies of privacy in the online marketplace, and it will very likely emerge from the current crisis singed, but not terribly worse for the wear. What is surprising however, and perhaps most troubling for a company that nearly all watchers agree must prove its mettle with a public offering in the next 18 months, is the voraciousness of the global opposition the recent controversy has sparked, and the apparent lack of corporate agility at Facebook to respond effectively to even the most basic crises inherent to an organization so intertwined in the daily lives of half a billion users. The Lessons Facebook Can Learn from Google Purported 7-year old texts from CEO Mark Zuckerberg are now lighting up the online community with an amusing, and some may say prescient peek into the then 19-year old’s views on privacy. The constant and steady drip of opposition forming around the most valuable social media property in the history of the Internet is beginning to paint a picture of a company that has failed to fundamentally understand that what got it to where it is today will not make it into what it wants to be: A wildly profitable public company rivaling the reach and prominence of Google . The $200 billion search behemoth learned these same painful lessons of accountability earlier in the past decade as they became the public whipping boy for privacy issues. Regular Congressional hearings, editorial columns and tech-savvy thought leaders all lampooned Google for their approach to user information. Many began questioning its very core mantra of “ don’t be evil ” that had mightily bound Googlers for more than a decade. Google’s response was to aggressively educate global regulators and privacy experts while dramatically expanding their Washington, DC footprint. They further ramped up public policy and communications outreach efforts to ensure they were accessible and accountable to those most concerned about their industry and how they as a company approached the prickly issue of online privacy. Transparency is Key to Facebook’s Maturation As regulators and privacy watchdog groups from the EU, Canada and the U.S. begin to catch up to the social media revolution and the inherent policy concerns that came with it, Facebook’s maturation has reached a seminal moment in the platform’s life cycle. For a brand built on the ideals of transparency (sharing your life updates with your friends and family), Facebook must begin to embrace the mantra of a transparent and accountable organization while remaining free from the constraints of life as a publicly traded, heavily regulated, investor-driven company. Facebook’s chief policy guru Elliot Schrage appeared at least to grasp the challenges that lie ahead for the company during a question and answer session with The New York Times last week. “Another painful element comes from professional frustration,” Schrage wrote. “It’s clear that despite our efforts, we are not doing a good enough job communicating the changes that we’re making … We may not always agree about the speed and comprehensiveness of our response but I’m here because I’m confident Facebook’s future success depends on our ability to respond.” Tough words and sound perspective from a smart, well-respected industry insider. If heeded, they may finally drive the internal changes necessary for Facebook to complete its startup evolution and graduate into the world’s most dominant — and profitable — communications platform. For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More Facebook resources from Mashable: – How Facebook Can Become a Money Making Machine – Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile – 5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips – 4 Tips for B2B Marketing on Facebook – The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans Image courtesy of iStockphoto , malerapaso Reviews: Facebook , Google , Internet , Twitter , iStockphoto Tags: analysis , facebook , privacy , social media , social networks
Posted in Apple, Mobile, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 23. May, 2010
You’ve already forked out plenty for your iPhone or iPod touch, so why tax your wallet further by buying an expensive stand? Whether you want to save money, keep your personal drain on the planet’s resources to a minimum, or are looking for a quick-fix solution at your desk, we’ve found five fantastic iPhone stand designs that require no more than everyday objects — and some MacGyver-style skills . Have a look-see below at our homemade docks, then have a go at making your own and let us know the results in the comments box below! 