You've heard about Wikipedia, the Online Free Encyclopedia and Investopedia, the Online Dictionary of Business and Financial terms. Today I want to introduce you to Webopedia, the Online Guide to Social Media, All Things Internet, and Dictionary and Encyclopedia of All Things About Computers and Computing Technology.
Here's how Webopedia defines itself: "Webopedia is a free online dictionary for words, phrases and abbreviations that are related to computer and Internet technology. Webopedia provides easy-to-understand definitions in plain language, avoiding the use of heavy jargon when possible so that the site is accessible to users with a wide range of computer knowledge."
Webopedia was founded April 4, 1998. Its parent company is WebMediaBrandsInc with offices in Darien, Connecticut and New York city. WebMediaBrands describes itself as "The leading global provider of events, education, jobs, and content for business, media, and creative professionals." It is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ ( WEBM ). Besides Webopedia, WebMedia provides the news service internet.com, an extensive guide to ECommerce and Small Business Computing.
When you go to the Webopedia, you can search any computer term. For example, what is phishing? (click on term for definition). Or What is an "operating system? URL or "social networking"? Webopedia gives you a basic definition and then provides more detail and related links. This allows the opportunity to get as much information as you want on a topic, to become conversant. It cuts through the jargon, abbreviations, to clearly represent the term and its significance.
Besides term definitions Webopedia provides a Quick Reference area where you may explore a Twitter Dictionary, Instant and Text Messenging and Chat abbreviations, acronyms; social networking tools, search engines and directories, google search tips, step-by-step methods to set up your own Personal or Business Facebook account, How EMail works, Selling on EBay, Small Business Computing essentials, even How to Clean Your Computer. There is a great deal of depth and knowledge, clearly presented on a wide variety of topics in the Quick Reference area. There is even a History of Blogging!
This useful site also includes an extensive "Did You Know...?" area. There you can learn how Affiliate Marketing works, how to protect against Identity Theft, Twitter tools, Windows 7, Firefox, Google Chrome, How to Format a Hard Drive, the difference between a virus, trojan horse and worm, all about Software, Open Source, Setting up a Facebook page for your business, VOIP and the Small Business, Internet Telephony, Internet Grammar, All about Cookies, Are deleted files really deleted?, Static Electricity and Computers, and Tech terms that are strange but true. Like any dictionary you may find the answer to your query but also to others you wondered about.
There is much practical, useful information to be found in Webopedia and there are hundreds of links to more information and detail. For quick reference and gratification Webopedia is hard to beat. It is up-to-date with current trends and news. It is a one stop shop for understanding internet, social networking, technical terminology. It's free and there are many tips for marketing your business, setting up links, creating blogs, and optimizing your business sense with the all the possibilities of the internet and web 2.0.
We have just scratched the surface of what is within Webopedia. I urge you to explore this site and to bookmark it for future uses. Your time will be well spent.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Scary Thoughts on Halloween 2009 -- Libraries Without Books
Here we are; it's already October 31! Halloween 2009! How about some scary thoughts to ponder.
In early September Cushing Academy a private preparatory school located in Ashburnham, Massachusetts distinquished itself with a controversial article which appeared in the Boston Globe. The article was not about its $43,000 per year tuition and board for students in grade 9 through 12. No the article was on Cushing's Library and headmaster, James Tracy's vision of an all Digital Library. The title of the article, "A library without books".
Tracy's view of the 21st Century Library is all digital. His library has a small collection of 20,000 books (hardbound). Those books, collected over time, representing many disciplines, have been discarded. Here's Tracy's rationale, “When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books. This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center,’’ The Globe report continues, "In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine. They have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made byAmazon.com and Sony . Administrators plan to distribute the readers, which they’re stocking with digital material, to students looking to spend more time with literature. Those who don’t have access to the electronic readers will be expected to do their research and peruse many assigned texts on their computers. Tracy summarizes, “Instead of a traditional library with 20,000 books, we’re building a virtual library where students will have access to millions of books.’’
