"The reports indicate that some Squidoo pages have seen a 75% drop in traffic, and in other cases have either been removed from high ranking positions on Google, or removed all together."
I'm sure the folks at Squidoo saw this coming and recently began new spam fighting initiative to attempt to avoid this move by Google, but it looks like it might be a case of too little, too late.
While it seems like a stiff penalty. I think this move will force Squidoo to clean up their lenses and will ultimately help in the long run.
If anybody has any input on the ramifications of this move by Google, I'd love to hear them.
Earlier today I finally cracked the 10,000 point mark here on Active Rain. I've been stuck in the 9900's for a while with a wicked case writer's block and I've been thinking of how I was going to celebrate breaking 10k for a while now.
Like all active members eventually realize, I get that AR isn't about the points, it's about the connections and the conversations. That's why it was cool that I cracked the milestone while sitting in Mike Mueller's blogging class and leaving a comment on a post that he created during the class.
Which brings me to the second milestone.
Meeting Mike in person today marked the first time that I've made a real life connection directly from ActiveRain. A few weeks ago, Mike contacted me and offered to teach his beginning blog class to our Keller Williams office and together we made it happen.
In case you're wondering, Mike's as genuine as he seems and his class is full of dynamite info and taught in a way that's non threatening to an agent who is new to the social web.
So in closing, I'd like to thank Mike and everyone else that I've connected with through ActiveRain. You all are what makes this place special. I look forward to meeting more of you "in real life".
After reading through the list a few times, I found that some of the items really resonated with me and I thought I'd share my thoughts on a few of them.
Make friends Those who are best at it don’t network - they make friends. A widening circle of influence is an unintended result, not a calculated aim.
People do business with people they like. After a particularly bad experiences last year working with a client whom I didn't like, I decided to collaborate or do business with people whom I'd like to be friends with. It just works out so much better this way.
Connect with super-connectors Some people know many, many more people than the rest of us. Such people should be the cornerstones to any flourishing network. Once you become friendly with a super-connector, you’re only two degrees away from thousands of different people.
My friend Chris Heuer, founder of the Social Media Club, is a great example for both of the last two tips. We've been friends since we met at an unconference that he put together in 2005 and he's a super-connector. I've met so many people and have been exposed to many great ideas through him and his fiance Kristie Wells.
Don’t try to balance your professional and personal life Balance is a myth. Real connecting insists that you bring the same values to every relationship. As such, dividing your life between professional and personal spheres no longer made sense.
Whether we like it or not, this convergence is happening. Coincidentally, I just joined a facebook group that deals with this.
Be informed about whom you meet If you are informed enough to step comfortably into their world and talk knowledgeably, their appreciation will be tangible. The idea is to find a point of common ground that is deep and rich. Then you’ll have an opportunity to bond and impress.
When I read this one, I thought of when I met Matt Mullenweg at a party a few years ago. I was still fairly new to the tech scene at the time and I had no idea he was the man responsible for Wordpress. When he introduced himself, I knew I had heard his name before but I just couldn't place it. I remember asking him quite loudly if he was the guy who created memeorandum. All of a sudden, it was like one of those moments when everything seems to freeze; you know...phones stop ringing, crickets stop chirping and all the attention focuses on you. He humbly corrected me and a connection was made. OK, maybe it's not that funny, but I still chuckle when I think of that moment.
Ironically, when I met Gabe Rivera, the man behind memeorandum & Techmeme, it was at Wordcamp, the Wordpress convention. It's kind of funny how things work out sometime.
Make warm calls Use these four rules for warm calling: 1. Convey credibility: mention a familiar person or institution. 2. State your value proposition: what can you do for them? 3. Impart urgency and convenience: in most instances, the sole objective of the cold call is to get an appointment. 4. Be prepared to offer a compromise: go big at the outset, leaving room for compromise.
