The Future of the Social Web: In Five Eras

Today’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them — transforming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step by step from separate social sites into a shared social experience. Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and CRM systems; eventually this will result in empowered communities defining the next generation of products.

We found that technologies trigger changes in consumer adoption, and brands will follow, resulting in five distinct waves, they consist of
Interviews with 24 of the top Social Companies:Research isn’t done in a vacuum, that’s why we conducted qualitative research to find out what we should come to expect. We came to these conclusions based on interviews with executives, product managers, and strategists at the following 24 companies: Appirio, Cisco Eos, Dell, Facebook, Federated Media Publishing, Flock, Gigya, Google (Open Social/stack team), Graphing Social Patterns (Dave McClure), IBM (SOA Team), Intel (social media marketing team), KickApps, LinkedIn, Meebo, Microsoft (Live team), MySpace, OpenID Foundation (Chris Messina), Plaxo, Pluck, Razorfish, ReadWriteWeb, salesforce.com, Six Apart, and Twitter.How Brands Should PrepareWhat’s interesting isn’t this vision for the future, but what it holds in store for brands, as a result, companies should prepare by:

• Don’t Hesitate: These changes are coming at a rapid pace, and we’re in three of these eras by end of year. Brands should prepare by factoring in these eras into their near term plans. Don’t be left behind and let competitors connect with your community before you do.
• Prepare For Transparency:  People will be able to surf the web with their friends, as a result you must have a plan.  Prepare for every webpage and product to be reviewed by your customers and seen by prospects –even if you choose not to participate.  
• Connect with Advocates: Focus on customer advocates, they will sway over prospects, and could defend against detractors. Their opinion is trusted more than yours, and when the power shifts to community, and they start to define what products should be, they become more important than ever.
• Evolve your Enterprise Systems: Your enterprise systems will need to connect to the social web. Social networks and their partners are quickly becoming a source of customer information and lead generation beyond your CRM system.  CMS systems will need to inherit social features –pressure your vendors to offer this, or find a community platform.
• Shatter your Corporate Website: In the most radical future, content will come to consumers –rather than them chasing it– prepare to fragment your corporate website and let it distribute to the social web. Let the most important information go and spread to communities where they exist; fish where the fish are

from  - www.web-strategist.com/blog

How to network your home

This is a Learning Centre article, a multi-part series to be expanded regularly.
There's an area of computing that despite being in the mainstream, is still voodoo for a large number of people — networking. Although it's been with us for decades, networking is still far from the "push one button" simplicity it needs to be and can be quite daunting to the first timer.
In this Learning Centre feature, we'll walk you through understanding and creating your own home network, eventually moving on to more detailed concepts and fun things you can do once all your gadgets are happily talking to one another