Whatever you may think, Tracy's vision represents one end of a continuum on the Future of Libraries. Tracy sees an all digital future with access to millions of books (and thoughts) in digital form. Beyond whatever reaction you may have there is the question of stability of digital formats. Will a digital format be able to be read 20 years from now; 100 years from now; 500 years from now? A book with all its flaws is archival. Something printed 500 years ago and preserved in bound paper can still be read. Digital formats decay and progress. Backward compatibility is critical.
The Internet, which is 40 years old this month has taken us on a continuing journey along the digital online, virtual path, to the extent that virtual communities such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, MySpace, Google, are all parts of our daily discourse. Do libraries need buildings? Can Public libraries be disconnected from their physical boundaries(and tax bases). Google wants Google Books to provide millions of books currently housed in libraries to all wherever they live. James Tracy's view may be voicing and recognizing trends and their eventual outcomes. Today one may attain degrees from Library Schools without ever setting foot in a physical classroom. Online classes are becoming available in multiple disciplines.
The dreamers of the Internet saw it as breaking boundaries and providing access to all regardless of class background. As a business model entities like EBay, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn are making money. Entire virtual economies are envisioned through video game simulations like SIMs virtual families and virtual cash becoming real cash in virtual existences such as "Second Life".
Utopian? Maybe, but newspapers and magazines are deep in the thrall of the digital movement and their "old" world has become topsy turvy and unpredictable. Where we are going remains to be seen. James Tracy's vision is just one of multiple visions and possible outcomes. This will inevitably influence the Future of Libraries. Every library, public and private, university and school is being influenced by the continuing technological revolution. Budgets, allocations between books and technology each competing for scarce dollars are all enjoined in this question of The Future of Libraries, with and without books.
Scary? A critical juncture? Simply a transition? Whatever it is libraries will be there to help us understand what is happening.... or will they?
Happy Halloween!
In early September Cushing Academy a private preparatory school located in Ashburnham, Massachusetts distinquished itself with a controversial article which appeared in the Boston Globe. The article was not about its $43,000 per year tuition and board for students in grade 9 through 12. No the article was on Cushing's Library and headmaster, James Tracy's vision of an all Digital Library. The title of the article, "A library without books".
Tracy's view of the 21st Century Library is all digital. His library has a small collection of 20,000 books (hardbound). Those books, collected over time, representing many disciplines, have been discarded. Here's Tracy's rationale, “When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books. This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center,’’ The Globe report continues, "In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine. They have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by
Whatever you may think, Tracy's vision represents one end of a continuum on the Future of Libraries. Tracy sees an all digital future with access to millions of books (and thoughts) in digital form. Beyond whatever reaction you may have there is the question of stability of digital formats. Will a digital format be able to be read 20 years from now; 100 years from now; 500 years from now? A book with all its flaws is archival. Something printed 500 years ago and preserved in bound paper can still be read. Digital formats decay and progress. Backward compatibility is critical.
The Internet, which is 40 years old this month has taken us on a continuing journey along the digital online, virtual path, to the extent that virtual communities such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, MySpace, Google, are all parts of our daily discourse. Do libraries need buildings? Can Public libraries be disconnected from their physical boundaries(and tax bases). Google wants Google Books to provide millions of books currently housed in libraries to all wherever they live. James Tracy's view may be voicing and recognizing trends and their eventual outcomes. Today one may attain degrees from Library Schools without ever setting foot in a physical classroom. Online classes are becoming available in multiple disciplines.
The dreamers of the Internet saw it as breaking boundaries and providing access to all regardless of class background. As a business model entities like EBay, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn are making money. Entire virtual economies are envisioned through video game simulations like SIMs virtual families and virtual cash becoming real cash in virtual existences such as "Second Life".
Utopian? Maybe, but newspapers and magazines are deep in the thrall of the digital movement and their "old" world has become topsy turvy and unpredictable. Where we are going remains to be seen. James Tracy's vision is just one of multiple visions and possible outcomes. This will inevitably influence the Future of Libraries. Every library, public and private, university and school is being influenced by the continuing technological revolution. Budgets, allocations between books and technology each competing for scarce dollars are all enjoined in this question of The Future of Libraries, with and without books.