1. The Paper Clip Stand What you’ll need: Overview: This solution utilizes a large paper clip, cunningly straightened and then twisted to make an impromptu stand for your iDevice. Depending on how strong you are, you might need pliers to help manipulate the clip, but the principle is pretty darn simple — and pretty darn effective. Mods include wrapping a rubber band around the “legs” to aid stability. In the immortal words of MacGyver himself: “A paperclip can be a wondrous thing. More times than I can remember, one of these has gotten me out of a tight spot.” MacGyver Rating: 5/5 2. The Cassette Case Stand What you’ll need: Overview: We love that this takes (almost) obsolete tech and upcycles it into a useful object. You can use either a cassette case from an old camcorder tape, or an old audio tape (which, if you’re of a certain age, you’ve almost certainly got lying around at home). Put the tape and the cardboard sleeve to one side, open the case, flip it around, and — presto! — a minimalist desk stand. To make it a super-stable solution in landscape, you might want to use a file to make a nice neat groove for the iPhone to better sit in. This really works for us as an easy way to keep our iPhone out of calamity’s way on a desk surface. MacGyver Rating: 4/5 3. The Pencil Stand What you’ll need: Overview: This easel-esque stand can be created from five pencils and several rubber bands. It will require some dexterity to get the pencils in the right place, as you use the bands to hold it all together, and then a little more to get it to stand up straight. However, it is a strikingly simple design once made, and can be collapsed down to nothing again, should the occasion require. Although this requires the most stuff to actually make, the Boy Scout-style binding process keeps it firmly in MacGyver territory. MacGyver Rating: 4/5 4. The Sticky Tape Stand What you’ll need: Overview: Perfect for those “I just want to catch ten minutes of [insert favorite show] while I eat lunch at my desk” moments, this devilishly simple solution requires only a roll of sticky tape to work. Simply stick a bit of tape to the back of your iPhone or iPod touch — and voila! — your iBuddy is propped up at a nice angle while you consume both your lunch and choice of video-based media. It’s not quite duct tape, but damn! MacGyver Rating: 5/5 5. The Paper Stand What you’ll need: Overview: The instructions call for the use of at least a 270 gsm paper or card stock, so assuming you have that, simply print out the template (available for both A4 and U.S. letter size paper), cut, fold, and faster than you can say “origami,” you’ve got yourself a new dock. And this one really is a dock (rather than just stand), as it includes space for the iPhone’s cord underneath. We would suggest that anyone not old enough to have a Facebook account should find a responsible adult to take care of the craft knife elements. MacGyver Rating: 3/5 For more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More iPhone resources from Mashable: – Top 10 Free iPhone Word Games – 10 Free iPhone Apps To Learn A New Skill In 10 Minutes – Top 10 iPhone Apps for TV Fanatics – HOW TO: Give Your iPhone a Spring Clean – 10 Great iPhone Apps for Growing a Garden Tags: apple , docks , gadgets , how to , iphone , iPod Touch , stands
Posted in Android, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 22. May, 2010
Jessica Miller has written for Jewcy.com , The Jew and the Carrot , and is an avid digital music explorer. She holds a B.A. in religion from Barnard College, and blogs regularly on her own site, The Boomerang Blog . Most music enthusiasts will agree that there is a big difference between hearing a band on a CD and seeing them perform live. While it might have been the recording that got you to the show, it’s often the live concert experience that transforms an artist you like into your favorite band. But since many of us don’t always have the time or ticket funds to see as many concerts as we’d like, here are seven sites that will bring all the intimacy of a live show to your desktop. Their combination of rare live recordings, unusual video locations, and behind-the-scenes snapshots are sure to please any music fan. So get ready to fall in love with your favorite bands all over again, and to discover some new ones along the way. 1. La Blogotheque If you’re in the market for charming, offbeat music videos, La Blogotheque is a must-see nexus of musicianship and cinematography. The French website produces weekly podcasts of unconventional music videos called “Take Away Shows.” These to-go cups of music video goodness feature well-known artists playing in unusual surroundings. For instance, Take Away Show director, Vincent Moon, put the band Arcade Fire, instruments and all, into a freight elevator, and had them play their single, “Neon Bible” — no small feat, considering there are about nine people in the group. Other Take Away Show highlights include unsuspecting café goers chanting “Blake’s got a new face!” along with Vampire Weekend, Jason Mraz jamming with an elderly Bulgarian street busker, and Andrew Bird acting as the veritable pied piper of Montmartre. 