Tinyview, a startup that wants to be the "mobile browser" for product search and shopping, is expanding its functionality. Today the company has updated its iPhone app and adding a web presence for users.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vFcRFWj3rAQ/
farrah abraham Paul Ryan Speech chris cooley chris cooley condoleezza rice Perry Hall High School bill cosby
Add Microsoft to the list of companies experiencing hacker attacks.
The company said in a blog post on Friday afternoon that it suffered the same security breach that Facebook and Apple have recently been dealing with.?
Malware-infected websites contaminated some of Microsoft's computers, it said, adding that no customer data was compromised. Microsoft did not say when they discovered the breach.
"During our investigation, we found a small number of computers, including some in our Mac business unit, that were infected by malicious software using techniques similar to those documented by other organizations," Matt Thomlinson, the general manager of Microsoft's security unit, said in the post.
The tech giant said it refrained from making a public statement during its initial investigation.
Also read: Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest Hacked; Email Addresses Compromised
"This type of cyber attack is no surprise to Microsoft and other companies that must grapple with determined and persistent adversaries," Thomlinson said, adding that the company will "re-evaluate" its security strategy.
Earlier this month Twitter said 250,000 accounts were compromised when its system was breached. Then, Facebook said last Friday that it was the victim of a "sophisticated attack."
A New York Times report in January detailing apparent Chinese hackers infiltrating its internal systems prompted a sudden uptick in hacking, or at least in companies admitting to being hacked.
NBC.com was hacked in a malware attack on Thursday, potentially infecting any viewers that clicked over to the network's site.
On Tuesday, Apple said its systems were hacked, but no user data was compromised.
And earlier on Friday, a cyber attack on the customer support service Zendesk left Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest scrambling to alert users whose email addresses were stolen.
Source: http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/microsoft-says-it-suffered-same-hack-apple-facebook-78911
stephen jackson ncaa tournament marchmadness mike d antoni nba trade rumors 2012 ncaa tournament schedule laurent robinson
tommydeas: RT @oanowsports: AUBURN FOOTBALL: Ellis Johnson: Auburn High's Reuben Foster was a ?wild card? prospect http://t.co/a8K3rMz71zMore...
Posting Permissions
Forum Rules
Cotto vs Trout Robin Givens Gus Malzahn hyperemesis gravidarum miranda kerr lindsay lohan Ronda Rousey
(Reuters) - New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a leading candidate to become pope, was questioned on Wednesday in a legal deposition about cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests while he was the head of the archdiocese of Milwaukee, a church lawyer said.
Dolan was deposed in New York for three hours by attorneys representing more than 500 people who claim they were sexually abused by clergy at the Milwaukee archdiocese, which Dolan headed from 2002 to 2009, said Frank LoCoco, an archdiocese attorney.
In 2011, the Milwaukee archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing the financial drain of settling sexual-abuse claims and acknowledging missteps by the church in dealing with pedophile priests.
Milwaukee was the eighth U.S. Roman Catholic diocese to declare bankruptcy in fallout from a sexual-abuse scandal that surfaced in 2002 and has prompted the Church to pay out more than $2 billion in settlements.
LoCoco said Dolan was asked about his efforts to respond to the claims of sexual abuse in the Milwaukee archdiocese.
"More specifically, the questioning was intended to deal with his decision early in his tenure to publicize the list of known abusers in the church for the public," LoCoco said.
Dolan is one of two American cardinals scheduled to be deposed this week, according to The New York Times, which first reported their involvement. The second, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, will be questioned on Saturday, the Times said.
Both are expected to travel to Rome soon to attend the Vatican conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who surprised the world last week by announcing he would resign at the end of February.
Dolan, 62, is among the 10 or so front-runners from around the world to succeed Benedict. The voice of U.S. Catholicism after being named archbishop of New York in 2009, Dolan's humor and dynamism have impressed the Vatican.
