A Repost
10 Tips for Getting Good Sleep BY Gretchen Rubin
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by Intent.com, on Wed May 20, 2009 11:29am PDT
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There’s a lot of advice out there about getting good sleep -- and it's very important. We quickly adjust to being sleep-deprived, and don't notice that we aren't functioning at a normal level, but lack of sleep really affects us. If you're feeling blue or listless, try going to sleep thirty minutes earlier for a week. It can really help.
Here are tips that have helped me get good sleep:
Good habits for good sleep:
1. Exercise most days, even if it’s just to take a walk.
2. No caffeine after 6:00 p.m.
3. An hour before bedtime, avoid doing any kind of work that takes alert thinking. Addressing envelopes—okay. Analyzing an article—nope.
4. Adjust your bedroom temperature to be slightly chilly.
5. Keep your bedroom dark. Studies show that even the tiny light from a digital alarm clock can disrupt a sleep cycle. We have about six devices in our room that glow bright green; it’s like sleeping in a mad scientist’s lab. I have to put a pillow over the cable box.
6. Keep the bedroom as tidy as possible. It’s not restful to fight through chaos into bed.
If sleep won’t come:7. Breathe deeply and slowly until you can’t stand it anymore.
8. If your mind is racing (you’re planning a trip, a move; you’re worried about a medical diagnosis), write down what’s on your mind. This technique really works for me.
9. Slather yourself with body lotion. This feels good and also, if you’re having trouble sleeping because you’re hot, it cools you down.
10. If your feet are cold, put on socks.Continue Reading Sixteen Tips for Getting Good Sleep on Intent.com By Gretchen Rubin on Intent.comGretchen Rubin’s book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT is an account of the year she spent testing the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from poplar culture about how to be happier. On her popular blog, The Happiness Project, she writes about her daily adventures in happiness.Read More by Gretchen Rubin
Get an Energy Boost in 10 Minutes
9 Tips for Staying Motivated to Exercise
Five books to stimulate your creativity
Seven Tips for Sparking Your Creativity
Related: sleep, health
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Twitter Scam to Avoid
Posted by Pete Cashmore May 30th
Warning: Juste is Latest Twitter Scam to Avoid!
May 30th, 2009 by Pete CashmoreIf you see a link to “juste (dot) ru” on Twitter today, don’t click it.The flipside of social media’s ability to rapidly spread content is that scams, viruses and malware spread at a much faster rate: from the trusted connections that allow Facebook scams to propagate, to the abundance of Twitter (Twitter reviews) issues in recent months.Today’s scam: a video site called “Juste.ru” (do not visit this site) has successfully spread thousands of spam links through Twitter.
The messages read: “Best video:” followed by a link to juste.ru. Users who clicked this link are reporting that their accounts are then used to Tweet the link without their knowledge, implying that the site steals Twitter credentials. Twitter itself has just put out a warning to avoid the links, which are malicious.Bottom line: avoid clicking any links on Twitter to “juste (dot) ru”, and if you find your account posting these links, run a full virus/malware/spyware scan, change your Twitter password and clear your browser cookies
Warning: Juste is Latest Twitter Scam to Avoid!
May 30th, 2009 by Pete CashmoreIf you see a link to “juste (dot) ru” on Twitter today, don’t click it.The flipside of social media’s ability to rapidly spread content is that scams, viruses and malware spread at a much faster rate: from the trusted connections that allow Facebook scams to propagate, to the abundance of Twitter (Twitter reviews) issues in recent months.Today’s scam: a video site called “Juste.ru” (do not visit this site) has successfully spread thousands of spam links through Twitter.
The messages read: “Best video:” followed by a link to juste.ru. Users who clicked this link are reporting that their accounts are then used to Tweet the link without their knowledge, implying that the site steals Twitter credentials. Twitter itself has just put out a warning to avoid the links, which are malicious.Bottom line: avoid clicking any links on Twitter to “juste (dot) ru”, and if you find your account posting these links, run a full virus/malware/spyware scan, change your Twitter password and clear your browser cookies
Who Uses Twitter.....New Numbers Reveal
Repost of Sean Silverthorne
Stunning New Numbers on Who Uses Twitter
By Sean Silverthorne
June 2nd, 2009 @ 6:46 am
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Categories: Innovation
Tags: Women, Twitter, Gender And Diversity, Human Resources, Sean Silverthorne
Hot-off-the-presses research from Harvard Business School shows some very surprising data about who uses Twitter and how. Looking at 300,000 Twitter users, researchers found:
Only 10% of users generate 90% of tweets. “This implies,” according to the authors, “that Twitters resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network.”