2. The Black Cab Sessions The Black Cab Sessions takes all the fun and eccentricity of La Blogotheque and puts it on wheels. Similar to the Take Away Shows’ “In a Van Sessions” series, this website transforms the taxicab into a moving recording studio for our audiovisual pleasure. While Jens Lekman’s kalimba rendition of his song “Black Cab” is certainly the most pertinent video on the site, there are loads of musical goodies here, with performances from the likes of Jamie Lidell, Death Cab for Cutie, Badly Drawn Boy, and many more. 3. Daytrotter Daytrotter is a delicious little website run out of a recording studio in Illinois. It aims to capture unreleased songs, alternate versions of tracks, and the little spontaneous moments that occur in the recording process. Thanks to the many working artists who pass through the studio while on tour, Daytrotter has racked up a truly impressive vault of live audio recordings (all available for free download, by the way) with artists ranging from The Swell Season, to Raphael Saadiq, to Grizzly Bear, to Carly Simon — and the list grows longer almost by the day. Each unique post is supplemented with gorgeous written descriptions, and colorful, hand-drawn artist portraits that make you feel like you’re witnessing something precious. Daytrotter is definitely a great site to get lost in. 4. NPR’s All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Concerts With all those musicians traipsing through the NPR offices, you have to imagine what it would be like to be a fly on a wall there. Luckily, All Songs Considered Host/Creator Bob Boilen is now making it possible with his “Tiny Desk Concerts.” These “concerts” are literally songs performed at, on, behind, and in front of Boilen’s tiny office desk. Although the settings are not romantic in the traditional sense, many special moments have been created there by the likes of Moby, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Thao Nguyen, and Jakob Dylan. 5. They Shoot Music – Don’t They Another Blogotheque-inspired website, They Shoot Music – Don’t They is a video blog powered by Viennese cinematographers and music enthusiasts who aim to turn their favorite urban locations into great performance stages. In this way, TSMDT is able to not only create beautiful musical moments, but also bring attention to sites of cultural importance within their city. For instance, the brains behind TSMDT try to bring attention to the Viennese region of Erdberg (one of the oldest settlements in Vienna, but now an underappreciated industrial center) by letting I’m From Barcelona frontman Emanual Lundgren roam about it on film . What ensues is the cutest musician-canine interaction you have ever seen. 6. Live From Daryl’s House Most of us know Daryl Hall as half of the 70s and 80s pop duo Hall & Oates. But what you might not know is that Daryl Hall is also the brains behind a web show sensation called Live From Daryl’s House. Hall first got the idea to post videos online of himself jamming at home with his friends three years ago. Of course, when you’re Daryl Hall, your friends include Toots and the Maytals, Smokey Robinson, KT Tunstall, and The Bacon Brothers. My personal favorite installment is the set he did with Chromeo that ended up going viral. It helps if you’re already a Hall & Oates fan, but it’s not required to enjoy this site. 7. From the Basement From the Basement is the work of producer and Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich. This site started as just a mere collection of audience-free music performances, but was soon picked up by television networks both in the U.S. and Great Britain. The original website can still stand alone on the moments and music it helped to foster, by recording artists such as Gnarls Barkley, Beck, Damien Rice, and The Dead Weather. For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More music resources from Mashable: – 5 Great Ways to Find Music That Suits Your Mood – 5 Free Ways to Identify that Song Stuck in Your Head – HOW TO: Create Free Music Playlists Online – HOW TO: Turn Your Android Phone Into a Killer MP3 Player – 10 Amazing Musical Instrument iPhone Apps Image courtesy of iStockphoto , damircudic Reviews: Facebook , Twitter , iStockphoto Tags: List , Lists , music , music video , music videos , musicians , web video
Posted in Android, Apple, Marketing, Mobile, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 21. May, 2010