Social networking in schools

from -www.lexology.com
As more students, parents, teachers and administrators tap into social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube for educational, school communication, admissions marketing and other purposes, the lines between educational and personal networking are becoming more and more blurred.   
Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow users to create personal websites and to post online personal information about their employer, marital status, friends, outside interests and hobbies as well as photographs and real-time "status" updates. Sites like Twitter allow users to send and receive short messages up to 140 characters in length. Better known as "tweets," these messages are displayed on the publisher's profile page. More and more people are using social-networking sites daily. For instance, Facebook's blog says that it has more than 400 million active users and that 50% of them log in on any given day.
There is no "one size fits all" approach to social media use in schools. Different schools use social-networking sites differently. Some schools do not use social-networking sites at all and may have filters that prevent employee and student use at school. Other schools use social media to communicate with parents and students by publishing a school newsletter or by providing "tweets" to parents about scheduling, weather closures and classroom updates. Some use social media for recruiting and evaluating prospective employees. Others use social media for alumni communication and fundraising. Some schools are using social media to enhance student learning because it enables students to connect and form virtual communities.
The Risks Of School-Sanctioned Social Media Use
As schools explore the positive ways that social media can be used in education, negative uses are sure to reveal themselves as well, presenting new concerns and legal risks for schools.
A teacher may "friend" a student, allowing that student to have unfettered access to the teacher's private life, the ability to post private information about students, or much worse, engage in inappropriate communication with a student. An employee may post negative comments or risqué photographs on a social networking site that also identifies the school.
A potential staff or faculty member's social networking site may reveal that person's race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, thus exposing an employer to increased risk of a failure to hire claim. A positive LinkedIn recommendation that contradicts the reasons for a poor-performance evaluation may be used against the school in a later wrongful termination lawsuit. Employees have new avenues for harassment, disparaging other employees and the school, and sharing confidential information. Yet, taking adverse action against an employee based on information gleaned from a social-networking site may lead to invasion of privacy and other claims.
Savvy Screening Method – Or Risky Recruitment Tool?
More and more often, schools are turning to the Internet for information about potential new hires. Employers face a number of barriers when it comes to effectively screening job applicants. For example, many applicants fabricate their résumé and lie during interviews. While the Internet can certainly provide enlightening information about a candidate's attitudes, behaviors and core values, the risk of "social-media screening" may outweigh possible gain.
First of all, Facebook and MySpace profiles can indicate race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other protected categories of an applicant, increasing the risk of a discriminatory failure to hire claim if the applicant is not hired. In addition, a savvy user of online media can manipulate information to create a false personal image.
Currently, there are no published discrimination cases based on an employer's use of social-networking sites to monitor employees or screen applicants. But given the increased use of social-networking sites in recent years, no doubt employers will soon find themselves in court being sued on allegations of discrimination or retaliation for taking adverse employment actions based on information obtained from social-networking sites.
Another concern for schools is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and its state equivalents. While FCRA generally does not apply to situations where a school uses social-networking sites on its own (i.e., without engaging a third-party background screening firm), it may apply to situations where an employer uses such sites in conjunction with certain workplace misconduct investigations.
Moreover, if a school does engage a third-party background screening firm and includes searches of social-networking sites as part of the requested background check, the employer would be bound by the provisions of the FCRA. Other state fair credit reporting laws may provide more protection to job applicants and employees, so be sure to review any state-specific statutes to ensure that your school is in compliance with all applicable laws.
MySpace…My Privacy?
Many employees feel that it is an invasion of privacy for employers to look at, and base employment decisions on, their social-networking profiles. This is likely due to the misperception that information posted on these services is private; many MySpace and Facebook users do not realize that the information they post can generally be viewed by the public. In most cases, employees will not be able to successfully argue that accessing their profile constitutes a cause of action for invasion of privacy because an invasion of privacy cause of action requires a showing that the employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content posted. An employee would likely have a difficult time establishing that reasonable expectation of privacy when thousands, if not millions, of people had access to the employee's profile and the employee voluntarily disclosed personal information in the public domain.
But it is not true that an employee stands no chance of successfully asserting a claim for invasion of privacy. The outcome might be different if, for example, an employee makes his Facebook profile "private," or for his "friends" only, and the employer is able to circumvent the privacy setting simply to obtain information for making personnel decisions.
Also, using information obtained from social networking sites may be problematic since some states, including California and Colorado, prohibit an employer from imposing discipline for lawful conduct – such as disparaging "tweets" and "wallposts" – conducted on a person's own time. Schools in such states may be exposed to potential liability if they choose to take adverse action against an employee after viewing photographs of the employee on the employee's profile, smoking, drinking, or engaging in other lawful conduct.
Pop Quiz: Is Digital Information Protected By Privacy Law?
Recently, a group of restaurant employees set up an invitation-only MySpace group called "Spectators" where they could "vent any BS …without outside eyes spying on us." [See "Off-Duty Discussion Groups Can Be Off Limits To Employers," in the March, 2010 issue of the Fisher & Phillips Hospitality Update]. Postings referred to violence, illegal drug use and a posted copy of a required test for employees. A manager caught wind of the group and asked an employee for the password to gain access to the group – and then terminated employees for criticizing their bosses after viewing the online posts. When the case went to trial, the jury found the manager's actions violated federal and state statutes, which prohibited unauthorized access of electronic communications sites based on the way the password was obtained. Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group d/b/a Houston's.
The lesson to be learned is that although employees should have no expectation of privacy when it comes to publicly available material, schools need to be extremely careful of how they obtain protected information they believe they have a right to know. Managers should not coerce employees or students to provide passwords or use "fake friend requests" as a way to try to access an employee's or student's private pages.
As the online barriers between the personal and school-specific use continue to blur, administrators and faculty must be increasingly careful when becoming "friends" with employees, students or parents in cyberspace. Online information and opinions can potentially lead to harassment, discrimination or other claims – even if posted on a personal profile. In one case, a manager posted two controversial comments on his personal Web page: "What's wrong with women these days?" and "Chicks seem to have more issues these days than Jet Magazine and keep up more drama than daytime TV and Jerry Springer combined." These postings were used by an employee to support her lawsuit. Derrick v. Met. Gov't of Nashville & Davidson Co.
To Ban Or Not To Ban?
Since social-media use is so multi-faceted, no single approach will apply to all situations. Some schools may opt to place an outright ban on social-media access at school as well as prohibit "friending" parents, students and other employees. Other schools may simply prohibit employees from identifying their school online. As the use of social-networking sites for educational and community communication purposes increases, schools may need to adapt to the mainstream use of such sites and recognize that a blanket prohibition simply isn't practical. Regardless, your school should take action now to safeguard against social media mishaps.
All schools should have a social-networking policy. A computer-use policy that simply prohibits personal use and disclaims any expectation of privacy is not enough. While it is tempting to ban social networking altogether, this may raise enforcement problems particularly as schools take advantage of the opportunities of social media use in education.
Make sure that existing computer-use, confidential and proprietary information, and no-harassment policies (employee and student) specifically address social networking. Schools that check candidates' public social-networking sites should avoid "fake" friend requests and be consistent – if your school checks any candidate, check them all.
Advise your employees that if they use the school's email address or name they must act in accordance with the school's professional standards, including respecting the school, its employees, parents, students, etc. Continue to remind employees of the risks of unequal relationships when dealing with students. Provide training in order to ensure that employees understand that information posted on social networking sites may be public and also understand the school's policies.
Remind all employees, including administrators, faculty and staff of their heightened obligation not to reveal confidential information on-line and educate them about the risks of becoming on-line "friends" with parents, students and/or subordinates. Finally, consistently enforce such policies and before taking any disciplinary action, carefully investigate any suspected misconduct

