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Crowdsourcing Education with Social Media

March 30, 2010 By 1 Comment

In a world filled with social content, learning a new skill, language, or solution  has never been easier.  That is why students and professionals are turning to each other, instead of a classroom with increased frequency and confidence.

YouTube serves more than 1 billion videos per day — and they aren’t ALL videos of pets, pop stars and guys getting kicked between the legs. According to Google, “How To Videos” are among the most popular content genres. There are YouTube videos to help you solve a Rubik’s Cube and Advanced Calculus problems. You can learn to play the instruments, speak foreign languages, sew, cook, get in shape, and get the right job.  You can build projects and repair the world around you. According to ComScore, the average YouTube user views 187 online videos each month.

And, it’s not just YouTube. Dedicated ‘How-To’ sites like EHow, and Howcast attract wide traffic. EHow attracts more than 51 million visitors each month. The site offers more than 1 million articles and 170,000 high-quality videos.  Popular topics on EHow include losing 10 pounds in a week; making healthy snacks; dealing with manipulative people; sizing a bike frame; composting; utilizing Facebook; and properly boiling an egg.

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Filed Under: crowdsourcing, Misc T, Strategy, youtube Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Ultimate Mac Netbook for Bloggers: Goodbye Ipad, Hello Lenovo S10

March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’re as disappointed with Apple’s IPad as I am, then you’re probably looking for a Mac-friendly alternative to the iPad, PC tablets and PC netbooks. Look no further than the Lenovo S10.

It only takes a few dollars (and a few minutes) to turn a $250  Lenovo S10 (S10 model 4333 with 1 GB RAM) into the ultimate Hacintosh Netbook.  The Lenovo S10 Ideapad makes it easy for anyone (even YOU) to create a Mac-compatible netbook. All you need is an 8-gigabyte thumb drive and a $25 copy of Snow Leopard.

OSX Snow Leopard features that don’t work with other netbooks all work with the Lenovo S10. It is the only netbook with hassle-free OSX installation and ‘turnkey support’ of  OS X version 10.6.2.  Apple tried to disable Atom processor support (and hackintosh netbooks) with the 10.6.2 update — but the Lenovo  S10 remains compatible.

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Filed Under: Hardware, Misc T, Mobile, Web Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Farmville: The best and worst of Facebook

March 16, 2010 By 2 Comments

FarmVille 'Takes the Cake'.

Social games like FarmVille are serious business. With more than 84 million active users and 30 million daily active users, FarmVille remains the top game on Facebook — and the top nuisance for nongamers.

FarmVille, a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, allows Facebook members to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and raising livestock. Since its launch in June 2009, FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook. Over 20% of Facebook users  (over 1% of the population of the world) is active in FarmVille.

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Filed Under: Facebook, Misc T Tagged With: , , ,

Social media seems shallow, but it adds great depth

March 9, 2010 By 1 Comment

Sustainable relationships are built over time — which no one has.

Everyone is short on time, trust, and attention.  This makes it a challenge to build ANY meaningful customer, business or personal relationship — in the real world or online. In the book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust , authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith share their recipe for building TRUST over TIME using TECHNOLOGY.

The result? Comfort food for pitch-weary marketers.

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Filed Under: Books, Facebook, google, LinkedIn, sales, word of mouth, youtube Tagged With: , , , ,

Google Local Search: It’s ‘the place to be’

March 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

The best location on the Internet for most local business owners is the small map that appears at the top of every local search results in Google.

It’s free. It appears ABOVE Google’s organic search results. And, it’s one of the most effective selling tools available to local business owners.

Consider these facts: 74 percent of internet users perform local searches (Kelsey Group);  73 percent of all online activity is related to local content (Google); 35 percent of all searches are local (DM News); and 61 percent of local searches result in purchases (TMP/comScore).

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Filed Under: advertising, google, sales, Strategy Tagged With: , , ,