Mahony has faced criticism after the Los Angeles archdiocese released more than 12,000 pages of files earlier this month showing he and a top adviser sent priests accused of abuse out of California to shield them from law-enforcement scrutiny during the 1980s.
The archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the United States with 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 victims of sexual molestation. It was the biggest U.S. settlement of its kind.
A spokesman for the archdiocese of New York did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
(Writing and reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Steve Gorman and Philip Barbara)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/n-y-cardinal-questioned-milwaukee-sex-abuse-cases-051918681.html
Jim DeMint Dave Brubeck Duck Dynasty frankie muniz today show katt williams greg mcelroy
The Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens ($799.99 direct) is a telephoto prime that is capable of focusing on objects that are as little as 14.4 inches from its front element. It can be used with both full-frame and APS-C Sony D-SLR cameras, providing a 150mm-equivalent field of view on the latter. The lens weighs in at 1 pound, 2 ounces and uses 55mm front filters. It ships with a circular lens hood.
The 100mm f/2.8 Macro is capable of 1:1 magnification and offers a number of features that come in handy when working up close. A focus limiter makes it possible to limit the ranges over which the lens hunts for focus during autofocus, giving you the option of focusing on close objects, distant objects, or hunting for focus over the lens's entire range. A dedicated button makes it possible to lock focus at a specific point, and when used in autofocus mode the lens's focusing ring does not move?making it possible to get a better grip on the lens for hand-held work.
The lens uses a screw drive system to adjust focus, which is a bit noisy. Because its design requires it to extend a relatively far distance when focusing close, using the lens in autofocus mode can be a slow process. If you're in need of a faster-focusing macro lens, consider the Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro?it's more expensive, but has an internal focus motor and a longer focal length so that you can work a bit further away from your subject and still achieve 1:1 magnficiation.
Macro lenses are optimized for close focus work, and renowned for sharpness and a lack of distortion. This 100mm is no different, as it scored quite well on image quality in Imatest. When attached to the full-frame Sony Alpha 99 the lens was able to record 1,913 lines per picture height at f/2.8, 2,060 lines at f/4, and 2,207 lines at f/5.6. A score of 1,800 lines is used to denote a very sharp image, which the lens exceeds at all tested apertures. As you would expect from a macro lens, there is virtually no distortion.
The?Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens is a perfectly fine macro lens. Its price is not out of line for its optical quality, and it produces sharp images throughout its aperture range. The only real complaint is the focus speed and noise. If you're shooting a subject that may be disturbed by the sound, like an insect, it's best to switch to manual focus. If you are in a situation where you're using it to shoot objects at a standard distance, the focus limiter will help speed performance, but you shouldn't expect the lens to lock on as quickly as one with an internal focus motor.
More Digital Camera Reviews:
??? Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 Telephoto Prime Lens
??? Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 Telephoto Zoom Lens
??? Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 Zoom Lens
??? Sony 50mm f/1.4 Prime Lens
??? Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/LcQUCKKA1jw/0,2817,2399457,00.asp
postsecret ufc on fox 2 supercross christina aguilera etta james funeral sundance film festival the flintstones etta james
Ryan William Waterman of Fort Pierce, Florida was arrested for petting and holding a manatee calf, which is against Florida law.
A Florida man is facing jail time for posting pictures of himself hugging a manatee calf on Facebook.
Ryan William Waterman is accused of "molesting, harassing or disturbing" the endangered animal with his antics.
RELATED: MANATEE FLASH MOB SURPRISES FLORIDA BEACH-GOERS: SEE IT?
Cops detained the 21-year-old, from Fort Pierce, on Sunday.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who filed the misdemeanor charge, said they were tipped off by an anonymous caller who saw the snaps online.
RELATED: WOMAN BUSTED FOR RIDING MANATEE
Other photos appear to show him allowing two young children to sit on the animal.
He is also seen lifting the calf out of the water.
