Posts Tagged ‘Social Networking’
Description of ‘Social Networking’ Tag:
Social Networking
Friday, September 30th, 2011
 from http://www.quora.com/, Oct 2011 In June 2009 a website known as Quora was founded by two former Facebook employees. This question and answer based social interaction site was initially launched as a private beta version in December 2009 and then later made public on June 21, 2010. Although it has only been two short years, since then Quora has quickly joined the ranks of the other social bookmarking and social networking websites like Reddit, Delicious, LinkedIn, Answers.com, and Stack Exchange.
Quora creates an interactive platform where users can ask questions and receive high quality answers from people with firsthand knowledge. Users can collaborate to create questions and identify the best answers. Although it works similar to a forum the information is regarded as more authoritative, knowledgeable, and respectable. The information on Quora is always improving and it is their goal to discover the highest quality answers to each of their question pages. Quora’s question pages can also be thought of as Wikipedia pages, only with more specific information straight from industry experts. Unlike Wikipedia, Quora answers can target the exact information that the user is seeking based on the initial question.
In order to access Quora’s vast knowledge base a user must first register and provide either their Twitter or Facebook user name. Quora is successful because it exhibits 5 major elements that consist of being Collaborative, Organized, Specific, Continually Improving, and most importantly it focuses on the people.
Besides being an informative resource, Quora can also be used as a marketing tool for your small business. The following are some suggestions for using Quora as a part of your small business strategy.
- Asking Questions – Find in-depth information or solve a specific problem.
- Content Mining – Find new business, blog, and website ideas.
- Cultivate Existing Relationships – Open new lines of communications with your audience.
- Expanding Your Audience – Use questions and answer to establish new professional contacts and develop potential customer relationships.
- Growing as a Professional – Improve your communication and professional writing skills.
- Self-Promotion – Establish a presence by appearing as an industry expert or leading authority.
- Market Research – Monitor your competitor’s reputation as well as strengthen your own by setting up Google alerts for company mentions.
- Strengthen Customer Experience – Monitor your audience and join in the conversations.
- Lead Generation – Target specific questions from other users and reach out to them.
- Stay Informed – Follow other leading industry experts to stay in tune with the latest trends.
- Evaluating Merchants – Investigate potential business vendors, business tools, and business partners.
- Link Building – Develop relationships with other users and reach out to them about a potential link exchange.
Why wait for your audience to find you when you can target your audience. Quora allows you to find the people who are seeking your knowledge. More than just a Q & A website, Quora is a blend between forums, Wikipedia, Answers.com, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This is a great option whether it is to lend your expertise or gain knowledge from another expert. Quora is a high quality resource that provides some of the best information on the web and cuts through much of the spam that users typically encounter when seeking information.
Thanks for Reading!
Dustin
CDTek.com
Tags: answers, Marketing, Question, Quora, Small Business, social media, Social Networking
Posted in Business Tools, Small Business Tips, Social Networking | No Comments »
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Following a week of promising reporters something awesome, Chief Executive and founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg held a live press conference Wednesday July 6, 2011. At the press conference Facebook delivered on its promise and announced a triad of features including a Chat Redesign, Group Chat options, and Video Calling with Skype. The new features began rolling out simultaneously as the announcement was broadcasted live.
from http://www.facebook.com/FacebookLive/ July 2011
During the week leading up to the announcement the internet had been buzzing with much speculation and it was rumored that Facebook would be announcing the new video chat feature. It was only a matter of time until video chat was available on Facebook especially since the May 2011 Purchase of Skype by Microsoft, a longtime investor of Facebook. “We have a very longstanding relationship with Microsoft,” said Zuckerberg. During the conference Zuckerberg mentioned that they had also been in talks with Skype even before their acquisition by Microsoft.
