Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category

The Life Impacts of Constant Connectivity

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Do you remember a time when you took your dog for a walk without texting, or watched a game with your friends without checking your email? It was called downtime and it was healthy for you. In this age of connectivity it appears as though that may be a thing of the past. Today having our devices with us at all times is not unusual, but is it healthy?

It’s extremely hard to argue that our gadgets—our smartphones, tablets and laptops—haven’t made our everyday life simpler. We can make dining reservations as we drive down the highway. If we’re lost, we can find directions on our smartphones. If we need recommendations on how to deal with our child’s fever, we can find medical advice by tapping the screen on our iPad.

But are we paying for this connectivity more then just monetarily? As we are always connected, we rarely, if ever, are alone with our ideas. Lots of people have wondered if this is negatively affecting the philosophical, pensive, aspect of humanity.

That is not a question we’ll explore here, but it’s something to think about. A more pressing question is, what is being continually plugged in doing to our health?

Always being connected takes its toll, whether it’s for work or for play. The human body needs time to rest, and not just when it’s asleep. If you find that you have trouble with being away from your phone, or have anxiety about not checking your mail, it may be time to shut off your devices.

While being connected helps grow relationships online it can harm ones offline. When you’re out with your friends and family members it may be good practice to unplug. It’s just too easy to text and check your email, forgetting to give the ones around you the attention they deserve.

If you are one that always has their gadget in their hand, think about how your life may being impacted by it. Try leaving it at home one day, or turning it off on the weekends. You may find that you are considerably more laid back because your brain is not focusing on more then just being present.

I know that some of this my be quite controversial and even difficult to swallow, but I would encourage you to try to “unplug” every once in an while.  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Posted in Connectivity and Acess, Facebook, Social Media, Technology and How it's Used, Time Management | No Comments »

Why You Should Care About Pinterest

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Are you burned out on social media? Then you will not be thrilled to hear that a new social media site is gaining traction. However, you might be interested to know that this new site, Pinterest, doesn’t focus on the minutiae of day-to-day living as sites such as Twitter and Facebook seem to. Instead, Pinterest encourages users to talk about their interests with other people. And in this way, at least, Pinterest does more to encourage creativity among its users than sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

The site’s name gives a clue as to what it’s all about: Pinterest is a combination of “pin,” as in pinboards, and “interest,” as in what you are all about. When you sign up for Pinterest, you make your own “pinboards” or categories. You then attach photos and pictures that fit within those categories, as if you were pinning these images onto a bulletin board.

Creating Pinterest Categories

With Pinterest you can create different categories, like business and fashion, then pin images to each category and make notes about the images along with links to the website you found them on. You can then decide to share all of your pinboards or only a couple with other Pinterest users.

The Social Part of Pinterest

Just like Facebook and Twitter, you can elect to follow coworkers and friends. You don’t have to follow all of a friend’s collections; for instance, you can decide to follow only their collection of art, while choosing not to follow the restaurants they enjoy in their area.

Joining Pinterest

The one challenge with Pinterest is that you have to get invited to obtain an account. You can visit pinterest.com and request an invitation but it may be a while before you receive one. The more surefire strategy to get an invitation is to have a friend invite you that already posseses an account.

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Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Up and Coming Windows Phone

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Microsoft is everywhere; their products are used throughout the world. And, Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chief, is one of the most widely known names in the field of technology. With that being said, Microsoft is missing one thing, it has never had a “cool” image. But the release of Windows Phone, Microsoft’s new smartphone software, may alter our opinion.

Microsoft has long had a reputation of being slightly uninspired. Remember the Zune mp3 player or the Kin phone? You might not, they were short lived, and are good examples of Microsoft products that have shot and missed.

That said, Microsoft’s Windows Phone software has caught some attention. The Windows Phone has been well received by both critics and consumers.

Windows Phone earns praise for its eye-catching on-screen typography and its mosaic of animated tiles on its home screen. This presents a visual contrast with the home screen of the iPhone. The operating system gets points, too, for making it simple for users to gain access to social networks. When friends or family members post pictures, messages, or updates to Twitter or Facebook, the tiles representing these services pop into life on Windows Phone-equipped devices.

Even with all these features and praise Windows Phone has not been the biggest seller. This is perhaps due to the phones that come loaded with the OS. Many people believe these phones are bland and wireless services providers are still pushing the iPhone and Android in a big way.

The Windows Phone, though, does provide some hope for Microsoft’s endeavours to capture some cool. Sure, big sales and ubiquitous products are important, but a bit of hipness never hurt a company, either. Oh, and did I mention:  My daughter has a Windows Phone and recently had the choice to upgrade to the iPhone… she decided to say with a Windows Phone. 

What’s your preference?

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Posted in Facebook, Technology and How it's Used | No Comments »

The Changing Face of Business

Monday, November 14th, 2011

The face of business has turned online the past few years. There was once less competition for business and getting your name out was straightforward, hire an ad agency or go door to door introducing your business. Now the number of business that offer similar goods and services is incredible and it’s easy to get lost amongst them. For this reason, small-business owners have had to reevaluate how they sell. But how do you convince prospective customers that they should choose you out of the many. Developing a strong online presence is a proactive way to do this, below are a few options open to business owners today.