RELATED: FLA. WOMAN ARRESTED FOR RIDING MANATEE
Investigators say they believe the pictures were taken in St Lucie County in January.
A FFWCC spokesman told WPTV, "An interaction that may seem harmless and innocent may ultimately have serious consequences for manatees and other wildlife.
"This was a young manatee which was likely still dependent on its mother for food and protection. Separating the two could have severe consequences for the calf."
The second-degree misdemeanor for harming a manatee carries up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
denver news frozen planet creighton new smyrna beach st. joseph puerto rico primary manning
This week's good reads include an interview with a photographer who documented female prisoners in Mexico, debunking theories about which nations are 'ready' for democracy, how smart phones disorient their users, and the surprising history of high heels.
A man wears a pair of high heels at a Gay Pride celebration in Madrid in 2011.
Susana Vera/Reuters/File
EnlargeWar is ambiguous. Sometimes it?s easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. But more often, players fall somewhere in between, both committing crimes and being deeply affected by them. The drug war in Mexico is no different, no matter if the participants are men ? or women.
Skip to next paragraph Jenna FisherAsia editor
Jenna Fisher is the Monitor's Asia editor, overseeing regional coverage for CSMonitor.com and the weekly magazine.
' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Julie Turkewitz in The Atlantic Monthly interviews Katie Orlinsky about her project photographing female prisoners in Ciudad Ju?rez, Mexico, bringing a fresh eye to the conflict there.
Turns out, writes Ms. Turkewitz ?women ? not just men ? were serving as its weary warriors, ferrying contraband and kidnapping kingpins. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of women incarcerated for federal crimes rose 400 percent.?
It was a figure that Ms. Orlinsky wanted to understand. Were these women ? mothers, sisters, teachers, and widows ? victims or perpetrators? The answer, of course, both provides insight into the drug war and highlights how complex of an issue it is.
? ?I am not ashamed. There are worse things,? says Lorena, who is in prison for drug trafficking. ?My husband is dead and I did it for my children.? ?
Contrary to popular thought, the world is ready for democracy. Arguments that poor, non-Western countries are in some way not ?ready? for democracy have been upended, writes Larry Diamond in The Wilson Quarterly.
Two mainstream theories on democracy have directed the discussion for decades: One postulated that countries had to grow rich under authoritarian rule before they would be able to sustain democracy. The other insisted that some countries were poor ?because the West had trapped them in a structural condition of economic dependence and servitude (a modern form of imperialism),? writes Mr. Diamond.
But something funny happened in the 1980s and ?90s: A number of poor countries went ahead and adopted forms of democratic government, and for well over a decade, many of them have had some success. Consider Taiwan and South Korea: ?Once they achieved democracy, South Korea and Taiwan continued to record brisk economic growth,? writes Diamond.
Although countries and regions vary widely, and many do not trust politicians, polls say people prefer democracy to authoritarianism. ?This is strikingly the case now in the Arab world, where the Arab Barometer surveys show that upward of 80 percent of the citizens of most countries name democracy as the best form of government, even if they do not define democracy in fully liberal and secular terms.?
It?s not a perfect road, of course, because systems of corruption easily undermine democratic progress. But the best way to democracy may be just to trudge through it.
Remember when driving to someplace new meant consulting a foldout map before you left the house? Those days are more or less gone with the advent of GPS, smart phones, and digital mapping.
Mapping the indoors could be the next frontier. Just think: You?re in Home Depot or Ikea and with a touch to your smart phone you can orient yourself, find what you are looking for, avoid congested aisles, and compare prices. But does this convenience mean we will stop thinking for ourselves?
Kat Austen in The New Scientist warns of the perils of overdependency on digital mapping. ?Apple recently misplaced an Australian town on its iPhone map, a mistake which led to the map?s users becoming lost in the outback and having to be rescued by police.?
And if your battery runs out, there?s no app for that.
