Erik Qualman's Blog, page 641

Top Ten Implications of Google’s Broadband Plans for Competition and Regulation

Google's Broadband Plans

Google has come up with its latest broadband plans that indicate various aspects about the company’s future outlook. Furthermore, the CFO of Google has told investors about the potential business opportunity all its stakeholders will more likely avail. The implications of Google’s broadband plans are worth considering. In terms of competition and regulation, these implications are mentioned below:

1.     Securing Fast Broadband Access

Google is aware of the fact that it needs to maintain its corporate image to prosper more in the broadband industry. For this reason, it is required to offer faster access to broadband services. Some examples of its own include Google Fiber to be provided in Kansas City and Google Mesh-Wireless. From the cheapest to the fastest, there are a number of options available for wireless internet, and all can be compared on this Broadband Expert page.

2.     Offering a Large Database

Having the largest of computer networks around the globe, Google comprises of 2 million servers. This means that the capacity is 3 times more than its competitors. Google’s large database along with perfectly managed global synchronization has enabled it to become the fastest and most reliable data retrieval system around the world.

3.     Providing Various Advantages of Google +

Google + has managed to benefit businesses as well as their customers in various ways. For instance, Google’s largely-free and ad supported package of products and services mostly comprise of those products consumers will more likely buy according to their varying needs. What makes Google stand out from its competitors is the fact that its faster broadbandprovides high speed to its users.

4.     Offering Widely Spread BroadbandAccess

When it comes to knowing more about Google Android, the primary benefit it provides to users is its operating system. Due to its fastest-growing capabilities, it has become popular in the whole world. Furthermore, it comprises of six-hundred million users. Following these statistics, research reveals that Google will win more than one billion users in 2013.

5.     Providing Less-Expensive Coverage

When compared to Google’s competitors, the analysis indicates that Google can provide broadband services to its users in an inexpensive way. This is another factor that has helped Google create an edge over others. However, this does not mean that Google does not have flexible options. It can choose not to serve those neighborhoods that are less-profitable.

6.     Providing Broadband Service to Users in a Profitable Way

Anyone using the internet can benefit from the fastest broadband coverage provided by Google. One of the reasons behind this is its inexpensive services.

7.     Increasing Exposure through Google Analytics

By using its analytics along with dominant search, Google has something unique, i.e. it has detailed knowledge of customers, product demands, and sales activities. This way, changing trends in the consumer market are retained by the company. Now, Google can augment its own profitability by presenting its own products to the relevant target market accordingly.

8.     Redistributing Market Share to New Entrants

Being one of the largest organizations of the world, Google has a lot to do with regards to competition. However, this competition is other than the one derived from market forces. It is the competition managed by FFC, in which Google’s goal is to redistribute the market share to new entrants or smaller competitors.

9.     The Need to Modernize US Laws of Obsolete Communication

Google is already heading towards exploring new horizons of fastest broadband. However, the challenge comes in when it has to deal with laws related to obsolete communication. With its innovative processes, Google needs to modernize these laws and come up with new technologies.

10.   Threat to the Fast Plans of Google’s Broadband

If the court overturns regulations for Google, then the company is more likely to be confronted with a threat to its vision as well as business need, dealing with the fastest broadband service.

Originally, Google supported Title II regulation for broadband. This was applicable if the FCC considered it necessary for net neutrality.

Google has bigger plans to provide a better experience to its users in terms of its broadbandcoverage. For this reason, one of its strategic imperatives is to secure broadband access that is much faster as compared to earlier times. In addition, it looks forward to a favorable policy to fasten the rollout of Google’s broadband services offered to US citizens.

Author’s Bio

Donna Baxter is a freelancer and has written various blogs related to the IT industry. According to her, from the cheapest to the fastest, there are a number of options available for wireless internet, and all can be compared on this Broadband Expert page. Her readers can get relevant information about different options of wireless internet by reading her blogs.

