I thought – and wrote – about why the world would need yet another social networking site… especially one that is so similar to Twitter and Facebook.

I gave it a shot and hated it.  I found it muddled, disorganized, confusing and just plain odd.

I guess Google Buzz’s own saving grace, for me, was its integration with Gmail – easy access.

While Google Buzz hasn’t found a place in my loyal heart yet – social media experts are touting its unique subtleties. According to some, Buzz is a great small business marketing vehicle.

Who knew, right?

According to American Express Open Forum, here are 5 reasons why people should use Google Buzz for small business.

1. Gathering Customer Feedback

Like Twitter, Buzz lets you post a message to a group of “followers” that subscribe to your updates. However, there are a few differences, namely that messages can be longer than 140 characters (and include supporting images and links) and that replies are all grouped under the original message.

This makes conversations easier to track and follow up on. -

2. Engaging With Others

If you use Gmail, there’s a good chance you already have a built-in network on Google Buzz. The service helps you get started by letting you connect with those you e-mail or chat with frequently.

Once you’re following some people, clicking the “Buzz” link from Gmail’s main navigation will let you see their most recent updates. You can comment on them, “like” them, or follow up personally with an e-mail or chat message.

3. Collaboration

Buzz can be used both for broadcasting a message to all of your followers and to select groups of them. If you’ve already set up Groups in Gmail, they’re already available in Buzz. If not, you can create new ones on-the-fly.

Posting a private message on Buzz works exactly the same as posting a public one – you just select the Group you want to be able to see it, and then only those people will be able to view and comment on it. It’s instant, private collaboration.

4. Marketing

It’s too soon to tell whether Buzz will have the type of impact for brick-and-mortar businesses that services like Yelp and increasingly Foursquare have had, but it has a very similar feature set. Users can “check in” at business locations, in turn notifying their followers of their whereabouts. Thus, encouraging your customers to check in on Buzz (and other location-based services) can be a way to drive free word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

5. Sharing Content

Just like Twitter and Facebook, Buzz has the potential to be a powerful medium for sharing content. You can use it to share blog posts, special deals, or interesting links related to your niche. Just like other social media services, you shouldn’t overdo it though – you want to mix promotional messages with a balance of other useful information and conversation for your followers.

The downside to Google Buzz for business?

There are no business accounts and it’s not mobile.

Nonetheless, experts suggest you get familiar with Buzz’s features and functionality… because the site could become immensely valuable in the future.

Me? I’ve been on the fence. I’ve seen my friends Foursquare “check-ins” and have wondered…. what’s the point? Do people really want to know where I am having lunch or getting coffee?

Yesterday, I discovered that the answer is yes. While my average Twitter and Facebook followers could care less about my whereabouts… businesses care.

In fact businesses care so much, Foursquare has created a new dashboard that will soon be rolling out to business owners across the country.

The dashboard is still an alpha product… but word is that it will be able to make the distinction between staff and customers, and track check-ins on a daily, weekly, 30/60/90-day or all-time basis.

The new Foursquare business data will also include:

-Total check-ins

-Unique visitors

-Male-to-female ratio

-Social media-sharing (i.e. showing how many users are sending their checkins to Twitter.)

-Top visitors

-Check-in time breakdown

Foursquare reps have also confirmed the possibility of correlating check-ins with weather patterns, a feature that may prove beneficial to businesses that offer rainy day incentives.

I think this all sounds very innovative… and it will certainly help put some small businesses on the map (emphasis on the word some). I don’t see Foursquare doing much for companies like Stature Software, or even big businesses like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart.

I mean, c’mon, why would you ever want people to know that you’re shopping at Wal-Mart?

We’ll have to see where all of this goes at Foursquare. My gut says though that it’s a flash in the pan.

]]> http://blog.staturesoftware.com/2010/03/10/foursquare-business-dashboard/feed/ 0 http://blog.staturesoftware.com/2010/03/03/linkedin-features/ http://blog.staturesoftware.com/2010/03/03/linkedin-features/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:06:04 +0000 Erin http://blog.staturesoftware.com/?p=305 Perhaps I’ve been living in the dark ages, but only now have I discovered what LinkedIn can do.

