Just When You Thought LinkedIn Couldn’t Get Any Cooler: Targeted Status Updates Is Now Available to All!

With a gazillion cool features, LinkedIn is by far one of the finest tools for business networking.  And, just when you thought it couldn’t get any cooler – yet another brilliant feature:  Targeted Status Updates.  This feature essentially enhances the relevance of conversations between LinkedIn users and companies.  Originally launched in April, but only made available to a few companies, Targeted Status Updates is now open to all businesses that have LinkedIn Company Pages.  And, that’s over two million!

Targeted Status Updates facilitates the flow of pertinent information between users and the companies they follow.  In the words of LinkedIn project manager, Mike Grishaver, “...companies can now communicate with their followers in a very personalized way and provide content tailored to specific audiences.”

   

Now, when you follow a company on LinkedIn, information, news and updates (industry trends, job opportunities, product & service information, etc.) are sent to the activity stream.  And, the amount of relevant content that you receive is proportional to how much and how often you engage with a company. 

Businesses can target their status updates to users based on company size, industry, function, seniority and geography.  It streamlines the information that you receive and makes it much easier to follow companies.

Here’s how it works:

Log into your company’s LinkedIn page.  Type the content you want to share into the “Share an update” box.  Click on the dropdown menu beside “Share with: All followers”, then click on “Targeted audience”.

The next window you see will read, “Specify a target audience” at the top left.  Select the criteria for your target audience from the options listed across the top of the box:  “Company size”; “Industry”; “Function”; “Seniority” and “Geography”. 

It’s as simple as that!  Now, not only will your status update be visible on your company page, but it will appear on the homepages of followers whom you have targeted via the criteria you selected.

 

And, it doesn’t end there.  Analytics for each post are available following a twenty-four hour period.  The company page admin will be able to see these analytics, which include how many impressions the update received; how many clicks it garnered; how many times it was shared and the engagement percentage, underneath each post. Targeted Status Updates is a brilliant means of streamlining what and to whom you post on LinkedIn. 

According to an article on brandchannel.com, “LinkedIn found that 67% of members follow a company to gain industry insights, 61% for company news, and 49% for the peer community.” 

Targeted Status Updates is a brilliant means of streamlining what and to whom you post on LinkedIn.  Just another way that LinkedIn makes social media marketing a breeze!

5 Things You Can Do on Social Media to Find Your Dream Job

Technology and (most especially) social media have simplified our lives in too many ways to count.  And, finding a job is definitely not the same daunting task as it was even just 15 years ago.  There are a variety of ways technology has put things at our fingertips when it comes to the job search:  websites showcasing available employment opportunities; websites that help with resume writing; websites that offer job interview tips and, of course, social media sites that connect you to the whole world of the job hunt and open up an unprecedented wealth of opportunity!   

Here are a few tips for you to consider when using social media in the search for your dream job:

1.  Ensure You’re Up-to-Date and In the Know – Knowledge, as they say, is power.  Make sure that you’re up to date with all of your industry’s news, trends, info and goings-on.  Social media make it very easy for you to stay current.  Check out industry-related people and news via Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and LinkedIn.  Monitor and join discussions and groups and stay a part of the action.

2. Get Connected (and Recommended) on LinkedIn – Of all the social media platforms, you’re probably aware that LinkedIn is the most professionally relevant.  Unlike its social media peers, LinkedIn is all about connecting & keeping up with other professionals and businesses.  And, LinkedIn takes it one step further – it has its own “Jobs” tab and built-in job search functionality.  It’s like one-stop shopping for the job hunter!

Make the most of what LinkedIn has to offer by ensuring that your LinkedIn profile is at 100% completeness.  Think of your LinkedIn profile as your online resume and fill it in with as much detail as possible pertaining to your employment history, educational background, experience and skills.  Ensure that you request plenty of recommendations from past employers, co-workers and educators.  Use an abundance of keywords to better your chances of being found in a search for suitable candidates for employment.  LinkedIn really is unparalleled when it comes to looking for a good job in your industry – take advantage of what it offers and you’ll be employed in no time!

