Mediaboss Marketing

Social networks are great, except when you need to make a change to one of your settings--then it's a veritable click-fest of wading through menus in search of just the right option. Hassle city. Last week I gave you some tips for managing Facebook photos; this week I'll tell you about a couple of great services that work with several different social networks.

BlissControl helps you manage social-network settings with ease. Just choose the setting you want to modify, then the service, and then click Go.

In an instant, BlissControl steers you to exactly the right setting page within that service. No fuss, no muss.

And no annoying login for each and every account, no setup that "grants access." That's because BlissControl doesn't actually hook into the various social networks; it's really just a wizard-driven, plain-English collection of links. But, man, is it handy.

The site offers an even dozen settings: change bio, change password, change mobile settings, change design, delete account, and so on. It supports about a dozen major networks, including Faceook, Foursquare, Instagram, Meetup, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter.

BlissControl is free, easy, and fabulous--especially for users who are constantly stumbling around in search of the social-network setting they want.

Just the other day, Mrs. Hassle-Free PC was bemoaning the flood of notification e-mails she gets from Facebook. "Every time someone mentions me or shares a photo of me, I hear about it in my inbox!"

I reminded her that Facebook has settings that let you control the number and type of notifications you get.

"Great," she said, "but who's got all day to find them?"

Good point. As I've griped before, Facebook's settings are anything but intuitive. Of course, the same can be said of many other services that notify you to death.

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Manage Your Social Networking From One Spot, Cut Down on Email

Jersey City, N.J. - March 27, 2012 - ISO announces a new resource that will help claims and fraud investigators identify an individual`s presence on social networking websites.

Web Presence Search - available through the ISO ClaimSearch Decision Net public records information portal - will identify an individual`s "web footprint" or trail of digital information left as a result of postings on social networking websites.

"The massive volumes of information available on the internet can make any online investigation of a subject a daunting challenge," said Rich Della Rocca, vice president, ISO Claims Solutions. "Web Presence Search can make a real difference."

To deliver this service, ISO has formed an alliance with Social Intelligence Corp., a leading provider of social media screening and research solutions. Social Intelligence uses cutting-edge technology, including multiple search engines and customized web crawling tools, to automatically screen millions of websites, social networks, and secondary data sources such as blogs and photo sharing services.

Search results are displayed in a Match Report summary consisting of URL links to web pages where reference to a search subject is detected. Findings can include personal profiles, employment history, educational background, recreational interests and activities, and personal photographs, including pictures of family members, friends and associates, video clips, blog entries, and news articles.

"Combining online search results with public record findings from other third-party sources, such as data aggregators and government agencies, is one of the most effective and innovative ways to provide a comprehensive, multi-dimensional profile of a person of interest," said Della Rocca. "The Web Presence Search and Report will be an important resource for our claims and investigations customers."

For more information about the Web Presence Search or to speak with a sales representative, contact the ISO Customer Support Center at 1-800-888-4476. Or send e-mail to info.claimsearch@iso.com.

About Social Intelligence Corp. Social Intelligence, a Riv Data Corp. company, is the leading provider of social media screening and research solutions to a wide range of industries. With innovative and legally compliant tools, technology, and services, Social Intelligence`s suite of products facilitate better hiring decisions, identify insurance fraud, and reduce overall operational risks. Social Intelligence provides powerful tools to employers to mitigate workplace risks, to insurers and claims specialists to reduce fraud, and to many other organizations to benefit from the valuable information that can be attained through social media research. Social Intelligence adheres to the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and is complaint with Federal and State law to ensure that both individuals and organizations are protected. Social Intelligence is located at 735 State Street, Suite 600, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. For more information, call 1-888-748-3281.

About ISO Since 1971, ISO has been a leading source of information about property/casualty insurance risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, the company provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and claims information; policy language; information about specific locations; fraud-identification tools; and technical services. ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents and brokers, insurance regulators, risk managers, and other participants in the property/casualty insurance marketplace. ISO is a member of the Verisk Insurance Solutions group at Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK - News). For more information, visit http://www.iso.com and http://www.verisk.com.

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Read more:
ISO ClaimSearch Leverages Cutting Edge Screening Techniques to Locate Self-Reported Social Media Postings

When a major Canadian telecommunications company wanted to change how it handles employee training, it turned to social networking.

Telus, based in Vancouver, had long run formal programs -- mostly classes and lectures -- to train its 35,000 employees around the world, but found they were becoming a bit too stiff, said Dan Pontefract, head of learning and collaboration.

Some workers have difficulty learning in formal settings, and can better master new tasks by communicating directly with friends and colleagues.