Scary? A critical juncture? Simply a transition? Whatever it is libraries will be there to help us understand what is happening.... or will they?
Happy Halloween!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Web 2.0 Workshops Announced @ Berkshire Athenaeum
If you live in the Pittsfield, Massachusetts area, you may want to sign up for one of the Web 2.0 Workshops to be held October/November at the Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's Public Library. All workshops are 1 hour long, free, and being held at a variety of times, days, evenings and Saturdays.
There will be workshops on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs and Blogging (Create Your Own Blog), Google (search strategies), These will be hands-on workshops geared to getting you started on your web journey.
While each of these workshops has a business connection, Business Websites You Should Know About will provide you with strategic websites and support networks useful in starting and maintaining your business. Your marketing efforts can be enhanced by using LinkedIn (the business social networking site), development of your Blog, and by Twitter and Facebook. Social media increasingly is the means of getting the word out about your business and all these sites are Free. For nonprofit business the workshop, the Berkshire Funding Resource Center with it Foundation Center databases will be critical in finding seed money and critical contacts in Foundation networks.
Other workshops will focus on DoItYourself databases, where you can learn about all things automotive and home repair. Workshops on Microsoft applications Word 2007 and Excel will also be held. Finally, there will be an Email workshop, getting you started and answering your email questions.
As you can see October and November will be a busy time. Sign-ups for workshops have already begun, but it's not too late for you. The full schedule with dates and times can be found here. (Just click on the word here.) All workshops are hosted by the Berkshire Athenaeum Reference Department. Register for workshops NOW by calling 413-499-9480 ext. 202 or by visiting the Department.
There will be workshops on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs and Blogging (Create Your Own Blog), Google (search strategies), These will be hands-on workshops geared to getting you started on your web journey.
While each of these workshops has a business connection, Business Websites You Should Know About will provide you with strategic websites and support networks useful in starting and maintaining your business. Your marketing efforts can be enhanced by using LinkedIn (the business social networking site), development of your Blog, and by Twitter and Facebook. Social media increasingly is the means of getting the word out about your business and all these sites are Free. For nonprofit business the workshop, the Berkshire Funding Resource Center with it Foundation Center databases will be critical in finding seed money and critical contacts in Foundation networks.
Other workshops will focus on DoItYourself databases, where you can learn about all things automotive and home repair. Workshops on Microsoft applications Word 2007 and Excel will also be held. Finally, there will be an Email workshop, getting you started and answering your email questions.
As you can see October and November will be a busy time. Sign-ups for workshops have already begun, but it's not too late for you. The full schedule with dates and times can be found here. (Just click on the word here.) All workshops are hosted by the Berkshire Athenaeum Reference Department. Register for workshops NOW by calling 413-499-9480 ext. 202 or by visiting the Department.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Labor Day 2009 - Record UnLabor Day
Happy Labor Day! Or is it Happy at all?
It's time to reassess the economy. Labor Day is a special day set aside to celebrate those who do not own the means of production, namely the laboring classes or more specifically anyone who needs to work for money to meet their short and long term needs. Those who labor are not in a position to let money work for them. Those who work for money are subject directly to the upturns and downturns in the economy. Here small businesses are in a similar position simply because they do not own enough money or assets that they can be free of the great economic shifts that have been going on in the last year.
According to the United States Department of Labor in its most recent report, over 15 million people are members of the rank and file of the Unemployed or nearly 10% of the "civilian" work force of 150 million plus as of August 31, 2009. For these 15 million Labor Day is not cause for celebration but another day in an extended forced time without work, an extended forced vacation.
To put these numbers in perspective 15 million represents the number of individuals that are unemployed and seeking full time work. The US workforce is about 154 million. Subtract 15 million who are unemployed and you get the employed workforce of 139 million. Now multiply 15 million by a factor of 3 or 4(dependents, spouses, others) and you get the real effect of these numbers. Anywhere from 45 to 60 million people are directly impacted by the 15 million unemployed. 45 to 60 million people are facing real hardship, not being able to think beyond the next week having to face foreclosure, bankruptcy, unable to meet rental and mortgage payments, forced to choose between paying bills and food, delays in going to college or increasingly reliant on college loans or to put it another way the credit markets, which only recently have started to loosen up. Another part of this working for money is the enormous difficulty individuals and small businesses have in getting out of debt.