Elliott Kosmicki is the founder of Good Plum, an online business blog focused on marketing and productivity. Elliott also quips with interesting people on Twitter . Three summers ago, people lined up around the country — and then the world — to get their hands on the next generation of mobile phone . Apple’s iPhone made “app” a household term, while cashing in on a movement that sent their stock — and everyday people’s productivity — soaring. In 2010, Apple released most of the specifications for iPhone OS 4.0 , which will launch along with the new iPhone sometime this June. I’d like to take a moment to review what we know, and what we think we know, about the new OS, the new phone, and what it all means for your everyday productivity. Things We Know About iPhone OS 4.0 Multitasking The most talked-about feature of the new operating system is, of course, “multitasking.” I put it in quotation marks because as many of you may know, it’s more of an application manager than an actual multitasking feature. Multitasking would insinuate that multiple applications can be running at the same time. And while that’s true for some applications (like audio apps, for instance), the majority of programs simply enter a suspended state until you resume them at a later time. However basic this feature may be, it’s a huge move forward for a system that has, until now, only let you work in one program at a time. No, you won’t be able to keep Facebook and Twitter updates streaming in the background. You won’t be able to get instant e-mail messages streaming to your home screen, either. But I’d bet those things will come eventually. For now, the ability to quickly switch between your recently used applications will make a huge difference to people who use the iPhone every day, and would like to do several things simultaneously. For instance, people on the go often need to quickly copy part of a web page and paste it into an e-mail. This becomes much simpler when you have the ability to switch quickly between the apps without having to close one, then open the other, and then do it again if you want to copy a second item. I, for one, am looking forward to this new flexibility, even if the upcoming version is still fairly basic. App Folders Those of you who are already App Store addicts know that having a double-digit number of pages on the home screen makes it a challenge to find downloaded apps quickly. Now, with Folders on the iPhone, we’ll be able to group apps into whatever categories we like. I’m sure I’ll still keep my first few pages of frequently-used apps out in front. But after that, I can make groups for those I frequent less, like games, travel apps, and more. This feature will be a huge time-saver if you utilize it wisely. Unified Inbox and Multiple Exchange Accounts For those of you with one e-mail account, this might not be a huge deal. For those who are pulling e-mails down from many different servers, this is huge. In the past, we’ve had to go from one inbox, back to accounts, select the new account, and then that account’s inbox in order to see other messages. With OS 4.0, we’ll have them all on one screen. I’ve already “tricked” my phone into using one inbox by forwarding all my mail through a single Gmail account. OS 4.0 will allow me to keep things separated if I want to, as well as make it easier to send from multiple addresses. For those of us currently burning our single Exchange account on Gmail syncing, 4.0 will let us sync to multiple Gmail accounts, or pull in a work Exchange account as well — a huge plus. Bluetooth Keyboard Support Once you become familiar with the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard, it can be handy for typing out even long e-mails. But what about full-blown blogging? WordPress has put together a great app for the iPhone which, until now, has been useful for simple edits and comment moderation. Add a full-size Bluetooth keyboard to the toolkit with OS 4.0, and you’ll have everything you need to knock out a full blog post right from your phone, and quickly. This feature is going to make many mobile web workers even more dangerous when it comes to productivity on the road. iPhone Calendar API iPhone OS 4.0 introduces 1,500 new developer APIs, and for me, the best one will allow developers to interact with the user’s built-in calendar. This feature hasn’t seen much discussion, but I feel that this small offering could have a huge impact on the iPhone’s productivity apps. Right now, there are many apps that will interact with your Google Calendar, which you can then sync to your iPhone via Google Sync and one of your Exchange accounts — quite the round-about solution. However, in the new OS, developers will have the ability to read and write directly into your iPhone’s calendar. This will open up a whole new set of features for task apps and other productivity solutions on the iPhone. You could have instantaneous task reminders sent to your calendar, for example. Or, your doctor’s office could make an app that would deliver your next appointment right to your schedule. The possibilities are endless.