3. Mind Your Manners and Keep it Professional – Most people use Facebook and Twitter for personal use and entertainment – and that’s fine.  But, when you’re on the job hunt you want to mind what’s publicly viewable because anything in the public domain that your friends can see, your future employer will be able to see as well.  So, while you’re actively looking for a job, watch what you tweet and what you post on Facebook.  Check out your Facebook privacy settings and use them wisely.  If you blog – watch what you blog about and showcase your smarts rather than posting a scathing, sarcastic piece about something that really ticked you off last week.  And, that brings me to my next point…

4. Blog, blog and blog some more – If you haven’t already, start a blog and write on a weekly basis about something relevant to your industry.  As mentioned above, this is a great way to showcase your intelligence and industry know-how.  Make sure that all of your posts are grammatically correct and full of valuable information that positions you as the person in the know!  There are plenty of blogging sites out there: Wordpress, Tumblr and BlogSpot, just to name a few.  Take advantage and start writing now!

5. Arm Yourself with Info – Before you head off to a job interview or even prior to submitting an application, do your homework and arm yourself with plenty of background information on the company you’re applying to as well as the person with whom you will be interviewing.  You can search the company and its employees (especially the interviewer) on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn and if the business has a blog, read as many posts as you can to familiarize yourself with what they’re all about, their mission, etc. 

So much information, so little time!! That’s the value of social media.  They literally put the professional world at your fingertips and make it so easy for you to network to find that position you’ve dreamed of since graduation!

4 REASONS WHY IT’S CRUCIAL TO KNOW YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING AUDIENCE

Social media is all about engagement and connecting with other people.  To successfully run any customer-facing business, the first rule is:  Know your clientele.  And, in social media speak, that means: Know your audience.

Why is this so important?  Because your audience (hopefully comprised in large part of your clients and prospects) is your sole reason for being active on social media sites from a business standpoint.   

Here are four definite advantages to knowing who your audience is and what they’re all about:

1. You’re Able to Better Focus – If you can focus intently on whom you are targeting, it makes it easy to create content that resounds immediately with these people.  And, that’s important because generating valuable content that allows you to engage the highest number of relevant people is the essence of your social media business strategy.  You want to capture their interest.  You want to keep their interest so that they’re coming back often to see your latest Facebook and blog posts.

2.  The Walls Come Down – You’re able to listen to what people have to say about your business – the positive as well as the negative – and respond in kind.  Social media is all about, well… being social.  And interactive.  Social networking affords you the opportunity to effortlessly communicate with your audience in an unprecedented manner.  Take advantage of that!  The more you interact with your audience, the better you come to know them.

3. You Can More Readily Respond to Specific Needs – Imagine being able to get to know clients so intimately through social media that you come to the point where you’re able to offer them what they require prior to them even inquiring.  You can make valuable suggestions to them and can tailor your services to fit them specifically simply because you have made the effort to communicate with them via social networking sites.  Ask lots of questions and interact often.  Soon, you’ll know what they need before they do!  The ultimate in customer service.

4. You Can Position Yourself as an Industry Leader – When the people in your audience (your clients and prospects) have industry related queries or need to be apprised of valuable information, you want to be the one they turn to, don’t you?  Make yourself readily available to people on your social networking sites – let it be known that you are the expert in your field!  Blog, blog, blog and then blog some more.  Blogging is a prime way of showcasing your wealth of industry knowledge.  And, don’t forget to post links to your blog posts on your other social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Get your messages heard by the people you want to reach – your audience.  And, get to know them as well as you can, so you can better serve them and become their go-to person.

For more information on social media and the importance of getting to know your audience through social networking, join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops.  For a schedule of upcoming workshops in your area, please visit: http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY RESPOND TO YOUR FANS ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

So, you’re up and running on all social media sites and you’re posting on a regular basis and even gaining a fan following?  That’s great!  But, do you know what to do when your fans comment, ask questions or lodge complaints via social media?  Elementary, dear readers – it’s imperative that you respond.  And that you respond promptly! 

