Facebook is a place to connect, share, and grow your personal and professional networks.
When you join Facebook, your first action is to create a profile by adding a profile picture, a small professional bio, a mixture of personal and professional photos, and some personal interests. After you build your profile Facebook will prompt you to connect with friends from your email database that are currently on Facebook. If you do not have a lot of contacts on Facebook then Facebook will walk you through how to invite your closest and most dear to join and become your friend. Finally, Facebook will look at information like your high school, college, city, and employer to connect you with individuals that you may have lost track of.
Everyone who accepts your friend requests goes into your friends list. As this list grows it becomes one big, unorganized, mishmash of potential. Luckily, Facebook allows you to bring order to your database by grouping your friends into lists. You can create lists for your childhood friends, family, co-workers, clients, strategic business partners, and so on and so forth. By creating lists to organize your Facebook friends you will be turning your social profile into a strategic social and business resource.
Important things to remember about organizing friends on Facebook:
* Start early, the longer you wait to create lists the more time it will take
* You can add friends to more than one friend list
* Friend lists should be treated like the categories and distribution lists in your contact management software
* Friend Lists can have specific privacy policies applied to them
Once you have designated your friend categories they can then be used to apply different privacy policies. For example, you may want your friends to see photos from the party you were at last night, but you don’t want your family or professional contacts to see those photos. When you announce work related updates and/or events you can send them to the contacts that will most appreciate that information, excluding friends and family who would rather see pictures of little Jonny’s soccer game.
As your friends list grows organizing them becomes a benefit for you and your contacts. For instance, if you travel quite a bit or belong to multiple networks and/or organizations you can categorize people by location (city, state, country), where you met them (conference, networking, organization), and your relationship with them (professional, family, social, etc).
By having a well structured contact lists you will not only be able to effectively communicate for yourself but also on the behalf of others. One of the best components to social networking is the support that the individuals within the network provide to one another. When you are able to help other business owners and professionals spread the word they will return that favor by helping you. Endorsement is the strongest most effective way that one networker can help another it can turn a random contact list into a strategic marketing list.
So, when you look at that growing list of Facebook friends and think where do I start? Just remember the time you spend now will pay for itself later. You have done this before look at your Outlook, contact management software, or email client for grouping ideas. You can configure your friend lists by visiting the friends area of your Facebook profile.
Some of the most brilliant ideas come from the simplest of places, an apple falling out of a tree, a child playing with a kite, the every day occurrence of a bird flying through the air.
Elizabeth Redmond and her newest invention POWERleap, falls into this category it stems from the act of people walking, and it's just simply brilliant.
Elizabeth Redmond invented the POWERleap, a flooring system that generates electricity every time you move on one of the tiles. Constructed with glass and concrete, the energy generating tiles can bear a heavy load and are being designed to be placed in areas that experience high-foot traffic. It is Elizabeth's intention to have cities powered by the people who live, work, and play there rather than outside energy sources.
Now that it is out there this idea seems so obvious. It makes you wonder why we haven't done anything like this until now, and what other absolutely obvious things we are missing?
At rest, your body is emitting 100 watts of power. That is more than enough energy to power the computer on which this is written. Given this, imagine how much energy we are emitting while walking to [or at] work, running at the gym, or dancing at the club! It doesn’t take a genius to appreciate the thought of that energy doing something more for us than dissipating into the ground or environment… POWERleap is currently manifested in an installation of urban sidewalk tiles designed and engineered by Elizabeth Redmond. The system utilizes the phenomena of piezoelectricity: electricity from applied stress, founded by the Curie brothers in the 1880’s. A piezoelectric material when compressed distributes a charge across the surface of the material that can be harnessed and used to generate electricity. Project POWERLeap has come up with a solution to the problem of wasted human kinetic energy. We have designed a flooring system that will harness your exerted kinetic energy, and use it to generate electricity for us to enjoy. By integrating these interfaces that generate electricity from our daily activities in public and semi-public built environments, each individual will have the ability to generate electricity for their community.
WHERE WILL POWERleap BE USED?
CITY SIDEWALKS * AIRPORT TERMINALS * TRAIN STATIONS * SPORTS STADIUMS * CONFERENCE HALLS * DANCE CLUBS * CORPORATE CAMPUSES * UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES * FITNESS CLUBS * PUBLIC PARKS
POWERleap is still in it's infancy stage and looking for backers, investors, and contributors to get it into the mainstream. Here are some other sources for more information:
Here is a link to her Earth Keepers at Changentshttp://www.changents.com/powerleaper ("Changents is an entertainment-driven online destination that enables "change agents" to tell their amazing stories while building a network of fans around the world who want to help them. Through videos, photos, blogs, mobile messaging and podcast dispatches from the field, change agents draw in "backers" to lend a hand - virtually or in person.)
