In search of wisdom...

Women flocked by the masses to see Twilight's New Moon last night, dragging along the occasional unlucky male with them. All the while malware purveyors were taking advantage of the latest big thing. Oblivious Twilight fans casually wander about the web and happen to fall into these well placed traps. Probably making quite a few parents of teen girls absolutely crazy. If instead of going to see the movie in theaters you decided to go to google and type in "Watch New Moon Full Movie" you may have ended up with more than you really wanted.

Instead of getting to pine over Edward or drool over Jacob's abs, you could end up with a hefty dose of spyware, trojans and viruses. Once you're drawn in by the bait, you get bombarded by pop-ups warning of virus infections. Then when you click to install very fake anti-virus software you end up letting all the viruses in. A lot of people naturally don't trust pop-up ads, but I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few still fell into the trap. Leave it to a vampire movie to suck the life out of your computer.

(Source: SWITCHED)

15 things, Brand and Agencies need to understand about SOCIAL MEDIA.

• Never underestimate the resources, time, dedication and passion it takes to engage and cultivate relationships across multiple communities. It's just not the same for any two networks.
• Just like other marketing medium, Social Marketing requires a dedicated strategy, goal, metrics, and a tactical plan.
• Always remember to ask yourself two questions, "Why do we want to participate?" and "What do we want to achieve out of it?"
• Not the entire social media shall be relevant to you, instead there are hubs across social media that should be of prime focus to you like in case of a Bollywood celebrity the prime focus can be Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and their own blog whereas Digg, BigAdda and others can be taken care later.
• Social Media marketing is not an overnight process; it takes time, sincerity, focus and cultivation.
• Participate as a member and not a marketer.
• Relationships are based on mutual benefits, so think about what you bring to the table and why before you jump in.
• Social Media isn't a catalyst to summon marketing for marketing's sake. It's an opportunity to engage with groups of people by tapping into conversations that mutually serve the benefits of the very people we wish to reach.
• This isn't broadcast marketing. This is one-to-one discussions that can provide incredible value back to you and your company as long as the rules of engagement are clear and not manipulated.
• It takes time, patience, sincerity, and value. This is about relationships and it's much bigger and more relevant than just you and the company you represent.
• Conversations are taking place online and it will continue to take place with or without you. It's better to be there and take active participation in it.
• There are tools available to do so; these tools are more than you would ever know, with more tools introduced every week.
• Social Media is much more than user-generated content. It's driven by people in the communities where they communicate and congregate. They create, share, and discover new content without our help right.
• In Social Media, communities take the form of social networks and the communal groups within them. People establish associations, friendships, and allegiances around content, objects, products, services, and ideas. How they communicate is simply subject to the tools and networks that people adopt based on the influence of their social graph - and the culture within.
• As marketers you need to decide who you want to concentrate on, the Influencers or the easily influenced.

I hope these would help us all in improving our efforts and practices on the social media platform.

Happy Consumer Engagement!!

A collection of 30 most interesting and useful eBooks for people who want to understand WTFAQs about Social Media Marketing and Networking. Some of these books helped me immensely while writing my thesis on Social Media Optimization.

