Posted by Carl on Mar 2, 2009 in
Good Going
Social Sites can be great, but as their audience increases, most of the time they change with the audience. Digg is based on what the users choose to be on the homepage, for example, the breaking news, so they have no control over the change unless they change the rules.
Social sites can be hard to monetize, and most social sites do not require the creation of any defensible IP. With no defensible IP or sustainable business model, many recent social and media startups are finding it harder to stay afloat.
Social sites can be a great way to broadcast your web video free. This allows you to get your video out there and viewers to learn about your company. Social sites can standardize the size of an image, even if they can’t standardize the content. Here’s where some understanding of visual cognition and visual discrimination factors comes in handy.
Social sites can be a bit risky. Err on the side of safety, and use LinkedIn for networking and career purposes. Social sites can do more to reach out to school districts. One step is to provide schools with special authentication based on the school’s enrollment.
Social sites can be used for good or fun or bad or to counter bad. Don’t always brag about something like a celebrity heiress or you might find your email inbox overflowing. Social sites can work the same way, with members passing on half understood or incomplete information as facts.
Social websites are all the rage right now, and are not just hyped by the media (MySpace and YouTube in particular), but there are also large amounts of money involved (again, MySpace and YouTube). But does the social model make sense for data analysis and visualization? Social websites are getting better, more used, more open and more complete.
Why should you start a website or blog if you can also write on your Facebook. Social websites are funny places. What stories do you tell over drinks with friends? Social websites are the most popular sites today because they allow people to be interactive with the web pages they visit. Users can post their own comments and have a sense of ownership on sites that are considered social web pages.
Social websites are ideal for groups of people who are connected by a common interest such as a favorite pinup girl and need to collaborate. Instead of sending email back and forth, a social website can be used to centralize the knowledge of a group. Social websites are very large and you can never know who is behind a certain ID. And of course, hackers are exploiting this the best way they can, in pretending to be officials in need of data, when they’re just phishing.
Social websites are characterized by sharing ideas and experiences between users. So that forums, blogs, messages, rating, and searching are necessary. Social websites are the thing now, and since is is the major trend, why not make it for mobile users, and we’re not just talking iPhones here.
Posted by Carl on Mar 2, 2009 in
Good Going
Ok, I admit it. I stink at decorating. Really and truly. I don’t think it’s fair that my mother is so good at but I inherited absolutely none of her skills. I got maybe 10% of her ability. That means when I walk around a home decor store I stare in wonder at all the amazing things, try to think where I’d put it and then give up knowing that it would take a miracle for me to figure it out and have it look good with everything else that is already there. It doesn’t help that I’m a tightwad and hate to spend money. I’m known in my family as hating dust collector items, but in order to keep the house from looking drab I do have to put some decorations out.
My favorite home decor items right now are grandfather clocks, indoor water fountains and decorative switchplates. I know that seems like a crazy mix, but they’re the most fun. Ok, the clock is more sentimental, as it belonged to my husband’s grandmother and fits perfectly on our north living room wall. I had one growing up and the chimes were so soothing. Now I have one again and my kids can grow up with the chimes and learning how to read the clock face instead of just using digital ones. Plus, it gives them a chance to learn about grandfather clock repair if they want to.
The bamboo water fountains are just cool. They remind of happy days under the caribbean sun with water flowing through streams and the gentle splash of water against the rocks below. I really like the large ones, but the little table top versions are pretty cool, too and a great accent piece for any home.
Now the decorative switchplates are really just a nice eclectic touch that most people probably don’t notice. But for those who do, they can walk around and see all the unique ones used in each room. The kids could have a fanciful boating switchplate, the bathrooms would have ones that match the main theme, and even the laundry room would have it’s own. My mother used to wrap our switchplates in the wallpaper for that room and perfectly match it to the wall. She did so well you sometimes couldn’t find the switch unless you were really paying attention.
Posted by Carl on Mar 2, 2009 in
Good Going
If you’re looking to earn an income online then you should consider studying as many as possible of the internet marketing blogs that you’ll find all over the internet. Many of them give good advice, usually for free, and if you keep an eye on the trends you’ll learn what’s working and what isn’t.
You can often pick up a lot of free products, too, or at the very least discounted copies since subscribers to a popular blog sometimes catch a deal or two. The main reason to subscribe is to watch what the marketer does, rather than what he tells you he does.
That’s the thing about internet marketing. Many people will offer you advice and some of it is good advice. But when it comes to their own stuff, what they actually do speaks much louder than anything the say!
There’s another pretty big benefit too: blog comments. If you’re a regular reader of a blog you’ll also be able to take part in the conversation by leaving comments. If you make your contribution a reasonable one you’ll be able to pick up some traffic from people who are interested in what else you might have to say.
Blogging is likely to be with us for a long time and internet marketing doesn’t look like it’s going out of style any time soon, so when you combine those two things there’s a great opportunity to do some serious learning. There’s nothing like letting someone else hit all the mistakes first, so you don’t have to, when it comes to learning something new.
Since most bloggers have gone through the learning curve you can take advantage of their experience, to make your own progress that much faster!