Silent majority. Over half of Twitter users communicate less than once every 74 days.
Twitter men prefer other men. An average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. Although men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers than women.
Social Network Usage Compared
The researchers, MBA student Bill Heil and professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, called the male-heavy gender results “stunning” compared with activity on social networks, where women are typically more active then men. “Most of the activity is focused around women — men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know,” according to , according to Heil and Piskorski.
A lively debated has popped up on this research on Harvard Business Publishing, where the researchers lay out the results in the post New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets.
If these numbers hold as Twitter develops, what do they say about men and women and how they communicate? Is it surprising that so few Twitter accounts are actually active, or that 90 percent of Tweets comes from 10 percent of users?
Email Sean Silverthorne
Stunning New Numbers on Who Uses Twitter
By Sean Silverthorne
June 2nd, 2009 @ 6:46 am
0 Comments
Permalink
Share
My BNET
del.icio.us
20)return;setTimeout(function(){f(o+1)},oGoogle
StumbleUpon
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Digg
My Yahoo
Technorati
Recomend
0
Categories: Innovation
Tags: Women, Twitter, Gender And Diversity, Human Resources, Sean Silverthorne
Hot-off-the-presses research from Harvard Business School shows some very surprising data about who uses Twitter and how. Looking at 300,000 Twitter users, researchers found:
Only 10% of users generate 90% of tweets. “This implies,” according to the authors, “that Twitters resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network.”
Silent majority. Over half of Twitter users communicate less than once every 74 days.
Twitter men prefer other men. An average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. Although men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers than women.
Social Network Usage Compared
The researchers, MBA student Bill Heil and professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, called the male-heavy gender results “stunning” compared with activity on social networks, where women are typically more active then men. “Most of the activity is focused around women — men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know,” according to , according to Heil and Piskorski.
A lively debated has popped up on this research on Harvard Business Publishing, where the researchers lay out the results in the post New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets.
If these numbers hold as Twitter develops, what do they say about men and women and how they communicate? Is it surprising that so few Twitter accounts are actually active, or that 90 percent of Tweets comes from 10 percent of users?
Email Sean Silverthorne
Monday, June 1, 2009
You THINK You Are a Soc Media Expert????
A Repost
\\Home » Design, featured
What a Social Media Expert Should Be
27 March 2009 25 Comments
What is a social media expert?
Looking at the wide variety of social media experts, it is easy to quickly become jaded to their assorted value propositions. At the same time, however, there is still the inkling that social media is part of a greater transition from Television, radio, and print media to the web. This transition will occur and it will not simply be a matter of copying content from one staging area to another. The internet is a two (in fact, a muli-way) medium and leveraging this power will require knowledge of social media and how to utilize it. This is where knowledge of social networks and marketing across these channles comes in. There will be a need for social media experts and some will emerge who can create value. Currently, however, we are still in the starting stages of this transition and many of these ‘experts’ have little more than a couple of months more knowledge and experience than their customers. The list below discusses some of the traits that a real social media professional should exhibit. These traits should be up front and free. The specific details of their offerings may of course cost money, but there should at least be a well presented and organized presentation of how they can deliver on their stated promises.
a) Awareness of the available social media toolsTwitter, facebook and YouTube are not the only social media platforms out there. There are many others that are approaching this shift to the internet from a variety of angles. Some may target your desired customers with greater efficiency. A social media expert cannot be expected to know of all of the options available, but they should be able to review a given site based on the potential values it offers to the client. Many social media experts will only reference the sites that have the largest amount of traffic, or the most press. This is because they are in the business of marketing, not social media optimization.
b) Knowledge of how to use each of these tools effectivelyTwitter is full of experts offering ebooks or social media solutions that seem to endorse using the same set of techqiques for all sites. In fact, each site has a different type of visitor, set of interactions, culture and set of rules for behavior. Not knowing this will eventually mean that the unique possibilities of a given platform are not utilized. The internet will evolve into many things, not one big thing, and a variety of approaches will have to be taken.-> This DOES NOT mean a one size fits all approach to every social network
c) The ability to discern which sites have marketing value and which do notSome platforms and sites will have greater value for marketing and promotion than others. This effect can be multiplied by way of the social interaction the site utilizes. In order to have value, these features have to be used by a quality percentage of the sites visitors. Simply having feature A or B will not mean it is being used. If a sites features are underutilized, it should be the SME’s job to get utilization out of it. He or she shouldn’t just turn it over to the technitions and intstuct them to create ’some more cool features’.