1. Social Media from Spanner Works


2. Geeks Guide to Promoting Yourself With Twitter - Geekpreneur


3. The Zen of Blogging - Hunter Nutall


4. What is Social Media - iCrossing


5. A Primer in Social Media - SmashLab


6. Effective Internet Presence - Effective Internet Presence


7. Introduction to Good Usability - Peter Pixel


8. Increasing the Response to Your Email Marketing Program - CRM Transformation


9. We Have a Website. Now What? - Craig Rentmeester


10. Blogs & Social Media - PRSA


11. The Podcast Customer Revealed - Edison Media Research


12. Social Media and Social Networking Starting Points from Chris Brogan


13. Social Networking and The Employer's Dilemma


14. Anti-Social Networking from Release 1.0


15. Social Networking, the "Third Place", and the Evolution of Communications from New Media Consortium


16. Sales 2.0 - Leveraging Web 2.0 to Sell from Genius.com


17. Cheater's Guide to Social Media from shift communications


18. Social Media Policies- A collection of Social Media Policies from Dave Fleet


19. The New Rules of Viral Marketing - David Meerman Scott


20. Marketing Apple - MarketingApple.com


21. Masters of Marketing - Startup Internet Marketing


22. Podcast Marketing eBook - Christopher S. Penn


23. Google Adwords Secrets - SEOBook


24. Get Viral Get Visitors - Stacie Mahoe


25. Marketing With Case Studies - Dynamic Copywriting


26. How to Write a Marketing Plan - Geisheker Group


27. SEO for WordPress blogs - Blizzard Internet


28. Social Web Analytics - Social Web Analytics


29. Social Media for Small Business sponsored eBook from Microsoft Office live for SMEs


30. Story Listening through Social Media

Don't stop yourself if you want to thank me by bookmarking this post or sharing with your friends on Facebook. In case of any ERRORS, please blame the authors :D :D

Cheers!! Happy Networking!!

Follow me on twitter- http://twitter.com/shahzadkhan

After a month of receiving the invitation to experience GOOGLE WAVE, I have now understood this new platform to a comfortbale extent. I take NO credit for the information that I'm providing below. These are few things which I have learnt and known from my fellow WAVE surfers. Hope this would be useful to everyone.

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Search Cheat Sheet

This is a quick guide to the operators and restricts supported by wave search.


Keywords


about:[keyword] - finds waves which have [keyword] occurring anywhere. Same as [keyword].


title:[keyword] - finds waves which have [keyword] in the title.


caption:[keyword] - finds waves which have an attachment where [keyword] occurs in the caption.


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Status


is:read - finds all read waves.


is:unread - finds all unread waves.


Note: you cannot currently do a search like "-is:read" by itself and get reliable results due to an outstanding restriction on megastore queries


is:mute - finds all muted waves.


is:unmute - finds all waves not muted


is:active - currently the same as is:unread.


is:note - finds all waves which have you as the only participant and contributor


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Participants


from:[address] - finds waves from the participant identified by the address. Special case of from:me identifying waves from yourself.


by:[address] - same as from:[address].


to:[address] - find waves which are a dialogue between you and the participant identified by the address.


with:[address] - find waves that have the participant identified by the given address explicitly listed.


owner:[address] - find waves by person, that they created.


only:[address] - finds waves to which only the participant specified by the given address contributed.


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Date Search


Currently, there are a few restricts:


past:[date term] - finds all waves in the last period.


previous:[date term] - finds all waves in the period before the last period.


before:[date term] - finds all waves before a certain period.


after:[date term] - finds all waves after a certain period.


which can be combined with date terms:


day


week


month


year


So you can have past:week, past:year. There is also support for


past:N[date term] where N > 0. So you can have past:3days (today, yesterday, the day before yesterday).


Also you can have


past:Ndays


past:Nweeks


past:Nmonths


past:Nyears


Finally, you can abbreviate days, weeks, months and years to a single letter (d, w, m, y). Thus you can write


past:3d


past:2w


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Folders


in:[folder name] - find waves in the folder with the given name. For example, in:inbox.


in:[search name] - find waves in the saved search with the given name.


is:unfiled - find waves which have not been moved to a user folder.


is:filed - find waves which belong to some user folder.


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Attachments


has:attachment - finds waves with an attachment. This changed from "is:image".


has:document - finds waves with an attachment which is a document. (coming soon)


has:image - finds waves with an attachments which is an image. (coming soon)


caption:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with caption containing [keyword].


filename:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with filename containing [keyword]. (coming soon)


mimetype:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with mimetype containing [keyword]. (coming soon)


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Tags


tag:[tag name] - finds waves with the tag [tag name].


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Gadgets


has:gadget - finds waves which contain a gadget.


gadget:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with name containing keywords. e.g. chess, fridge, map, risk, sokoban.


gadgeturl:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with urls containing keyword.


gadgettitle:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with a title containing keywords.


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Expressions


foo & bar - match waves with foo and bar.


You can use AND, or skip the operator altogether, as the logical and is the default.


foo | bar - match waves with foo or bar (or both).


foo OR bar - match waves with foo or bar (or both).


-foo - match waves that do not contain foo. (There is an outstanding bug that causes searches with only negative terms to fail. To get around it, use to:me -foo)


"foo … bar" - matches waves that contain the exact phrase "foo … bar" (There is an outstanding bug for live search not working with phrases)


foo & (bar | -baz) - matches waves that contain foo and either bar or do not contain baz.


