Google+ Social Network

Google+ Social Network.

Google has finally launched its long-awaited social network, the Google+ project.

The Google+ network is designed around users' social circles (called +Circles) and lets users selectively share with specific groups within their personal network, rather than sharing with all their social connections at once.

The search giant emphasizes Google+'s privacy customizations and hopes that users will choose to use the new service over more established networks like Facebook and Twitter.

"In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who's in the room, but in the online world, you get to a ‘Share' box and you share with the whole world," Bradley Horowitz, a VP of product management at Google, told the New York Times. By granting the user more control over what is shared, how and with whom, Google+ attempts to make the online sharing experience more secure and more personal. 

In addition to +Circles, Google's network will also let users add interests, video chat in groups, share content via mobile and many more features that should be familiar to social network users.

The search giant will integrate its new network directly into its massive web presence to allow users to socialize as they use various Google proucts. Mashable explains how Google will accomplish this:

 

The search giant's new social project will be omnipresent on every Google product, thanks to a complete redesign of the Google navigation bar. The familiar gray bar at the top of every Google page will turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing content at any time. The notification system is similar to how Facebook handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases with each additional notice.

 

Google is completing its field trial of the network, which is currently open only to a select few. However, you can visit Google+ to sign up, and Google will send you a notification when the service is ready. You can also explore the social network's landing page and to see what new features are in store.

Google+ Social Network

Is Email Killing the Post Office?

Is Email Killing the Post Office?  The rise of mobile, and smartphones in particular, must also play a role, as it caters to increased use in email and social media, not to mention text messaging, and even….the phone call!

Is email killing the post office? It’s not a new question. In fact, it’s been around nearly as long as the mainstream use of email itself, but it’s also not gone away, and the USPS has seen better days. I’m not normally one to buy too much into the typical x is killing y kind of hype, but the Postal Service is clearly severely injured.

BusinessWeek.com has put out a lengthy report looking at the decline of the USPS and its contributing factors. While the seven-page pice just briefly touches upon the subject of email, comparing the performance of the USPS to that of FedEx, UPS, and DHL, as well as counterparts in other countries, there’s no question that email and online communication in general have done their fair share of damage. 

People have been using email for years now, and despite some predicting the death of email (at the hands of social media), it’s clear that it’s hear to stay for quite some time. Even if email were to die, it wouldn’t do much to help the postal service. 

As we’ve seen just in the past week alone, email is an incredibly important part of business for companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Twitter. Even Facebook has its own email now, and social networks all still rely on email to keep users engaged – that goes for the professionals too (ie: the newly public LinkedIn). 

In a recent study, 45% said that their use of email at work will most likely increase in the next five years. 51% said that it would likely stay the same. Only 4% thought it would decrease. At home, 36% of those surveyed thought their email use will increase, 55% said it will stand pat and 6% said it will likely decrease.

The majority of important online communication still takes place through email, whether that be B2B or B2C. C2C online communication may be trending more toward social media, but again, email still plays a role here, in terms of notifications, and there is still plenty of C2C communication through email. Even from heavy users of social media. Not everyone is on the same social network. That even goes for Facebook. Email is universal. You pretty much need an email address to have any kind of account online. 

The rise of mobile, and smartphones in particular, must also play a role, as it caters to increased use in email and social media, not to mention text messaging, and even….the phone call! The point is, communication is always as close as your pocket. It’s a lot easier and cheaper (at least on an individual interaction basis) than writing letters. And it’s in real time. 

“With the rise of e-mail and the decline of letters, mail volume is falling at a staggering rate, and the postal service’s survival plan isn’t reassuring,” Devin Leonard says in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek report, noting that the USPS is the country’s second-largest civilian employer after Walmart (with more post offices than the retail outlets of Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined). Last year its revenues were $67 billion, with even greater expenses, he says. 

According to the report, first-class mail, which the USPS gets the majority of its money from, has been steadily declining, and in 2005 fell below junk mail for the first time. Total mail volume has decreased 20% just from 2006 to 2010. The USPS hasn’t been able to cover its annual budget in three years. 

Well, there’s still packages right? Sure, but there’s also stiff competition from companies like FedEx, UPS, and DHL, along with an increase in digital goods replacing physical goods. Think movies, music, and books. Amazon, the largest retailer on the web, announced last week that Kindle books are outselling print books. Never mind that there are a bunch of free ones too. 

Plus, everybody’s going paperless these days. The Director of Physical Infrastructure at the U.S. Government Accountability Office is quoted as saying, “What happens when Bank of America or Citigroup says you are going to have to pay to get your statement on paper? That’s going to change a lot of behavior. It’s going to affect the postal service. That’s how they make most of their money.”