 

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Cell phone & Web: The Perfect Valentine’s Day Cupids!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and cupid won’t come to your rescue if you forget till the last minute. Technology can help you up your game with searches that land everything you need at the tip of your fingers. From gifts to the perfect meal, you can’t go wrong with a cell phone in your hand and a search bar at your thumb. The Tech Cupids are out and about this year, and they’ll be making one couple after another very very happy.

Source: MobiStealth

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Use Your Company Blog to Help Regain Your Online Reputation

If you’re a small business owner who never gives a second thought about your online reputation, both as an individual and one owning a company, you could be setting yourself up for trouble.

While many small business owners have too much on their daily plate to worry about what is happening online, it seems like some of them only take an interest when something goes wrong. If that’s the case, it can be too late to fix a problem that can hamper your ability to do business.

So, should your online reputation be called into question, how did it get that way in the first place?

Oftentimes, it can be a simple encounter with a customer or an unhappy current or former employee, an encounter that finds its way online. When that happens, many eyes can be trained upon the discussion, potentially harming your ability to do business going forward.

In the event you find yourself in that position, one of the best ways to gain back the reputation of both yourself and your business is your company blog.

Now, the very first question to throw at you is how much time and effort have you put into your company blog over time? If the answer is not much, then you could find yourself playing catch up.

In the unfortunate circumstance that your online reputation is called into question, use your blog to:

* Promote the positive – First and foremost, you shouldn’t wait until your online reputation or your company’s is questioned. Your blog can and should be used to promote the good things your company does. Use the blog to educate consumers about the products and/or services you offer, providing consumers with all the details they need to know prior to possibly making a purchase;

* Improve search engine ranking – When your online reputation is being targeted, it can be one of the first things to surface when consumers go online to find information about you and your business. In order to lessen the negative impact, putting out positive blog posts and press releases can increase the good things people will see about you and your company when they do a Google search;

* Highlight your team – The company blog can and should be used occasionally to promote what your team does (assuming you have employees). Put a name and a face together can provide customers with more reason to do business with you, especially if the customer is dealing with one or more of your people on the phone or online, be it a call center, etc. Highlight the positive things your team does, with your blog being the vehicle to do it;

* Be more vigilant going forward – Lastly, don’t put yourself or your company in this place going forward. You should review your online reputation periodically, checking to see if you need reputation protection going forward to prevent suffering a potential loss in business. Review your blog postings from time to time to see if there is anything in them that warrants concerns. Finally, look at the traffic each blog post has received, seeing if any have received a substantially larger amount of hits. If so, they could potentially be drawing some negative attention to your business, something you must address. Never just put up a post and then forget about it.

If your online reputation is something you have not given too much thought to in recent times, the time is now to not only do that, but also put your best foot forward with your blog.

Photo credit: neolane.com

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15 Blogs that will help make you the Ansel Adams of Instagram

Instagram started out as an app for the iPhone, but quickly expanded to include Android phones as well.  This free app allows you to take photos and apply different filters to your images.  Maybe you’d like to take a picture in black and white; you can do that with a filter.  Maybe the lighting wasn’t quite right in your picture; you can fix it with a filter.  Maybe you’d like to make a crazy psychedelic picture, there’s a filter for that too.  Be creative with your pictures and then share them with your friends and family on Facebook or Twitter.  These 15 blog articles will help you figure out the ins and outs of Instagram so that you can create your best Instagrams.

Blogs about Instagram Filters

There are lots of filters on Instagram.  Each filter will give your photo a different look.  Some of the looks are subtle and you might have to see the picture in a larger size in order to truly see what the filter has done to the picture.  The subject matter and location the picture was taken can also affect how well the filter works.  These five blog entries will try to explain the different filters and when you might use them to achieve a desired effect.

How Instagrams Filters Work This blogger explains how and why certain filters are used and includes pictures to help in the explanation process.
Using Instagram Features to Make Your Photos Pop This photographer knows her way around a camera. She has written an informative article about using the features of Instagram and explains how they can help improve your pictures.
 Instagram: A Walk Down Memory Lane While explaining that she no longer posts pictures to Instagram, this blogger shows how she still used the Instagram filters on her photos.  This gives the user a good idea of how the filters affect the shot.
Do More with Your Instagram Images This post contains an explanation of what you can do with your images if you get more filters or move the images around and will give the reader a better understanding of their options with Instagram.
The Plastics Revolution A fascinating example of using stop-motion photography and Instagram filters to create a video for the song Invasion by The Plastics Revolution.  The video will give you an idea of just how far you could take Instagrams if you wanted.

