Is it just me or are people finally starting to realize that social media is here to stay? Are they recognizing that communication is changing again forever and they need to embrace it?
Of course living here in Indianapolis, Indiana it’s impossible to really see first-hand what is going on in other parts of the world. You have to rely on outside sources to keep you updated. But still I get the feeling that people and businesses are finally starting to get it. I can definitely say that I have seen a huge shift in my connections toward people becoming less resistant. More are really starting to embrace this powerful tool we call social media.
I see people posting a new Facebook status every day that I never thought would be wanting to share updates with the rest of the world. Why? Because these are the same people that I was working with a year ago that ran for the hills when anyone mentioned Facebook. I, of course, did my best to explain the value but for a lot of people it’s really just a matter of time. Now they are making new connections every day and many share with me their surprise that it’s actually beneficial.
I see businesses every single day joining Twitter to find out what their customers are really saying and keep up with the latest news. Some are even running contests to grow their following and expand their network. They realize that this will later benefit them when those people are making purchasing decisions.
I see people creating events and promoting them through social media. They realize that it’s one of the best tools to increase awareness and attendance. Most seem to even realize that the people they meet at these events will eventually be their best friends and business partners.
Being in the Internet marketing/social media industry, I understand that not everyone will understand the full potential and that everyone will use it differently. I also realize that my small sampling of people is not reflective of “everyone.” Nonetheless I am still seeing a significant trend. The points above were not made to show great case studies, but to illustrate that people of all backgrounds are finally starting to come around. Posting a status on Facebook definitely does not mean you are gaining any type of value from your post, but it does show that plenty of people are finally there and more are becoming active users.
If you read blogs from anyone discussing social media, you will no doubt find posts all about convincing people who resist social media that it’s here to stay. You will see things like, “your business needs to change now, otherwise you won’t be in business much longer.” So let me ask you this – are people finally starting to catch on?
One of the biggest stories in social media this week was Facebook’s plan to roll out @Mentions in status updates over the next few weeks. This is another update from Facebook that appears to be a page from the Twitter playbook of success. Nevertheless it will be very interesting to see how Facebook users adopt this new feature.
I have talked with many Facebook users that are not Twitter users. They seemed to be a little confused on exactly what the @Mention allows you to do and how it will benefit them. Will many Facebook users even care about this update? Let’s not forget how users have reacted in the past anytime Facebook makes a change. While this update will be nothing as drastic as a new design, the initial reaction to Facebook changes have historically been negative. At first glance, the same group of people who think Twitter is for stalkers are likely to think now Facebook is even further supporting Twitter’s stalker habits. Now not only can I tell you that I am have coffee with someone else – I can link directly to his/her profile from my status update.
My guess is that it will take awhile for native Facebook users to being adopting this new functionality. But once people within your network begin to use @Mentions as a part of their status updates on a regular basis, their friends will likely follow. The hope is that this will allow Facebook users to continue to connect to others within their network to share more meaningful information. Let’s see if this holds true.
I do think this will go a long way in helping the business brands on Facebook. It is now going to be much easier to share that you are going to eat @(restaurant) and link directly to their fan page. This will also encourage more incentives to be offered for customers as sharing becomes easier. I will continue to update my blog as this is rolled out to analyze the trends.
But in the meantime, what is your take on it?
Below is the breakdown on exactly how it will work from Facebook engineer Tom Occhino:
Now, when you are writing a status update and want to add a friend’s name to something you are posting, just include the “@” symbol beforehand. As you type the name of what you would like to reference, a drop-down menu will appear that allows you to choose from your list of friends and other connections, including groups, events, applications and Pages. Soon, you’ll be able to tag friends from applications as well. The “@” symbol will not be displayed in the published status update or post after you’ve added your tags.
Friends you tag in your status updates will receive a notification and a Wall post linking them to your post. They also will have the option to remove tags of themselves from your posts. We hope that tagging your status updates and others posts from the Publisher will enable you to share in a more meaningful and engaging way, and connect with even more people. We’re rolling this feature out over the course of the next few weeks, so you may not see the new feature just yet.