Sick of the mindless nonsense on Facebook (and endless FarmVille notifications from friends), I decided the other week to revisit my LinkedIn account.  I’m glad I did.

LinkedIn really is an extraordinary site – and one that seems to have stood the test of time in the world of professional social networking. Sure LinkedIn is slow at times, but its connections, recommendations, jobs features are all great stuff.

Now as I dig deeper into LinkedIn’s world, I’m discovering my profile can be so much more than just a glorified resume.

Here are five things I didn’t know about LinkedIn… until now.

1. Video. Add video to your profile with LinkedIn’s video application. Reel Social Media has step-by-step instructions for those who are technically-challenged. This is a great feature for anyone who wants to showcase speeches, presentations. It can even be an unique way to add recommendations.

2. Tag your contacts. Give your contacts unique labels so you can remember who they are and where you met.

3. Reorder your profile to highlight your best attributes. Again, don’t think of your profile as a resume. Think of it as a mirror image of yourself.  LinkedIn just introduced this new reordering feature and there’s a handy video guide on the company blog.

4. Who’s viewed your profile? Stroke your ego and stay on top of who’s paying attention to YOU. LinkedIn let’s you see who’s viewed your profile, a feature the other guys don’t have – yet.

5. Get traffic. This may seem like a no-brainer, but people don’t take advantage of this feature as much as they should. Everyone should use LinkedIn to drive more traffic – especially targeted traffic – to their website. Do this by first linking yourself to people you know, then by answering the questions of people you don’t.  Also, join and participate in groups that cater to your niche.

Admittedly, I’ve only begun to scratch the surface at LinkedIn. I’ve spent way too much time away.

I’m back now and excited to see what the site can really do.

Recorded Future gives business-minded users a look at who-what-where-and-when down the road.

Sounds abstract, doesn’t it?

The concept is simple really. Recorded Future has Google-like search capabilities and a simple interface to a tightly constrained set of data: occurrences that are expected or predicted to happen tomorrow and beyond.

The site presents three input boxes – what, who/where, and when – and then aggregates results by searching across blogs, news outlets, and social media sites.

Who will use this site?

Businesses – large and small say the founders of Recorded Future.

“Recorded Future allows financial analysts, intelligence analysts, and predictors to organize and aggregate future observations with ease,” the company explains on its YouTube Channel. Recorded Future also boasts (on its LinkedIn company profile) that its customers include “top government agencies and trading firms in the world.”

The website hasn’t officially launched yet and word is the company is trying to keep a low-profile while it raises more venture capital.

Unfortunately, time (and money) will tell whether or not Recorded Future is a boon or bust.  It isn’t everyday you see a business-based website that offers a look at the future. That is, one that doesn’t have a talking soothsayer on its homepage.

One final thought – a quote from Recorded Future’s website that really hits the nail on the head:

“What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.” – late British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

How much time do you waste surfing the Web?

I’m not going to lie. I fritter a lot of time away on Facebook and Twitter. A lot of time.

I can’t help it.

I sit down at my computer each morning with every intention to get some work done – but my wandering mouse takes over and soon I’m redirected to see what my friends are up to.

I absolutely hate it!

BUT, I have found some help to get me back on the straight and narrow.

Enter RescueTime and LeechBlock.

These applications, also called Internet blocking software, are designed to block various parts of the Internet so that when your mind strays, you’re stopped from giving into your unproductive ways.

First, RescueTime.

RescueTime works by keeping track of everything that happens on your computer, and then reports your habits in a series of charts and graphs.

Tech writer Farhad Manjoo recently gave RescueTime a whirl and says he found the app to be incredibly “illuminating.”

“I learned, for instance, that during a typical month I spend more than 70 hours surfing the web, much of it on news and social networking sites,” writes Manjoo.

