In search of wisdom...

To begin with, I do not want you guys to assume anything or may be reach to any conclusion. This post is based on the experiences of my friend who is an Egyptian living in Nairobi since last 2 years. Just like his fellow Egyptians, he also abhorred Hosni Mubarak to the core for whatever injustice he did to the whole nation. He even told me an instance when Hosni Mubarak's wife actually called up the Cairo Museum (which houses some of the most exquisite and precious jewelery ever) and asked them to give her one of the necklaces from the museum so that she could wear it in a party. Obviously the museum's manager never asked it back and Mrs. Mubarak never bothered to return it. Wow! The luxury of 'RULING' a country, that too Egypt.


Anyways, coming back to doing justice with this blog's title, here are some of the facts that my dear friend told me about 'life in Egypt' after the debacle of Hosni Muabrak-

1. The internal law and order has deteriorated so much in the country that more than 35,000 cars have been stolen in the last 2 months.

2. A second hand Toyota Corolla which used to cost them around $5000 earlier, costs them nearly $28,000

3. I am taking the liberty to repeat the exact words of my friend here, "Earlier the shopkeepers were very friendly and there was a lot of room for discussions (Negotiations) but now they just tell you, take it or leave it. A shopkeeper even cried in front of me saying, 'its 5pm and I haven't sold anything since morning, what do I take home with me?'. Now the shopkeepers and vendors are scared to keep their shop open after 5 pm because they think once its dark, someone might come and loot their hard earned money."

4. This one is more of a democratic problem for them. Christians who are a minority in Egypt (Close to 5%) are now demanding that the 'Egyptians' (read Muslims) be thrown out of the country and Christians should take control. Problems that democracy brings along with it.

5. The Muslim radicals who during the reign of Hosni Mubarak were never given a platform to voice out their opinions, are coming out loud and aggressive with their demand that 'Women should not be allowed to work'. Not only this, their bigger demand is so outrageous and audacious that I would mention it as a separate point down here.

6. They want the 'Pyramid Area' to be banned for public viewing. Why? Because of sculptures like Sphinx. As per the Islamic Ideology, Idol worshiping is forbidden and some of the Islamic scholars took this rule to another level by banning Idols completely for Muslims. So sculptures which represents any living being should be veiled according to them.

7. A normal 3 feet sheesha (Hookah) which he used to buy for $4 around 8 months back is now being sold for $20 because the factories are closing day by day and supply is less.

8. Since January 2011, the govt has changed 11 times.

9. A room (bed & breakfast) in a 5 star hotel which used to cost close to $180, now costs $35 ONLY. This rate is for Cairo as I am not aware of Sharm al Sheikh and other areas. However, based on the reduced rates don't even think of making a plan to visit Egypt. The situation is really bad.

As I said in the beginning, I am not an expert when it comes to International politics and these are some of the points that I picked up from the conversation that I had with my friend, However it is important to note that sometimes it is very dangerous to tamper with the ecosystem. I recently saw a sci-fi movie called 'In-Time' in which the assumed villain says, 'For some to be immortal, many have to die and if you ever try to change this balance, everyone would die'. I don't want to be politically incorrect here but I guess its actually true that sometimes the balance between the powerful and weak needs to be maintained for the whole ecosystem to be in harmony. May be I am wrong? May be I am confused? but all in all, its a thought to be explored.

One of the best penetrating opportunities for the global telecom players is the telecom market in Africa. In Asia, Europe, North America, the telecom sector is approaching a saturation point. The growth in these areas will be comparatively slower. The companies always look for the maximization of profit, whether it may be through cutting down of cost or increasing the sales. If the market reaches a saturation point then there is no opportunity to increase the sale. And if the company cannot decrease the cost then it will try either to diversify or to expand it grip in the global market. If the areas like North America, Asia and Europe are already in a saturation point then the next growing market for the global player will be Africa continent. Some of the major players in the telecom sectors of Africa are MTN, Safaricom, Zain, Vodacom, STC etc.