High heels were designed for men, not women. That?s right. Another surprising news flash: They weren?t designed for walking.
?The high heel was worn for centuries throughout the near east as a form of riding footwear? for men, Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto tells William Kremer for the BBC.
Persia, with the largest cavalry in the world, was the epitome of masculinity. The shah wanted to ally with rulers in Western Europe to defeat the Ottoman Empire so he sent diplomats to Russia, Germany, and Spain. The exotic warriors wore ornate outfits and heeled boots, which helped them stay on their horse while shooting arrows.
When all things Persia (modern-day Iran) became the rage in 16th-century Europe, ?Persian style shoes were enthusiastically adopted by aristocrats, who sought to give their appearance a virile, masculine edge that, it suddenly seemed, only heeled shoes could supply,? writes Mr. Kremer.
It didn?t matter that they were completely impractical for the muddy, rutted streets of Europe. And in the following century European women adopted the trend. Men?s fashion, meanwhile, took a turn toward the more practical, dropping them completely by 1740 as ?foolish.? Some 50 years later women followed, leaving the world more or less sans heel until the mid-19th century when female fashion tottered over the sidewalk once more.
hilary rosen grilled cheese allen west north korea missile don t trust the b in apartment 23 world financial center shabazz muhammad
?
The Israeli Defense Forces condemned an Israeli soldier who posted an Instagram photo that is allegedly of a Palestinian boy in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle. Criticism raged on the Internet, especially on websites favorable to the Palestinian cause and the Electronic Intifada. ?The Israeli soldier, declared the IDF, performed in a manner that "are not in accordance with the spirit of the IDF or its values," according to the Israeli army. The IDF has since deleted his Instagram account. The soldier?s commanding officers are aware of the incident and an investigation is underway.
?
"This is what occupation looks like," declared representatives of Breaking the Silence, a group of Israeli combat veterans that hope to raise consciousness about life in Israeli territories. According to the group?s Facebook page, "This is what military control over a civilian population looks like." Breaking the Silence says that the photo reveals that little has changed in the decade since a similar photograph taken by a soldier was displayed in the organization's first public exhibit in 2003.
?
"There, too, an Israeli soldier aimed a weapon at a boy and took a picture with his camera as a memento, a gesture of an endless feeling of power that is connected to control over another people," according to the Breaking the Silence Facebook page. "Ten years have passed. The devices and the applications have changed; the ways in which pictures are shared has changed. The feeling of excessive power and the clear contempt for human life and human dignity have remained."
?
In a separate incident, another soldier who had taken a photo of himself next to cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee and posted it to Facebook, was recently sentenced to 14 days in a military prison. ?The offending photo was removed from Facebook.?
sotu boehner demi moore hospitalized james farentino somali pirates navy seals navy seal team 6
There is a scene in ?Shakespeare in Love? where Queen Elizabeth begins to take a step out of her carriage, but stops upon seeing a puddle of mud in front of her. Her doorman at first looks puzzled, then coming to his senses, throws down his cloak upon the ground, covering up the mud and providing a dry walkway. The act of the doorman is not done in a condescending or self-congratulatory way, but it is an act of supreme respect for the Queen.
Sadly, the events known to the world as the ?sexual revolution? have made acts of this type difficult. Where there once was a tiered system of courting, romance, engagement and finally marital love, we now have a disjointed and limping beast with no sense of structure or etiquette. In a world where one-night stands are more common than successful marriages, it becomes common to think that every act of a man in relation to a woman must in some way be a statement of purely sexual interest.
This occurs even when nothing could be further from the truth. I hold the door for my sister because she deserves to enter a building in one swift motion. I hold the door for a female friend for the same reason. The downside of a portion of society changing its sexual practices is that everyone is affected. There has never been a purely private sexual act in all of human history. Acts of chivalry, particularly those done for the sake of a stranger do not come with crystalline explanations of intention. If there exists a portion of the population that would use the holding open of a door as a first step toward sexual intercourse, then every person who holds a door will be held guilty of this practice until proven innocent. For we always assume the worst.