Posted in Apple, Computer, Marketing, Social media, Technology, Twitter, World on 21. May, 2010
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. A few weeks ago, we discussed some digital tools to help reduce paper use within the office. But there are still more services and apps that focus on reducing your paper consumption (and subsequently your costs) when it comes to external systems, like postal mail, invoicing, and in-person networking. To continue in this eco- and budget-friendly vein, read on for five more paper saving services. 1. ShoeBoxed When it comes to running a small business, it’s hard to avoid that ever-growing pile of miscellaneous paper. Not only does it quickly become office clutter, but it’s a good way to lose track of important items. One solution is the digitization service ShoeBoxed. If you’ve collected 25 expensable receipts on your last visit to the West Coast office, stuffing them into a pre-paid envelope would likely be more efficient than manually entering the data into a spreadsheet. ShoeBoxed will scan the papers and index them in your account. From there, you can generate highly detailed, sortable reports, and integrate them into your existing database systems, including Excel, Quicken, Outlook, Gmail , Freshbooks (see below), and many others. Essentially, the service can turn a pile of disorganized paper into an expense report or contact database without you ever touching a keyboard. Pricing starts at $9.95 per month for up to 50 item scans, which could be a good fit for a small operation or freelancer looking to save time on bookkeeping. More comprehensive plans are available for businesses with more to keep track of. 2. CloudContacts It’s time to turn that business card collection or Rolodex into a searchable database. While ShoeBoxed is focused mainly on digitizing receipts, CloudContacts is all about your business network. Send them your pile of 2 x 3 inch card stock, and get back standardized data that you can import into nearly any contact, e-mail, or CRM system, including Outlook, Gmail, SalesForce and 37Signals’ Highrise. Another nice feature is the one-click connection to social media. When a business card cites a social profile, a link will be incorporated in your data, allowing you to easily connect on LinkedIn , Facebook , or Twitter . And for those businesses located in New York City, in-person pickup is available. 3. Freshbooks Generating paper invoices can be extremely inefficient. Freshbooks not only takes the paper out of your billing system, but can give it a complete organizational overhaul. The web-based software can be accessed from any computer with your account login and password, eliminating the need for proprietary installations. Once logged in, you’ll have access to a complete online overview of your billing system, which you can use to track expenses, generate reports, and most importantly, invoice your clients. Invoices are sent via e-mail with secure links where customers can review their bill and related information (e.g. estimates, quotes, etc.). Clients can even make direct payments from their invoice page via a number of intermediate services including PayPal, Verisign, and Authorize.net. If your clients prefer PDF invoices, you can always utilize a PDF printer driver . Billing can be automated within Freshbooks (eliminating the need to follow-up manually with “Past Due” reminders), can be done in any currency, and there’s even an iPhone app for tracking on the go. The service is $39.95 per month, plus $10 for each additional user, for unlimited client entries and invoices. 4. Earth Class Mail Businesses receive tons of paper mail. Much of it is junk; some of it is vital to operations. All of it is cumbersome and unsearchable. Earth Class Mail seeks to remedy this with their snail mail digitization services. Sign up, and you’ll be assigned a special code (like a suite number) to add to your business’s existing street address. For example: My Business 123 Broadway, #4567 New York, NY 10011 Then, securely re-route all the mail coming to this address via the U.S. Postal Service. Incoming paper will be scanned and stored in your Earth Class Mail account, and you’ll be notified by e-mail of new arrivals. Now your paper mail is searchable, easily archived, and won’t be piling up on your desk any time soon. Digital storage of your mail is unlimited, and the paper will be kept for 30 days before it’s securely shredded and recycled. Because your new digital “suite number” is tied to the re-routing designation with the USPS, you can control what type of mail goes to ECM (lower priority items, junk mail, etc.), and what still comes to your door. If you’re aiming to go fully digital, additional features like integrated check cashing through your bank account, and package forwarding are also available, meaning that once the system is set up and in full swing, you may never need to touch a piece of paper mail again. Currently, the service is only available in 19 U.S. cities , and it seems there’s a lot to keep track of when setting up an account, especially if you plan to split your mail between two destinations. But if you’re committed to a green solution, or focused on de-cluttering your office, Earth Class Mail might be a good option. Pricing starts at $19.95 per month for scans of 100 mail items. 