Frames & Tilt Shift

When you start using Instagram you will notice things that look like frames with different edges.  What do you do with them?  How do they work?  Each frame works differently, whether it helps to focus in on an element or to create a blurred edge to the photo.  Professional photographers have to use a special filter on their lens to get these same effects.  With Instagram you can add the effect to any picture and see if it adds anything to the picture.  Take a look at these five blog posts that will try to explain how frames can be used.

Working It Cool pictures are shown as examples and lots of frames are used for different effects.  The blogger even makes some of these pictures look like professional postcards.  He gives a lot of good advice about taking a lot of pictures at different angles and only sharing the best ones.
Rhonna Designs Insta Fonts + Bubble Frame App = Video Tutorial Watch this video and learn how to install fonts to your phone to improve your photos.  The blogger particularly loves the bubble frame.
How to Master Instagram Tilt-Shift Informative article about understanding tilt-shift on Instagram.  The photos really drive home the points made by the blogger.
Instagram Updates with Improved Camera, New Filter, and More Examples are shown of using the grid and tilt-shift and making a photo have better balance without looking fake.
How to Instagram Like a Rock Star A good overview of the features on Instagram including frames and tilt-shift.

Tips and Tricks

There are some tips and tricks to using Instagram that bloggers have figured out and are willing to share with you.  How are people on Instagram getting all of those fabulous pictures you might be wondering?  These bloggers will share some of their tips and tricks to help you achieve the same results.  Check out these five blog posts.

10 Instagram Tips and Tricks This blogger gives great tips and tricks for using Instagram that you might find useful.
5 Ways to Establish Your Instagram Identity While this blogger is trying to help your images be seen on Instagram, he has some insightful info on the importance of having consistency with your photos and the use of frames and filters that are worth the read.
Oil Spill Just one of several photos by this blogger.  He explains what filters he used and goes on to talk about quality of light and what that can do for your pictures.
Four Fab Photo Apps  Once you get started on Instagram, you can then move on to other apps that will work with those photos.  Read about other apps and how they work with Instagram to create even better photos.
Instagram Tips and Tricks Great before and after pictures can be found on this blog.  Ever wondered how a certain effect will change your photo?  You can see examples on this post.

Keynote Speaker Erik Qualman
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Get Social in Your Search to Buy or Sell a Home

Whether you are the buyer or the seller, have you ever considered using social media when it comes to home sales?

For those who haven’t used social networking, they could very well be left on the outside looking in when it comes to selling or buying a home, as social media can be a great vehicle for such transactions.

According to a 2012 report from NAR Social Media Statistics, 90 percent of all licensed real estate agents have turned to using one or more social media venues to market and increase their business. Meantime, more than 70 percent of consumers turn to social tools from start to finish in the home buying and selling process.

In order to best break it down, let’s look at it from the different perspectives, first from the buyer’s view:

For those looking for a new home, using social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and more can be very beneficial.

Look to real estate social media pages, including those that have substantial details and images.

Some real estate agents will use their Facebook and other social media pages to post information on the home, images (see below), even videos. The posts can include a wealth of information about the home, including how many bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, if it has a washer and dryer, the size of the outside property, whether or not it has new carpeting and tiling, how it handles major weather events (including the roof, if it has gutter guards, whether the residence is prone to flooding etc.), and its location in proximity to schools, stores, and more.

Pinterest has become a valuable tool in the last year or so, as the popular site allows those buying a new residence to view photos of their desired homes. Unlike when viewing such pictures in a real estate magazine or the real estate section of the newspaper, you can check out photos in real-time, along with conversing with a real estate agent.