So Labor Day represents a cautionary Holiday this year. The Labor Movement in the form of Labor Unions brought us this special day, as well as the 40 hour week and the weekend, itself. Today, organized labor represents only 12.5% of the civilian workforce. Those working in the civilian workforce are 98% employed in the private economy. Only 2% of the workforce is in the public sphere - government employees, public school teachers, police and firefighters. Organized labor represents 36.5% of the public economy and only 7.8% of the private economy. The recent bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler led to further weakening of labor contracts for these companies and to the breaking of longstanding agreements. It also led to breaking of business agreements with creditors. To work in a trade union in these companies is to do with less and this is true of the newspaper business, too.
Above we mentioned those who are unemployed are defined as looking for full time work. A trend in the last 15 years has been toward reliance of employers on part time workers and outsourcing jobs to contractors of jobs, whereby people work for short periods of time. Long term full time employment is not readily available.
Looking for more information on the economic and social impact of these trends, see The Future of Work in Massachusetts, edited by Tom Juravich and Pulitzer Prize winning author, David Shipley's The Working Poor: Invisible in America, (not so invisible anymore) both found at the Berkshire Athenaeum and other Public Libraries in Western Massachusetts.
So Labor Day 2009 is really UnLaboring day. It is the end of Summer. It's Back to School. It's time to buckle down and get back to work!
That's true, except for the 15 million out of work and the 45 to 60 million impacted!! For them it's a time of worry and concern!
It's time to reassess the economy. Labor Day is a special day set aside to celebrate those who do not own the means of production, namely the laboring classes or more specifically anyone who needs to work for money to meet their short and long term needs. Those who labor are not in a position to let money work for them. Those who work for money are subject directly to the upturns and downturns in the economy. Here small businesses are in a similar position simply because they do not own enough money or assets that they can be free of the great economic shifts that have been going on in the last year.
According to the United States Department of Labor in its most recent report, over 15 million people are members of the rank and file of the Unemployed or nearly 10% of the "civilian" work force of 150 million plus as of August 31, 2009. For these 15 million Labor Day is not cause for celebration but another day in an extended forced time without work, an extended forced vacation.
To put these numbers in perspective 15 million represents the number of individuals that are unemployed and seeking full time work. The US workforce is about 154 million. Subtract 15 million who are unemployed and you get the employed workforce of 139 million. Now multiply 15 million by a factor of 3 or 4(dependents, spouses, others) and you get the real effect of these numbers. Anywhere from 45 to 60 million people are directly impacted by the 15 million unemployed. 45 to 60 million people are facing real hardship, not being able to think beyond the next week having to face foreclosure, bankruptcy, unable to meet rental and mortgage payments, forced to choose between paying bills and food, delays in going to college or increasingly reliant on college loans or to put it another way the credit markets, which only recently have started to loosen up. Another part of this working for money is the enormous difficulty individuals and small businesses have in getting out of debt.
So Labor Day represents a cautionary Holiday this year. The Labor Movement in the form of Labor Unions brought us this special day, as well as the 40 hour week and the weekend, itself. Today, organized labor represents only 12.5% of the civilian workforce. Those working in the civilian workforce are 98% employed in the private economy. Only 2% of the workforce is in the public sphere - government employees, public school teachers, police and firefighters. Organized labor represents 36.5% of the public economy and only 7.8% of the private economy. The recent bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler led to further weakening of labor contracts for these companies and to the breaking of longstanding agreements. It also led to breaking of business agreements with creditors. To work in a trade union in these companies is to do with less and this is true of the newspaper business, too.
Above we mentioned those who are unemployed are defined as looking for full time work. A trend in the last 15 years has been toward reliance of employers on part time workers and outsourcing jobs to contractors of jobs, whereby people work for short periods of time. Long term full time employment is not readily available.