An unerring mark of our societies? discussion about the relations between the sexes has been a demand by a vocal segment of the population to demand that sex be discussed candidly with children.
Simple biology, the fact that sexual intercourse leads to children. Beyond that, any sexual education has to answer the question, what is the purpose of sex? This comes only after we have explained these things called humans. Critics of abstinence-only education see the teacher from Mean Girls standing up in front of a classroom spouting off about chlamydia and death. This is not the best way to instill sexual virtues.
Abstinence-only education is not working in public schools, but my doubts lie not with abstinence, but with the education. To have students constantly paranoid about falling into the two horrible pits of pregnancy or infection, is to deny them a goal to strive for.
When abstinence is powered by a decent helping of philosophy, a person can be strengthened by empirical evidence and practice abstinence until marriage. Then frosted with the truly joyful (if slightly mischievous) grins of the old married couple whose sex life has not faded over the years. We, then, have a position strong enough to build a system of education more. We have a means of countering the rising tides of mistrust between men and women.
Sadly, most of us will have to take those abstinent few at their word about the fulfillment of their lives. More than a few friends of mine actually waited until marriage, giving themselves both the joy of courtship and dating, while retaining the burning passion which is so often chilled by the drunken mumblings of a high school boy. They tell me that their lives as sexual beings were fulfilled both before and after marriage. They looked up for a standard of success rather than down for a standard of failure. The men of this group had the wisdom to question the prevailing attitudes of our day. Many walk around with the attitude that we are entitled to see as many women as possible naked. They had the good sense to realize that they didn?t have a right to see any woman naked. But by some grace they found someone who is at once a friend, a lover, but never a conquest. These men only looked up at the true standard of sexuality. Now, let the rest of us do the same.
BY JOHN GOERKE
Email
Loading...
Source: http://msumadvocate.com/2013/02/19/abstinence-leads-to-better-relationships/
awkward awkward CJ Spiller tracy morgan Chase.com Talk Like a Pirate Day raiders
Square-Enix has finally announced the launch date for the Wii U version of Dragon Quest X, its latest foray into the world of MMORPGs. The game will hit stores in Japan starting on March 30, with a price tag of 6,980 yen (about $75). Beta tests open a couple weeks ahead of the official release date, kicking off on March 6. Current Deluxe Set owners have received beta test invitations in lieu of a Nintendo Land pack-in. |
Source: http://slumz.boxden.com/f13/dragon-quest-x-hits-wii-u-march-30-japan-1886862/
Jessie Andrews bloomberg bloomberg Daily Caller Staten Island Trick or Treat Amy Weber
A local resident repairs a window broken by a shock wave from a meteor explosion in Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. A meteor that scientists estimate weighed 10 tons (11 tons) streaked at supersonic speed over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday, setting off blasts that injured some 500 people and frightened countless more. (AP Photo/Boris Kaulin)
A local resident repairs a window broken by a shock wave from a meteor explosion in Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. A meteor that scientists estimate weighed 10 tons (11 tons) streaked at supersonic speed over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday, setting off blasts that injured some 500 people and frightened countless more. (AP Photo/Boris Kaulin)
In this frame grab made from dashboard camera video, a meteor streaks through the sky over Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. With a blinding flash and a booming shock wave, the meteor blazed across the western Siberian sky Friday and exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs, injuring more than 1,000 people as it blasted out windows and spread panic in a city of 1 million. (AP Photo/AP Video)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Authorities in a Russian city say more than half of the acres of windows smashed in the city by an exploding meteor's shock wave have been replaced.
Friday's explosion, estimated to be equivalent to several atomic bombs, shattered glass in more than 4,000 buildings in Chelyabinsk and the surrounding region, leaving residents vulnerable in temperatures well below freezing.