d) The ability to gauge and intelligently discuss the trends inherent in a given network
This is about level of depth. Any so called guru can talk about Twitter getting 10k new users a day, or Facebooks valuation. A real SME can discuss they kinds of people on a given network, their interests and their level of investment into the system. All of these work to determine just how worth while a campaign is.
e) Knowledge of methods to maximize Social Marketing efforts across the widest variety of social networks
Some strategies can work across a variety of networks because they are generic enough and unobtrusive. An SME should be able to determine what these are and how they can be employed. Just as important, they should be able to explain why other methods won’t work and the reason why. In addition, tools like Ping.fm can be used to send content to a large number of networks. An SME should know what they are as well as how to use them properly. Ping.fm, for example, can send to round 50 different networks. Many of these networks will not have much value to a campaign, so saying that submitting to all 50 sites on Ping.fm does not mean much. It would be better to classify those sites and explain the variety of strategies applied to each class.
f) Knowledge of the different ‘cultures’ in a social network. (See an anthropological study).
Twitter appeals to techies, marketers, public relations and gadget junkies. They rebel hard against explicit selling or affiliate efforts. An SME who proposes such a thing on Twitter is no where near an expert. Likewise, other sites have different demographics and cannot be treated in the same way. Make sure that your SME can explain the difference.
g) Continued study, the willing ness to discuss what one is learningTo get the most our of your SME, do your own research. Go to technorati, techcrunch etc and see what’s happening out there. Use your own reasoning to estimate what might have value for you and then ask your SME about it. The feedback should be intelligent and well thought out.
h) A variety of options and strategies for a given customer or client.Like any other service, an SME should provide the customer with a variety of solutions. In fairness to he or she, they will come at varying cost. You should be able to expect levels of service and customization. Not having this is like going to a restaurant that only sells spam and eggs.
i) Knowing that more granular targeting = more work.This is an important realization or both the SME and the client. Targeting a wider spectrum of potential customers means better targeting but it also means more effort in implementation. For the SME this means more work. For you this means a higher cost.
j) Because of the above, the SME should be able to determine which effort delivers the most bang for the buck, and then leave that final decision up to you.
k) Introduce efficiencies, and DRY priciples. Eventually, efficiencies can be created as common tasks emerge. This can eventually save time and money in the long term for a higher up front cost. In addition, repeated tasks should eventually be eliminated and abstracted out using templates and scripting where appropriate.
l) Technical knowledge. SME will eventually require a blend of graphic design, advertising and coding skills. An SME should know the place of all of these and be versed in at least one of these skills. Beyond that, he or she should be able to effectively locate and utilize talents in areas not versed in.
In summary, Social Media Optimization is like any other service. It is a skill and as a service it is performed to save the client time and money compared to doing it himself. The SME market right now is full of short cuts, quick solutions, one-size-fits-all and outright scams. Approach hiring such an expert with caution. More importantly, approach the process with curiosity and a willingness to explore this new facet of the internet. This phenomenon is here to stay, so an investment in learning about it has long term cost and competitive benefits.
\\Home » Design, featured
What a Social Media Expert Should Be
27 March 2009 25 Comments
What is a social media expert?
Looking at the wide variety of social media experts, it is easy to quickly become jaded to their assorted value propositions. At the same time, however, there is still the inkling that social media is part of a greater transition from Television, radio, and print media to the web. This transition will occur and it will not simply be a matter of copying content from one staging area to another. The internet is a two (in fact, a muli-way) medium and leveraging this power will require knowledge of social media and how to utilize it. This is where knowledge of social networks and marketing across these channles comes in. There will be a need for social media experts and some will emerge who can create value. Currently, however, we are still in the starting stages of this transition and many of these ‘experts’ have little more than a couple of months more knowledge and experience than their customers. The list below discusses some of the traits that a real social media professional should exhibit. These traits should be up front and free. The specific details of their offerings may of course cost money, but there should at least be a well presented and organized presentation of how they can deliver on their stated promises.