5. Zumbox Zumbox is another paperless mail solution with a different approach. They’ve created a digital mailbox for every physical address in the U.S. Companies and other organizations that send paper materials to physical addresses can opt-in to Zumbox and send them digitally instead. Recipients (at either personal or business addresses) can enable their Zumbox account by inputting their street address. Zumbox sends a piece of physical mail with a pin number that enables users to activate their addresses. Essentially, the service lets businesses and individuals send digital communications to physical locations, without the need for e-mail addresses. It may be hard to see the immediate practicality of Zumbox, as both the recipients and the senders would have to opt-in to accounts, and getting all of the people you do business with to do so is unlikely. However, because the service is built on the massive existing infrastructure of the U.S. Postal Service, the potential here is enormous, and certainly worth exploring, even from a marketing angle. For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – 5 Simple Tools for a Paperless Office – HOW TO: Market Your Small Business With No Budget – Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Foursquare – 5 Essential Apps for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page – Why Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses Image courtesy of iStockphoto , wragg Tags: business , List , Lists , small business , web apps
Posted in Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Technology, Twitter, World on 21. May, 2010
Maria Ogneva is the Director of Social Media at Attensity , a social media engagement and voice-of-customer platform that helps the social enterprise serve and collaborate with the social customer. You can follow her on Twitter at @themaria or @attensity360 , or find her musings on her personal blog and her company’s blog . If you have been tracking conversations around social media for business, you have undoubtedly come across people talking about Social CRM. If you are anything like me, the first time you heard it, you probably rolled your eyes and said, “Ugh, another social media buzzword!” And while I do take issue with the jargon itself (and will discuss that later), Social CRM is a central concept that businesses need to understand deeply and integrate fully, in order to serve the social customer . Who Is the Social Customer? The social customer consumes information in a different way , and learns about breaking news through Twitter and Facebook , favoring what her network has curated and surfaced as important information. The social customer learns about new products and brands through social channels and trusts her social network to provide honest feedback about it, as opposed to a brand’s one-way advertising message. The social customer is savvy , doesn’t respond well to unsolicited SPAM in her social networks or overly promotional tweets, but is open to relevant information that meets her needs at that particular moment. The social customer expects brands to be present and active in the same social venues where she hangs out , listening to her feedback, whether it’s negative or positive. The social customer expects you to listen and engage with her , not only when it coincides with an e-mail blast or new feature release, but rather when she needs you . And you better respond fast, in real-time, or she will either move on to a competitor, or tell her friends about her bad experiences. Because the social customer can talk to a brand through many channels at the same time, she expects everyone she talks to from your company to have the same background on her issue . For example, if I complain about an airline on Twitter, I want the representative who engages me there to know my itinerary and the full history of our interaction through various channels. Bottom line: The social customer owns the relationship, and you need to earn her trust. What is Social CRM? Paul Greenberg , and author and leading authority on SCRM, stated that Social CRM is “…designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide a mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company response to the customer’s owning of the relationship.” Another great definition was put forward by Michael Fauschette : “Social CRM is the tools and processes that encourage better, more effective customer interaction and leverage the collective intelligence of the broader customer community with the intended result of increasing intimacy between an organization and its prospects and customers. The goal is to make the relationship with the customer more intimate and tied to the company by building a public ecosystem to better understand what they want and how they interact with the various company touchpoints like sales, customer service etc…” At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what you call Social CRM or how you define it, as long as you understand it and know how to apply it to your organization. It’s all about the execution. At Attensity, for example, we developed the “LARA” framework, which addresses the end-to-end process of Social CRM: Listen to customer conversations Analyze those conversations Relate this information to existing information within your enterprise Act on those customer conversations Jacob Morgan of Chess Media has developed this pretty comprehensive diagram that I like to refer to: As mentioned above, I don’t necessarily agree that Social CRM is the best name for this kind of process because CRM has typically enabled one-way conversations with customers, with a disproportionate focus on technology. The name CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” which is a misnomer because the company no longer controls or manages the relationship –- the customer does. In one of my favorite quotes about Social CRM, Mitch Lieberman states that “Social CRM is about bringing “me” [the social customer] into the ecosystem… It is not about the technology, it is about the people, process and cultural shifts necessary to support and grow a business.” This is a very important notion to understand in order to avoid coming down with a case of “analysis paralysis.” We all have a tendency to over complicate things, and while SCRM is a big concept that takes a lot of savvy and planning to get right, it’s really very simple at its