About 1,200 people were injured, mostly by broken glass, with 40 still hospitalized Sunday, the ITAR-Tass news agency said, citing Emergency Ministry figures.
The Chelyabinsk city administration said in a Sunday statement that nearly 60 percent of the city's broken windows had been replaced.
Pieces of the meteor are believed to have fallen into an ice-covered lake about 80 kilometers (50 miles) outside the city, but no fragments have been reported found.
Associated PressEspn Fantasy Football Grandparents Day 2012 army wives 60 minutes go daddy Tom Kenny Long Island Medium
Haze is a new weather app by the folks at Robocat and Taptanium, including developer Willi Wu and designer Michael Flarup. Not surprisingly, it's joyfully executed.
Haze gives you a radiantly crafted 5 day forecast at a glance. Built from the ground up with OpenGL ES and OpenAL. Swipe through and explore weather information related to sunshine, temperature and rain with a polished audiovisual experience. Is it going to be warmer tomorrow? Don't read it. See it. The beautifully animated background shows you the trend. Use Haze frequently to unlock colorful themes and customize the look.
They've had some issues with the date label, but a fix is already on the way. If you're an aficionado of finely crafted, elegantly presented weather apps, check it out now while it's still 66% off on launch sale.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/UT0ebKWlKBs/story01.htm
masters 2012 tom watson kawasaki disease resurrection masters tickets one direction tulsa news
A Manifesto?
A few weeks ago I did a Tele-Seminar on growing your business in the digital world for SpeakerNet News.? Rebecca Morgan who was interviewing me asked about social media and if I really get business from it.? Instinctively I started recounting examples of business I received including a million dollar consulting contract that came about from a relationship on Twitter.?
But after it was over, I realized I had given the wrong answer?
If I would have thought about it more, I would have said, I get MOST of my business from social media.? Because that?s just the truth.
I don?t have a sales team or marketers.? I made a decision years ago to create a lifestyle business I could work with a laptop from under a palm tree anywhere in the world.? ?I have my trusted long-time assistant Lornette, but she doesn?t do marketing.? She manages the logistics of me working around the globe.? I?ve never made a cold call in my life and have no desire to start now.? Most speakers bureaus don?t get me, so the amount of biz from them is negligible. ??My business is about 80 percent online and the driver for it is social media.? (BTW, in a conversation with Jeffrey Hayzlett that I had about two weeks ago, he shared with me that he gets the vast majority of his business through social media marketing as well.)
If you listen to the interview with Rebecca, she was unconvinced.?? She related how so many people she has interviewed have told her that they have never gotten ANY business from social media.? ?That?s probably true.? Of course some of those people are the same ones that if you invited them to an orgy, and they?d complain about the guacamole dip.?? They have convinced themselves that social media is a time waster that doesn?t produce revenue, so that is exactly what is true for them.
Here?s why social media doesn?t work for them:? Because they don?t work it.?
They hired a ?social media consultant/strategist/expert/guru/ninja/Jedi/maven? who set up a Linkedin account, built them a Facebook page, created a Twitter wrap, set up a Pinterest board, and then automated a heavy rotation of corny motivation quotes to go out every 60 minutes, interspersed with product pitches in between.
?Whether you think you can, or you think you can?t?you?re right.? ? Henry Ford
Know what?? The first time I heard that, I thought it was brilliant.? But that was 1976.? Al Gore hadn?t even invented the Internet yet!? I?ve seen that quote mangled, attributed to the wrong person and plagiarized so many times since then, it?s lost it?s luster.
Making matters worse, they probably use an aggregator service, so each post goes to every account at the same time.? This means the Twitter one gets cut off, the Linked in one gets flagged for Spam, and the Facebook algorithm keeps it from showing up in your followers timeline because it?s obviously not a personal entry.
If your expert/guru/ninja/Jedi/maven advised you that the secret to social media success was posting motivational quotes on a service that posts them simultaneous across all your accounts ? fire them.?