As writers we can often play it safe by using words like: quite, fairly, often, sometimes and may. These words are boring, show a lack of confidence and thus turn readers away. This is where the vampire analogy comes into play- these words act like vampires and suck the life right out of your sentence. So the next time you are thinking of writing a headline like “You May Gain More Customers and You Might Make More Money” you need to stop and stake the vampire words to keep your readers coming back for more.
Douglas Karr did a great job of this today over on the Marketing Technology Blog with his post entitled“Why I Don’t Like Facebook.” This instantly caught my eye and I had to read it. Now if his blog title had been “Why I Kinda Sometimes Don’t Like Facebook” I would not have been as inclined to read it. Heck he even went so far as to put “facebook-sucks” right there in the URL. It’s not every day a social media superstar proclaims that!
So the next time you are writing a blog post title, take a moment to review and find those vampires there as well. Today’s theme: Be confident. Be Bold.
So the Nielsen report is out and people are spending more time than ever on Facebook. In fact, 87 million visitors in the month of June spent an average of 4 hours and 39 minutes on the site. Out of the top 10 web brands, Facebook now ranks #1 in time spent beating out Yahoo!, AOL, and Google. So what is it that people are doing on Facebook?
Communicating like they never have before. I think more than ever people are beginning to use Facebook as a viable , interchangeable communication tool similar to email, text messages or instant messaging. Everyone is there. All in one place and just a couple of clicks away. Why go back and forth sending several emails when Facebook can easily be used to share thoughts, pictures, links and other information within seconds? I am also starting to see many of my business contacts use Facebook as a place to connect not only for personal use, but also for business related use. And like it or not, the new Facebook layout has made this easier. Comments are all over the place, often times leading to further conversation. Think about it – you see that your best client just got back from a vacation in Alaska and posted pictures on Facebook. You have a meeting next week and already you have a great conversation starter. Maybe you have already commented on some of the photos and exchanged wall posts.
The bottom line is this: Facebook is doing more than just drawing a huge number of users that spend a ton of time each month on the site. It’s changing the way we communicate. Possibly forever. What do you think? Do you agree?
So you write a great blog post. You post a link to it on Facebook. You Tweet all about it. It even gets retweeted and the next thing you know it’s one of your more popular posts. But then what?
Yes, you gain a great deal of exposure from this, exposure that you might not have received otherwise – but do your readers take any type of action? Better yet, what exactly is the call to action for your blog?
Is it having someone contact you through a standard contact form? Is it encouraging someone to leave a comment for that particular post? Or do you just want to continue to connect with people through other forms of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?
I will admit, this is where I really struggle. What should my calls to action be? Promoting Fusework Studios? Encouraging other businesses to advertise on my blog? It is a tough decision. But something that you must address in order to get an ROI from your blogging efforts – be it for personal or business use. No one wants to just write blogs and get nothing from it.
So I am challenging myself to come up with clear, solid calls to action on my personal blog. We are also going to be redesigning the calls to action on our Fusework Studios blog. Over the next few weeks there will be some changes and I am looking forward to learning from this experience. Hopefully it will result in developing a successful case study to share.
The call to action for this blog post – leave a comment to share with me. What are your calls to action? Do they work? How have they evolved over time? Let me know!
Fortunately the team over at Compendium Blogware have put together a great slideshow presentation to help with this quest:
Twitter users were tweeting aplenty. Webcams were broadcasting live all over the world. But as for now, the Facebook username buildup excitement is over. The initial rush has passed. Many people predicted that Facebook would crash or some other type of complication would arise. They were wrong. It was a smooth, seemless process that took about 5 seconds once the countdown was complete.
Now let the interesting part begin…how will we use our new Facebook identity?
The Facebook Username Vanity URL coundown has begun. Many people around the world are logged into Facebook online right now waiting…watching the countdown to an opportunity to secure their very own Facebook username aka vanity url. Up until now, Facebook users have been assigned a long string of numbers in their profile URL and have not had an option to change this to something that is user friendly. As you can imagine, if you were to try to direct someone to your Facebook profile using this original URL it would be quite cumbersome. Now you get the option to create your own Facebook username. This is another chance to own your name online in Google search results.