The Bloomberg BusinessWeek report includes some interesting ideas on how the Postal Service could get back on track, at least to some extent, but the outlook is looking pretty bleak. You have to wonder what this will mean for the future of digital communication like email.

Is Email Killing the Post Office?

StumbleUpon - Your Website Traffic

 

StumbleUpon allows you to add up to 200 friends to your contact list. For you this could mean 200 potential sales, not only initially, but also in the future. But make sure you don’t spam your contacts. Instead, think of them as associates. StumbleUpon offers an easy way for quick traffic-building. Just keep in mind that in order to make the most out of the site....

StumbleUpon - Your Website Traffic. Getting traffic for a new website can be difficult if you’re relying solely on search engines. This is because proper SEO requires a great deal of time and skill. And even then you still may not make it into the top 10 listings. So, what other alternatives are available? One of the best involves using StumbleUpon to generate traffic. Through this site webmasters can get their own following of visitors while boosting their Alexa rating. 

So, what exactly is StumbleUpon and why is it so useful for generating traffic? Basically, StumbleUpon is a social networking site where members bookmark or ‘stumble’ sites that are interesting to them. Other members see what sites got ‘stumbled’ by using StumbleUpon’s special toolbar. As they are surfing through the stumbled sites, they can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. 

To get your site in the StumbleUpon network, you will have to become a member and download their toolbar. From there, you will need to rate your sites. Make sure that index your sites in the appropriate category. Otherwise, your site might be seen as spam, and receive a ‘thumbs down’ by StumbleUpon visitors. Granted, you may get a few thumbs down even when you do things properly, but as long as your site is useful this shouldn’t happen too often. 

Once your site is submitted, you should start receiving traffic. However, be aware that this type of traffic may not covert in a lot of sales, since the users are passive visitors. They are not actively looking for information, like they would be on a search engine. So, you will have to include an extra incentive to drive interest to your offer. Most Internet marketers do this through opt-in pages. Through these pages visitors provide their email address, (or other information), in return for a freebie. This freebie could be an e-book or even a physical product. For example, if you’re operating an e-commerce store, you could give away one of your cheaper products. 

Anyway, with the information you obtain from the opt-in page, you could initiate email marketing or direct mail marketing. Through these forms of advertising, you establish more personal communication with your visitors. With this communication you increase the chances that you can acquire future sales. 

Speaking of personal communication, you can use this same train-of-thought with StumbleUpon’s social aspect. How is this so? Well, StumbleUpon allows you to add up to 200 friends to your contact list. For you this could mean 200 potential sales, not only initially, but also in the future. But make sure you don’t spam your contacts. Instead, think of them as associates. Approach them in a friendly manner, like you would someone at work or school. Once a relationship has been established, you can let them know about your site.

In conclusion, StumbleUpon offers an easy way for quick traffic-building. Just keep in mind that in order to make the most out of the site, you should make use of opt-in pages, rather than directly pointing visitors to your offer. Also, don’t forget to make friends while you’re stumbling. 

The 12 part E-course walks you through step by step on how to get the traffic coming to your site. This is traffic that you just put your time into, you don’t have to spend any money for it. 

 

StumbleUpon - Your Website Traffic

 

Facebook gets movie treatments as social media hits high

"You've got to protect yourself," said Schulman. "Everyone has different intentions."
Ironically for an actor portraying the man now in charge of Facebook in "Social Network," Eisenberg himself is not a Facebook user, nor does he ever plan to be.

Facebook hits the silver screen this fall with two movies coming out within weeks of each other at a time when social media is at an all-time high.

Independent documentary "Catfish" and glitzy Hollywood feature "The Social Network" couldn't be more different. But both could very well be two sides of the same coin.

"We've gotten to a point where it's time to reflect on it," said "Catfish" filmmaker Ariel Schulman.
"'The Social Network' shows us how we got here. 'Catfish' shows us where we're at."

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world with over 500 million active users. Sites like MySpace, microblogging site Twitter, and Tumblr are also thriving, creating an intricate online world where everything from dating websites to video game communities have users who put their personal lives out on public display.

As "Catfish" illustrates, not everyone on these sites is who they say they are.

"Catfish", which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, follows Nev Schulman, a photographer who falls in love with a girl on Facebook. Over time, their romance blossoms and they begin to text and talk on the phone.
When Nev, his brother Ariel and their friend Henry discover some startling revelations, they set off on a road trip to meet the girl in person.

"The Social Network," arrives on October 1, with a pedigree that includes Oscar-nominated David Fincher directing from a screenplay by the four-time Emmy Award winning Aaron Sorkin.