A recent article on socialmediatoday cited a conversocial survey facilitated via New York University and its Assistant Professor of Communications, Liel Leibovitz.  The survey consisted of nine questions – all pertaining to customer satisfaction with corporate attitudes on social business sites.  It was sent out online and was returned by 513 respondents.  According to the socialmediatoday article, the survey’s findings were quite surprising in terms of how many businesses are still in the dark when it comes to:

-          how to respond to complaints, suggestions or questions on their social media profile pages

-          the importance of responding promptly (some businesses did not respond at all!!)

-          what kind of tone to adopt when responding

The table below, which I took directly from the article, uses the original data of the conversocial survey and it does a great job of showcasing where companies need to focus their attention with respect to their social media undertakings.  The question posed was:  How Important Are These Things To You?

Interesting findings, I thought!!

Well, here’s the truth about the way these issues should be dealt with:

1.  First and foremost – promptness is all important.  Procrastination when it comes to responding to fans is never a good thing.  The socialmediatoday article advises, in fact, that your response be posted within two hours of receiving a comment, question or complaint on Facebook or Twitter.  Responding promptly lets your fans know that you are a business that values what its clients have to say and that you are accessible at all times.  It tells them that communication with your clients is important to you - that your clients are important to you.  People really do appreciate it when they feel that they are being heard.

2.  It’s not a good idea to have a standard, automated tweet or Facebook post that goes out to anyone and everyone that posts a comment, question or complaint.  What does that tell people?  It tells them that you don’t have time for them.  It’s crucial that each and every fan post you receive be read and responded to individually by you or another designated live person at your company.

3.  Always ensure that the content you’re posting is relevant.  And, as socialmediatoday points out - not only relevant, but unique.  Do you want your business to stand out?  Do you want to maintain further contact with your fans?  Of course.  Your fans are your clients who drive your business.  Keeping them satisfied is where your focus on social media should be. 

4. Elaborating on point #3 – keep your fans posted on what’s going on with your business.  They are interested in knowing – especially if it’s relevant and beneficial to them.  So, go ahead and post about your company’s promotions or specials – who doesn’t want to hear about a great deal? But, be careful – there’s a fine line between promotional posts and spamming.  Don’t go overboard and post the same thing over and over again.  Mix it up and keep it fresh!  That’s what will keep people coming back for more!

A GUIDE TO TWITTER’S NEW DESIGN

You’ve probably noticed by now that Twitter looks and acts a bit differently than it did a couple of months ago.  So, what do you think of the re-design?  Hopefully this will help you navigate the changes Twitter has made to the popular microblogging site!

How is it different than it was before?   Visually, here it is:

Essentially, Twitter has rearranged all of its features so that they fit neatly into four categories: 

Home; Connect; Discover & Me.   Here’s how each category functions:

Home:  This is where you’ll find your new and improved newsfeed.  Notice that it’s been reconfigured visually.  Plus:  You used to be able to view photos and videos to the side of the feed, but now you can view them right there in the tweet when you click on them. 

Another new feature is the Open button.  By clicking on it, you have access to information pertaining to retweets and @replies for any tweet.  Furthermore, Twitter maintains that your feed will now always be viewable across platforms.

Connect:  Under Connect, you will find two new tabs:  Interactions & Mentions.  Under Interactions, you can see everyone who is following you and who has retweeted you, etc.  Under Mentions, is where you’ll find all of your @replies / mentions.

 And, now, you can type in a person’s handle and instantly see relevant information on that person as well as connect with the person right there.

Discover:  A great, revamped search function!  You no longer have to search by hashtag for topics that interest you (unless you want to!).  This wonderful feature brings you news stories and developments according to your location, language and of course, connections.  Think of it as your own, personalized little newsfeed.

Me:  Right – it’s all about you!  This is your profile – only bigger, better and more organized.  And, it’s slightly reconfigured, with your information now viewable on the left as opposed to the right of the page.

The reason, according to Twitter, for the changes it’s made to the site, is simple:  it wanted to make its interface more appealing to new users as well as to improve on the overall functionality of the site.  For the most part, user response has been favorable. 

What do you think of Twitter’s re-design?  Please take the time to leave a comment and let me know!  