It will be particularly important for businesses as more and more companies begin to embrace social media filling the spectrum of online competition. Some companies are moving completely away from the “traditional” Web site. Skittles’ Web site consists soley of links to social media profiles such as a YouTube page, Flickr account, and Facebook fan page. Boone Oakley’s Web site is a YouTube video. Opening up the username vanity url will encourage businesses to consider using Facebook as their main web presence, further continuing the movement away from the “traditional” Web site. To prevent users from creating profiles and squatting on business usernames, Facebook is only allowing those pages with more than 1,000 fans (as of May 31st) to get first rights to their username. As for those legitimate businesses with less than 1,000 fans, you will have to wait until June 28th.
So what is the big deal? Why all of the excitement now? Well, Facebook is offering up these usernames on a first come first serve basis. So if you want to “own” your Facebook name – you better act now. You can sign up for your Facebook username vanity url here.
As I write this post less than 30 minutes remain in the countdown.
Do you use Facebook for personal use or business use? Is it okay to post “party” pictures on Facebook that your employer or future employer may see? What is your opinion?
When looking to diversify your blogging portfolio, consider the opinion post. Expressing your opinion helps keep things from getting boring. It is also a great way to encourge others to share their opinions on a particular subject. This goes a long way to build interaction with your readers. These are just a few of the reasons why ProBlogger suggests writing an opinion post in Day #19 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge.
So, now back to the Facebook question. I do not think you have to make a decision to use Facebook for personal or business. The beauty of Facebook is that it can be used for both. In fact, that is when Facebook is most valuable. How else would you know that your largest client’s daughter just won her softball tournament? And then be able to connect right away and send your congratulations comment. Creating a personal connection with business partners can be very difficult and Facebook helps make this easier by removing social barriers. You may not hang out with the same group of friends. You may not even live in the same state. But through Facebook you can still connect on a personal level.
And as for the party pictures. Everyone is a human and likes to have fun from time to time. Just use your common sense. If you have to second guess the photo, take it down.
Today is Day #3 of ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. The task for today is to promote the list blog post that we published yesterday. I typically promote each blog post that I write using Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic. Yesterday’s post was no different. In fact, within 5 minutes of posting the link on Twitter I had already received 19 click-thrus on the link. I also have my blog set up to feed into several other social networking sites on which I am present – such as Smaller Indiana and LinkedIn. These have been relatively effective in increasing traffic, but I am always looking for other avenues to explore.
ProBlogger has listed some additional ways to promote your blog within this task a few of which include:
Asking another blogger with relevant content to your post to include a link back over to your blog – it may take some time to develop these relationships before you are comfortable asking
Including your blog URL in your email signature – don’t forget your blog is a part of your contact information
Email marketing – this is a great way to see an immediate, significant impact
Post comments on other blogs – a great way to develop reciprocal linking relationships
Followup posts that build off of previous posts within your blog to increase momentum - this was my personal favorite and one I will immediately implement
So…I am in interested in your feedback. What have you found to be an effective way to promote your blog? Do you promote individual posts or your blog as a whole? Please share in the comments.
Answer: To many people this is who you are, like it or not.
When you apply for a job odds are the HR department will do a Google search and review the results as part of a background check.
When a potential customer is deciding if they are going to work with you or not, they are probably going to do a Google search on you and your company.
People even do a Google search before they decide if they really want to be your friend or go on a date. Another form of a background check.
Unlike keywords such as “cell phones” or “cars” your name and company name are something you can realistically own (in most cases). This is very important to your brand and your company’s brand. It is also very interesting to note how many of your search results are social media profiles. In my particular case, Facebook, LinkedIn and Smaller Indiana are all on the first page of results. This is an important extension of extension of your name and brand as well.
So ask yourself: Do you really own your name online? If you do not or if you are unhappy with the results – what are you going to do about it?
I am very much a novice to the world of free internet music radio. I generally just listen to my iPod and CD collection. With Pandora users continuing to overwhelm me at our Fusework Studios office, I finally decided to check out my online music options. This ultimately created a Twitter brand experience for me that I wanted to share. It’s funny how everything ties together.
Pandora is part of The Music Genome Project and I have included an excerpt from their site which pretty much sums up the mission statment:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or “genes” into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song – everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It’s not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records – it’s about what each individual song sounds like.
Overall, I like Pandora’s ability to create a playlist of songs that I like by identifying similar qualities within each song. I am not crazy, however, about the ability to browse through songs - it seems somewhat limited.
