Only Geeks would come up with something like RSS. The really funny thing is that nobody knows what it stands for, really simple, rich site syndication. (http://www.voidstar.com/node.php?id=140) So what does that mean to the average person than? Not a lot as you can imagine. Most people have no idea about RSS and what it can do. So we have hundreds and thousands of Geeks all following what is going on the Internet through RSS feeds. You see if they’d call it something like, really simple sex, it would have got out of that geeky mould. One can use RSS to keep updated with information on your favourite websites (BBC, Blogs, Email, etc). Sounds complicated, it is not and of course you can compile it in whatever reader you like to read.
Unlike computers, which are incredible unpredictable that you never know what they are doing. Using RSS is easy. While it may take a long time visiting your favourite sites. Using a reader such as Google, there are a few others. It will make your reading life a lot easier. As a result you will be able to see all the content your heart desires in one browser window.
So what does this icon look like and do? here is a video to show you.
Now that you have got your shiny new reader, and content streaming through. What is it that you may like to reflect upon.
Well some of my reflections from RSS goes something like this.
It seems that good old Gordy (British PM) is getting bushwhacked all over the place. Interestingly, I noticed last night on ‘Have I got news for you ‘(TV program) that Paul Merton was not laughing, maybe he is one of the few Brownites left . I do feel a certain amount of compassion for him but as John Wayne once said “you have got to go, when you have got to go” Which kind of reminds me of an old school friend who did not befriend me on Facebook considering that I have not seen him for 20 years. It was hard to imagine what he could be concerned about. Maybe it was the fact that we use to call him ……. and he considers himself beyond such school humour. One does have to be careful what they write on the Internet as a magistrate found out this week due to twittering he lost his job in the courts. What is the problem he asked? all the information is already in the public domain and published by the record division of the courts.
One can see there is a vast array of information to be gathered through RSS. From your Google e-mail through to your Facebook status. Pretty much everything. For the boys if you think of it as really simple sex and the for the girls as really simple shop. You should find it a lot easier than everything else that you may do on the computer.
What is it that people do these days? If you are to believe the headlines twitter is all the rage. What defines a good twitter profile? What defines a good online profile? Is it the fact that one may have 2000 followers. Is it the fact they have almost twittered over 10,000 tweets. What characteristics would define someone that you follow?
If you’re a famous off-line celebrity say for example Schwarzenegger or Stephen Fry then without much ado it easy to be successful online. An example of this is Oprah Winfrey who set up an online Twitter profile only three days ago and already has over 10,000 followers. This is all probably very predictable.
What about from a personal point of view those of us who work every day and do not suffer from celebrity status. Is there really any benefit to using twitter. I am amazed at just how many companies and people use twitter try to sell me things most of them don’t understand the first thing about permission marketing. Can one really build a relationship in just 140 characters. It is not easy and like any relationship takes time and mutual interest. To put it in perspective this idea I suggest that you are only as successful on-line as you are offline. Some of my best relationships that I have online also exist in the real world when I go to a restaurant or the cafe. I think that I am just staying in touch. As it is not always possible to see people on a regular basis.
What about the business development and customer care opportunities. Out of experience I will never follow anyone unless I have a particular interest. Ones that use a company name I will not follow. In my experience the company never offers or interacts in the way an individual would. There is always a feeling that they are protecting or selling something. A company that could break this mould could achieve a significant amount of followers and would have a real story to tell to the media. Plus this would certainly gain a lot of extra free publicity. It is conceivable that a company could employ a group of people just to respond to people’s questions on twitter.
If you are going to stay the distance it is about quality. It is better to have 10 followers that are really interested in what you got to say then 10,000 who are not. An example of this is the Velvet Underground whose first record only sold a couple of hundred copies. Their influence though is felt by just about every major rock band that has ever made music. Although comparatively they are still not that well known.
So in summing up if you are genuine and have a genuine interest to interact. Then it is possible to build a quality network a word of warning though when I survey the number of people that follow me 90% are not interested in a two-way conversation and significant less amount are operating highly queastionable/fruadelent activities.
I came across a really interesting interview today with Reputation management expert Andy Beal which summed up simply how to make the most of online social media. I do not think I could say it better. It has so many benefits establishing a social media policy.