And, stay in touch for my upcoming post regarding Twitter’s new Brand Pages.

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A very commonly asked question about using social media for business is:  “How much time does it take?”  Lots of people mistakenly believe that a good social media strategy for their business is a total time suck and not worth the effort.  Not so!  If you are one of the people living under that misconception and not taking advantage of what social media has to offer, you are missing out on important conversations and networking opportunities that can greatly benefit your business’ bottom line!                                                                    

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it takes no time at all to implement, develop and maintain a viable social networking strategy, but I can tell you that it’s not as daunting an undertaking as you might think - the risk of missed opportunities far outweighs the risk of time lost.  And, you are in complete control of how much time you put into it.  Here are some tips to help you manage your time wisely on social media activities for your business:

First, focus on why you want to use social media.  Depending on industry and company mission, business owners use social media for different business purposes.  Do you want to use it for research? Networking? Sales?  Or, a combination of all of the aforementioned?

If research is your aim, you’ll want to source out blogs and relevant news sites that provide you with the quality information you require.  You can subscribe to their RSS feeds (news feeds) so that you can keep up with any updates posted that are of importance to you.  Imagine having all of that information literally at your fingertips?  If you ask me, it sounds like this will actually save you some time!!

If you want to use social media for networking, it’s imperative that you build a community or audience.  This is easy to do on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Once you have created your accounts (a snap), it’s just a matter of building your communities by posting on a regular basis (again, this does not take a whole lot of time) and interacting with your audience.  Depending on how much engagement you’re interested in, this can take anywhere from only minutes a day to a couple of hours – not necessarily any more than that, unless you so choose.

If your motivation is sales and marketing, it’s important that you get your brand name out there.  You’ll want to let people know what your brand is all about – what services and/or products you offer – how these services and products can benefit people.  Again, engagement with your audience via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogging will be key here.  Social media sites are currently the most innovative methods of marketing your brand’s products and services.  They provide an unprecedented means of getting the word out.

Secondly, it’s important to develop a strategy to manage your time wisely.  Once you gain perspective on your purpose for using social media for your business, it won’t be difficult to determine how much time per day or per week you’ll require.  Here are a few ideas that can help:                                          

-          Create a schedule.  Set some time aside each day (at least at first) to check your Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn accounts.  Take a few moments on each account to post something relevant and especially to respond to any inquiries or concerns that people in your communities may have.  Make it a point to join in on conversations/dialogue wherever you can contribute something meaningful.  (Remember, it’ll take a bit of time to build an audience.)   If you decide to blog, ensure that you post something at least once every other week or so.  Blog posts take on average anywhere between an hour to a few hours to research and compose, but unless you’re a very ambitious, avid blogger, a post a week or every other week should suffice.

-          Focus on activities that will have the most impact.  A crucial thing to remember here is that you have to be where your customers/clients are.  If you have identified that they are mostly on Facebook, then by all means, concentrate a good chunk of your social networking time there.   But, you don’t want to neglect the other networks, as they are all beneficial.

-          Although you want to garner a wide audience, it’s not necessary to overdo it.  You don’t have to be friends with or follow each and every person with whom you come into contact.  If a relationship will be mutually beneficial, you want to be connected to that person, if not, then don’t be afraid to be selective.  If you’re connected to absolutely everyone, you will be spending more time than you have to on social media.

-          By the same token, it’s imperative to stick to your purpose.  It’s easy to get sidetracked with irrelevant activity on social media (do you really have to watch that YouTube video right now??).  Stay focused on your business purpose and you will spend your time much more efficiently on social media.                       

                                                                 

If you use your time wisely and keep your focus in mind, you will find that you social media endeavors significantly pay off and that you actually enjoy your time spent with your connections. 

Need help putting together a social media strategy for your business?  We’d like to see you at our Social Media for Business workshop.  We can show you how to use your time wisely and effectively to make social media work for your business’ bottom line.  Please click on the link below for a schedule of workshops in your area.

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

5-POINT SOCIAL MEDIA TUNE-UP

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that social media have forever changed the way we think, play and conduct business.  From a business standpoint, social media have accomplished a major feat – they’ve added a human, personal dimension to companies that before never really existed.  The cornerstone of any business is its customer service practices.  And, this is where social media have been able to take hold and make a difference.