Following a post on Facebook about Pandora, I was turned on to Grooveshark by a friend. I decided to check it out for a few days to compare. After listening for a few days I tweeted asking my followers if they had a preference between Grooveshark and Pandora. @Grooveshark quickly responded by following me on Twitter and replying with a very unbiased opinion that Grooveshark was indeed better:). Still being relatively new to both Pandora and Grooveshark I asked the @Grooveshark Twitter user to explain why. I have included a screen shot of the replies in this post.
Overall, this interaction was very impressive and is a perfect example on how a brand can use Twitter as a powerful tool. Here is how it went down:
Grooveshark found me on Twitter
Grooveshark sent me a Tweet using a bit of humor to show some personality
Grooveshark went on to answer my question about what separates them from Pandora
I was then able to retweet their answer to help in increasing brand awareness and also told everyone at the office about it
Grooveshark also offered personal assistance with any of my questions/suggestions – very cool.
I am still undecided on which service is better, but Grooveshark has definitely created a better brand experience for me thus far. The ability Twitter has given a brand to directly connect with their end user is amazing.
Below are a few online reading favorites I would like to share. Simply click on a headline to read the full article. Hope you enjoy!
Facebook Overtakes MySpace (Again)
We all knew it was just a matter of time. At the close of 2008, Facebook was breathing down MySpace’s neck in terms of social media popularity in the U.S. Well, now it is official- Facebook is finally number one. A co-worker of mine logged into MySpace just for the heck of it the other day… and logged out about 2 seconds later. Still a mess. Thank you, Facebook.
Debunking Six Social Media Myths
I found this one via Kyle Lacy on Twitter and highly recommend that you check this BusinessWeek article out. If you or your business hasn’t jumped head first into social media yet, I am sure you have heard all of the myths. Find out what is true and what is not. And even if you are already actively involved, there are some great links in this article you don’t want to miss.
How to Get ReTweeted
Tweets are great. But ReTweets…those are just awesome! ReTweets are the hottest thing on Twitter and the key to making your tweets as viral as they can be. Find out the secret recipe for scoring more ReTweets.
Click on a headline to check out my online reading favorites this week:
How To Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook…Safely
Would I really want my mom to see this pic of me on Facebook? Should I add my boss as my friend? Many of us have pondered these questions. While there may not be a “right” or “wrong” answer, this article offers some good insight. My opinion- everyone has a personal life and putting a few pictures of you having fun on Facebook just shows you are a real person.
Denny’s Free Breakfast A Grand Slam
Remember this Super Bowl ad? In our current economy, a free breakfast is not something that is easy to pass up. Several of us at Fusework Studios took advantage of this offer and the experience that went along with it. The people definitely came out in full force on Tuesday, February 3rd for a free Grand Slam….now will they come back again?
I’m Sorry We’re Out of Time
This is a great blog post from Seth Godin on making the best use of your time when giving a presentation. Read this post and please stop trying cram everything in the last minute of your presentation. I won’t remember any of it. And neither will anyone else.
Below are a few articles that I felt were worth sharing this week. Just click on a headline for the full article. Enjoy!
Steve Jobs Steps Down on Medical Leave- What Will Happen to Apple?
I had to start with this article. Nothing was bigger last week in the technology industry than the news of Steve Jobs stepping down until the end of June for health reasons. Twitter was absolutely insane with people posting links to different articles about Steve Jobs and how this change would impact Apple. Instantly people began to question Apple and if the brand would continue to live on. While the answers are yet to be determined, I am hopeful that the Apple brand is stronger than one person.
Tips for Building Your Social Media Resume
Following up with my reading suggestions from last week, this post provides some quality insight into creating an effective social media profile. My personal favorite is the concept of setting up a video resume with answers to FAQs. It is definitely interesting to see how social media is changing the interviewing process.
SocialScope is an application for the Blackberry that combines Twitterberry and the standard Facebook app into one. SocialScope is currently in Alpha review, so I am unable to include a video with screen shots of it actually working live on my phone at this time. I have been in communication with a representative at SocialScope and will be notified when permission is granted to post a full-blown video review. The SocialScope representative also wanted me to make a note that the Blackberry Storm is receiving limited support because they currently do not have a Storm to test it on.