What can Business 3.0 do for my Organization?

from - businessthree0.com
You are probably using some kind of social media to market your brand. And as for most, social media is likely not providing the results you've wished for. Social media technologies can be beneficial for marketing but don't always seem best for e-commerce. When was the last time you made a sale from Facebook? MySpace? It might be time to invest and leapfrog your competition.

The solution: Business 3.0’s technology can turn any social media campaign into a revenue-generating utility by exploiting the power of social networks, social media techniques and e-commerce in a single unique utility. An action can be as little as commenting on a picture to as large as purchasing a week-long vacation in Hawaii. Either way, consumer's action spark free viral word-of-mouth advertising on social networks. Your solution can be customized to fit any need you have within Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

Social Networks are here to stay- Start taking advantage of it
Social Network Marketing Solutions (SNMS) Many businesses are in need of a presence on social networks but are lost on how.  Let Business 3.0 help your business gain traction through social networks. With Social Network Markerting Solutions (SNMS), you brand can have a viral marketing and sales application on three major social networks.  Interested in knowing how SNMS or Business 3.0's other technologies can help your brand on social networks? Contact us and let's chat.

Social Business Profiles

1. Instant Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo presence.
2. Product and service listing
3. Live chat
4. Integrated payment solutions: NXGEN and PayPal
5. Many viral and WOM features
6. Employees can have a BRAND presence on their profile
7. Keep customers up-to-date with every new product
8. Profile and product stats across all networks
9. And more

What is social analysis?

Social analysis at the World Bank involves examining the socio-cultural, institutional, historical and political context within which the World Bank works. Through social analysis the World Bank assesses whether its programs and operations are likely to meet their social objectives and identifies measures that will ensure that these objectives are achieved. Social analysis also helps to assess the likely outcomes, impacts and social risks that need to be considered in the design of projects and programs, including the views and priorities of relevant stakeholders.  

Complementing economic analysis, social analysis assesses the likelihood that the World Bank’s operations will be socially sustainable and that its social benefits and economic opportunities will be widely shared. It identifies opportunities and constraints arising from the country's socio-cultural, institutional, historical and political context to prepare strategies and programs that contribute to the country's development objectives as well as to the Bank's core mission of poverty reduction. In particular, social analysis helps to incorporate the goals of equity and social inclusion into the World Bank’s projects and programs.