Sometimes it is hard to visualize how the World Wide Web is interconnected, how one web site can lead to another and to another, and so on and so forth. For those individuals that are on the Internet all day every day it is a bit easier, because you experience it firsthand through the people you meet and the paths you take to gather information. However, for those individuals that need to see rather than experience how the web works there is a web site called Walk2Web. <!--more-->
This site demonstrates visually, and in real time, how one web site or blog is tied to hundreds and thousands of other sites. A word of warning...when you go visit walk2web.com it has a live site show which means it is streaming live web sites, apparently without filtering out adult content. So be prepared to see some very questionable material pop up from time to time.
When you get to the site there is an area to enter in a URL (this is your starting point) and from there you walk the web. Once you enter in a blog or web site Walk2Web starts showing you the sites that are linked to your starting point. There are no more than six at a time, split between incoming and outgoing links with options to display more in either direction. The network grows as you explore, and is color coded to make it easy to differentiate between incoming links (green) and outgoing links (blue).
You can further explore a link by scrolling or clicking on it, the program then shows you a screen shot of the linked site and will also display the site's RSS feed so you can see the most recent posts. There are also visual cues (plus and minuses) that show you positive and negative indicators of the community.
There is a browser plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that brings the interface to you. "So if you wind up on a site that is worthy of a little walk on the Web 2.0 side, simply start the walk from there to bring up the network.
There are widgets of course, one that allows your visitors to walk you and one that displays the live site feed on your blog or web site. Not sure I will be displaying the live site show since anything can and does show up on that feed but a link showing visitors who I am connected to would be cool.
Overall this is a very interesting tool that can either help you understand the inner workings of the web, or that can just be used to take a walking tour of the World Wide Web.
I am always impressed with people who see the world just a little bit differently than the masses. Those people that have an overactive imagination and are not afraid to use it. These are the people that give us the most useful and innovative resources, making our lives just a bit more interesting.
The green/recycle/earth friendly movement is important and companies that are leading the way are worth checking out. The companies Lemondrop.com highlight's in the post are impressive so I have listed them, but of the three one stood out for me and was worth a post of its own.
The two guys behind this company are PIERRE ANDRE SENIZERGUES (PAS), founder and CEO of Sole Technology, parent company of etnies, etnies Girl, etnies Plus, éS, Emerica, Altamont Apparel and ThirtyTwo and GIL LE BON DE LAPOINTE, a designer for over 20 years in the action sports industry in visual marketing and merchandising. Both of these gents are long time skateboarders, which shows in their work.
From the web site:
SKATE STUDY HOUSE (SSH) is an innovative design concept specializing in recreating popular furniture through the vision of a skateboarder. The movement of a skateboarder constantly changes -- it recreates itself by transcending boundaries and inventing ways to conquer obstacles. It’s constantly about anticipation and adaptation to one’s environment. The same is true for living design. The combination of the two produces a mixture of contemporary lifestyle, art and action sports culture, which is all found in this unique collection.
The Product:
What is so impressive about this company and their product's is that they are not only recycling and creating useful items, but the furniture looks good. These are pieces that you could place in a commercial or residential location. The items have personality and a high-end look. On top of that these guys seem to be having fun, they enjoy their work and it shows in the furniture they create.
Finally, this company is just one more example of how a person can take what they love and turn into a business. So the next time you find yourself thinking wouldn't it be nice to wake up in the morning excited about going to work, stop thinking it and just do it. Take your passion and turn it into your career, it doesn't mean you have to start your own business-though you can, it could mean just finding a company that ignites your passion.
So tell me what you think...could you see this furniture in your home or office??
Established by two former commercial real estate brokers, Alan Bernier and Garrett Krueger, the idea for Rofo—which stands for Right of First Offer—came from their firsthand experience as commercial real estate brokers.
While larger businesses typically had the people and resources on-hand to find and compare space, we saw entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle repeatedly in their search for the right place to locate their business.
Rofo's site is easy to navigate, broken into 4 distinct areas, search, needs, advice, and listing additions. This commercial real estate site addresses unfamiliar real estate jargon, average pricing for the area, reliable service providers, and has a forum for questions and answers.