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Phrases


"[multiple terms]" - match waves with one or more terms in sequence:


"hot dog" catches waves with the terms hot and dog in sequence. This is also required for other operators such as in:"new inbox" where say "new inbox" is a saved search.


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XML Search


tags:subtag - find all waves which have this combination.


tag:[tag] - find all waves which have this .


attribute:[value keyword] - finds all waves which have < …. attribute=value …> where keyword is a token in value.


----------------


Wave ID


id:"" - find a wave with a specific wave id.


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Zero Inbox


If you want to zero inbox, you can hack this temporarily by saving a search "my inbox" with the query:


in:inbox is:unread this:week. You can then use the menu option "Mark as read" in the wave panel.


Alternative zero inbox: in:inbox is:unread past:7days -is:mail


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Saved Searches


A search can be saved using one of two methods:


Create a search in the search box and then press the Save search button at the bottom of the Digest panel.


Add a search using the searches Add button on the Navigation panel. Then add the search query and name of the search in the Saved Search popup panel.


Saved searches can be edited and managed using the pop-up menu which shows when hovering over the saved search in the searches section of the Navigation panel.


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Filters


Filters are saved searches which also have an action to apply to all waves which match the saved search. The actions supported are


skip inbox - removes the wave from inbox. Whilst this wave continues to match the search, it will continue to stay out of the inbox. Skip inbox will shortly be renamed archive.


mark as read - Whilst the wave continues to match the search, it will be marked as read.


----------------


Folders


You can add a folder by using the Add button on the folders section of the Navigation panel. A folder is added by typing the folder name in the text box given and hitting enter.


Folders can be managed using the pop-up menu that shows when hovering over the folder on the Navigation panel.


Add folder - A subfolder can be added under the current folder.


Rename - rename the current folder.


Delete - delete the current folder.


----------------


Language Filter


Much thanks to Geoffrey Spear for the help and insight:


The problem is that these tags aren't exclusive; if a Wave has any English in it at all it will show up under "lang:en" even if it's mostly in another language. This is particularly a problem since the search terms themselves are all English so a Wave in, say, Portuguese about using Wave will tell people they need to use "with:whatever" and the system will see "with", an English word and suddenly the Wave is in both lang:en and lang:pt.


"group:public@a.gwave.com lang:en -lang:es -lang:fi -lang:hu -lang:pt -lang:nl -lang:ja -lang:he -lang:fr -lang:ru -lang:sv -lang:zh -lang:de -lang:no -lang:da"


… is fairly effective, although you basically need to keep adding more as you find Waves not in one of these languages. Not a really good solution

----------------

In addition to the above commands, the following keyboard shortcuts may also be use to some of us.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Arrow keys: Move up/down within a list of waves, and left/right from inbox to open wave panel with your arrow keys.


• Spacebar: Go to the next unread wave in a list


• Ctrl+E: Edit a selected wave


• Shift+Enter (in edit mode): Finish editing your wave; equivalent to clicking the "Done" button


• Enter: Add a reply to a selected wave directly under it


• Shift+Enter (in view mode): Add a reply to the bottom of a list of waves

Below are the top 100 Online apps and tools which I have collated according to my own experience and usage. If you think I've missed on any of the tools that you've been using, then kindly mention it in the comments along with a link.

Aggregation & Collaboration

• Newshawker - one of the leading blog aggregators out there; check out the entrepreneurship section as a good example
• Basecamp - an oldie, but a goody - online project management made easy (37Signals, the company behind Basecamp, makes several online apps that you'll want to check out)
• Digsby - get your IM, Email and Social Networks all in one place, that's what Digsby is all about
• Tinychat - create chatrooms on-the-fly; BackNoise is another good one for this
• Gist - one of my favorite apps of the day, Gist helps you learn more about the contacts you've made - all in one place
• Google Apps - by far the most popular toolset with this crowd, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs all get the nod for making your life easier. Of course, I have to mention Google Reader or Google Wave in this category either
• SpringPad - one of the latest online notebooks, this one is worth a test drive
• MindMesiter - collaborative, online mind mapping; I've yet to catch on to the whole mind-mapping craze, but those that use it love it - maybe it's for you?
• Instapaper - a fast, easy, and free tool to save Web pages for reading later
• Utterli - another online chat tool you can use to start discussions via the Web or your mobile device
• Skribit - let your readers suggest topics for you to blog about, and put an end to writer's block