Since the processes of liberalization and privatization have been taken into consideration by African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, The Sudan, South Africa and Kenya, their telecommunication infrastructures have improved drastically. Many African governments have developed their telecommunication infrastructure by privatizing their former state-owned enterprises. So these open up the stage for global players to perform in it. Africa has become the fastest growing mobile-network market during last five years. The mobile user base has increased to more than 82 million in Africa. A survey by Ernst & Young shows that between 2002-07, the industry grew by 49.3 percent as opposed to Asia which recorded a 27.4 percent growth. This report’s estimate growth of the industry almost doubles that of Brazil which stood at 28 percent in the same period and is almost seven times the growth of France which grew at 7.5 percent over the same time. Even there was a report by The World Bank in which it mentioned that Afro-nations like Kenya have 95% of mobile network penetration and coverage gap of only 5%. Thus making it an attractive market to lure some of the major player from the world. Let’s think a bit over this scenario. Why the Afro mobile market is developing so late and faster than any area that used to be at the same period of time. In 2004, only 6% of the African citizen owned mobile. The supply side was much higher than the demand side. And the prices dropped, but made the African mobile network market a huge potential market for the global players. They produced low cost and user-friendly phones and network plans to attract more and more customer so that the company can increase its customer base. But there some other criteria or which we also call as external environment of a company which affects a company to operate in that area. The Law of Land also affects the company to design its operation in a country. They may be the tax-policy, the FDI policy of the government, the policy regarding and regulating the telecom sectors etc. Because of these regulations, there are many Afro-nations like South Africa which hold a huge potential market. In South Africa, there are only three players in telecom network market.

The heavy tax burden on both the operator and consumer is the major challenge for the industry, with an average taxation on the operator’s profits standing at 30%. For example, in Kenya, people pay tax of 26% on mobile communication and the operator pay the remaining 4%. The total tax paid is 30%. But still the government of these nations opines that the industry is highly profitable, despite of the fact that return on investment could be delayed due to poor infrastructure. The Afro-nation doesn’t have the apt infrastructure or the geographical hindrances as well as the population is scattered. The main problem lies with the electric infrastructure. The company has to keep more than 2000 standby generators because of frequent power failure. On of the company operating in Kenya, Safaricom spends over KShs 171 million on diesels due to lack of power supply. This makes the cost of investment much high in comparison to the other area. The operating cost of the company is high in this area because of frequent power cut and even the tax rate is also high, thus bringing down the profit of the company. But it may be the future scenario of these countries which lures the global players. The company may sustain the loss in the short-run but it may earn profit in the long-run. Because the economy of Afro-nations are growing at a remarkable rate and the infrastructure are also gradually increasing. So it may in the long-run be aptly developed so as to favor the network industry. Moreover this is the entry level of the network sector in Africa as it is developing but once it get saturated the threat to entrants decreases because if they enter in to the segment, they will not find any extras to lure the customers.

Bharti-Zain Deal

“Zain’s profitability is lower than Bharti despite average higher spending by its users. However, as per an estimate only one in two Africans holds mobile phone and with Zain having a strong presence in most of the countries in Africa, Bharti is well set to dream big in terms of global ambitions.”