With the introduction Of Google’s new Google+ Social Network, Facebook had seemed to fall into the background lately. Even with Facebook’s new features the amount of hype and demand surrounding Google+ has made it a strong competitor. Could people be ready for a change or at least be ready to try something new? The announcement had promised something awesome and although the new features are awesome they seems to fall short. They fall short in the sense that just a week ago Google showcased the same feature with their new product. None the less the video chatting will add a new level to the social networking experience and it’s also available now unlike Google+.
Also present at the press conference was Tony Bates, CEO of Skype. Bates and Zuckerberg both emphasized that with Facebook Video Calling you can Call Your Friends Right from Facebook and connect with friends or family from around the world. Prior to the first video call all users will need to perform a simple plugin download that takes under 30 seconds to install. From there a video call can be initialized during a regular chat session by clicking “start a video call”. Once a user selects this option a prompt will appear and negotiate a connection between the two computers. When receiving a call a user will hear a ring and will have the option to accept or reject the call. During the demonstration it was stressed that the user’s webcam would not initiate until the request is accepted.
With the previous chat feature a user would have to access the small chat tab located at the lower right corner or click the user’s picture on the left sidebar. Users no longer have to hover over the pictures of other users to see their username which caused problems before because of the small size and the frequency that people change their profile picture. The new chat design uses the size of the user’s browser window to make it easier to locate a friend and initiate a conversation. The new full screen length friends list can list every one and displays their picture, name, and availability.
According to Facebook, since the introduction of Groups over 50% of their users are using the feature. The new group chat allows users to select a current group or select specific users to pull them into a group chat session. Users can even select a friend that is offline so that they receive a summary of the conversation. Social media is no longer just an online hangout for young kids. It has drastically changed the way people and businesses from all around the world interact. Social networking sites provide a tremendous benefit for businesses and these new features only continue to evolve the way companies and employees communicate. With the recent introduction of Groups and because users can share selectively with certain users it makes Facebook a great tool for workplace communication. The Group feature along with the newly introduced video calling and group chat has the potential to make work place communication extremely convenient and simple.
In addition to the new features the first moments of the live announcement were dedicated to displaying statistics on the growth and expected growth of social networking. Zuckerberg explained that we are on the curve of exponential growth for technology and social media. He points out that the future applications or features will all be built on the current infrastructure and will allow for an even quicker product production cycle. When asked about Google+, Mark went on to say that social networking is the way of the future and even the companies that weren’t traditionally social will all be eventually. He also encourages companies to move towards the way of social networking, improve it, and see where it takes us. “If we build the best service, there’s massive value there. If we don’t, somebody else will” -Zuckerberg
Although the Facebook’s new features aren’t exactly original, Facebook remains the original social network. Is that enough to keep you from switching to Google+ when it becomes available?
Thanks for Reading have a Great Day!
Dustin
CDTek.com
Tags: chat, Facebook, group chat, social, social network, Social Networking, video calling, video chat
Posted in Business Tools, Communication, Facebook | No Comments »
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
As mentioned in some of our other blog articles, social media is a great resource that every business should be using in some form or another. Social media and networking sites offer unlimited opportunities for business and not only provide a communication outlet for consumers but help develop a stronger business presence as well.
Social media and networking sites assist millions of users in the production, contribution, and education of new ideas and concepts each and every day. Social media has the potential to play a huge role in any business, large or small. Companies that utilize social media outlets are often able to see an increase in brand recognition and web traffic. By providing simple easy to use communication platforms, social media assists companies with proactively monitoring and controlling their customer communication and perception. The following is a short list how using social media can potentially help your business.
- Share content, by sharing your content you can build your brand recognition and company’s reputation. The more thoughts, concepts, and ideas that you express while using social media the more your online presence will increase.
- Learn from your competition, keeping up with social media lets you see what other companies are doing, how they are doing it, and how you can benefit from similar concepts.
- Learn from your customers, not only can you learn from your competition but you can develop product ideas just from listening to the needs of your customers. Social media sites can provide insights into what the customers really want and allows you to develop products that are in demand
- Develop customer relationships, being in continuous contact with your customers enables you to solidify your presence and generate a positive customer perception.