At the World Bank, social analysis is undertaken on multiple levels.  The World Bank conducts social analysis on the country-level, as inputs into the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) process or other key policy documents, on the sector-level to support policy reforms and sector strategies, and on the project-level, as an integral part of project appraisal to judge whether the project's social development outcomes have been clearly identified and Bank support is justified. Additionally, a social assessment may be undertaken by the Borrower for the purpose of obtaining the views of stakeholders in order to improve the design of the project and establishing a participatory process for implementation and monitoring

Business Networking for Entrepreneurs

Networking is an essential skill for most business people, but especially for entrepreneurs. The strong association between the entrepreneur as a person and his or her business demands that entrepreneurs get out into the world and create and maintain business relationships. Here are some tips and resources to help you improve your networking skills and extend your reach.
Have you ever attended a networking event, collected a bunch of business cards, and when you go through them the next day, you can't remember who many of them are? Well, you certainly don't want to be one of those that other people can't remember, do you? Here are five tips on how to make yourself memorable when meeting other people.
The first impression process occurs in every new situation. Within the first few seconds, people pass judgment on you – looking for common surface clues. Once the first impression is made, it is virtually irreversible. Guest author image consultant Michelle Sterling offers tips to make sure your first impression is your best impression.

Business Networking

Business networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other business people and potential clients and/or customers.Notice that I don't say anything about meeting people in this definition; the ever-increasing slew of business networking meet-and-greet events have given business networking a bad name.The key to true business networking is the establishment of a mutally beneficial
relationship, and that's an incredibly rare event at the standard shake-hands-and-exchange-your-business-card events that are touted as business networking "opportunities".
The purpose of business networking is to increase business revenue - one way or another. The thickening of the bottom line can be immediately apparent, as in developing a relationship with a new client, or develop over time, as in learning a new business skill.
The best business networking groups operate as exchanges of business information, ideas, and support. The most important skill for effective business networking is listening; focusing on how you can help the person you are listening to rather than on how he or she can help you is the first step to establishing a mutally beneficial relationship.

6 Lessons from 5 Companies That Use Social Media

Between them they have more than a million Facebook fans and Twitter followers. On an average they have been on social media platforms for less than a year. Barring one, they do not have a budget or staff for social media marketing activities. Yet, they acknowledge that social media marketing is the "backbone of their marketing efforts."  These are the lessons from five companies that have understood social media and have used it to grow their business.

Listen: "Social Media have a feedback mechanism built-in, which needless to say benefits both the customer and the brand," says Sachin Bansal, CEO and Co-founder of Flipkart.com (an online bookstore). "The key is to listen to what is being said about you and to you. Users will be brutally honest if you give them an opportunity. The onus lies on you and your brand about what you do with the feedback." Flipkart.com has done very well by listening to its customers. The site has close to 700,000 fans on Facebook and has used conversations both as a tool to sell products and a guide to build features users want on the site.

Integrate: Giveindia.org, a charity portal that lets users donate to their favorite charity, has used an integrated social media marketing campaign to reach out to donors across the world. Their Facebook page links back to their site. Their landing page on causes.com links back to their Facebook page, Twitter handle, blog and also has videos of Giveindia events that are posted on Youtube. This 360 degree social media integration has helped the organisation reach its message effectively to the widest possible audience. Indiamart too uses an integrated approach that includes blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and photosharing sites Photobucket and Flickr. This all-round approach has helped the site engage with its audience of SMEs and keep them informed about products and services on the site as well as general developments in the sector. “Social media marketing has become a very strong medium to reach out to a wider audience. Social media platforms in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube have made it possible to broadcast messages and news to a larger base of business persons and the like. Its ability to engage with the stakeholders irrespective of geographical barriers has helped us penetrate SME space to a large extent,” says Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com

Engage: One site that has learned the value of engaging with its audience is pagalguy.com. The site prepares students for MBA entrance exams and has been active on Social Media since 2008. Pagalguy realized early social media is ideal for interacting with its students and prospectives. The company uses its Facebook page for contests, polls and surveys. It does not duplicate content between its Facebook page and its website. “We recently launched a survey to rank business schools and saw around 9,000 clicks from Facebook in 20 days. This was a phenomenal way to reach out to our current and new users,” says CEO Allwin Agnel. Legal website Lawisgreek.com also uses its social media platforms to create a level of interaction with its auidence. This, the company believes, has resulted in a loyal customer base and one that actively contributes to the growth of the site and therefore the business. On its Twitter account, too, Law is Greek encourages conversations between its experts and its customers.