Forward-thinking businesses have leveraged social networking platforms to engage, elicit customer satisfaction and increase positive brand recognition and reputation.  When used effectively, social media can turn any business into a customer-friendly entity that people want to engage with and be a part of.  Happy, satisfied customers are what will drive a business into the stratosphere of success! 

Here are a few ways to keep your customers happy on your social media platforms:

1. More Visibility – In terms of customer service, it’s good practice to be completely visible and transparent.  You want your customers to be able to see your interactions with and responses to other customers.  It’s likely that more than one of your customers have similar questions or comments, and by making your communication visible, you are helping out a number of customers with one response.  Social media sites cultivate community surrounding your brand. 

2. Turn it Around Quickly – When customers seek support with respect to your services on social media platforms, they expect a quick if not immediate response.  Monitor every day how customers discuss and respond to your products & services and stay a part of the conversation to better understand the community supporting your brand.

3. Keep Responses Consistent – Be consistent on all social media platforms in responding to customer questions and comments.  If, for example, the same question is posted on both Facebook and Twitter, ensure that your response is the same on both sites so as to avoid any confusion.  Remember, brand recognition and accuracy are crucial elements in inspiring assuredness and credibility within your customers and this goes a long way in terms of brand loyalty.

4. Always Stay Organized – While social media are vital in your customer service initiatives, it can be a challenge to keep up with each platform on a daily basis (in order to keep customers happy and engaged, as in point #2).  Allot some time each day to spend on your sites so that customers maintain respect for your brand and view your business as reliable and trustworthy.  If possible, enlist support team members to maintain each site, but ensure that you’re all on the same page in your responses (bear in mind point #3) – be consistent.

5. Maintain Your Human, Personable Side – They are, after all, called “social” media and it’s that social component that engages customers and further promotes brand loyalty.  People always respond positively when they know that their needs are being met by another human being - someone who takes the time to listen and care.  It makes them feel important - that they’re more than just another customer.  When someone posts a question or concern on your business’ Facebook page, that person should feel as comfortable as if he were simply posting on a friend’s wall.  And, that’s the real benefit of social media for your customer service practices.

Remember, social media are about networking.  If you incorporate the above 5 elements into your customer service initiatives and make it a positive experience, people will respond in kind and surely spread the word to all their friends about what wonderful service your business provides.  It’s worth the effort!

For more valuable information on how you can tune up your social media efforts, come join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops.  For a schedule of workshops in your area, please visit:

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

The 30 Things You Should Never Share on Social Media

Some are obvious, some of them a little less so and some are simply laugh out loud funny.  Australian social media expert and blogger, Jeff Bullas, compiled the following list of 30 things that you should never share on social media. Here it is – enjoy:

30 Things You Should Not Share on Social Media 

1. What chicken you are plucking or cow you’re milking on Farmville on Facebook
2. How many you have killed on Mafia wars or where they are buried.. again on Facebook
3. Party photos showing you inebriated or a hand placed where it shouldn’t be
4. That you are having a party.. you might get more guests than you counted on
5. Photos  revealing  you flirting with the bosses wife at the annual work Christmas party
6. That you are having an affair
7. That you are thinking of having an affair
8. Complaints about your boss
9. That you hate your job and want to leave.. you might get your wish.. involuntarily
10. Don’t share photos or an event that reveals that you were not sick that day at work
11. That are you are planning to take a sickie
12. Drama with your friends
13. Issues with your parents
14. Passwords.. unless you have more money than brains
15. Hints about passwords like dogs names
16. Images and videos of your children
17. Updates on Facebook after you have escaped from Jail and on the run (don’t laugh it has happened)
18. Revealing your thoughts about a court case… when on jury duty
19. Don’t link personal sites to professional business sites like LinkedIn.. don’t mix business with pleasure
20. Financial information such as how much money you do or don’t have in your bank account
21. Personal Information – birthdate, mother’s maiden name and other security info
22. How to get more friends or followers.. it already sounds like a scam
23. You are leaving on a holiday
24. The dates you are away on your holiday
25. Your daily schedule.. burglars have been known to use these little hints to their advantage
26. Showing you doing something stupid .. not good for personal branding
27. Your bodily functions
28. Revealing extreme views on Race, Religion or politics
29. What you had for breakfast
30. Finally, if you are not comfortable about your mom seeing it … don’t share it!