Looking for more information on the economic and social impact of these trends, see The Future of Work in Massachusetts, edited by Tom Juravich and Pulitzer Prize winning author, David Shipley's The Working Poor: Invisible in America, (not so invisible anymore) both found at the Berkshire Athenaeum and other Public Libraries in Western Massachusetts.
So Labor Day 2009 is really UnLaboring day. It is the end of Summer. It's Back to School. It's time to buckle down and get back to work!
That's true, except for the 15 million out of work and the 45 to 60 million impacted!! For them it's a time of worry and concern!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Top 20 Most Popular Websites
Alexa -- The Web Information Company tracks globally web surfer activity and comes up with daily statistics on most popular websites. As you can imagine this means dollars and cents in the global marketplace. And this puts into perspective the competition between Google, Yahoo. and Microsoft for dominance. Also it allows us to see where social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Craigslist are going.
Alexa is an Amazon.com owned company and, yes, it tracks companies like Amazon, Ebay and their reach across the globe. Besides what sites are being surfed, Alexa also breaks down average number minutes on each site, and who is using the site by age group, education, gender, income and location. These demographic breakdowns are essential in the competitive marketplace.
So what are the top 20 sites for United States websurfers? They are Google, followed by Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube(a Google company), MySpace, Windows Live, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Ebay, Microsoft Network, Blogger (a Google company), AOL, Amazon, Twitter, GO, Bing (Microsoft's new search engine), CNN, Flickr (a Yahoo company), WordPress (like Blogger, a free Blog service), and ESPN Sportzone. LinkedIn appears as number 24, Weather.com 25, and New York Times 28.
Google gets 34% of marketshre globally, Yahoo 26 %, Facebook 25%, and YouTube 24% and MySpace 4.5% and Twitter gets nearly 4%. Individuals spend more time on Facebook, an average of 27.5 minutes compared to Google's 7 minutes and YouTube's 22.5 minutes. Twitter users spend average of 8 minutes a day twittering. Bing, the new Microsoft search engine, is already in the top 20 at number 16 but amount of time spent is only 2.1 minutes. Nevertheless Bing can be seen as up and coming and Microsoft and Yahoo will be using Bing as their search engines, thus providing real competition for Google.
Now statistics such as these are not great for reading, but they do provide the nuts and bolts backdrop to news about Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and web trends. Notably, social media sites are heavily represented in these statistics. People are spending much of their time on these social sites, making friends, sharing photos and information, and exchanging and sharing files. News sites are not represented among the top twenty but they are represented in the top 50 and include the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Amazon and Ebay make strong showings in the top 20 at 13 and 9 respectively. Internationally Google China is number 4 in China and Google Japan is dominant there. So these companies have taken an international position and are heavily represented there. Baidu, a Chinese search engine is number 1 there and because of this carries 6% world share of surfers.
Are these fleeting trends? Hard to believe but the World Wide Web is only 15 years old. Skeptics then said that money could not be made on the Internet. Today the World Wide Web is a vast economic engine. Amazon is turning profits. Microsoft and Yahoo and have been around for more than 10 years; Google celebrated its 10 anniversary this year. Colleges, Universities, the United States Postal Service and all government agencies are on the web. Any business will need, if it does not already have one, a presence on the web. In a short 15 years the World Wide Web has become a part of our daily discourse and activity. Today there is still skepticism about profitabilty but no question that the world wide web is here to stay. Ignoring its possibilities would be ignoring vast opportunity.
Alexa is a useful marketing and analytical tool in gauging the reach and progress of these critical websites and their positions in the global marketplace.
Alexa is an Amazon.com owned company and, yes, it tracks companies like Amazon, Ebay and their reach across the globe. Besides what sites are being surfed, Alexa also breaks down average number minutes on each site, and who is using the site by age group, education, gender, income and location. These demographic breakdowns are essential in the competitive marketplace.