Use Discussion boards: For a specialized service like Lawisgreek, discussion boards are a great way to connect with their audiences...in this case lawyers and people in need of legal advice. The site is active on Linkedin and regularly participates in relevant discussion boards. This helps create awareness as well as drive traffic. Palash Das, from the Strategic Alliances division of LawIsGreek.com, said, “Social media marketing is the backbone of our marketing initiative. This is what has helped us reach out to our target audience, engage them and create our brand.”

Inform not just advertise: Indiamart, lawisgreek and pagalguy have learnt to provide a wide spectrum of relevant information on their social media platforms. For example: you will find interesting discussions on news--everything from a UP Khap Panchayat ruling on Jeans to Advani demanding that black money from Swiss bank be returned can be found on the lawisgreek Facebook page. Indiamart uses its platforms to inform about government policy and overall developments in the SME sector, while pagalguy limits advertising its services to its website.

Social Media Marketing is really free: Barring lawisgreek.com (which has a minuscule budget for social media marketing), the others have used existing resources to set up and run their social media marketing. All those fan pages and followers have come at little extra cost, thereby truly bringing home the advantages of this medium

from - socialmediatoday.com

Social Network Analysis

Degree Centrality

Social network researchers measure network activity for a node by using the concept of degrees -- the number of direct connections a node has. In the kite network above, Diane has the most direct connections in the network, making hers the most active node in the network. She is a 'connector' or 'hub' in this network. Common wisdom in personal networks is "the more connections, the better." This is not always so. What really matters is where those connections lead to -- and how they connect the otherwise unconnected! Here Diane has connections only to others in her immediate cluster -- her clique. She connects only those who are already connected to each other.

Betweenness Centrality

While Diane has many direct ties, Heather has few direct connections -- fewer than the average in the network. Yet, in may ways, she has one of the best locations in the network -- she is between two important constituencies. She plays a 'broker' role in the network. The good news is that she plays a powerful role in the network, the bad news is that she is a single point of failure. Without her, Ike and Jane would be cut off from information and knowledge in Diane's cluster. A node with high betweenness has great influence over what flows -- and does not -- in the network. Heather may control the outcomes in a network. That is why I say, "As in Real Estate, the golden rule of networks is: Location, Location, Location."

Closeness Centrality

Fernando and Garth have fewer connections than Diane, yet the pattern of their direct and indirect ties allow them to access all the nodes in the network more quickly than anyone else. They have the shortest paths to all others -- they are close to everyone else. They are in an excellent position to monitor the information flow in the network -- they have the best visibility into what is happening in the network.

Network Centralization

Individual network centralities provide insight into the individual's location in the network. The relationship between the centralities of all nodes can reveal much about the overall network structure.
A very centralized network is dominated by one or a few very central nodes. If these nodes are removed or damaged, the network quickly fragments into unconnected sub-networks. A highly central node can become a single point of failure. A network centralized around a well connected hub can fail abruptly if that hub is disabled or removed. Hubs are nodes with high degree and betweeness centrality.
A less centralized network has no single points of failure. It is resilient in the face of many intentional attacks or random failures -- many nodes or links can fail while allowing the remaining nodes to still reach each other over other network paths. Networks of low centralization fail gracefully.

Network Reach

Not all network paths are created equal. More and more research shows that the shorter paths in the network are more important. Noah Friedkin, Ron Burt and other researchers have shown that networks have horizons over which we cannot see, nor influence. They propose that the key paths in networks are 1 and 2 steps and on rare occasions, three steps. The "small world" in which we live is not one of "six degrees of separation" but of direct and indirect connections < 3 steps away. Therefore, it is important to know: who is in your network neighborhood? Who are you aware of, and who can you reach?
In the network above, who is the only person that can reach everyone else in two steps or less?

home network security

This section provides a basic introduction to the technologies that underlie the Internet. It was written with the novice end-user in mind and is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all Internet-based technologies. Subsections provide a short overview of each topic. This section is a basic primer on the relevant technologies. For those who desire a deeper understanding of the concepts covered here, we include links to additional information.