Monitoring & Analytics

• ConvoTrack - a bookmarklet that enables you to see the entire conversation surrounding a post (see comments from Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, Reddit, etc.)
• TweetBeep - you've probably heard of this one, but TweetBeep is the "Google Alerts" for Twitter - monitor keywords in Twitter and receive email summaries for free
• Google Analytics and Google Alerts - I know you've heard of these, but they are among the most valuable tools for monitoring and analytics today
• SocialMention - a free, real-time social media search and analysis tool
• Monitter - real-time, live Twitter monitor - lets you monitor Twitter for keywords, similar to features in some Twitter clients
• TweetGrid - another free Twitter monitoring tool, but this one lets you decide how many windows (or active searches) you want in your "grid"
• TweetChat -allows you to create chats around Twitter hashtags - a popular tool for following #journchat discussions
• Twitterfall - my tool-of-choice for following #journchat, though it's really a more powerful Twitter monitoring tool that displays tweets in a "waterfall" window

File Utilities

• YouSendIt - easy way to share large files online
• Twitpic - easy way to share photos via Twitter

Multimedia

• UStream - Free live video streaming
• Qik - record and stream video from your mobile device

Online Research

• Zotero - easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage and cite your research sources.
• Addict-o-matic - if I had a "super cool" category, this one would be in it - instantly create a custom page with the latest buzz on any topic

Online Journalism

• Publish2 - this one's on my "ones to watch" list now - Publish2 bills itself as the Web's largest newsroom, where journalists collaborate to curate the news
• Slinkset - this wasn't mentioned in the chat, but it's a cool tool for creating your own online news site

Research

There's no one software tool that will satisy all your research needs, but start with some of the following

• Ottobib for research paper bibliographies.
• Google Reader for subscribing to your favorite web feeds.
• Spreeder to help you do all your reading faster.
• Dictionary.com to look up definitions.
• SpellJax to make sure you're speling is grate.
• Google Video and even YouTube for some learning via web video.

Books

• Internet Text Archive: This open source site has books in American, Canadian and universal libraries.
• Google Book Search: View entire books on this site, including non-fiction reference guides, literature, fantasy, poetry and more.
• The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania's book page provides listings for over 30,000 books, including author information and special lists for prize-winners, women authors and more.
• Authorama: This public domain books site publishes free books categorized alphabetically by author last name.
• ManyBooks.net: This smart site has books that can be viewed on your iPod, PDA or eBook reader, from poetry to romance to biographies.

Public Access Libraries and Research Centers

Even if you don't live in a major city, you can take advantage of research materials and more from resources like the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art and others.

• Library of Congress: Browse exhibitions, access educational resources, check out the American Folklife Center, copyright office, braille reading materials and more.
• Internet Public Library: Besides the reading room and reference resources, this site also has exhibits, a special collections site, and plenty of information for those interested in business, computers, science, health, government and more.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: Art enthusiasts can access the collection database for information about over 51,000 paintings and works inside the Met.
• MIT Libraries: Browse the collections and get information on how to borrow or order materials here.
• Musee de Louvre: Check out the collections, exhibitions and other educational resources online from one of the world's most famous museums.
• PublicLibraries.com: Find public libraries in all 50 states by searching this site.
• Mayo Clinic: Learn all about diseases, symptoms, health care and more on this site.
• LibWeb: Use this tool to get connected to academic libraries, public libraries, national libraries and other centers around the world.
• Library Spot: Follow links to libraries and reference sites, or use the Library Spot to look up information, ask the experts, look up genealogy questions and more.
• Questia: This online library promises "faster, easier research." Browse by subject category or keyword to access book profiles, journals, magazines, free books and more.

Podcasts

Listen to these podcasts for academic lectures, NPR shows, speeches, interviews and more.