On 11th February, 2010, Sunil Bharti Mittal, on behalf of the management of Bharti, confirmed that it is in an exclusive talk with Zain Telecom for buying the African asset of Zain (excluding Sudan and Morocco) for $10.7 billion. He declared that the company is going to raise a debt of $9 billion to finance its acquisition of Zain’s Africa operations. And the rest amount of $1.7 billion would be met from the cash reserves of the Bharti. The share price of Bharti- Airtel was Rs.311.85 on 11th February, 2010 on the date of declaration of this deal. The investor became pessimistic on this deal and with the bearish mood they sold out their holding shares. This behavior pushed the price of the Bharti-Airtel down to Rs. 272.8 in the first week of March. When asked by a Media Person about this reaction of shareholders, Mr. Mittal replied that it is obvious that when a company makes an acquisition, the share price of that company falls who acquire and the share price of that company rise which is acquired. Now let us analyze this behavior of share-holders. The company when acquire another company, it not only become the owner of the assets of the company but also he become liable to pay-off the debt or the liability of the company. So the acquiring company has to pay the liability from his own pocket and thereby decreasing the Profit and the EPS. So the share holders feel insecure of their holdings of shares and they try to sell out their holdings. Whereas on the counterpart when a company is acquired, the shareholder feel secured that the outstanding liability would paid off, a new and better management is going to run the company and bring it back to track. The company will earn profit in the hand of new management and give a better return on the investment. So the shareholders show a characteristic of bearish on the shares of acquired company. For this reason the share holder are bullish on the acquired company and bearish on the acquiring company.

After the declaration by the company of this deal, there were many rumors that rolled in the market and the printing media as well as the electronic media. Many analysts termed it as a forced marriage or this deal has black futures etc. They were of this view because they felt that the Bharti- Airtel is paying much higher than the actual value. Even the S&P revised its rating on the Bharti- Airtel share price. Some of their views were:

• It felt that there is higher rate of business risk on the Zain Deal which Bharti may have to bear.
• It revised the ranking of Bharti share and rated as negative credit watch.
• With the product portfolio of Safaricom, Zain is bound to make losses in the longer run.
  

The impact of this rating by S&P on the share price of Bharti would that the rate on borrowing by the Bharti Airtel may increase. But after the rating provided by the S&P, Anand Sharma, Minister for Trade and Commerce, on behalf of Government of India said that if an Indian Company is trying to take the essence of Indian Trade to world market then GOI would back such acquisition. Coming back to the point that whether the Bharti groups is over-paying for Zain deal? And because of this will the stock come under more pressure?

Over the last few days, we have witnessed a major turbulence in the Kenyan market. With the CCK guidelines and backing to lower the calling rates, Zain slashed it rates by flat 50% along with the messaging rates. And that took the market with storm, even though for a short while. There were people who started calling Safaricom names and some even said that Safaricom has a very capitalistic approach and has exploited the Kenyans with its high rates. We even saw Zain stooping down low and playing the ‘bendover’ song right in front of the Safaricom HQ, which to me was in a bad taste because you don’t expect dignified companies to react like this. During all this, Safaricom maintained the decorum in a dignified way and without disappointment to its users, even slashed the calling rates.

However we as Kenyans need to look at a bigger picture and analyze the whole situation. When I say that I am and always be with Safaricom, I do have my own valid reasons. I would write them down in just 3 points and expect you people to respond with your opinion on the same.

1. Quality and Coverage: -

I have been on both Safaricom and Zain for more than 3 years now and the kind of service both the companies provide is drastically different. Even when I have been on my wild Safaris around Kenya, I have always remained connected with my folks and friends via Safaricom. Zain’s customer care and network coverage are still an issue and I wonder if they grow in number of subscribers, how would they maintain their existing standards, forget improving them, given that they were already in loss and with the present tariff they would be doomed in a longer run.

2. Safaricom is seriously Kenyan, just like us: -

With 35% shares owned by the Govt. and 25% shares owned by Kenyans like us, Sh 4.8 billion out of the total Sh8 billion dividend is actually coming to Kenyans itself. Safaricom has always and is continuing to invest in the Kenya itself with new and improved products.

3. Owned by the people, not by a person: -

Unlike the competition, Safaricom is a public listed company and is the biggest firm by capitalization on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Safaricom is answerable to its shareholders which includes the common people and the Govt. It cannot price the calls below the cost, not because it can’t afford but because Safaricom understands very well that a price war is not at all good for the whole Kenyan ecosystem which includes us the common people.