What does broadband mean?

"Broadband" is the general term used to refer to high-speed network connections.  In this context, Internet connections via cable modem and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) are frequently referred to as broadband Internet connections. "Bandwidth" is the term used to describe the relative speed of a network connection -- for example, most current dial-up modems can support a bandwidth of 56 kbps (thousand bits per second). There is no set bandwidth threshold required for a connection to be referred to as "broadband", but it is typical for connections in excess of 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) to be so named.

What is cable modem access?

A cable modem allows a single computer (or network of computers) to connect to the Internet via the cable TV network. The cable modem usually has an Ethernet LAN (Local Area Network) connection to the computer, and is capable of speeds in excess of 5 Mbps. Typical speeds tend to be lower than the maximum, however, since cable providers turn entire neighborhoods into LANs which share the same bandwidth.  Because of this "shared-medium" topology, cable modem users may experience somewhat slower network access during periods of peak demand, and may be more susceptible to risks such as packet sniffing and unprotected windows shares than users with other types of connectivity. (See the "Computer security risks to home users" section of this document.)

What is DSL access?

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet connectivity, unlike cable modem-based service, provides the user with dedicated bandwidth. However, the maximum bandwidth available to DSL users is usually lower than the maximum cable modem rate because of differences in their respective network technologies. Also, the "dedicated bandwidth" is only dedicated between your home and the DSL provider's central office -- the providers offer little or no guarantee of bandwidth all the way across the Internet. DSL access is not as susceptible to packet sniffing as cable modem access, but many of the other security risks we'll cover apply to both DSL and cable modem access. (See the "Computer security risks to home users" section of this document.)

How are broadband services different from traditional dial-up services?

Traditional dial-up Internet services are sometimes referred to as "dial-on-demand" services. That is, your computer only connects to the Internet when it has something to send, such as email or a request to load a web page. Once there is no more data to be sent, or after a certain amount of idle time, the computer disconnects the call. Also, in most cases each call connects to a pool of modems at the ISP, and since the modem IP addresses are dynamically assigned, your computer is usually assigned a different IP address on each call. As a result, it is more difficult (not impossible, just difficult) for an attacker to take advantage of vulnerable network services to take control of your computer. Broadband services are referred to as "always-on" services because there is no call setup when your computer has something to send. The computer is always on the network, ready to send or receive data through its network interface card (NIC). Since the connection is always up, your computer’s IP address will change less frequently (if at all), thus making it more of a fixed target for attack. What’s more, many broadband service providers use well-known IP addresses for home users. So while an attacker may not be able to single out your specific computer as belonging to you, they may at least be able to know that your service providers’ broadband customers are within a certain address range, thereby making your computer a more likely target than it might have been otherwise. The table below shows a brief comparison of traditional dial-up and broadband services.

Social network marketing

Social network marketing must be used to grow your business. Online marketing is a huge arena and social media has quickly followed in its footsteps. These social sites are well established and they all work in slightly different ways. However it is not necessary to master every single social networking site. The potential marketer needs to identify which ones can be useful.
Creating and establishing yourself as a brand can take time. However once you are established in one social network media it is quite easy to transfer this to another system. So much of the hard work is only needed for the first time.
There is a lot of technology involved with this type of marketing but it should not keep you away from this lucrative advertising medium. There are many online tools that make it quite easy to work within social media. Social networking software makes it very easy to deal with the different interfaces as well as the ability to merge your different accounts. This way it is possible to communicate directly to the target audience. Many software packages also make it possible to manage their marketing campaigns using their phone and other mobile devices.
Social media is not typical affiliate marketing. Unlike affiliate marketing it will be necessary to explain why the targeted individual needs your services or product. A landing page which provides a quick explanation is best. Normally providing a 1-2-3 process and explanation can have a dramatic effect on the success of social media campaigns.
It is also difficult to tread that fine line between spam and building up a social media audience. If you are contacting individuals purely to make money then you are sending out spam. This is a very unprofitable way to go about marketing. Make sure you let the different followers know what you are trying to do before sending the offer. Even just a simple description of what is going on can go a long way.
Be completely truthful about what you are selling or promoting. A dingle bad promotion can completely kill your reputation and you will lose your entire social media audience. Instead of having to apologize afterwards. This will shelter the marketers from blame when problems occur and your audience will be ready the next time you have a sale or action.
It can be very effective to combine social media with article marketing and blogging. Try to create links back to your landing pages and get maximum exposure for your products. There are many article directories that allow for free article submission. Simply make sure that each article is unique. Blogging is also very popular as this makes it easy to turn you or your product into its own brand. As with anything it is important to make sure your brand stands out from the rest.
In social media particularly video marketing can also be very effective. Millions of Internet users look at videos every day. A short video about your services and products can reach millions of potential customers.