Once items come across your account inbox, you can send property managers requests for showings, conduct Q&A sessions with users, and even publish reviews and directions for fellow users to consider when searching for space and ruminating needs. Mashable
I agree with Paul at Mashable, "that as a search utility alone Rofo is quite good if unfortunately very selective in regional focus." Rofo announced on their blog 9/20/2008 their milestone acquisition of their 6,000th commercial listing in the Bay Area. Rofo is California based and predominately Bay Area focused, but like any good thing with more time and exposure looks like it could grow nationally, possibly even globally.
Rofo will be a great addition to the ever growing residential sites out there, my favorites being Activerain and Trulia.
Financial sector is in trouble again today, the Dow Jones industrial average down 460 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has fallen 54 points, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 74 points. The big news makers are Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch, Bank of America, AIG, and the Fed buy up of $70 Billion in mortgage-baked repos.
Last week we discussed the Fannie & Freddie Bailout and in my opinion it was a necessary move by the Treasury but a move that would only maintain the status quo not improve the "credit crunch" or "mortgage meltdown" situation.
Today a few things have happened to strengthen that opinion, the Fed has fulfilled $70 Billion in mortgage-backed repos of the $173 billion in mortgage-backed repos out on the market. Lenders are still not seeing interest in mortgage-backed securities because of global concerns with the US financial industry and with todays news the Feds may be stepping up to buy more of these repos in the not too distant future. Lehman Brothers is looking at bankruptcy and Merill Lynch is being gobbled up by Bank of America at $29 a share, equating to $50 billion in stock.
Finally, AIG is looking to do a 3 part plan to raise $50 billion in liquidity. AIG has negotiated a deal with the state of New York to access $2o billion of its assets held by their subsidiaries to stay in business. There is no plan to have the Fed come in and bailout this company directly, instead the Fed has hired Morgan Stanley to negotiate a bridge loan for AIG. This bridge loan, if it happens, will be based on $20 to $25 billion in treasury reserves on assets that are worth twice that. Rumor had it that Berkshire Hathaway was in talks with AIG but backed out, probably because the deal isn't good enough for Warren Buffet to expend the $50 billion to save this insurance giant. Lehman believes they have until Wednesday to raise the needed capital and from all vantage points this is not a company that we can afford to see fall, so let's hope they can do it.
It is like throwing a rock into a pond and watching the ripples as they flow out into the deeper water. Everything is interconnected, there is no one action that is going to fix the financial, housing, and insurance industries in one fell swoop.
The Fed's are scheduled to meet and possibly cut rates on Tuesday September 16th, with the market shift and subsequent panic, if they do not cut it will be a surprise. Previously expectations on the street were that the Feds would leave the rate unchanged, however they are now expecting that there will be a a 25 to 50 basis point cut. The Fed's have room for a cut and may today feel a need to insure some confidence by cutting the fed funds rate.
Now what does all of this mean to homeowners, home buyers, investors, and the average consumer?
The bad news is the difficulty in obtaining home loans that has been felt for the last year will unfortunately continue. There is no reason that mortgage-backed securities are going to turn into a profitable or even safe investment, if anything they are looking worse than ever, so the tightening on lending guidelines will move forward. For investors out there if you had money tied up in any of these entities you are feeling some definite pain today. Stocks have dropped significantly and quickly, so money has been lost. If you had investment or saving accounts with these institutions you should be protected in most cases, but a good practice is diversification you should never keep all of your money in one place.
The good news for consumers is if the Fed cut happens your interest rate will improve by a quarter to a half of a percent on credit cards, equity lines, car loans, student loans, etc.. Long term interest rates, your 30, 20 and 15 year fixed mortgages will see some short term improvement, so for those individuals that are able to purchase or refinance this is a good time to do it.
When you turn on the news this evening remember to keep it all in perspective, the media is equivalent to a dog with a bone, they will take this news and beat it to death. The outlook will be ground shaking doom and gloom, no different than any other day and any other news story. The experts will you show how this crisis will move into the overall economy and trickle down to the unsuspecting masses. The news is taken from a global world perspective, you are an individual living in a micro world which is affected by this news but not controlled by it.
If you are ready to buy or refinance a home, do it. If you are ready to start or grow a business, do it. And if you are an investor add this information to your ongoing research and invest accordingly. The only thing that has really changed with all of this news is that interest rates may see a short term improvement and investors may need to restructure their investment portfolios. Stay educated and you will make the right decisions.
This weekend Henry Paulson announced the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In Paulson's words "the housing downturn is at the heart of the economic downturn." Fannie and Freddie combined are projected to have $14 billion in loses. Fannie was able to raise capital, Freddie not so able.