That was fun, but take it to heart.  I can cite examples of most of the items on this list.  Some of them have even made newspaper headlines!   Because social networking sites are such new media, most people are unaware of the reach and potential of posts on these sites.

Social networking is one of the most practical and valuable tools at our disposal today and we should all be taking advantage of everything it has to offer.  We should also, however, be in tune with appropriate and safe practices on social media.  We can show you how in one of our Social Networking for Business workshops.  For more information, please visit:

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

Fascinating Insights into Social Media

As a business professional, it’s imperative that you gain insight over your competitors with respect to trends and consumer habits & behavior.  If your target demographic is the over 30 set, you need to know where they can be found online.  If you want to reach over 50’s, it’s important that you find out if they’re mostly on Facebook or on Twitter.

A solid understanding of social networking and how it’s being used by consumers is powerful information to have in terms of increasing sales and improving consumer engagement.  As social media blogger, Jeff Bullas puts it:  “If social media was a horse race then you might as well put down the glasses as the race has been won. The dominance of Facebook is well known but it is the scale of its growth, market share and time it takes from its users is what is intriguing.”

A May 2011 study conducted by Neilson found several interesting facts – here a few of them –some you would expect and some that might surprise you:

1. Facebook dominates time spent online by a ratio of greater than three to one as compared with Yahoo (Facebook’s closest web brand competitor).

2. People spend a great majority of their time on social networks, including blogs – 22.5% of their time, in fact – twice as much time as they spend on online games (which came second) at 9.8%.

3. Females, ages 18 to 34, are the most frequent visitors to social networking sites, including blogs; however, males are also frequent users of the sites as well as all other age groups.

4. But, males tend to use LinkedIn more frequently than females and Internet users with post-graduate degrees are three times more likely to visit LinkedIn compared with the average user.

5. Facebook, according to Neilson this past May, was the top site visited by unique users at 140,336 million, with Blogger in second place at 50,055 million.  The rest of the list is as follows:

• Twitter (23.617 million)
• WordPress (22.417 million)
• MySpace (19.25 million)
• LinkedIn (17.786 million)
• Tumblr (11.87 million)
• Six Apart Typepad (8.578 million)
• Yahoo Pulse (8.397 million)
• Wikia (7.601 million)

6.  Social media is becoming more and more aggressively mobile.  With the advent of smartphones, social media use has become a most used mobile feature, second only to downloading & playing music.

7. With respect to smartphones, social networking apps, growing at 30%, ranked third in terms of most used, with Facebook ranking as the most popular app amongst all mobile operating systems.

8. The most aggressive growth of social media use on smartphones is the over 55’s with 109% growth.  The 35-54 age group growth rate holds at 68% year on year and 18-34 year olds are rising in numbers of visits to social media sites on their mobile devices by 61%.

9. Social media networks afford the influential a platform within which to relay their ideas and the influence of peers on these platforms can certainly propel increased sales.  Fifty-three percent of active social media users follow a brand.

10. Tumblr, a social networking site that incorporates elements of both blogging and Twitter, is now the eighth largest social network and tripled its audience in a 12 month period.

By studying trends in social media, you can become so much more in tune with the audience you want to target.  So, get on, get connected and start growing your business with social media.  We can show you how to make the most of your social networking experience through our full-day, hands-on workshop, Social Networking for Business.  For a schedule of workshops in your area, please visit:  http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

ANOTHER REASON YOU GOTTA’ LOVE FACEBOOK?

I think I can count on one hand the number of people I know who are not ‘on’ Facebook.  My kids love it and I can’t pull them off the computer.  All of my business associates and colleagues have accounts and, of course, Facebook business pages.  And, I, along with most people today, am aware of all of the advantages to Facebook, both personally and professionally.  But, what I didn’t know until just last week (courtesy of an article posted on thestar.com), is that the more Facebook friends you have, the more brain tissue you apparently have! 