Guillaume Bareil is a full time Online Entrepreneur. He devotes all his time to achieve massive online success for him and his business partners. He is involved in Internet Marketing since 2006. He uses a powerful turnkey system to build his Direct Sales Business providing him continuous residual income.

PlayStation Network

PlayStation Network
The four different types of trophies; bronze, silver, gold and platinum are awarded to players for making specific accomplishments (e.g. Completing a level or defeating a certain number of enemies) or reaching certain milestones in games (e.g. reaching a "pro" rank online). Developers can also choose to make certain trophies hidden so that the trophy's value, title and description is not shown until the user has unlocked it. A gold, silver or bronze trophy is normally awarded based on the difficulty of the accomplishment with each trophy contributing to a 'level' system linked to a player's PlayStation Network profile, with gold trophies contributing more experience level advancement than silver, and silver contributing more experience than bronze. A platinum trophy is automatically awarded to the player once they unlock all other trophies in a game, excluding extra trophies that can only be obtained through downloadable content, and contribute more experience than a gold trophy. However, smaller games such as certain PlayStation Network titles, lack a platinum trophy. Trophies are displayed on a player's PlayStation Network profile screen, which also shows their level

Network Solutions

Mission Critical Network Solutions: We provide business grade and cost effective data communication solutions  based upon modern Internet technology for converged data, voice and video  with emphasis on integrity, reliability, efficiency and security.

NetONE, a Bangkok based company, manned with highly skilled technicians and Certified Engineers can recommend, designs, acquires, install and maintain comprehensive and converged computer network solutions to fit  the basic to the most sophisticated requirement. We have been providing successful solutions to many Government organizations, State Enterprises, large corporations, airlines, Internet Service Providers, Financial Institutions and multinationals for over 14 years.

Our solution, are always designed with security in mind. A special attention is given to implement workable solutions with highest standard in operability to avoid down time and loss of data. Further more we always take care of our customer. Customer Satisfaction is most important for us.

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Network Diagnostic Tool

The Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) is a client/server program that provides network configuration and performance testing to a users desktop or laptop computer.  The system is composed of a client program (command line or java applet) and a pair of server programs (a webserver and a testing/analysis engine).  Both command line and web-based clients communicate with a Web100-enhanced server to perform these diagnostic functions.  Multi-level results allow novice and expert users to view and understand the test results.


Several studies have shown that the majority of network performance problems occur in or near the users’ desktop/laptop computer.  These problems include, but are not limited to, duplex mismatch conditions on Ethernet/FastEthernet links, incorrectly set TCP buffers in the user’s computer, or problems with the local network infrastructure.  The NDT is designed to quickly and easily identify a specific set of conditions that are known to impact network performance.  A multi-level series of plain language messages, suitable for novice users, and detailed test results, suitable for a network engineer, are generated and available to the user.  Finally, the test results may be easily emailed to the appropriate administrator to assist in the problem resolution phase.

The NDT consists of several components.  Both client and server processes are used to perform a specific set of tests.  The server processes include a basic web browser (fakewww) to handle incoming web based client requests.  The server also runs a second process (web100srv) that performs the specific tests needed to determine what problems, if any, exist.  The web100srv process then analyzes the test results and returns these results to the client.

Both command line (web100clt) and Web based (java applet) based clients are included in the NDT package.  The command line client (web100clt) can be compiled and manually downloaded onto numerous client computers.  The web based client uses a java applet to automate the testing process.  This applet is downloaded when the web server is accessed, removing the restriction to manually pre-load the software onto the client computer.  This approach allows system administrators to pre-load the command line client onto their main server class computers while allowing the vast majority of users to automatically load the web based client on an as needed bases.
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Social Networking in Plain English

What it Teaches

"Social Networking in Plain English" introduces the basic ideas behind Social Networking. The video focuses on the role of social networking in solving real-world problems.  The video includes:

• The role of people networks in business and personal life
• The hidden nature of real-world people networks
• How social networking sites reveal hidden connections
• The basic features of social networking websites

Network Error

Network Error
 get this error from time to time. I don't believe it's thrown up by my browser, or by the server on the other end but by a router in between. I get this on sites like CNN, eBay etc intermittently. Big sites, that I doubt are suffering downtime. I also get it sometimes on smaller sites.