By comparison, Manjoo found that he spent half as much time in Microsoft Word.

Now, if you are already aware of your bad online habits and just need some good old-fashion help taming them, then LeechBlock web filtering software may be the best medicine.

LeechBlock is a free add-on for Firefox and functions like a stern nanny. Users tell the program which Web sites to keep away from them at certain times of the day, and at the appointed hour you have chosen, LeechBlock will stop you cold.

LeechBlock is also quite flexible as it lets users block different sites at different times of the day. Or, users can set a maximum daily or hourly limit for certain sites.

Certainly, there is no way to tell whether these “digital nannies” will help you kick your bad online habits once and for all.

The mind is a restless place – even for the most seasoned professional.

But these Internet blocking software applications can be helpful in getting you to at least consider how you waste time on the Internet.

Don’t get me wrong… I absolutely LOVED it. The concept was great.

But I thought, why would Google – the #1 name brand on the planet – shell out big bucks for a commercial during the Super Bowl?

The answer came yesterday.

Introducing Google Buzz - yet another social network.

Do we really need another social networking tool?

Google thinks so… and here’s why.

Google has taken cues from Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, and Yelp – and combined them into one package.

Buzz will provide a stream of status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. You can “like” these items and comment on them. And if you use Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter, you can also automatically have those items imported into your stream. And Buzz will recommend items you might like based on your friends’ activity.

The hook is you must have a Gmail account to use Buzz – as the platform resides right there inside Google’s email service.

Google can probably expect a huge Gmail surge in the coming months due to plain curiosity.

Will people stay with Gmail just to use Buzz?

Probably not.

I’m not sure people have time for another social network. Getting used to Facebook’s new homepage layout is already time consuming – so imagine getting acquainted with a whole new service?

Sure, I’ll check out Google Buzz. I may even use it once or twice – but really, I’m a creature of habit.

I like what I like.

Even if the social web is a disorganized mess – I’m not sure if we need Google to clean house.

Sometimes chaos is good.

Television news was, and is, our life blood. If it goes away, we’re screwed.

That’s why I hate to admit that TV news really is dying a slow death thanks to Internet news Websites and social media, like Twitter and Facebook.

And now, a new social experiment may really leave me in a cold sweat.

It’s called “Huis Clos su le Net” or “Behind Closed Doors on the Net.” The experiment will lock five journalists, who are all from other parts of the world, in an isolated French cottage, leaving them without access to print newspapers or magazines.

So how will they keep up with the world? Through Facebook and Twitter.

The experiment will judge how well the journalists can interpret news of the world solely through social websites and how they might go about verifying the facts presented through Facebook and Twitter.

I have yet to get a handle on when this experiment will begin mainly because every website and blog associated with Huis Clos se le Net is in French, including their Twitter feed.

I do expect, however, that when it actually does begin news will spread like wildfire here to the United States.

My gut tells me that the findings from this experiment will not be earth-shattering; that, indeed, you can get ALL of the day’s news right there on Twitter. Facebook I’m not so sure about.

TV news is toast.

My husband better start looking for work.

Sure, ALL of us hit a rough patch now and then – but what I’ve been through, and what the people of Haiti are now growing through, is anything but rough.

It’s pure hell.

My husband and I, and our then 9-month-old daughter, were in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. As you know, the storm sucked the life out of the vibrant city – leaving it flooded and in ruins. The images you saw on TV were bad. But you have no idea what it was like to be there in person. No idea.

I expect the same can be said for what is unfolding right now in Haiti. I’ve seen the footage on the evening news, but being there is another story.

There is a silver lining though.

It is the monumental effort to give and help.

Back in 2005, I was astounded by the generosity of people across this country, and others, to help New Orleanians deal with Katrina’s aftermath. Donation after donation helped the city heal and rebuild. The call to action back then was, what I thought, unprecedented.

What we’re seeing now in Haiti is historic.

Aid is pouring in at an unbelievable rate – more so than ever before. And, it’s all because of technology.