Another advantage to using social media when looking to purchase a home, the buyer can share and tweet photos and descriptions of the home with family and friends, getting their take on the property.

Putting a Home Up for Sale?

When it comes to those selling homes (seller and real estate agent), social media also offers useful tools to speed up the potential sale.

First, the agent and the seller do not have to wait for the daily or weekly newspaper’s real estate section to reach potential buyers. Social media allows for 24/7 access, meaning both the agent and seller can promote the home for sale. One word of caution, do not over promote the home so as to end up spamming numerous people.

Secondly, real estate agents can use social media as an advertising and marketing tool, therefore saving money on traditional advertising venues such as newspapers and magazines. Now, that does not mean they should altogether skip those mediums, but social media can help them scale back a bit, allowing them to save money.

With all that social media can offer real estate agents and consumers buying and selling homes, the time has arrived to come home to a more social approach.

Photo credit: beingbobblog.com

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New technologies – New challenges – New Opportunities

Within modern enterprises, these times are very interesting. New technologies are approaching the business landscape day by day. Our daily business is mainly support by IT tools. Information and communication technologies support communication, cooperation and workflows within different departments, which do not necessarily have to be in the same location today. It directly influences the way employees cooperate. Home offices, something that was rather unconventional in the past, are normal in today’s world. New tools allow employees to work from everywhere but stay connected to their teams all over the world. In a globalised world it is a key factor for success to have experts everywhere, not only in your head office.

From the first days of home computing in the early eighties, using the Commodore C64 or the Apple II to our today’s world using tablets and smartphones with data connections directly into the data cloud it seems that ages have passed by. But in fact only 30 years lie between the first introduction of the Commodore C64 and today. The Commodore C64 was the best selling single personal computer of all time, with a 1.023 MHz CPU and a memory of 64kB RAM. Please compare that to your today’s computer system or just to your smartphone.

These fast moving changes affect enterprises in all kind of fields. They cannot just concentrate on their products and services anymore. Their technologic equipment becomes an active enabler and even as crucial to their success then their core business. Therefore, also in the field of technology they have to improve continuously to stay ahead of competition.

Thanks to the internet we were able to invent many different technologies like Skype, Twitter, Facebook to make the world a real “global village”, just as predicted by McLuhan in 1962. Let us take the example of Skype, it is used in classrooms to help the students getting in touch with partner schools all over the world or simply chat with the author of a discussed book or article. In 2011, before the takeover of Microsoft, Skype listed roughly 124 million people as “connected”. That directly influenced how people can stay in touch with each other.

Information, consumer ideas and interests can be followed by enterprises very closely. But also the enterprise itself became more and more vitreous. Unfortunately, many enterprises forget that. If they start to spam their followers, poorly manage negative feedback or publish the wrong content it makes it difficult for them to get back on track. Consumers also like to compare the web appearance between competitors and they expect the same convenience everywhere. If one company provides a good web shop, it is normal for the consumer to expect the same quality everywhere. The same applies for online appointment bookings or anything else. Enterprises need to listen very closely to the market otherwise they appear exactly like they do not want to.

The idea of a global village is not so far away. In fact we already live this life. Communication and information exchange are so easy and normal, that globalisation rose during the decades of technological evolution. We brought our world closer together, in political, culture and economical aspects. We had never been so close to revolutions like in Egypt before, we were never able to exchange with people all over the world within seconds and we never had so wide competition from all over the world. Global markets are not longer just open to big enterprises with an enormous financial power. Even small or medium ones can afford modern technologies to challenge big players within their local and international markets. The power structures change.

Therefore times getting really interesting, especially if you call yourself a modern enterprise. Maybe if you carve string puppets in your basement you would not consider your business as a modern enterprise?! But who knows? With some good social media approaches even such a business can benefit from these changes we all go through.