A study conducted by British researchers with results published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has found a correlation between the number of Facebook connections one has and the quantity of brain tissue (that’s responsible for processing signals) that one possesses!

There is clearly plenty of research taking place out there with respect to social networking and the human mind and it all sounds extremely fascinating.  Although Geraint Rees, a senior clinical research fellow at University College London (and the gentlemen who led this particular British study), maintains that they are not yet sure as to whether or not more brain tissue is necessarily a good thing – he does maintain that changes in grey matter is evident in many situations. 

Research along the same lines has been performed at Northeastern University in Boston and it was concluded there that there exists, with respect to adults, a correlation between the size of the amygdala (the portion of the brain that is pertinent to many of our emotions and the processing of these emotions, as well as our memory and motivations) and complexity of social networks.  Very interesting stuff!!!

While I would never be presumptuous enough to draw my own conclusions (especially since there obviously needs to be some more research conducted on this subject), I do wonder if it could be at all possible that there’s a link between our social networking habits and our brain power??  Does beg the question, doesn’t it?   The conclusion to the article cites that the necessity of further research is clear to fully comprehend the relationship between the number of social connections and the amount of grey matter one has.

Can’t wait to learn more – and I’ll be sure to post some follow up material as soon as I become informed!

Want to learn more about how Facebook can benefit your business?  Why not join one of our hands-on workshops and we’ll teach you all you need to know!  For a schedule of workshops in your area, please visit:  http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

ARE THE DAYS OF THE BUSINESS CARD OVER?

Doomsday, it seems, is on its way for the business card.  It looks like the day will be arriving when the business card and the rolodex will become completely obsolete.  It’s already starting.  In our office, half of the 20 something’s surveyed do not know what a rolodex is! Will the next generation wonder what the heck those little rectangular pieces of cardboard actually are?

With the world becoming a much greener place and the advent of Smartphones and social networking, there really is no place on earth anymore for the once coveted and much-traded business card.  The more technically savvy of us are already making use of digital solutions, which are emerging more prolifically with each day that passes.

An example of this technology is Bump, the new app-du-jour and an amazing little feature that enables users to share contact information, files and even photos by simply ‘bumping’ their iPhones or Android phones together.

Another buzz-generating app is Hashable, a service that allows users to post, chart and share connections that they make with other people.  This service can furthermore be used to make introductions remotely and can update what is known as a ‘relationship book’ with every new person tagged.

These represent only a glimpse of the solutions currently being initiated – there are and will continue to be numerous others that will perhaps one day render the business card extinct.  And that, in turn, will leave the planet a much greener place!

Social networking is one very effective and easy method of contact management – no business cards required.  Why not join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops and we’ll show you how to efficiently manage your contacts and customers using a platform that is literally at your fingertips.  For a schedule of workshops in your area, please visit:

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

JAW-DROPPING SOCIAL MEDIA STATS

Social media have changed the way we work, play and think.  They have veritably taken over the world!  Below are some astonishing numbers that really do drive the point home.  A recent article published in The Fiscal Times shared the following statistics:

870 million
Number of Facebook users worldwide

200 million
Number of Twitter users worldwide

230 million
Number of tweets sent per day

80 percent
Increase in Tweets since the beginning of 2011

82 percent
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have Twitter accounts

1 billion
Number of estimated Facebook users worldwide by 2012, according to a study by the tracking site Social Bakers

$1.6 billion
Facebook’s revenue during first half of 2011, according to Reuters, up from $1.2 for the first nine months of 2010

Nearly 30 million
Estimated number of Google+ users worldwide

85 percent
Internet users who visited a Google site in June 2011, comScore Media Metrix

16
Online games, including Angry Birds and Bejeweled Blitz, being offered by Google to users of its social media service as of last month in an attempt to better compete with Facebook

‘Nuff said – isn’t it time to get connected on Social Media and see what they can do for your business?  Join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops and we’ll show you how: http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20