So what are the top 20 sites for United States websurfers? They are Google, followed by Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube(a Google company), MySpace, Windows Live, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Ebay, Microsoft Network, Blogger (a Google company), AOL, Amazon, Twitter, GO, Bing (Microsoft's new search engine), CNN, Flickr (a Yahoo company), WordPress (like Blogger, a free Blog service), and ESPN Sportzone. LinkedIn appears as number 24, Weather.com 25, and New York Times 28.
Google gets 34% of marketshre globally, Yahoo 26 %, Facebook 25%, and YouTube 24% and MySpace 4.5% and Twitter gets nearly 4%. Individuals spend more time on Facebook, an average of 27.5 minutes compared to Google's 7 minutes and YouTube's 22.5 minutes. Twitter users spend average of 8 minutes a day twittering. Bing, the new Microsoft search engine, is already in the top 20 at number 16 but amount of time spent is only 2.1 minutes. Nevertheless Bing can be seen as up and coming and Microsoft and Yahoo will be using Bing as their search engines, thus providing real competition for Google.
Now statistics such as these are not great for reading, but they do provide the nuts and bolts backdrop to news about Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and web trends. Notably, social media sites are heavily represented in these statistics. People are spending much of their time on these social sites, making friends, sharing photos and information, and exchanging and sharing files. News sites are not represented among the top twenty but they are represented in the top 50 and include the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Amazon and Ebay make strong showings in the top 20 at 13 and 9 respectively. Internationally Google China is number 4 in China and Google Japan is dominant there. So these companies have taken an international position and are heavily represented there. Baidu, a Chinese search engine is number 1 there and because of this carries 6% world share of surfers.
Are these fleeting trends? Hard to believe but the World Wide Web is only 15 years old. Skeptics then said that money could not be made on the Internet. Today the World Wide Web is a vast economic engine. Amazon is turning profits. Microsoft and Yahoo and have been around for more than 10 years; Google celebrated its 10 anniversary this year. Colleges, Universities, the United States Postal Service and all government agencies are on the web. Any business will need, if it does not already have one, a presence on the web. In a short 15 years the World Wide Web has become a part of our daily discourse and activity. Today there is still skepticism about profitabilty but no question that the world wide web is here to stay. Ignoring its possibilities would be ignoring vast opportunity.
Alexa is a useful marketing and analytical tool in gauging the reach and progress of these critical websites and their positions in the global marketplace.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Are You LinkedIn?
A few weeks ago a patron who had just been layed off from his job came to the Reference Desk at the Berkshire Athenaeum and was seeking resources on resumes and job searching. He'd worked in the same job for the past 10 years and job searching was new to him. It was like starting over. He was professional and used to lots of responsibility.
After showing him some of our resources I asked if he had considered LinkedIn as a possible avenue for his job search. I explained that LinkedIn was a online social network for business where future employers and employees could connect. He had heard of LinkedIn but knew nothing about it or how it worked? I suggested he go to LinkedIn, explore the site and join, that it was free, that he could set up a profile, include pertinent parts of his resume and what he was looking for in a job, Since he had developed web sites, he was web savvy. He thanked me for the information and said he would check it out.
Soon after we spoke I received an email from him (I had given him my business card,) The email was an invitation to join LinkedIn, to be part of his network. That's how LinkedIn works. You join, set up a profile, develop a network by inviting friends, colleagues, associates. It's by invitation only. The first tier is your network. The second tier is the network of your invitees. The third tier is the further associated members and so on. This is how LinkedIn grows and how a most powerful network has developed that includes thousands of companies, all Fortune 500 companies, company profiles as well as individual profiles, and LinkedIn claims over 40 million registered members using their site. This is all free, but there is a premium paid membership level as well.
LinkedIn is the most powerful business social networking web 2.0 website. Now when I was invited to join LinkedIn, I had to join because I was not yet a member. I knew about it. I was aware of it and its possibilities and I was considering joining but had held back. From the viewpoint of being a Business Reference Librarian it made sense to join if only to be able to demonstate first hand information to those inquiring. So I accepted the invitation, joined LinkedIn and developed a brief profile.