“When a company creates an interactive online profile, it’s effectively telling its stakeholders -customers, investors, employees, etc- that it cares about the community and wants to be a part of the conversation. When an online reputation crisis hits, companies that have an social media profile are more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt and more likely to be able to respond quickly, within that channel.
I advise my clients to look for the “centres of influence.” Where are their stakeholders hanging-out online? When you understand the types of social media your stakeholders are using -maybe they prefer blogs over forums -you’ll increase your chances of successfully engaging them.”
Social media channels that you may find useful for establishing a thriving social network, depending on your market and your niche, include:
FaceBook
MySpace
Twitter
Plurk
FriendFeed
Linkedkin
What networks would you add to this? Which ones do you enjoy the most?
I came across any interesting post at well written words about spam where a reader left a comment that ultimately had nothing to offer to the site or the readers of the site. This is not your simply increase seize, or earn a million pounds spam. This is one where the reader believes mistakenly he has something to offer.
I came across something similar here on this blog, In the following email I received about this site
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The problem I have with this is, why would I want to do it?
What is the business benefit to me?
First I have to install their link or banner costing me time and other advertising. Is there product applicable to my website? Well as it is USA Texas print company, I think not. It might be fine if 80 percent of my readers lived in taxes but this is the first time the word Texas is mentioned on the site.
She then goes on and thinks I might be interested in promoting her business free. What kind numb-skull is she? If she wanted to buy banner space or was offering some kind compensation for the work done than maybe. All I have is all the work and all the risk. Does she really expect that I am going to be interested?
Having been involved in several legal cases to recover sums of money. There are a couple things that are starting to become clear.
Unless the amount you are seeking is a large sum it is almost in all cases not viable to employ a lawyer.
So the only choice left is to represent yourself. Learn the relevant act and hope that providence is on your on side. Or is it?
While the very cheapest lawyers will cost more then £100 are they the only people that can provide this service.
Anyone who has represented themselves in court law will find it is a strange experience. You can have all the best intentions but if you do not have the facts at that moment in time it can cost you severely, especially if it is your first time or not had the chance to prepare.
I wonder if there is market for assistance, At the very least for correct presentation of the facts.
I found this presentation short sharp and simple about how to sell something. It takes about 2 minutes of your time, but a lot more in thinking about it afterwards.
It all looked rosy back at the beginning of 2007. The long awaited Vista was hitting the shelf’s along with office 2007. Companies all over the world accepted that they would be upgrading, that was the plan. Microsoft’s dominance of the software market was truly supreme. The success of the past 15 years had brought Microsoft to the very top. Could it go wrong with so much money and design excellence? Nobody was talking about the possibility.
There were signs though. Google clearly had plans for the office market on the internet, they saw the future. They realised that there was a large market out there that just wanted to be able to use a computer without any installation problems or blue screens. Google realized the plans that they could solve these problems by hosting the applications themselves. It was totally different business model. The key to any successful product is that it does what is says on the box. Microsoft did it just about if you did not mind investing a couple days of your time and employing technician to set it up. Google went better, and not just a little bit.
It was the simple things first that I noticed. There spell checker was really poor not only did it not recognise certain words in office 2007 but the application was slow. It was so big that you needed at least gigabyte of memory to run it and even then it was bulky. If I wanted the spelling for a word I would Google it. If I wanted calculator I could Google it. If I wanted a currency exchange figures, yes I would Google it. Google worked first time.
I have been long term fan of MS outlook too, but recently I have stepped over to Gmail. Following so many of my colleagues, the product just works. Vista is much the same experience after having used it for almost 2 years, it does not impress me. Fundamentally it does not really do anything else that XP did, at least for office user. But it does use a lot more resources to do it, 4 times more processing power, memory, and hard disk space.
Kinks in Microsoft’s armoury are starting to show and big company related history is repeating its self. What do you think?
sites (BBC, Blogs, Email, etc). Sounds complicated, it is not and of course you can compile it in whatever reader you like to read.
What about the business development and customer care opportunities. Out of experience I will never follow anyone unless I have a particular interest. Ones that use a 