The film is based on Ben Mezrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal." Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, now 26, is played by Jesse Eisenberg.

"It's interesting that these two movies are coming out at the same time," said Schulman, who directed "Catfish" with Henry Joost.

"We are however many years in to the social networking phenomenon and I think it has hit a tipping point," he said.

Schulman, along with Joost, shot his brother Nev's 2008 real-life romance and road trip to visit the girl of his dreams. He felt there is now a sort of "collective subconscious" around Facebook.
Schulman likens social networks to a "collection of avatars" where users put up "ideal versions of themselves" for others to see.

"We each play the role of our own personal publicist that way," he noted, cautioning that because of that, "you can't go online naively."

"You've got to protect yourself," said Schulman. "Everyone has different intentions."
Ironically for an actor portraying the man now in charge of Facebook in "Social Network," Eisenberg himself is not a Facebook user, nor does he ever plan to be.

"If you're in a public setting like (actors) are, you come to really value your privacy," he said.
However, Eisenberg is quick to point out that it's not "the medium that's the danger, it's the people using the medium" and that's why he's chosen to stay off it.

Though Nev Schulman says he doesn't feel completely protected from his "Catfish" situation happening again, he says he has no regrets about his Facebook romance.

"I ended up going on a great life experience with my brother and my dear friend Henry," said Nev Schulman.
What was real, were the life lessons that came with all that.

"I now have a better understanding of what I thought I wanted, what I really want and what's important insofar as my relationships with friends and family," he said. "This experience has allowed me to grow and change for the better."

Sync Twitter with Yahoo Messenger for quick updates

Sync Twitter with Yahoo Messenger for quick updates

 

If you are addicted to Yahoo Messenger and Twitter, then Twitter Sync plug-in should make your ‘Techno Life’ real easy. No need to hop to Messenger Window & Twitter separately, with this plugin do it all from one place.

This plugin allows you to sync Messenger status and Twitter without any fuss. So, when you change your Yahoo Messenger status, associated Twitter account also gets updated automatically. It has loads of other features including:

• See your friends latest Twitters right in your messenger window.
• Expanded window shows last 10 Tweets from you & friends.
• Alerts and notifications for new Tweets received.
• Update your Yahoo Messenger status from anywhere in the world.

Besides above, there are number of options to configure Twitter-Sync plugin as per your requirement. From control panel: set how often you want Messenger to check for updates from your Twitter friends. Also control what kinds of Messenger status messages get pushed to your Twitter friends.

Download WackyB Twitter Sync plugin and interface Yahoo Messenger – Twitter like never before. Besides making things easy, it should save lot of time in the process of updating Twitter status and cool chatting with friend on Yahoo Messenger.
 

Twitter And Facebook Becoming More Important For Job Recruitment

Social networks lead all other recruiting channels for planned investment by employers as the economy rebounds, according to a new survey by recruitment platform Jobvite.

The survey found 83 percent of respondents use or plan to use social networks for recruiting this year. LinkedIn (78%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (45%) are the most popular social recruiting platforms, while MySpace is used by 5 percent of respondents.

"While the economy begins to recover, companies looking to make new hires are seeking the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent. As our third annual survey shows, social network recruiting has become a mainstream channel for employers who need access to talent," said Dan Finnigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jobvite.
"Job boards launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social networks are doing the same -- but in a targeted way. Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best talent efficiently, without making a major investment."

Other highlights from the survey include:

*92 percent of those actively hiring in 2010 currently use or plan to recruit via social networks

*Among this group, 86 percent use LinkedIn, 60 percent use Facebook and 50 percent use Twitter for recruiting

*In addition, 50% of hiring companies plan to invest more in social recruiting while only 17% will spend more on job boards and 36% will spend less.

 

Source : webpronews.com

By Mike Sachoff

Connect Yahoo Messenger with Twitter

Download Twitter Plugin For Yahoo Messenger

 

Twitter-Sync is a plug-in from WackyB that lets you keep Twittering away when using your Instant Messenger like Yahoo messenger.

Main features :

• Alerts and notifications for new Tweets received.
• Twitter-Sync will not update your status if you are currently Invisible.
• Lots of options to configure Twitter-Sync how you want.
• Keeps your Messenger status and Twitter in synchronization with each other.

Twitter Pig Message Tool 2.01

Twitter Pig Message Tool 2.01 Download

Use it to help twitter messages by organizing and synchronizing. 

This is free. Use it to help Twitter messages by organizing and synchronizing your messages. You can make changes and edit your posts without logging on to Twitter. Then set up a time to upload your posts all at once. This desktop app is easy to use and makes it easy to let others know about the deals you got At www.flyingpigsignco.com.