Becoming Mobile

Mobile devices are becoming more and more common. People carry them to make their lives simpler as they can stay connected to their business and personal lives.. This can make commuting valuable working time instead of dead time. Unfortunately many regular sites aren’t very readable on a mobile device because of this many businesses have mobile sites. They retain the companies branding while allowing for faster, easier navigation on a mobile device. Mobile site makes your company more easily accessible to consumers.

Social Sites

These are an interesting phenomena, originally they were intended as sites primarily for personal socializing. But when Facebook came out, their clean utilitarian site enticed businesses owners. Those individuals realized they could reach a wide audience by developing a social face for their business. Now almost every business has a Facebook page. Social sites give companies a platform to share interesting and fun content that is relevant to their industry with consumers. Creating this on-line community is a passive way to create sales. You might have been aware of Google , they have recently unveiled their business pages. Check out this walk-though to learn how you can create a Google business page. Social sites are a non-intrusive way to interact with a large audience that I predicted the relationship between businesses and social sites a long and fruitful one.

On-line Education

You have likely noticed the growing number of businesses that have blogs, these allow companies to give educational information without trying to obviously sell the individual something. Offering educational content is a terrific way to show for potential customers how knowledgeable your business is and develop trust. Webinars and blogs are two great ways to do this. In this way companies can stand out from their competition by showing their extensive knowledge and this can result in sales indirectly.

Most people like to visit a local shop where the owner works behind the counter. This is still available to us but that shop probably has an online presence even if it’s a small one. It can’t be denied that businesses are not just street facing but Web facing as well. Being open to the changing face of business will make you a more informed consumer and/or business owner.  Read this article
to learn some great reasons for creating an on-line presence. If you’ve had success at creating your on-line presence, please let us know what you’ve done.  We’d love to hear about more successes.

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Technology and How it's Used | No Comments »

The Changing Face of Business

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Have you noticed how the face of business has turned online. In the past getting your name out as a business was easy, hire an ad agency, get a billboard, simple. Now with the amount of companies competing online it’s increasingly difficult for businesses to stand out. When everything was more local, many businesses were the only option for customers to get what they need, so customers would come to them, all they had to do was be open. Now, with all the options open to people, companies have to reevaluate the way they sell. They have to give potential customers a reason to choose them from the endless choices. Having a strong online presence is an excellent way to do this, here are a few ways.

Becoming Mobile

Mobile devices are becoming more and more common. People carry them to make their lives less difficult as they can stay connected to their business and personal lives.. This can make commuting valuable working time instead of dead time. Unfortunatly many regular sites aren’t very readable on a mobile device because of this many businesses have mobile sites. They retain the companies branding while making it possible for faster, easier navigation on a mobile device. Mobile site makes your company more easily accessible to consumers.

Social Sites

Social sites, like Myspace, started off just social. However when Facebook came about it had a much more utilitarian interface and business caught the social site bug. Virtually every business you can find has a Facebook page. Social sites allow companies to share fun and interesting content that is related to their industry with potential customers, which creates an online community. Recently Google unveiled its business pages. This walk-though will illustrate how to setup a Google business page. Social sites enable such a noninvasive interaction between business and consumer I see the future of social sites as all business.

On-line Education

Offering educational content is an excellent way to reach an audience and differentiate yourself from your competitors. This can be done with blogs and webinars. On-line education shows your potential customers that you’re knowledgeable and sets you up as a thought leader in your industry. Developing trust in this way can lead to sales in the future as consumers will be visiting your blog for interesting and educational information and think of you when they need a service you provide.

While we still see store fronts and most of us like to visit a local shop and meet the owner who is working behind the counter we can’t deny that the face of business is more Web facing then street. Being conscious of this and knowing why this is will make us both a more informed consumer and/or business owner. This article has some great reasons for having an on-line presence.

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Posted in Facebook, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Avoiding the Facebook Trojan Viruses

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Did you know that Facebook has over 500 MILLION active users and that over 50% of those log in on any given day?  It has become a great place to connect with friends, find out what’s happening, playing a game or to take part in discussions.  It’s also become one of the easiest places to get infected with a Facebook Trojan virus or other Facebook related malware.  As it turns out, these types of nasty little bugs are abundant and a lot of them can be quite serious. The Koobface worm is probably the best known Facebook malware but compared to Facebook Trojan viruses, this worm is sweet and harmless.

Facebook viruses use a lot of different techniques to infect your computer and even experts in the field can never be confident that you’ll never be caught by one of the new techniques that just seem to keep coming. There are some simple measures that can help, but if you aren’t diligent about following them, it’s almost guaranteed that sooner or later you will pick one up.

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Posted in Facebook, Malware, Social Media, Tips and Tricks | 2 Comments »