a) Awareness of the available social media toolsTwitter, facebook and YouTube are not the only social media platforms out there. There are many others that are approaching this shift to the internet from a variety of angles. Some may target your desired customers with greater efficiency. A social media expert cannot be expected to know of all of the options available, but they should be able to review a given site based on the potential values it offers to the client. Many social media experts will only reference the sites that have the largest amount of traffic, or the most press. This is because they are in the business of marketing, not social media optimization.
b) Knowledge of how to use each of these tools effectivelyTwitter is full of experts offering ebooks or social media solutions that seem to endorse using the same set of techqiques for all sites. In fact, each site has a different type of visitor, set of interactions, culture and set of rules for behavior. Not knowing this will eventually mean that the unique possibilities of a given platform are not utilized. The internet will evolve into many things, not one big thing, and a variety of approaches will have to be taken.-> This DOES NOT mean a one size fits all approach to every social network
c) The ability to discern which sites have marketing value and which do notSome platforms and sites will have greater value for marketing and promotion than others. This effect can be multiplied by way of the social interaction the site utilizes. In order to have value, these features have to be used by a quality percentage of the sites visitors. Simply having feature A or B will not mean it is being used. If a sites features are underutilized, it should be the SME’s job to get utilization out of it. He or she shouldn’t just turn it over to the technitions and intstuct them to create ’some more cool features’.
d) The ability to gauge and intelligently discuss the trends inherent in a given network
This is about level of depth. Any so called guru can talk about Twitter getting 10k new users a day, or Facebooks valuation. A real SME can discuss they kinds of people on a given network, their interests and their level of investment into the system. All of these work to determine just how worth while a campaign is.
e) Knowledge of methods to maximize Social Marketing efforts across the widest variety of social networks
Some strategies can work across a variety of networks because they are generic enough and unobtrusive. An SME should be able to determine what these are and how they can be employed. Just as important, they should be able to explain why other methods won’t work and the reason why. In addition, tools like Ping.fm can be used to send content to a large number of networks. An SME should know what they are as well as how to use them properly. Ping.fm, for example, can send to round 50 different networks. Many of these networks will not have much value to a campaign, so saying that submitting to all 50 sites on Ping.fm does not mean much. It would be better to classify those sites and explain the variety of strategies applied to each class.
f) Knowledge of the different ‘cultures’ in a social network. (See an anthropological study).
Twitter appeals to techies, marketers, public relations and gadget junkies. They rebel hard against explicit selling or affiliate efforts. An SME who proposes such a thing on Twitter is no where near an expert. Likewise, other sites have different demographics and cannot be treated in the same way. Make sure that your SME can explain the difference.
g) Continued study, the willing ness to discuss what one is learningTo get the most our of your SME, do your own research. Go to technorati, techcrunch etc and see what’s happening out there. Use your own reasoning to estimate what might have value for you and then ask your SME about it. The feedback should be intelligent and well thought out.
h) A variety of options and strategies for a given customer or client.Like any other service, an SME should provide the customer with a variety of solutions. In fairness to he or she, they will come at varying cost. You should be able to expect levels of service and customization. Not having this is like going to a restaurant that only sells spam and eggs.
i) Knowing that more granular targeting = more work.This is an important realization or both the SME and the client. Targeting a wider spectrum of potential customers means better targeting but it also means more effort in implementation. For the SME this means more work. For you this means a higher cost.
j) Because of the above, the SME should be able to determine which effort delivers the most bang for the buck, and then leave that final decision up to you.
k) Introduce efficiencies, and DRY priciples. Eventually, efficiencies can be created as common tasks emerge. This can eventually save time and money in the long term for a higher up front cost. In addition, repeated tasks should eventually be eliminated and abstracted out using templates and scripting where appropriate.
l) Technical knowledge. SME will eventually require a blend of graphic design, advertising and coding skills. An SME should know the place of all of these and be versed in at least one of these skills. Beyond that, he or she should be able to effectively locate and utilize talents in areas not versed in.
In summary, Social Media Optimization is like any other service. It is a skill and as a service it is performed to save the client time and money compared to doing it himself. The SME market right now is full of short cuts, quick solutions, one-size-fits-all and outright scams. Approach hiring such an expert with caution. More importantly, approach the process with curiosity and a willingness to explore this new facet of the internet. This phenomenon is here to stay, so an investment in learning about it has long term cost and competitive benefits.
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