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have helped people spread the word, and many one-click FREE iPhone applications make donating effortless.

I often wonder how things would have played out in New Orleans – or even in tsunami-ravaged southeast Asia – if Twitter and more smartphone applications were around.

Funny, it was just five years ago – yet it seems like a completely different time.

Professional branding.

Online reputations.

For some, livelihood depends on what’s being said and passed around on the Internet.

Given the power of sites like Twitter and Facebook, online reputation tracking has never been more important.

After all, you want the power to react after someone has hung you (or your small business) out to dry, right?

Months ago, I touched on an application - Salesforce CRM for Twitter - that allows small businesses to track their complaints through basic searches.

Sure, that is all well and good – but now there’s a new, bigger breed of tools that can help you monitor your rep.

Enter Traackr’s Authority List.

Squidoo’s Brands in Public – which is a total (and expensive) waste of time.

And, perhaps the biggest and most controversial one of them all, Microsoft’s LookingGlass.

LookingGlass monitors conversations on social media sites, including Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube, so that companies can track consumer sentiment about their products in real-time. The product can also connect social media feeds with elements like customer databases, CRM centers and sales data within an organization. Most importantly, it will keep a log of what’s been said. Where, when and by whom.

LookingGlass is still in its testing phase but, in good Microsoft fashion, the company is singing its praises.

An excerpt from Clickz:

“While testing the system during the past nine months, Marty Taylor Collins, a group marketing manager for Microsoft, said the information acquired on at least two occasions saved her department from a serious misstep. First, the tool halted her team’s plan to discontinue an ad campaign when it helped them discover that a lead character had quietly become popular. In another instance, a PR disaster was averted during the beta-test release of Windows 7, after a system crashed just after launch.”

LookingGlass appears to be the total package, right?

Wrong.

There’s a hitch.

Microsoft is limiting its LookingGlass services to companies that purchase its suite of Microsoft products.

Way to share to the love Microsoft!

Given the bitter disgust surrounding the Windows 7 release, Microsoft better rethink its strategy.

Or, better yet, Microsoft should take a good hard look at itself through LookingGlass.

It’s on!

The big reveal has taken place.

Finally, we know what the Google phone – Nexus One – is all about.

And while the world is giddy, Apple is no doubt a tad bit nervous today.

Truth be told, I haven’t seen Nexus One with my own eyes – but I’m hearing it is about to give the iPhone a run for its money. Its specs alone are enough to take the iPhone head-on.

Comparisons between the two have just begun – and, well, by the sound of what’s being said on the street, Nexus One simply obliterates the iPhone.

But the experts at Techtree offer a different view. Here’s their objective take on the iPhone vs. Nexus One in some key feature areas:

Screen

When they launched the iPhone in 2007, a resolution of 320×480 was insane. Remember, these were the days of the N95s and the P1i’s, where QVGA resolutions ruled the roost. 240×320 was the best you could get and I remember looking at the N73 once and my jaw dropped when I saw the screen resolution of the now outdated phone. Just when I was sure that mobile phone screens couldn’t get any better, they launch the iPhone. If that wasn’t enough, they add multitouch to it, something unheard of then.

Fast forward to 2010 and almost three years later, while Apple is still stuck at 320×480, the likes of Symbian S60 have moved to 360×640 and the Nexus One with a 800×480 pixel screen makes the iPhone screen look pedestrian. Add to it the fact that the Nexus One boasts of an AMOLED screen, which further tilts the scale in favour of the Google Phone. Another thing that should not be forgotten is that the Nexus One has a larger 3.7- inch display. The extra few inches does boost your ego by 10x, doesn’t it? (Warning: Proximity to HTC HD2 users not recommended for Nexus One users) So, if you bought the iPhone for the sole reason that it had a kick-ass screen, it’s time to change your phone!