References and further reading

Brown, S., Blackmon, K., Cousins, P., Maylor, H. (2001): Operations Management – Policy, practice and performance improvement, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Gans, K. (2011): Should you change your thinking about Change Management?, in Strategic Finance, vol. 93, issue 4, p. 48 – 50

Himanen, P., Torvalds, L., Castells, M. (2001): The hacker ethic and the sprit oft he new economy, New York: Random House Inc

McLuhan, M. (1962): The Gutenberg Galaxy: The making of typographic man, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Porter, M. (1985): Competitive advantage – Creating and sustaining superior performance, New York: Free Press

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Being Social Makes You More Accountable

In a day and age when many small business owners are trying to keep their heads above water in a challenging economy, turning to social media can prove very beneficial.

You might ask, just how can being on social media help my business? In fact, that is a good question to put out there, especially when you and your competitors are going after every single dollar available.

For starters, social media can be used both to promote your company, along with learning more about others, be it those you need to buy from or want to sell to.

Take something away from the following examples:

* Word on the street – Whether it was a good experience or a bad one, a customer you just serviced turns to their Facebook or Twitter page to discuss their experience with you. If it is good, you want to know about it so that you can try and duplicate the customer service effort that went into making it a positive experience. Should it be bad, you especially want to hear about it, looking to improve on the matter going forward, whether it is with that customer or another one. Social media is a great tool to know what is being said about you and your business;

* You need to shop too – All businesses undoubtedly end up becoming buyers along with being sellers. Whether you are shopping for office furniture, the best accounting software, security systems for your building or health insurance coverage for your employees, social media can be a great tool to turn to. Check out the respective vendors that you are thinking of purchasing from, looking to see if their customer service interactions on SM are relevant and timely. In the event they do not go out of their way to assist customers on social media, there is a good chance this is the kind of service (or lack thereof) that you will receive from them in person;

* Promotion does matter – If someone tells you that social media promotion doesn’t work, you might not want to take their suggestions on stocks to invest in. For those who do it the correct way, social media can be a valuable resource in promoting what your company does. While time and effort is required, the payout can be quite beneficial. With more and more consumers turning to social media these days to ask questions, look for resolutions to problems and share their shopping experiences, SM gives you a great opportunity to promote your products and services. To go about promoting the right way, don’t use social media to try and make sales all the time, but rather to assist consumers. Answer their questions, look to solve their shopping issues, and provide them with educational material (blog posts, links to videos and podcasts etc.) that will help them in making their decisions;

* No cost to me – Finally, keep in mind that social media is not going to cost you an arm and a leg like advertising, marketing and other forms of promotions will. If up until now your social media efforts have been next to nothing, change that going forward. Once you have pages for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc. in place, make sure you or the person/persons tasked with overseeing them update the sites on a regular basis. You should also measure the analytics involved, seeing how many people follow you or respond to your shares, tweets, pins etc. Once you have built up a strong following, you should begin to see the networking opportunities expand, allowing you to help grow your business.

Social media does come with a price, mostly time and effort.

The question remains, are you committed to making the time and effort, meaning you hold yourself accountable for being more social?

Photo credit: guardian.co.uk

 

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10 Things You Should Know About Your Social Coffee

Before social media, most of our social engagements were…want to grab a cup of coffee? Now with social media many of us are downing coffee by the barrel in order to stay up late enough to stay abreast of what are friends are doing. So, we only thought it appropriate to know the top 10 things about the social drink:

Coffee is a unique beverage in that you either love it or you hate it. Some people swear by it as a means to wake up in the morning. Others drink coffee throughout the day to keep them going. However, whether you love it or hate it, there are some things that you may not know about coffee. Here are some interesting facts for you to ponder.