Overall, SocialScope is a great application for any Blackberry user. I am particularly impressed with its performance considering it is still in Alpha. Twitterberry is going to have some catching up to do. Even in the Alpha review the Twitter side of things is seamless and very user friendly. The Facebook side of things leaves a bit to be desired, but I hear they are working hard on that. Watch the video review above for more information.
Below are some links and brief summaries to articles/posts that I found worth sharing this week. Click on a headline to view the full article. I hope you enjoy!
Get A Free Whopper by Deleting 10 Facebook Friends
Burger King has created an application for Facebook called the Whopper Sacrifice. The theme is “what are you willing to sacrifice for a Whopper?” 10 Facebook friends? Over 177,500 friends have been sacrificed so far. Many of us do have “fair-weather web friendships” and I guess 10 friends isn’t too bad for that flame broiled taste. This Burger King marketing campaign definitely breaks through the clutter.
SocialScope: Twitter and Facebook for Your Blackberry
SocialScope is an application for the Blackberry that is currently in Alpha testing. They have released 200 invitations to try this application. I was lucky enough to catch a tweet in time from @aaronaiken with a link to the invite. I currently have SocialScope running on my Blackberry Storm. It is awesome! Twitterberry and Facebook applications combined into one with near real time updates. I am in the process of working with the SocialScope developers to get permission to do a video review. I have been approved to do a review without video and screen shots. Look for that in depth review to come this week.
Blogging and Social Media Changing the Job Search Blogs and other social media tools are impacting the way people find jobs. More employers than ever are now looking at social media profiles of potential job candidates during the hiring process. People are reporting success from using their online network to lead to a job opportunity. Creating and utilizing such social media tools can demonstrate a level of skill and comprehensiveness that can help separate you from the competition. It is starting to look like the traditional resume may soon become a thing of the past.
With an ever growing to-do list it can be difficult to set priorities in life, much less online. The online scene is a bit overwhelming at times. So many places to be, so many things to do. I have to get my web site designed, need to set up my Facebook account, time to finally get on Twitter. So, where do I begin?
I have a one word suggestion for you. Content.
It can be so easy to try to be everywhere at once and forget about what the driving force for your online presence is going to be. Content. Think about it- If you have the best looking web site in the world, the most friends on Facebook or the most followers on Twitter but you have no good content to deliver… what good is all of that work going to do for you?
Content is the common denominator among all online platforms. Content allows you to engage your target audience, promote interaction, and lead to conversion. If a potential client comes to your site and they are unable to tell what exactly it is that you do or why you are better than the vendor they are currently using- I doubt they are going to call you because of your cool web design with flash animation.
Go ahead and get some good content written without overwhelming yourself with all of the different social media platforms and other places to be online. Then take a look the message you are trying to get out there. All at once things start to come into place. Maybe it doesn’t make sense for you to be on Twitter (yes, you are reading this correctly). Maybe you should start with a blog to learn the discipline on what it takes to have an effective online presence then branch out from there. Realizing things like this can save you a lot of time and lead a more productive online presence. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
CliffsNotes Version : Think about your content first, then set your priorities online. It makes more sense.
Why did you start a blog? Why should I start a blog?
I have been getting these two questions a lot lately as my blog continues to develop. There are a lot of valid reasons why you should start a blog, but just remember a blog should be something that you WANT to do. It may take a little convincing from some friends or co-workers to finally quit talking about it and actually do it. A blog is not for everyone and it should not be something that is FORCED or something that you are not ready to make a commitment to. Having said that, If you do decide to start a blog I believe you will find it to be a very rewarding experience.
Watch the video above to see why I started a blog and read more on some of the reasons on why you may want to think about creating your own blog. There are many more than I could list…trust me.
Through blogging you learn about new things
Learning can be a great experience and a blog enables you to learn a lot about not only the online community, but other topics you might be blogging about. It is natural to want to make your blog the best it can be which forces you to learn about things you do not know and more about things you may already know. It is also very fun learning. Why? Because you get to share something you learned with the rest of your online community. And then the best part- you begin getting feedback. Mostly positive, though you will have a few negative posts as well. You will also have posts of other people talking about similar topics that interest you. Time to go check out those posts and learn even more. All at once you have this cycle developing and you are learning new things every day while having fun doing it.