Imaging

This was a grey area in the iPhones armour during the time of the 2G and the 3G iterations of the device. In the company of the 3.2 and 5 megapixels of the world, the iPhones 2 megapixel camera was simply outdated. It did not have autofocus or flash and some even termed it a bad job at making a pinhole camera. To add insult to injury, it was incapable of capturing videos unless you jailbreak the phone and defy Apple’s command. With the arrival of the 3GS in 2009, Apple played catch-up with the world and managed to cram in a 3.2 megapixel camera. This took far better pictures and supported video recording as well, that too at a very decent VGA resolution.

The first generation Nexus One already boasts of a 5 megapixel camera, with LED flash and autofocus and at least on paper should take far better pictures than the iPhone. The video recording too is better (not by much though). The Nexus One is capable of recording videos in D1 (720×480) resolution at 20FPS. While we are yet to see how the videos turn out, this is still better than what the 3GS can do now.

Operating System

To start with, this is not an iPhone OS Vs Android battle but why the Nexus One is simply a more open platform as compared to the OSX platform of the iPhone. Apple’s policy of not allowing developers to make apps that mimic the core functionality of their own existing apps viz. the calendar, browser and even an e-mail client is not applicable to Android. This throws in a lot of options for the consumer. I don’t need 200 different apps to fart online! Give me a better e-mail client or at least the choice to switch between the applications of my choice.

Similar is the case with browsers. Who wouldn’t love to see Opera Mobile run on an iPhone? Yes, the existing browser on the iPhone is quite capable, but then, all we are asking for is a choice! Apart from this, from what we hear from primary reports, the Nexus One seems to work a lot faster than the iPhone – even with the phone multitasking. While this might be attributed to the higher Clock speed of the Snapdragon processor inside the Nexus One, we should not forget hat the iPhone 3GS too is powered by a very competent ARM Cortex A8 processor, which by no means is a laggard.

Voice Command

Whats the big deal huh? The iPhone already has it. I can just say in the artistes name and the iPhone will play it for me. I can even call my friend by simply saying her pet name on my iPhone. And that’s where it all comes to an abrupt halt. The Nexus One’s biggest and probably the most praiseworthy feature is the amazing speech to text ability it possesses. Too bored to type in your e-mail or update your facebook status or even tweet? Simply say it aloud and the phone will type it for you! While watching the launch of the phone on Tuesday, if there was a feature for which there was a collective applause, this was it. Who needs a physical keyboard if this works the way it is supposed to work? However, we will still take the voice commands with a pinch of salt as we Indians tend to have accent issues. If Google has taken care of that part as well (I’m quite sure they would have), this is something that would make even Swype look passe’ and so 2009!

Application Approval

While this does not have anything to do with the iPhone and the Nexus One directly, the eco system in which both operate are important. iPhone’s app store was a revolutionary initiative. Whatever we see now in the form of the Android Market and the Ovi Store and the BlackBerry AppWorld are nothing but copies of Apple’s idea of a centralised app store.

While the app store has been a roaring success, it still suffers from a “fascist” app approval process. The Android Market on the other hand has lesser apps and from a developer point of view, the process of approval is far less tedious. Also, thanks to the open platform, Android guys have a lot less to bother about than the ones who affix the stamp of approval at Cupertino.

Battery

So you love your iPhone very much and use it 24/7. But one fine day you realise you haven’t turned off the phone in two years and that the battery inside it (yes there’s one in there) needs to be replaced. Under normal circumstances (read, if you use a normal phone), you buy a new battery, open the lid at the back and replace it and continue what you were doing. But hey, this is Apple, we do things differently here. If your battery goes kaput on the iPhone all you need to do is to drag yourself to the nearest Apple Store (or a dealer in India) to have the battery replaced. This is because Apple thinks batteries are immovable objects and should remain inside till it meets its fate. The Nexus One happens to fall under the “normal phones” category and if you ever feel you’ve had enough of its battery, go ahead and get a new one.

Last, but not least, I’d like to add that Google has not married itself to one service provider – as Apple has done with AT&T.

That, in my book, is the biggest boon of all.