Where Does Coffee Come From? Coffee only grows in certain climates, namely the ones nearest the equator along what is known as the “Bean Belt.” Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that grows coffee, known as Kona coffee, while Brazil produces 30% of the world’s coffee. The second leading producer of coffee is Columbia. However, more than 53 countries grow coffee worldwide.
The Coffee Plant. It is arguable whether to call what coffee grows on a bush or a tree, but either way, the coffee bean does not just grow off a branch by itself. It is actually a green seed inside a berry. The seed is removed, roasted and then packaged as coffee beans. The berry from which a coffee bean comes from is comparable to a cherry. The two species of coffee plant that are used for consumption are the Arabica and the Robusta. One coffee tree yields approximately one pound of coffee each year.
How Many Calories Are You Consuming? Black coffee has no calories. That’s right! No calories! The way calories add up is what you put in with your coffee. With the options of cream, sugar and syrups, the calories can add up quickly. Keep that in mind if you are trying to cut down your calorie intake. You don’t need to stop drinking coffee altogether, just hold back on the extras you put into it. Thirty million people in the U.S. purchase specialty coffee drinks each day.
Caffeine: Good or Bad? Caffeine is one of the defining characteristics of coffee. For those of you who have heartburn problems, you might want to cut down on your coffee intake or switch over to decaf, because caffeine is known for increasing heartburn symptoms. However, beware of decaf because it is not completely caffeine free, it’s more of a reduced level of caffeine that can still add up if you drink too many cups of it. On the other hand, the caffeine is also cited as being beneficial for increased thought flow.
National Coffee Day. National Coffee Day is held on September 29. On that day, some businesses give away free or discounted cups of coffee. Some greeting card companies have even gone so far as to create National Coffee Day cards you can send to your friends or coworkers who are as addicted to coffee as you are.
How Many Cups Do We Drink? More than 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year. Seattle is known for its coffee enthusiasts and the people who live there consume more coffee per capita than in any other city in the United States. The coffee industry makes approximately 60 billion dollars annually worldwide.
Coffee vs. Water. Coffee is the second largest world commodity. The first is oil. It is also the second most popular drink in the world after water. More than half of the U.S. population over the age of 18 consumes at least one cup of coffee every morning. Women state that they drink coffee to relax and men tend to say that coffee helps them get their work done.
Coffee-Scented Stamps. In 2001, Brazil produced a coffee-scented stamp to promote its commodity. It is said that the smell lasts between 3 to 5 years.
To Freeze or Not to Freeze? Freezing coffee has been said to be a good way to keep it fresh, but as it turns out, the coffee bean easily extracts the flavors of things around it, making it susceptible to changing taste when stored in the freezer. Coffee grounds stay fresh for approximately two weeks outside of the freezer if stored in an airtight container. If stored next to fish or other smellier foods in the freezer, the coffee will adopt that taste, so even if it remains fresh longer, it won’t seem like it with the taste being skewed in that way.
Can I Drink Coffee When I’m Pregnant? There has been research for and against the consumption of coffee during pregnancy. The current recommendation is to consume no more than 300 mg of caffeine each day, and that doesn’t just include coffee, but all sources of caffeine. Whether you are pregnant or not, caffeine intake should be limited. The fatal level of caffeine is the equivalent of 100 cups of coffee at approximately 100 to 200 mg per cup.

 

An Article from: Longhorn Leads

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GoDaddy 2013 Super Bowl Commercial: #thekiss

It’s Super Bowl time, and Go Daddy is at it again with a new super model Bar Refaeli. I do love the fact that they published the full commercial before the Super Bowl. This helps them receive extra publicity (aside from this outlet, ABC News and many others have picked it up).

I also like that they didn’t forget to put in a Twitter hashtag #thekiss. The commercial made me a bit uncomfortable, but would love your thoughts. Also, in today’s world the data jockey is getting the super model. This is a good thing; smart is now sexy.

GoDaddy 2013 Super Bowl Commercial Full: #thekiss

GoDaddy 2013 Super Bowl Model = Bar Refaeli

 

 

 

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21 Social Media Updates & Advancements to Inspire Your 2013 Strategy

2012 was a year of change in social media.

Although Twitter and LinkedIn ended their relationship, they both worked to make segmentation easier. Meanwhile, Facebook bought Instagram and took strides towards making global marketing easier.Now it’s time to integrate these updates swiftly into your marketing strategy.We’re already into 2013, so take this time to learn about these updates and make this year the year your business crack social media. Hubspot would like to help out by sharing the 21 biggest updates and advancements from 2012. Review them to help make the difference you’ve been waiting for in your social media strategy.
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