Blogging is low cost and helps create YOUR brand
What better way to get your name and expertise out to a large amount of people than blogging? Blogging is a great way to help you not only strengthen your company’s brand- but YOUR brand. It enables you to establish yourself in the online community as someone who is knowledgeable about a particular topic or topics. Suddenly you become an expert in your own niche. Then people began to trust you and the next thing you know you have developed followers or a Tribe or even Sneezers (as Seth Godin would say). This allows you to spread your name while developing contacts and quality relationships with those followers. Just like the traditional definition of networking, this can lead to great business opportunities as well as person opportunities.
All of this great exposure and endless potential opportunities and how much money does it cost you – not much at all. In fact, you can create a WordPress blog for free right now. It will take you about 5 minutes to get started.
Blogging enables you to quickly produce content resulting in SEO and ROI Content is king on the web. Search engines are all about fresh, changing relevant content. A blog delivers that content that search engines are after. It makes Google happy. This means your site gets more traffic. Not just traffic, but qualified traffic. With qualified traffic leads are generated. With leads come sales. Sales=money. Money = good = you stay in business. You don’t have to take my word for it. Check out some of the benefits of blogging according to Compendium Blogware.
Blogging helps people This is by far the most surprising and rewarding aspect of my blogging experience so far. I can tell through comments and other interaction that I have been able to help people. Even if it is something as small as telling them why they should or should not buy a particular cell phone, go see a certain movie; or even if it is something as trivial as helping them customize their Facebook or Twitter experience. In some way, I know that I have helped them. I don’t care who you are- helping people (even if it is someone you barely know) is one of the most rewarding experiences in life.
Final Reason: Blogging is fun. Try it. I think you will agree.
I have been using my Blackberry Storm daily for over a month now and have been meaning to do this review. Thank you to Dustin McClure for posting this comment on my blog and prompting me to finally get around to it. Check out his comment and my response below. Watch the video too, of course!
As much as I want to love the Blackberry Storm and as much as I do love it on some days…my opinion changes daily. Some days the phone is great. Everything runs perfectly the accelerometer functions exactly as it should. All applications and phone calls are flawless. On these days it is right up there with the iPhone- better for business use than the iPhone I think.
Then there are the days when nothing works right. This could be due to the fact that I have installed a leaked update- OS 4.7.0.83 and the latest version that has been released “officially” is 4.7.0.75. I just had to do it though to see if the phone would perform any better. And it does…on certain days. Other times it will lock up at least 2-3 times a day and take FOREVER to adjust orientation through the accelerometer.
The thing I try to keep in mind is that it is a NEW phone and there are going to be some issues. Everyone compares it to the iPhone and the iPhone had several issues in their first generation release as well. I am hopeful that things will get better through time as more updates are released and am excited about the new Blackberry Application Store which is coming in March of this year.
I am going to be patient and stick with it in hopes of it living up to the expectations that were set by Verizon. At times the iPhone can be very tempting, but I think I will be able to manage.
I am sure this is a far longer response than you anticipated, but hopefully it is helpful . If you have any more questions about the Blackberry Storm, you know where to find me.
It’s the question all bloggers are faced with. In some cases, it can be a blogger’s worst fear…nothing to blog about. Like many new bloggers I was worried about this question when I started my blog. I am beginning to get the hang of it (at least I hope) so I thought I would share a few tips that have helped me come up with quality content for my blog.
Stop for a minute and think about your day.
Who did you talk to? Did you have any interesting conversations you might want to share your opinions on? Did you have any experiences dealing with any clients? Were you yourself a client with an experience you want to share? Think about what you did, what music you listened to, where you ate, what you read. Is there anything you would like to share with the rest of us about these things?
Okay, so that didn’t help…
Try logging into your Facebook account, or your MySpace or Twitter or LinkedIn.
What are people talking about? Are there any online discussions today that you would like to express your opinion on? Take about 10 minutes to explore your social networking profiles. I bet you will find something good.
Go online and check out the news sites. USA Today, MSN, Mashable are some great sites to start with. You are guaranteed to find something that is blogworthy on one of these sites. Surely there is something that you have some thoughts on here.
Posted by derekmcclain 
Do you use 
department will do a Google search and review the results as part of a background check. 
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January 3, 2009 at 3:08 PM How is your Blackberry Storm working out for you now that you’ve had it for a while?Thanks for your review