Now, I leave this conversation open for you people to take it forward and give me your opinions about the same… What do you guys think? Niko na Safaricom, what about you?

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.


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


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.


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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.

The world is officially coming to end, you can get wigs for your cat(s). lol...

Every year there are hundreds of new online tools and applications that come and go. Some of them make great impacts on our online experience and many of them go unnoticed. At Conversations, we analyzed more than 100 online tools and came up with the following top 10 online tools and applications that can make a difference to your digital experience.

Follow the links to find out more about the tools and the comments learning professionals have made about them.

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Prezi


is the highest ranked newcomer on the list. It's a Flash-based app that lets you build amazing, non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc.

Cost: free and paid for plans

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Evernote


lets you capture things (web pages, screenshots, photos, note, etc), which you can tag, store and find again fast . It works across many different (Windows and Mac OS) computers and phones (iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Palm Pre) that are used in daily life:

Cost: Free and premium accounts.

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Dimdim


is a web conferencing tool that lets you deliver synchronised presentations, whiteboards and web pages while sharing voice and video. It's already a winner of a number of awards, and offers remarkable value when compared to other commercial web conferencing systems.

Cost: Free for 20 users, Pro accounts start at a low monthly charge.

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Etherpad


is the only web-based word processor that allows people to work together in really real-time. Unlike other online documentation or wiki tools, Etherpad updates each document every half a second, which means that a number of people can work together and see each other's updates immediately.

Cost: Free and paid for professional and network plans

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myUdutu


is course authoring software that lets you build a course very quickly and easily online either on your own or collaboratively with others. You can easily import existing content, e.g. PowerPoint presentations.

Cost: The authoring tool is free to use. You can build your courses, pilot and modify them, all for no cost. There is a small per screen charge if you want to host the course on the Udutu site.

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Screenr


is an online screencasting tool. A number of these have come onto the market recently, but this tool from the Articulate stable has quickly become a favourite. It lets you record on your Mac or PC, and then play on the Web or on an iPhone.

Cost: Free

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Posterous


is a very simple blogging system. If you haven't yet got into blogging this is by far the simplest way to start. Just post to your Posterous blog using email and attach any type of file - photo, MP3, video, document, etc - if you want to include it. If you already have a blog elsewhere (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress or Typepad) you can also auto-post to it, or even auto-post to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.

Cost: Free

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Yammer


is a private micro-blogging service. If you like the idea of Twitter but are concerned about the updates being public, then Yammer provides the same functionality as Twitter, but for in-company use. Only individuals with the same email domain can join a given network. In addition to microblogging there are discussion boards and users can form/join groups. There are also Yammer iPhone app and Blackberry clients.

Cost: Free, but companies can get admin rights to their company networks for a small monthly per user fee.

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Wordle


is a small, fun and quite versatile little tool. It is a word cloud generator. Input or copy in some text and generate a visual cloud of the most frequently use words. You can then tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts and colour scheme.

Cost: Free

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Flip Video


Finally, this one is not software but a tiny little camcorder that lets you easily take videos and upload them (using the inbuilt USB) to the PC as well as YouTube, Facebook and other sites.

Cost: this varies depending on size and record time of the Flip.

• TweetDeck, perhaps the most popular professional Adobe Air client for Twitter. Supports, searches, groups, multiple accounts


• SeesMic is like Tweetdeck but less buggy and with a more polished interface. TweetDeck never really worked on my system.


• Statuzer is similar to the above but with added multimedia support

Web Based Twitter Clients and CMS


Even with a desktop client like one of the above working in teams is difficult. Web based tools offer even more features for teams and companies

• HootSuite, a web based Twitter CMS for companies


• coTweet (Twitter CRM?) - coTweet has been hailed as a Twitter CRM app but it's basically a Twitter CMS with very basic CRM features


• Twaitter allows team accounts, scheduled tweets, RSS integration etc.