• iTunesU: Listen to lectures from professors at Stanford and other colleges using this platform.
• University of Cambridge podcasts: This site offers a limited number of podcasts.
• "HyperManyMedia" Platform: The WKU distance learning podcasts and videos are offered in poetry, drama, fiction and more.
• American University Washington College of Law: If you want to brush up on your understanding of American law and justice, listen to these classes.
• The Education Podcast Network: This network has podcasts in the following areas: theatre arts, computer and technical skills, music education, information skills, math, second languages and a lot more.
• OpenCulture.com Free podcasts: Check here for free podcasts from universities like Columbia, Georgetown and the London School of Economics.
• Podcast Alley: Find podcasts on virtually any subject, from the environment to health, here.
• VoIP Free Calls Guide: Use this guide to set-up free voip conferences or interviews to include in your podcast.
• Classics Podcasts: Listen to the news, get vocabulary lessons and listen to textbooks in Latin and Greek.
• Digital Podcast: Find podcasts on books, music, the news, religion, technology and other subjects on this site.

Learning a New Language

If you want to learn a new language, these web tools can help you with pronunciation, vocabulary, and even planning a trip abroad.

• StudySpanish.com: Access free resources for Spanish vocabulary, verbs, grammar, pronunciation and more, at three different levels.
• Language Homework Help: MSN Encarta's resource helps you translate, find verb tenses, spell correctly and learn about history.
• iLoveLanguages: Find links and resources for dictionaries, translators, language lessons and more.
• BBC Languages: This is a great site for learning about different cultures and planning a trip abroad. Get updated news and weather information around the world, as well as vocabulary lessons and other activities in languages like Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Greek and Chinese.
• Virtual Language Tutor: Here you can be tutored in any language from Japanese to Texan Spanish to Canadian French to Russian to Swedish.

Government Sites

For authoritative information on science and technology, U.S. history, consumer information and more, visit these government sites.

• Consumer.gov: Besides getting consumer alerts and news about recalls, health care and other issues, this website can be studied to gain insight about the U.S. economy.
• U.S. Census Bureau: Get economic and cultural information about Americans here.
• The National Archives: Find all kinds of educational resources, including a research catalog, online exhibits and U.S. Declaration page, right here.
• Science.gov: Browse scientific topics like biology and nature, astronomy and space, earth and ocean sciences, computers and communication, and others.
• USGS: Check out the interactive map to learn about the country's geologic history and more.

Reference Guides and Dictionaries

This list features a medical dictionary, historical references and facts, global information, math help and more.

• AMS Books Online: Read math textbooks and theory books on this site.
• Free Tech Books: Read computer programming and computer engineering textbooks and lecture notes for free.
• The World Factbook: Look up history references, geography, government questions, economics, transportation information and more about every country.
• Dictionary.com: This site also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedia and other resources.
• Medline Plus Medical Dictionary: Look up confusing medical terms here.
• EPodunk: Get information about U.S. cities and states, including city tours, festivals and more.
• The Original Farmer's Almanac: Get information on the seasons, weather, astronomy, gardening and more from The Old Farmer's Almanac.
• Meteorology: If you've ever wanted to learn more about meteorology, you'll find lots of helpful guides on this site.
• Specialist Online Dictionary: Find all types of resources, dictionaries and reference guides for specialties like computers, the law, religion, philosophy, word games, writing, translation and more.
• RefDesk: RefDesk compiles lists of links and references for those who want to look up history, weather, maps and atlases, the news, movie times, lottery numbers and everything else.

Reference Sites

Head to these sites when you want to learn more about poetry, the environment, gardening, or scientific research.

• Poets.org: Whether you're an aspiring poet or a poetry enthusiast, listen to poems, learn about writers and more on this site.
• Discovery Channel: Watch videos, read articles and play games to learn about history, science, health and more.
• The New York Times: Get the latest news, delve into the archives, and gain insight into the world's culture, economy and politics.
• EPA.gov: From acid rain to human health to recycling, educate yourself on environmental issues from the EPA.gov.
• PBS: PBS is another fantastic site for catching up on politics, learning about history and culture, and playing educational games.
• National Gardening Association: Learn everything there is to know about gardening, from picking seeds to planning around the seasons to pest control right here.
• NYSE: Trade and learn about stocks, read about investments, the economy and finance here.
• Council for Higher Education Accreditation: Those wanting to go back to school will find this guide to accreditation a great help.
• Wikipedia: For a quick reference on anything from Pulp Fiction to Rakhi Sawant, use Wikipedia.
• ScienceDaily: Catch up on "the latest research news" here.

As I wrote above, I might have missed on applications/tools which you think might be useful, so kindly feel free to mention them along with a link below in the comments.