Likewise if they suggested that randomly following 2,000 people a day to see who follows back makes you a social media pro.? Actually just makes you a social media whore.
Social media works.? But you have to work it.
Let me give you an example of what just happened yesterday.? One of the prosperity things I do is get fresh flower arrangements delivered to my home each week.? Unfortunately the florist I?ve been using for five years was just sold and they?ve gotten sketchy.? So I did what I always do ? put out a post on Twitter looking for a referral.
Within ten minutes I got a reply from @InSouthFlorida, one of many services springing up to help businesses capture local business through social media.? They asked @TriasFlowers if they delivered to the beach.? They obviously follow their Twitter account and responded to me with their phone number and the names of two of their designers.? ?I called and spoke to Hortenzia who was very helpful and friendly.? They delivered my flowers and they?re gorgeous!?? I have a new florist now.
Here?s the thing?
I get a large arrangement for my dining room.? A smaller one for the bathroom.? Another one for the coffee table.? And one for my bedroom.? Every week.? This amounts to thousands of dollars in sales a year for Tria, simply because they were monitoring their Twitter feed.
This kind of thing is happening thousands of times a day, every day, in cities and towns all over the world.? If it isn?t happening for you, instead of proclaiming that social media doesn?t work, you might be better served to learn how to work it.
Here are four suggestions to make your social media work for you?
1) Provide value.? If the only time you post is when you are selling something, people quickly tune you out.? I post five blogs a week, a YouTube video and about 15 or 20 Facebook updates with content to help people.? They?re all free.? But once you become a trusted source with free content, people naturally check out your other offerings and will spend money with you.
2) Engage.? Join the conversation.? Re-tweet and repost interesting things that you notice and think your own followers will appreciate.? Don?t be afraid to show your personal side.? If you?re watching the Super bowl, Oscars or the World Cup, open a dialogue with your followers.? They?ll be delighted that you?re actually there and to get to know you a little.? People buy things from people they know, like, and trust.? Instead of broadcasting AT people, try talking WITH them.
3) Pick Where You Want to Plant Your Flag.? No one can keep up with all the social media platforms out there.? Pick the one or two you like best and concentrate on them.? Let your tribe know where you spend your time.?? If you post a YouTube video once a week or once a month, tell them.? If you just check Facebook first thing in the morning and then not the rest of the day, put that right in your profile.? As you let people know when and where you hang out, they follow you there.
4) Monitor your brand. ?Set up Hootsuite or Tweetdeck with a column that tracks whenever you or your business is mentioned.? You?ll know when good things are happening and when bad things are happening.
When good things are happening, you?ll know and can do more of them.? You can thank people for talking you up, developing rapport with your tribe.
When bad things are coming up, you?ll be instantly aware of them and can immediately get to work to rectify them.? If you?re proactive like this, you?ll actually turn people who were dissatisfied and going to leave you, into some of your biggest advocates.
Social media marketing works.? But you have to be social, you have to work, and you have to market.? That?s kinds where the name come from!
- RG
P.S.? Since I?m feeling so much better after all this ranting, let me offer some extra value for you.
To learn more about getting the most from Twitter, read the manifesto I wrote a few years back.? Some of the links have changed, but the principles haven?t.? See it here: http://www.randygage.com/blog/the-11-deadly-sins-of-twitter/
And don?t be ?that guy? on Facebook!? Watch this video from the lovely and talented Scott Stratten, a/k/a @unmarketing http://www.unmarketing.com/2009/07/03/24/
If you want to listen to the Tele-Seminar I did on Growing Biz in a Digital World, order it here: http://www.speakernetnews.com/tsem/ts20130204.html
Source: http://www.randygage.com/blog/why-social-media-marketing-does-not-work/
tu pac hologram shuttle pippa middleton space shuttle discovery spacex tupac hologram tupac back