• Tweetvisor is a horribly cluttered but very powerful Twitter interface or web based Twitter client

CRM/Social CRM/TRM (Twitter Relationship Management)


In case you are serious about business you most probably use some kind of CRM tools for customer relationship management. Both CRM software makers and new kids on the block attempt to harness Twitter conversations to get more leads and organize a better customer service. CRM solutions supporting Twitter are still rare though. At least one, Axopt already disappeared.

• CureCRM - Twitter and Email bases CRM


• Salesforce Service Cloud supports Twitter


• IGOpeople Twitter CRM business suite


• Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a Twitter "accelerator" integration

Twitter Directories


One of the most common questions people new to Twitter ask is: Who to follow on Twitter? In order to some quick overview of who might be the right person to follow in your industry or niche you should check out Twitter directories like Twellow.

• Twellow - Twitter "Yellow Pages", one of the oldest and most reputable Twitter user directories


• JustTweetIt is a clean and web directory with many users, some of which I recognize. The top result for SEO, Dev Basu is a well known local SEO expert.


• Geofollow - Location based Twitter directory covering the whole planet


• Twibes is not really a directory it's rather a collection of Twitter groups based on interests

Twitter Enhancements


Twitter has only ver basic features, even Twitter clients offer only a few more. there are literally thousands of tools that enhance Twitter in one way or another. here I can mention only some notable among them that are ideyll suited for busines people.

• TwitterLocal allows you to address local audiences via Twitter, ideal for small businesses


• Social Oomph (formerly Tweet Later) is a tool with multiple features, some of clients some of extra tools, scheduling and automating tweets are just two of them


• Twaitter is like Social Oomph but with less features which doesn't mean it's less useful


• PingFM allows to submit links to Twitter, Facebook and numerous other services at once


• PeopleBrowsr is a very powerful suite of tools for creating and addressing groups and beyond

Twitter Search and Monitoring Tools


Twitter users produce huge amounts of data you impossibly can be digest or overview as a human being. Even your followers tweets are too much in most cases. search and monitoring tools make sure that you don't miss something important.

• Topsy finds and sorts most of your brand's mentions, tweets and links


• Yahoo Sideline is a Adobe Air based desktop search tool for Twitter. It also displays current trends


• Twilert - Like Google Alerts for Twitter mentions, catches most of them


• TweetBeep - Similar to Twilert but less reliable. Good to find additional mentions Twilert overlooks but not enough on it's own


• Radian6 - This is an advanced social media analytics suite with some Twitter tools also useful for CRM


• Twitturly - shows the most popular Twitter links in a social news like interface


• Tweetreach - Find out who really is your friend, or at least who spread your message the most

Blog Tools


Being on Twitter is good for business but integrating it into your website or rather blog is even better. Many tools attempt to do that but only a few of them are good enough for business users.

• Twittercounter - A Feedburner like counter showing you the number of Twitter followers, SEOptimise uses one


• BackType Plugins allow you a seamless Twitter integration into your blog


• Twitter Tools by Alex King allows almost complete Twitter integration into your WordPress blog

We hope you find this relevant and useful to your business or work. Feel free to share it with your colleagues and peers.

A list of Social Media policies of some of the biggest players in the online platform. I hope everyone finds it useful.