The goal of this Fed plan is supposed to be:
The plan to inject up to $100 billion in each of the government-chartered mortgage companies could not only help lower mortgage rates but, some investors are hoping, buoy the overall economy. The plan could help banks feel more open to write new mortgages and to refinance existing mortgages at lower rates, offering a possible lifeline to consumers struggling with increasing payments.
Is this good news?
Well investors in the stock market seemed to think so, at least on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose over 250 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 24 points, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 17 points. This rally was short lived though as the market has opened down today, fickle investors have started to shorten the financial's. Not a big surprise, investors are reactionary and tend to sprint when they should be pacing, today we see that a bit more thought is being given to the ramifications of this takeover.
Now that we have the market's take on this, what does this mean to Joe homeowner and Susie home buyer? The ultimate goal is to create a more advantageous lending environment, thus stimulating the housing market, and the overall economy right? So, will this action by Treasury do that?
In my humble opinion, the answer is no or at least not in the short term. I have personally been in the mortgage trenches these last 6 years and I have seen how the lenders have handled the housing market turn thus far. This move to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a band-aid at best, it will keep the status quo not create a more favorable lending environment.
Let's recap what has been done thus far to help the mortgage meltdown:
1. The Fed's lower rates, making money cheaper.
2. The Fed's opened up more money to the lenders.
3. The Fed's personally bailed out some of the lenders.
4. The conventional and government loan limits were raised to allow Fannie, Freddie, and more government backed loans.
5. Tax breaks on mortgage insurance extended and no taxation for short sale recipients.
What did these five things do for the mortgage and housing industry up to this point?
1. Banks only want to do Fannie, Freddie, and government backed loans
2. Loan guidelines tightened across the board.
3. Harder for buyers to qualify for loans.
4. Less loans being given to home buyers.
5. Less homes being sold.
Now the Feds are stepping in and bailing out Fannie and Freddie the two entities, excluding FHA and VA, that are doing the most loans. So my question is, if Fannie and Freddie are already backing most of the loans today how does a bailout increase the number of loans that will be given? FHA and VA loans are government backed loans, and like Fannie and Freddie they have tightened their guidelines since the onslaught of the credit crunch, so will the Feds come in and ease up guidelines for their new companies? Obvious answer is no.
So what has changed with the Fed's taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? confidence is the only thing that can be and so far has been helped with this move. For the consumer that means you could see a nice little dip in interest rates. How long will that dip last, is anyone's guess. The bond market is affected by more than just housing and the financial's. You still have oil, inflation, employment, the global economy, world issues, and a presidential election to contend with.
Interest rates are not the reason home buyers are having issues qualifying for loans, it has been the tightening in lending guidelines that were instituted by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA, coupled with the loss of investors for mortgage backed securities that have made obtaining home loans harder and harder.
Before the mortgage meltdown there was a healthy secondary market for mortgage backed securities, which created 100's of loan options and a competitive lending environment-granted it got a little too competitive, but it allowed more people to buy homes. The only way there will be a positive turn in the housing market is if diversity comes back, more lenders, more loan programs. Putting the four major lenders under one boss does not bring diversity into the lending industry, if anything it tells the world that the only mortgage backed securities that are safe to buy are those that are backed by the government.
This move by the Fed to create security is going to do the opposite and handicap lenders, just look at what investors are doing to the financial's today. Now there will be no confidence in a bank's ability to set their own lending guidelines and this is not just for home loans it will move into auto, credit cards, business, and commercial loans.
Personally, I think this move by the Fed helps Fannie and Freddie two very important lending institutions, but hurts the financial industry as a whole.
In a previous post Sexy Bluetooth I wrote about the Jawbone 2 Bluetooth headset and how necessity, function, and fashion can all merge together in one device. The Aliph company is the owner of the JAWBONE but the designer is Yves Behar and his company Fuseproject.
Yves Behar is unique in that he believes that it is his mission to bring technology into the human experience. Behar uses design to transform every day items by considering the human need, finding new functionality, while also merging utility and beauty.
Yves Behar felt that the JAWBONE should be more than just a headset and designed it in such a way that it becomes a useful attribute rather than an annoying distraction.
"Humanistic technology rests on your skin, knows when you are talking, take out all the techie and nerdy pieces and make it beautiful. If it isn't beautiful it doesn't belong on your face."
Behar's designs go far beyond a Bluetooth headset, to watches, computers, home interior and technology, footware, as well as architectural pursuits. Yves Behar proves that the merging of art with science not only enhances an object, but can improve the performance and function of that object.
The tag line for Fuseproject is Design Brings Stories To Life, watch this Ted.com video to see the story behind Behar's designs.