core. Companies that successfully execute on the Social CRM process share the following characteristics: — Social engagement must be enterprise-wide . To achieve this goal, you need to “socialize” the organization. The larger and more entrenched your organization is in traditional ways of handling customer interactions (inbound or outbound), the more difficult this task will be. How do you socialize the organization? Through proper training, alignment of objectives (the quintessential question of “what’s in it for me?”), and providing leadership and mentoring. Marketers within your organization need to understand that a brand is no longer what you tell your customers it is –- it is now what they say it is. Make sure the salespeople know how to use Twitter to build relationships without spamming their networks. Empower customer service to help, and product teams to gather and act on feedback. Overall, the toughest task of “socialization” is conveying the notion that the more the brand lets go of its desire to control the message, the more they will be able to shape it collaboratively with its customers . This is where a social media director/manager becomes a crucial hire, because she will provide direction for the entire organization. — To truly provide a “mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment,” per Paul Greenberg, the organization must be irrevocably oriented towards transparency and customer service . Why are companies like Zappos so successful, while others’ attempts at helping on Twitter resemble a “me too” strategy? Because transparency, taking risks, and providing a “no-matter-what-it-takes” kind of service are part of their corporate DNA. If you don’t have the guts to truly commit to transparency and service, and if you don’t empower your people to act on behalf of the company (which will inevitably lead to some unintentional mistakes), you won’t get very far. You must embrace experimentation, take smart risks, and “fail fast.” — I can’t stress enough the importance of putting the right processes in place to truly listen and engage . Because the sheer volume of social media conversations is staggering, you need a plan to triage, prioritize and activate the right people in the organization to engage properly. After you socialize the organization, take the time to figure out who the right internal resources are in at least these areas of the organization: Customer service, PR, marketing, sales, and product feedback. Develop a process by which a social media message gets routed to one of the above groups and activate the right resources for an immediate response. There must also be a robust crowdsourcing component, which will empower customers to provide direct product feedback, and the organization to ensure that the feedback is heard and acted upon ( UserVoice is a terrific platform for this). The social customer may go to Twitter with a question, a user forum with a customer service query, Facebook with a compliment, or Yelp with a complaint. The processes you establish will largely determine your ability to respond quickly and with the relevant information, while uniting all of these interactions under one customer record. At the end of the day, you must ask yourself if the steps above help you enrich the two-way relationship between the social customer and your social business. Use the Right Tools Even though Social CRM is mostly about people and processes, you do need the right tools to help you achieve the following: A 360 degree view of the customer must include not only the relevant interactions between your company and the customer across the networks where they originated, but also internal data from your own CRM system. This data must be rich and actionable, and the system must also retain all these interactions as part of the customer record. This is a win for the customer because she gets a personalized experience and never has to tell her story to three different reps, and a win for the company which now becomes more efficient. The ability for everyone to engage and be in alignment: Social media is not a silo, and no one department owns it . There must be a process in place by which each message gets automatically routed to the right person, classifying it by type (question, complaint or compliment), content (what it actually said), sentiment , action needed, and influence. This helps automate the triage process, which until now has been mostly manual. Sophisticated workflow tools will ensure that information created by the 360 degree view of the customer is accessible to everyone in the organization in the same way, creating a context for each interaction and enabling the rich, intimate relationship with the social customer. Each person involved with the customer record receives a set of prioritized tasks and reminders. The ability to engage right from the app creates a virtual paper trail of the conversation. Are you ready for enterprise-wide engagement? Can your organization support Social CRM? What are some of the steps you have taken to build a rich relationship with your social customer? For more business coverage, follow Mashable Business on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook More business resources from Mashable: – How Companies Can Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Their Business – How Venture Capitalists are Using Social Media for Real Results – Why Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses – HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Offline Networking Events – 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Leverage LinkedIn’s New Features Image courtesy of iStockphoto , iqoncept Reviews: Facebook , Twitter , Yelp , iStockphoto Tags: business , customer service , enterprise , facebook , List , Lists , small business , social media , social media marketing , SocialCRM , twitter