Organization	Title
About.com	Template: Blogging and Social Media Policy
About.com	Template: Internet and Email Policy
American Red Cross	Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
American Red Cross	Online Communications Guidelines
Associated Press	Social Media Policy
Australian Public Service Commission	Interim Protocols for Online Media Participation
Baker & Daniels	Social Media Policy
BBC	Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking
BBC	Use of Social Networking and other third party websites
BBC	Online Services Guidelines in Full
BBYO	Staff/Volunteer Presence on Social Networking Sites
BT	Forum Guidelines
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)	Facebook Policy
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines for Consultation
Children's Hospital Los Angeles	Share Your Story - Use and Access
Cicso	Internet Postings Policy
City of Hampton, VA	Social Media Policy
City of Seattle	Blogging Policy
Cleveland Clinic	Social Media Policy
Dell	Online Policy
DePaul University	Social Media Guidelines
Dow Jones	Social Media Interaction Policy
Easter Seals	Online Community Guidelines
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
ESPN	Social Media Guidelines For ESPN Employees
eWay Direct	Social Media Policy
Fairfax County, VA	Facebook Comments Policy
FedEx	Blog Policy
Feedster	Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church	Personal Website and Weblog Policies
FINRA	Guide to the Internet for Registered Representatives
Fudder	Netiquette
Gartner	Public Web Participation Guidelines
General Services Administration (GSA)	Social Media Policy
GM	Blogger Policy
Greteman Group	Social Media Policy
Harvard Law School	Terms of Use
Headset Brothers	Social Media Policy
Hill and Knowlton	Blogging Policies and Guidelines (selected extracts)
Hill and Knowlton	Collective Conversation Code of Conduct
Hill and Knowlton	Social Media Principles
HP	Code of Conduct
IBM	Social Computing Guidelines
IBM	Case Study: The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media
InQbation	Government Policy Guidelines
Intel	Social Media Guidelines
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
Iowa Hospital Association	Commet Policy
Jaffe	Template: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
Judith Lindeau	Template: Social Media Policy for Associations (Real Estate)
Kaiser Permanente	Social Media Policy
Kodak	Social Media Tips
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center	Comments Policy
LiveWorld	Social Media Content Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mayo Clinic	Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	Comment Policy
Media Law Resource Center	Compilation of Legal Actions Against Bloggers
Microsoft	Channel 9 Doctrine
Microsoft	Tweeting Guidelines and Blogging Guidelines
Missouri Department of Transportation	Post A Comment - Use Policy
New Zealand State Services Commission	Principles for Interaction with Social Media
New Zealand State Services Commission	The Guide to Online Participation
Oce	Social Computing Guidelines
Opera	Employee Blogging Policy
Plaxo	Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli	Our Social Media Policy
Powerhouse Museum	Communication Using Public Facing Museum Blogs - Policy
PR-Squared	Corporate Social Media Policy: Top 10 Guidelines
Razorfish	Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Rhetorica	Blogging and Comment Policy
RightNow	Social Web Employee Policy
Roanoke County, VA	Social Media Policy
Roanoke Times	News Standards and Policies
Robert Scoble	Press FAQ
SAP	Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009
Sentara	Social Media Policy
Shift Communications	Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation
Smithsonian Institution	Web and New Media Strategy
Social Media Business Council	Disclosure Policy Toolkit
SpareBank 1	Rules for Blogging
State of Delaware	Social Media Policy
Sun Microsystems	Guidelines on Public Disclosure
Sun Microsystems	Alumni Blog Aggregation Additional Terms
Telstra	3 Rs of Social Media Engagement
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center	Blog Policies and Guidelines
Thomas Nelson	Blogging Guidelines
U.K. Government	Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
U.S. Air Force	Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force	New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Jacksonville District	Social Media User Guidelines
U.S. Coast Guard	Social Media - The Way Ahead
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)	Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Citizen Services (OCS)	Blog Policies
U.S. Navy	Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools
UK Civil Service	Code for Online Participation
University of Maryland Medical Center	Comments Policy and Blog Participation Terms and Conditions
Wake County, North Carolina	Web 2.0 - Guidelines for Use
Wal-Mart	Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
Walker Art Center	Blog Guidelines
Washington Post (via PaidContent.org)	Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks
Webtrends	Social Media Guidelines
Wells Fargo	Community Guidelines
Workplace Fairness	Off-Duty Conduct
Yahoo!	Personal Blogging Policy

Don't forget to tweet about it or share it, if you find it useful.

Cheers!!