Yves Behar on Ted.com
From the Ted website:
Over the past decade, Yves Behar and his firm fuseproject have become the design group that companies turn to for a game-changing idea. Take the re-invention of the Bluetooth headset, for one; or the re-envigoration of the venerable but dowdy Birkenstock line; or Behar's LED-chic Leaf lamp for Herman Miller.
And yes, Behar and fuseproject are the people who put the green bunny ears on the XO laptop -- and are redesigning the next-gen XOXO laptop due in 2010. This quirky but deeply felt project encapsulates much of his recent work, fusing gotta-have-it design with a mission of social responsibility.
"[Behar] has the ability to strip something down to its basic functional logic and then apply a set of emotional and aesthetic considerations to create something unique. It's an art."
Chris Hacker, chief design officer at Johnson & Johnson
In order to capitalize on the social networking phenomenon, you need to ask yourself some questions....
Who are you?
What are you looking for?
Where do you want this machine to take you?
Why are you here?
When will you have the time?
How do you exchange your ideas?
I am sure you know this but there are oodles and oodles of social sites out on the web to join, and though your first inclination may be to jump on as many as possible, if you become part of too many you will never keep up! Your efforts will be diluted and counterproductive. The idea is to connect, build mutually beneficial relationships, and enjoy a little self expression.
Are you a music buff, does your business fall into or compliment the music world? Then you may like one of these:
Are you a news or information addict, does your business provide a service that would be benefited by the exchange of information? Then here are some sites to check out:
I haven't even scratched the surface with this list, I could literally go on for days maybe even months listing social and networking sites. So how do you choose which to join and spend what little time you have on? Your personality, motivation, business style and/or type will dictate which social sites you should sign up for.
Whichever way you go the trick with these sites is to know the website's demographic, to be active, and like the name says BE SOCIAL. If you are not meeting people, creating rapport, and establishing mutually beneficial relationships these sites will not help you. Like high school the more popular you are, the more people you will meet, and the more visible your business and website will be.
Finally do not fake it until you make it, the posers are easy to spot, and they will eat you up and spit you out. Don't waste your time, if you can not be there and be real find another way to market yourself and your business.
Here are few more sources you may want to check out:
So it looks like DIGG is changin it up a bit!?! Hallelujah! I am a DIGGer but I have not really DUGG as much as I should. The idea behind this site is great:
"Digg is a place for people to discover and share 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 users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online."
I find that the reality doesn't meet up with the concept, what I mean by that is that the site is a bit congested and convoluted. When I joined DIGG I thought it would cut down on my web scroungin. I search the net for interesting information, and enjoy it-can we say nerd! This site touts the discover and share component, ergo no need to spend hours searching the web right? Aaah no!
There is so much stuff on this site that doesn't interest me it is hard to find the stuff that does. Also if I find something out there I like unless the site has a DIGG button I wont DIGG it, and though I have DIGG Bro's that shoot me shouts that doesn't lead me to those interesting tidbits I am looking for. DIGG, DUGG, shoot, shout if you need the primer for the DIGG Lingo let me know?
So what are they changing over there in the DIGG world? On June 30th the DIGG Blog announced the roll out of the Recommendation Engine
"Now that there are more than 16,000 stories submitted to the Upcoming section every day, it’s difficult to sort through everything to find the best content." The Recommendation Engine uses your past digging activity to identify what we call Diggers Like You to suggest stories you might like.
It's like they read my mind!!
But what exactly does it do and how does it work, will I meet more people-this is a social site right, and will I finally be able find the good stuff?
Every time a user digs a story, the system compares that action with the actions of everyone else in the system, and it finds which users have the most digs in common. To keep recommendations from being all over the map, the system calculates connections for each topic separately, so that two users who share an interest in video games won't necessarily be thought to have, say, like opinions on political stories. To keep recommendations diverse, the system shows only a certain number of stories from each compatible user and, each time the user requests recommendations, fills out its quota of suggestions employing stories selected by less compatible users. The recommendation engine also limits the effect that a single dig can have, so that someone who digs a very popular story won't suddenly become connected to thousands of other users. Because the system calculates correlations in real time, using separate servers devoted to performing the computations, Kast says that a new dig will affect the recommendation system within one or two minutes.
That was a mouthful, well in essence they are trying to cut down the clutter and get people connected....good concept. I will wait to see the reality of it though, in the meantime I guess I will get back on the DIGG train and see how this new feature plays out. How about you?
If you are not sure what DIGG is let me know I can definitely start from the beginning and work up to the intricate stuff. DIGG gives me a lot of traffic on my outside blog, it can be a bit time consuming-what isn't, but if used properly very helpful.
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.
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