Then, shortly after joining LinkedIn and my friend's network, something happened, something that surprised and delighted me. A colleague of 10 years ago, who I had regretably lost contact with, sent an invitation for me to contact him and to be part of his LinkedIn network. We reestablished contact and our friendship and this happened through his searching for me on LinkedIn and Google amongst other sites. I had searched for him as well. I had lost his email due to a computer crash a couple years ago. Subsequently I have reestablished contact with some other associates and friends, and working colleagues.
So these are a few of the things you can do on LinkedIn -- develop a profile, give basic information and resume about yourself, develop a job search or recruitment strategy, seek people through the search function, join community forums, ask questions, seek funding of your start up. The possibilities are endless. And your contacts have contacts as well. Skills you are looking for may be represented in these networks. Ideas abound. Because everyone is there by invitation, there is also the possibility for personal recommendations, job and business ideas.
One of the more valuable aspects of LinkedIn, attactive to company recruiters and job seekers alike, is the ability to scope each other out. Looking for a job; talk with people at that company or employers may contact people in your network. Major businesses have seen the utility of this approach and human resource professionals are using LinkedIn to scope out candidates. This is much more intimate and useful that a passive resume. Further, many jobs do become available in this manner.
LinkedIn has had 100s of features in Business Week, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc Magazine, and the New York Times. Business Week and the New York Times has partnered with LinkedIn. So too has CNN, IBM and LexisNexis. If you are starting up a business, looking for contacts and contracts, looking for venture capital, you will want to consider joining LinkedIn! The video LinkedIn For Dummies, below by Adriana Lordan from SiteReference.Com, will get you started on LinkedIn. You will want to make LinkedIn part of your Business Plan and Job Strategy.
With me you'll ask "Are You LinkedIn?"
After showing him some of our resources I asked if he had considered LinkedIn as a possible avenue for his job search. I explained that LinkedIn was a online social network for business where future employers and employees could connect. He had heard of LinkedIn but knew nothing about it or how it worked? I suggested he go to LinkedIn, explore the site and join, that it was free, that he could set up a profile, include pertinent parts of his resume and what he was looking for in a job, Since he had developed web sites, he was web savvy. He thanked me for the information and said he would check it out.
Soon after we spoke I received an email from him (I had given him my business card,) The email was an invitation to join LinkedIn, to be part of his network. That's how LinkedIn works. You join, set up a profile, develop a network by inviting friends, colleagues, associates. It's by invitation only. The first tier is your network. The second tier is the network of your invitees. The third tier is the further associated members and so on. This is how LinkedIn grows and how a most powerful network has developed that includes thousands of companies, all Fortune 500 companies, company profiles as well as individual profiles, and LinkedIn claims over 40 million registered members using their site. This is all free, but there is a premium paid membership level as well.
LinkedIn is the most powerful business social networking web 2.0 website. Now when I was invited to join LinkedIn, I had to join because I was not yet a member. I knew about it. I was aware of it and its possibilities and I was considering joining but had held back. From the viewpoint of being a Business Reference Librarian it made sense to join if only to be able to demonstate first hand information to those inquiring. So I accepted the invitation, joined LinkedIn and developed a brief profile.
Then, shortly after joining LinkedIn and my friend's network, something happened, something that surprised and delighted me. A colleague of 10 years ago, who I had regretably lost contact with, sent an invitation for me to contact him and to be part of his LinkedIn network. We reestablished contact and our friendship and this happened through his searching for me on LinkedIn and Google amongst other sites. I had searched for him as well. I had lost his email due to a computer crash a couple years ago. Subsequently I have reestablished contact with some other associates and friends, and working colleagues.
So these are a few of the things you can do on LinkedIn -- develop a profile, give basic information and resume about yourself, develop a job search or recruitment strategy, seek people through the search function, join community forums, ask questions, seek funding of your start up. The possibilities are endless. And your contacts have contacts as well. Skills you are looking for may be represented in these networks. Ideas abound. Because everyone is there by invitation, there is also the possibility for personal recommendations, job and business ideas.