Learning, after all, is social, says Pontefrac. The training should be social as well, he added.

"We always thought training was an event," he said. "It was something that you went to. We had a plethora of formal learning options."

However, Pontefrac added. "That's just not the only way people learn."

Now, Telus offers a combination of learning tools for its workers. "We didn't throw classroom learning out with the bathwater, but we made it a piece of a bigger pie that included informal and social," he said

The Telus training philosophy is now broken down into the three broad categories.

Formal training refers to any self-contained event that people go to, such as a lecture or classroom course.

Informal training refers to live Webcasts, podcasts or mentoring.

Read more from the original source:
Telus links social, traditional training

Coimbatore, March 23:

Social-networking fever appears to be fast catching up among Indian corporates, too.

A survey on the usage habits of social media by business executives has revealed that a majority of them spend anywhere between 30 minutes to six hours every day on sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype and Google+ from their notebook PCs, smartphones and tablets.

The study titled Social Media Usage Habits of Business Executives in India' by CyberMedia Research shows that 88 per cent of the executives use social media primarily as a tool for better professional networking, 75 per cent for social networking and only around 15 per cent for finding new career or employment opportunities.

The time spent online by Indian executives runs up to six hours in a day. This has raised concerns about loss of time and productivity. However, our study reveals that at the workplace, social media is being increasingly used by professionals for multitasking and for better time management. Our survey respondents feel that social networking tools help them communicate faster, with a larger audience in a relatively shorter time span, said Mr Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice-President, Research and Advisory Services.

LinkedIn appears to be the most popular site for professional interaction followed by Twitter and Skype. Facebook is being increasingly used for social communication, replacing other forms of communications gradually.

The survey findings further showed that notebook PCs remained the most preferred medium for accessing social platforms until recently. The use of smartphones to access social networks now beats that of desktop PCs both at workplace and home.

Social media use is found to have resulted in decrease of email communications. The survey respondents indicated a preference for social networking tools over email for business communications.

Similarly, SMS or text messaging has taken a hit with the ascent of social media. Phone use, though, is least affected by the rise of social media.

See the article here:
Business communication shifting to social media

March 27, 2012, 7:30 AM PDT

Takeaway: Jack Wallen says employees should have access to social networking sites at work. See if you agree with his reasoning and take our poll to let us know where you stand.

I get it Youre completely convinced that allowing your employees to get on Facebook and Twitter would pull the rug out from under your bottom line. Because of that, you block chat, tweets, and all other social networking to make sure your workers are doing only what you pay them for. I am here, however, to suggest that there can be a backlash from that approach. Social networking can actually help you in the long run, and I want to try to open your eyes to this fact. In the end, of course, its your business and your call. But lets see if you can be swayed.

Back in the 90s, people wanted to be hired by companies that were cool to work for. And when the employees actually enjoyed working for a company, they did their best work. Morale is a huge aspect of the business world, but few owners and managers seem to get it. Low morale among the workers breeds contempt, and contempt breeds disloyalty. Disloyalty, as you know, breeds attrition.

Your reputation is everything in business. And in this day of instant gratification and notification, finding yourself with a reputation going down the drain is little more than a disgruntled employee away. That does not mean you must cater to every whim and folly of your employees. But giving them tiny crumbs (like social media access) will go a long way toward keeping your reputation healthy.

Communication whether its internal or external is key to business success. One of the fastest means of communication today is social networking. In fact, its just about the most immediate form of communication you can find. Your employees may be communicating with the outside world, but many of those people on the outside are consumers and possible clients.

Dare I say free advertising? I dare and I do. Social networking brings to businesses a boon of free advertising. You cant afford not to hop onto this bandwagon. And getting on board early shows the public that you are an agile, aware company. Allowing your employees to take advantage of social networking also shows you care about them. In this society, caring goes a long way. All of that makes for some seriously powerful advertising.

Social networking facilitates collaboration internally, but it also lets users collaborate with the entire world. I have done this countless times. When Ive been stuck on an idea, I call out to my followers on Twitter or Facebook to get a deluge of answers. Its free and its fast.

You need your finger on the pulse of society. You can get this with your employees on social networking sites. In fact, youll have instant access to the court of public opinion even as it evolves in front of you. This is another (free) way to expand your companys reach.

Your company and its employees need to know how to use social networking effectively. Why? Because our society is on a collision course with an even further embedding of social media into our lives. You want your company and your employees at the forefront of that trend. At some point, your employees may have to use social networking to market and sell your product. Allowing them to use it on a daily basis now will ensure that theyre social media savvy, without the need for training.

See the original post here:
10 reasons NOT to block social networking at work