I'm not really big on talking on the phone. I'd rather use social networking tools like Facebook, Upcoming and Twitter to stay in touch and then connect in person, but I realize that I'm limiting myself and my network by excluding those who aren't using those same tools. To help remedy this, I've committed to making one warm call a day. Wish me luck ;) Ping all the time 80 percent of building and maintaining relationships is just staying in touch (or “pinging”). Pinging takes effort. You have to keep pinging and pinging and pinging and never stop. You have to feed the fire of your network or it will wither or die.
This is why I like services like Twitter. Through Twitter my friends and I post little updates and interesting tidbits throughout the day to stay in touch.
Do your first follow up soon Give yourself between 12 and 24 hours after you meet someone to follow up. E-mail is a fine tool for dropping a quick note.
I'm great at this one
Don’t forget to do your second follow-up In a month’s time, drop the person another e-mail, just to keep in touch.
But I'm not so great at this one.
Always remember the other person’s name Nothing is sweeter to someone’s ears than their own name.
Another thing that I can improve on. I don't know why this is so hard for me. Quite often, I forget someone's name before they're finished introducing themselves. Hopefully these tips will help me with this one.
Finally. Here's an actionable item that I'm looking forward to working on. Create a Relationship Action Plan There is a process involved in building a network. Your Relationship Action Plan consist of three sections: 1. Your goals up to three years from now in three months increments. 2. Names of people that could help you reach each goal. 3. Strategies to reach the people you list in point 2. Once you have your plan, post it in a place where you will see it on regular basis.
So, there you have it. I encourage you to take a look at the list and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Former Weblogs Inc. founder and serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis launched Mahalo.com, a human-powered search engine, at the Wall Street Journal's D Conference.
The site is currently being launched in Alpha with the Internet's 4,000 most popular search terms completed and hopes to reach 10,000 search terms by the end of the year. At that point it will enter Beta, and launch shortly thereafter.
The site is focused on the top English-language search terms, including verticals such as travel, products, news, entertainment, sports, food, and health. "Google's mission is to index the world's information; our mission is to curate that wonderful index," said Calacanis. "It's my belief that humans can play a significant role in the development of search results and we're going to try to figure out exactly what that role is over the next couple of years. I am really looking forward to hearing what people think of the Alpha," he added.
Supposedly they have already closed two rounds of funding and have enough capital to last 4 years without revenue. Also, the investor list reads like a who's who of VC and includes Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk and NewsCorp. Additional investors include CBS Corporation, Hubert Burda Media, Allen & Co., David Bradley, Gigi Brisson, Sandy Climan, Mark Cuban, Matt Coffin, Ted Leonsis, Jonathan Miller, Mark Pincus, Ryan Scott, and Fred Wilson.
This is going to be one to keep your eye on. Given Calacanis's disdain for SEO and SEM, one can only imagine the implications if Mahalo, and human enabled search, takes off.
I'm going to play around with it tonight and report back tomorrow. I'd love to hear what others think.
The world of tech is buzzing from today's big news that Facebook, the sixth most trafficked site on the internet is opening it's API and transforming itself from merely a social network into a technology platform on which anyone can build applications for social computing.
Facebook is growing rapidly right now. They already have 24 million members and growing at about 150,000 per day and the fastest growing demographic is the 25 and up age group. Active users have doubled since Facebook expanded registration in Sept 2006.
Supposedly, anyone will have access to Facebook's so-called "markup language," which is intended to be usable even by those with basic programming skills. Not only am I excited to see what companies like Trulia, Zillow & Move end up developing for this platform, I'm also itching to see what I'll be able to build myself.
So, what does this mean for real estate professionals? I see it as just another social media tool for us to add to our online arsenal. Not only do we have our own websites and blogs (or a combination of both), we also have ActiveRain, Trulia voices, Zillow, del.icio.us, Twitter (see my earlier post) and now the new Facebook platform.
Social networking is becoming a full time job onto itself; I say this because it pretty much is for me. I spend a majority of my work day using these tools in order to build our network and identify the nodes within that network that our team can provide value to in order to get paid.
I realize that others may not have the amount of time to dedicate to these tools as I do, but here's a few things that you can do.