Can anyone shed some light on the origin of this?

Screenshot: http://i28.tinypic.com/b7gm1j.png


Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: ""
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support teamSome more information about this issue at this link.
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/dnscache.htm

If you reboot the computer it will clear out the DNS cache.

The default time period for keeping an address in the cache is 24 hours. Another more common problem can arise from URLs that are temporarily busy or from congested Internet traffic. If a negative response is received from an attempt to connect, that result is also kept in the local cache. The default time period for retaining a negative response is five minutes

Social media

Social media describes websites that allow users to share content, media, etc. Common examples are the popular social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook, MySpace, etc. Social media also includes YouTube, Photobucket, Flickr, and other sites aimed at photo and video sharing. News aggregation and online reference sources, examples of which are Digg and Wikipedia, are also counted in the social media bucket. Micro-blogging sites such as twitter can also be included as social media.

• News Corporation owns Myspace, the most-viewed website in the world. It also purchased Photobucket, a photo-sharing website.
• Yahoo! (YHOOhas been making moves to enter the social media segment. Its Flickr photo-sharing website and 360 social networking site are examples of this.
• Google (GOOd) purchased YouTube, a leading online video sharing website.
• Microsoft (MSFT) announced a minority $240 million investment in Facebook in late October, valuing the company at an estimated $5 to $15 billion overall.
• AOL announced on March 2008 the $850 million purchase of Bebo. At the time, Bebo was the third largest social networking site behind MySpace and Facebook in terms of page views and unique monthly visitors, both key metrics for online advertising

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Social Networking More Popular Than Email

Social Networking More Popular Than Email
New stats from Nielsen Online show that by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach. According to the study, 66.8% of Internet users across the globe accessed “member communities” last year, compared to 65.1% for email. The most popular online activities remain search and Web portals (with around 85% reach) and the websites of software manufacturers.
The far-reaching study also explored a number of other trends within the social networking space. In 2008, users spent 63% more time on member communities than they did in the previous year. However, within member communities, Facebook saw growth of 566% in time spent on it by users worldwide. As has been reported elsewhere, Facebook’s fastest growth demographic is older users – the social network tacked on 12.4 million people between ages 35-49 in 2008 according to Nielsen.
Some other key findings from the report:

- Globally, Facebook reaches 29.9% of global Internet users, versus 22.4% for MySpace.
- MySpace remains the most profitable social network, generating an estimated $1 billion in revenue versus $300 million for Facebook in 2008.
- Facebook is the top social network in all countries except Germany, Brazil, and Japan (Nielsen still has MySpace as tops in US in the report, but as of January ’09, that had changed).
- On Twitter, CNN, The New York Times, and BBC have the greatest reach among mainstream media companies as of late February.

Overall, most of these trends aren’t surprising if you’ve been following the space, but nonetheless, tie some numbers to them. Most impressive is the rise of Facebook, who is outpacing the growth of the social networking space on the whole by nearly tenfold.
The full report is embedded below:

from - http://mashable.com/

Network Administration

Network Administration

In information technology, a network is a series of points or nodes interconnected by communication paths. Networks can interconnect with other networks and contain subnetworks.
The most common topology or general configurations of networks include the bus, star, token ring, and mesh topologies. Networks can also be characterized in terms of spatial distance as local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks (WANs).
A given network can also be characterized by the type of data transmission technology in use on it (for example, a TCP/IP or Systems Network Architecture network); by whether it carries voice, data, or both kinds of signals; by who can use the network (public or private); by the usual nature of its connections (dial-up or switched, dedicated or nonswitched, or virtual connections); and by the types of physical links (for example, optical fiber, coaxial cable, and Unshielded Twisted Pair). Large telephone networks and networks using their infrastructure (such as the Internet) have sharing and exchange arrangements with other companies so that larger networks are created.