- Provide quick customer support, providing a method of immediate feedback enables a business to quickly address the concerns of their customers.
- Self promotion, a business can express new concepts, promotions, and events with a global approach that is both free and effective.
- Acquire more customers, because your business gains more exposure using social media it can quickly lead to new clients.
- Allows you to save money, most importantly social media is free and can generate the same attention as a costly advertising campaign.
With all of these reasons to use social media it is not surprising how many businesses are beginning to or have been utilizing these types of sites. If not for these benefits it is still crucial for a business to use various types of social just to keep up with their competition. So, what social media sites should your company be using? The following are the top most influential social media outlets on the internet today.
“Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.” (From Facebook.com April 28, 2011)
“Is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. You can share a lot with a little space! You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content.”(From Twitter.com April 28, 2011)
“Over 100 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and industry, find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals, and control your professional identity online.” (From LinkedIn.com April 28, 2011)
“Allows billions of people to discover, watch, and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.” (From YouTube.com April 28, 2011)
“Digg is a place for people to discover, share, and promote content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our community.” (From Digg.com April 28, 2011)
“Reddit is a source for what’s new and popular on the web. Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what’s good and what’s junk.” (From Reddit.com April 28, 2011)
“Delicious is a Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking” (From Delicious.com April 28, 2011)
”StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble! We deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. Rating these sites you like automatically shares them with like-minded people and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.” (From StumbleUpon.com April 28, 2011)
“Squidoo is the popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create “lenses” online. Lenses are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles, which gather everything you know about your topic of interest–and snap it all into focus.” (From Squidoo April 28, 2011)
“Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme’s HTML.” (From Tumblr April 28, 2011)
“Disqus is a comment platform that helps you build an active community from your website’s audience. It has awesome features, powerful tools, and it’s easy to install.” (From Disqus April 28, 2011)
These are just a few of the many social media and networking sites out there. You are probably missing out if you’re not already using them so, what are you waiting for?
Did your favorite social media site make our list? If not share it below!
Thanks for Reading have a Great Day!
Dustin
CDTek.com
Tags: business, Communication, content, customers, networking, share, social media, social media sites, Social Networking
Posted in Blog, Business Tools, Communication | No Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Maryland.
We provide several services, like InternetMarketing and Technical Support to small and medium business.
So you’ve got an amazing, potentially award-winning blog. Welcome to the Internet. There are lots of both terrific and terrible writers out there, waiting for their voices to be heard. You are now one of them. Now here comes the tricky part, how do you get them to look at your blog before everyone else’s? Well, there are a few ways to make this happen. One of the fastest and most reliable is to submit them
Digg.com
Digg is one of the most popular socially powered aggregate news sites on the Web. Users must register before posting or commenting on the site, but membership is free. If you are submitting an article, you submit the link and provide basic details about the post. You choose the category, enter the Title and Description, and send it on its way. Your post will appear on the site relatively quickly and then users browsing the New Posts section will see it. If they like it, they vote for it (Digg It!).
Facebook
We’ve talked before about using Facebook to promote your business. If you have a page for your business/blog already, then you can update it as necessary to reflect new posts or marketing strategies to draw in more users. Facebook’s status as a social networking site makes it a great place to spread your influence. Bear in mind, you may want to get involved in various Facebook groups to get your name out there.
StumbleUpon
SU was around for a while before either Digg or Facebook, and as such has a decently sized user base. You must register to use it, and then you submit your articles in the same way that you would with Digg, though StumbleUpon offers a bit more description possibilities. The cool part of StumbleUpon is their “Stumble button that takes into account info from the user’s history and randomly suggests a site.
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: blog, Blogging, Marketing, Small Business, Social Networking
Posted in Business Tools, Marketing, Small Business Tips | No Comments »
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