RNMC

Small Biz Mixed On Social Media Effectiveness

Bob Latta — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:34:37 +0000

What are your thoughts?

Entrepreneurs Question Value of Social Media

Last year, social-media adoption by businesses with fewer than 100 employees doubled to 24% from 12%, says a survey released in January of 2,000 U.S. entrepreneurs from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Network Solutions LLC, a Web-services provider in Herndon, Va.

Meanwhile, a separate survey of 500 U.S. small-business owners from the same sponsors found that just 22% made a profit last year from promoting their firms on social media, while 53% said they broke even. What’s more, 19% said they actually lost money due to their social-media initiatives.

To gain positive results, entrepreneurs need to regularly interact with consumers through these sites and not simply create static profiles, says Jacob Morgan, co-owner of Chess Media Group Corp., a consulting firm in San Francisco that specializes in social media.
Read more at online.wsj.com

Thought Update: Speaker Pelosi, while speaking to the 2010 Legislative...

Bob Latta — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:57:44 +0000

Speaker Pelosi, while speaking to the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, stated that “we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Shouldn’t all lawmakers AND the American people have the right to review all legislation at least 72 hours before voting on it, especially when it deals with 1/6th of our economy? I believe they should, especially when Americans overwhelmingly are rejecting the gov’t takeover of healthcare

Google Testing TV Search

Bob Latta — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:26:24 +0000

Clipped from online.wsj.com

Google Tests TV Search Service

Google Inc. is testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network Corp., according to people familiar with the matter, the latest development in a fast-moving race to combine Internet content with conventional TV.

The service, which runs on TV set-top boxes containing Google software, allows users to find shows on the satellite-TV service as well as video from Web sites like Google’s YouTube, according to these people. It also lets users to personalize a lineup of shows, these people said.

With the test, Google moves deeper into a crowded field of companies, large and small, that have been trying for years to marry the Web and TV and their business models—from rivals Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. to the manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes.
Read more at online.wsj.com

Google Buzz: A Whole New Social Network

Bob Latta — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:31:49 +0000

What are your thoughts? Good or Bad?

Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Google Buzz is the loudest party I’ve ever been forced to attend. It’s not because there are too many people invited but because of all the chatter. I’m following only 40 others. And even if I wanted to follow a few hundred more, my network’s too small. But these 40 contacts all have their own friends, and even though I’ve never met most of them, Google is making me hear their thoughts.

And that dynamic makes Google Buzz a fundamentally different social network than Facebook and Twitter. Those networks, of course, are also filled with noise. But Google pushes the comments of your friends’ friends (we’ll call them secondary friends from here on out) into your Gmail window, alerting you whenever a secondary friend has responded to something your actual friend has written. This is a small quirk, and only mildly different from similar features on Facebook and Twitter. But it’s Buzz’s biggest one. Google’s network will live or die depending on whether people like all that chatter.
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

Foursquare: Are you game?

Bob Latta — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:08:21 +0000

Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

GPS capability gives Foursquare social-networking service an edge

This free service (http://foursquare.com) turns going out into a collaborative sport: People use its mobile software to check in to bars, restaurants, shops and other venues, to share tips about those places and to see whether other friends on Foursquare are nearby. For their trouble, they get virtual points and badges, plus the more practical lure of discounts from their favorite spots.

It’s both profoundly silly and oddly compelling. And the New York startup, almost a year old, has been drawing users — about 500,000, whom founder Dennis Crowley says check in 1.5 million times a week — as well as partners and competitors.

Foursquare couldn’t exist without Global Positioning System-enabled smartphones that can locate themselves (although you can also use the service’s mobile Web site or text-messaging system). That place-awareness sets it apart from social networks that assume most users log in from regular computersRead more at www.washingtonpost.com

Are You On The Social Media Bandwagon?

Bob Latta — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:34:32 +0000

Very interesting article on how social media is no longer a fad or “just for techies”, rather it is ingrained into our daily life and culture.

Clipped from www.cnbc.com

Social Media: The New Career Norm

Last week, several signs came together to further underline the fact that social media is no longer an emerging trend or passing fad, and that it’s gone beyond the realm of the personal and become a fully-fledged part of our working lives.

Consider the following pieces of evidence:

Facebook surpassed Yahoo to become the second most visited Web site in the country.

In January this year it drew some 133.62 million unique visitors, while Yahoo [YHOO 15.34 0.10 (+0.66%) ] came in just behind with 132 million.

That left Facebook second only to Google [GOOG 529.15 2.72 (+0.52%) ] in terms of internet popularity.
Read more at www.cnbc.com

Congressional Directory to Include Twitter Accounts

Bob Latta — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:52:50 +0000

Clipped from www.washingtonexaminer.com

We the Tweeple

The annual “Congress at Your Fingertips” book is about to be released, and the new volume not only contains members’ bios, contact information and Web sites, it also includes their Twitter accounts.
Read more at www.washingtonexaminer.com

ICYMI: Voice Plans Decrease in Price as Data Plans Increase

Bob Latta — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:14:40 +0000

Clipped from customsites.yahoo.com

Your Cell Phone Company’s Dirty Little Secret

Mobile phone companies have been lauded for slashing the cost of unlimited voice plans, but many wireless customers’ monthly bills are actually going to get a bit more expensive.

But as the wireless giants go around touting their lower voice prices, data plan costs have been quietly moving higher for some non-smartphone customers.

“There’s a big shift going on among mobile companies, in which there is a price reduction on voice and an increased emphasis on selling and requiring data services,” said Dan Hays, partner at PRTM. “It is like a dirty little secret.”

It’s not just about increasing revenue, say analysts. Carriers are banking on the consumer-friendly aspect: phones are more fun and useful with the Internet.
Read more at customsites.yahoo.com

Google & NSA To Combat Cyber Attacks

Bob Latta — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:42:09 +0000

Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks

The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.

Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

How Much Will That iPad Really Cost You?

Bob Latta — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:16:38 +0000

Clipped from online.wsj.com

What Apple’s iPad Means for Your Wallet

LONDON—Phew! Thank heavens the iPad is coming. Solving the economic crisis should be a breeze—it has an app for that.

Apple’s new all-singing, all-dancing hand-held computer is the talk of the moment. Even thousands of miles away in London, when I staggered off the redeye Thursday morning, the front pages showed a gaunt but grinning Steve Jobs clasping his latest creation.

But if we can hack our way through the hype, what are the financial implications of this latest techno marvel—for consumers and for investors?

• Look out: The iPad may cost you around $1,000 after all.
Read more at online.wsj.com