What separates this race from others is that it doubles as San Francisco's biggest and most mobile street party. Many of the racers get dressed up in elaborate costumes and although alcohol and nudity aren't technically allowed, it wasn't hard to find either along the race path.
We ended up having a blast. The weather was perfect and the crowd was lively. It was a pure San Francisco experience and although it was my first Bay to Breakers, it definitely won't be my last.
The city of Berkeley got a nice financial boost late last month when local developer Patrick Kennedy sold 7 of his mixed use apartment buildings in the city. Mayor Tom Bates said that the transfer tax will probably make up the entire $2 million budget deficit that the city was facing.
Kennedy has been known to purposely place his buildings near BART stations and major AC transit bus lines in order to reduce tenants' dependence on automobiles. He was also the first developer in Berkeley to incorporate hydraulic lifts in order to double the parking capacity in his buildings garages and the first to have open space on his buildings' rooftops. During the past 10 years, he has built more low-income units than anyone else in Berkeley
One would think that this would earn him points in a left-leaning city like Berkeley, but he has his share of critics who argue that his real motive for doing what he does is so that he can leverage height and zoning concessions in order game the system to his advantage.
Whether you agree with him or not, residents of Berkeley will be enjoying a balanced budget this year thanks to Mr. Kennedy.
My fellow team member Kale Inoue and I just got back from an appointment with potential clients Justin Kan and Amanda Huffman. While the showing didn't go as planned (the leasing agent didn't show and wouldn't answer her phone); what made the appointment special is that it was being streamed live on the internet on Justin.tv
You may have read my earlier post about Justin and his roommates getting evicted from their North Beach apartment. As soon as I heard, we got in touch with Justin and started working with them to find somewhere to move and where they could both live and run Justin.tv without any additional hassles.
While we didn't get to see the place, they did get a chance to check out the neighborhood and we hit up one of my favorite local burrito places, Papalote, before dropping them back at their place. We also got a chance to explore a few different options for them and now my team of expert property sleuths are on the case looking for leads.
Stay tuned as my (now semi-internet famous) team and I work to find the next home of Justin.tv
Welcome to the first in a series of Life Hack posts where I'll be posting links to the latest and greatest Life Hacks that I've recently come across.
In case you're unfamiliar with the term, Life Hacks refer to anything that increases productivity or solves an everyday problem in a clever or non-obvious way.
I love this stuff and would love to hear what the other ActiveRainers think.
Hey Berkeley residents, you're invited to the Berkeley Measure G Climate Action Kick-Off being held this Saturday from 10am-12pm.
Last year, Berkeley residents issued a call to action on global warming by voting overwhelmingly in support of Measure G. Measure G sets an aggressive goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Berkeley by 80 percent by 2050 and directs the Mayor to develop a community-based climate action plan by year-end 2007.
All are welcome… it’s free, open to the public, and ADA accessible. At the event you'll hear concrete ideas and resources for reducing your emissions, take a pledge to do your part to meet our community’s emissions reduction goals, brainstorm ideas on how we can meet our Measure G greenhouse gas reduction targets, and take home free stuff like energy-efficient light bulbs and gift certificates!
When: Saturday May 12, 2007 10am-12pm (with a light lunch afterwards)
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Bad news for 
Earlier today I finally cracked the 10,000 point mark here on Active Rain. I've been stuck in the 9900's for a while with a wicked case writer's block and I've been thinking of how I was going to celebrate breaking 10k for a while now.
I recently stumbled upon a great blog post which featured a list of 
Big news in the world of search today!
The world of tech is buzzing from today's big news that 
Yesterday, 
The city of Berkeley got a nice financial boost late last month when local developer Patrick Kennedy 
Welcome to the first in a series of Life Hack posts where I'll be posting links to the latest and greatest Life Hacks that I've recently come across. 
Hey Berkeley residents, you're invited to the Berkeley Measure G Climate Action Kick-Off being held this Saturday from 10am-12pm. 
;)
;)