One of the more valuable aspects of LinkedIn, attactive to company recruiters and job seekers alike, is the ability to scope each other out. Looking for a job; talk with people at that company or employers may contact people in your network. Major businesses have seen the utility of this approach and human resource professionals are using LinkedIn to scope out candidates. This is much more intimate and useful that a passive resume. Further, many jobs do become available in this manner.
LinkedIn has had 100s of features in Business Week, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc Magazine, and the New York Times. Business Week and the New York Times has partnered with LinkedIn. So too has CNN, IBM and LexisNexis. If you are starting up a business, looking for contacts and contracts, looking for venture capital, you will want to consider joining LinkedIn! The video LinkedIn For Dummies, below by Adriana Lordan from SiteReference.Com, will get you started on LinkedIn. You will want to make LinkedIn part of your Business Plan and Job Strategy.
With me you'll ask "Are You LinkedIn?"
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wal-Mart Effect Revisited
On July 2, 2008 we reviewed Charles Fishman's The Wal-Mart Effect for About Business. Fishman's book critically evaluated the impact of Wal-Mart on retailers and its suppliers. Wal-Mart's dominance led to many innovations in packaging and in production. Being such a large buyer of supplier's goods and services they were able to continue to reduce prices in products and pass those cheaper prices on to Wal-Mart customers.
In last year's post we also mentioned Wal-Mart's "green initiative" and commitment to sustainability. On July 16, 2009 Wal-Mart President and CEO Michael Duke committed the company to Sustainability for the long term, announcing its Sustainability Product Index and 15 question survey that is being submitted to its 100,000 product suppliers worldwide. Results of the survey will lead to a great transformation in the way Wal-Mart and by inference other retailers will be doing business. Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandiser John Fleming discusses this initiative in the video below. The survey asks what suppliers are doing to cut their carbon byproducts, what they are doing to create more efficient production. Wal-Mart expects answers from suppliers to this survey by October 1 and then will go to the next stage in planning.
It is expected that where unit pricing tags are part of the everyday shopping experience now, that environmental labeling will be added to these tags for each and every product Wal-Mart sells and each consumer buys. Duke calls this the need that every consumer has for transparency so they will know how the product was made, who made the product, its contents and so forth. This is a radical initiative and Wal-Mart invites other companies in join with them in this effort. Sustainability to Wal-Mart is now as important to them as low prices.
After Wal-Mart's announcement the New York Times published an extensive article by Stephanie Rosenbloom, At Wal-Mart Labels to Reflect Green Intent. Rosenbloom quotes Michael Duke, "We have to change how we make and sell products. We have to make consumption smarter and sustainable." Wal-Mart's ability to require suppliers submit to its standards will have a ripple effect throughout industry.
In last year's post we also mentioned Wal-Mart's "green initiative" and commitment to sustainability. On July 16, 2009 Wal-Mart President and CEO Michael Duke committed the company to Sustainability for the long term, announcing its Sustainability Product Index and 15 question survey that is being submitted to its 100,000 product suppliers worldwide. Results of the survey will lead to a great transformation in the way Wal-Mart and by inference other retailers will be doing business. Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandiser John Fleming discusses this initiative in the video below. The survey asks what suppliers are doing to cut their carbon byproducts, what they are doing to create more efficient production. Wal-Mart expects answers from suppliers to this survey by October 1 and then will go to the next stage in planning.
It is expected that where unit pricing tags are part of the everyday shopping experience now, that environmental labeling will be added to these tags for each and every product Wal-Mart sells and each consumer buys. Duke calls this the need that every consumer has for transparency so they will know how the product was made, who made the product, its contents and so forth. This is a radical initiative and Wal-Mart invites other companies in join with them in this effort. Sustainability to Wal-Mart is now as important to them as low prices.
After Wal-Mart's announcement the New York Times published an extensive article by Stephanie Rosenbloom, At Wal-Mart Labels to Reflect Green Intent. Rosenbloom quotes Michael Duke, "We have to change how we make and sell products. We have to make consumption smarter and sustainable." Wal-Mart's ability to require suppliers submit to its standards will have a ripple effect throughout industry.
The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman is available at the Berkshire Athenaeum and other Public Libraries.
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