social networks

Ready to Spend Timeless Hours Creating Another Social Profile?

Ready to spend timeless hours creating another social profile with groups and learn a new interface? i.e. anyone looking for a google+ invite? #googleplus #google+ #ihatehashtags

Grabbit’s on GitHub.org/grabbit

grabbit’s on gitHub http://ht.ly/5msNb run with it

Social Circulation

How To Create a Webzine by Compiling Your Twitter and Facebook Worlds

This is an excellent way. This site is really intuitive, very easy. You can pick a few keywords or tags and publish the content each day (or twice a day, or weekly). Readers can view the information is a relatively well formatted zine style. Click on mine to check it out. If you subscribe, you’ll follow updates from me plus, all of the people I follow. Paper.li creates it for you automatically.

Focused Content

I put this together in less than 10 minutes and I’m sure you can do it too. I hadn’t seen the site before. My focus for this site was an experiment for  “new energy”, and related aspects: like “#windpower”. If you view it, you’ll notice, #windpower is now a menu item. Click through to read content tagged wind power. Easy to read, huh? This is a nice way to further open your social imprint.

This is an easy add on for any newspaper site, but it also serves the interests of a citizen journalist who simply want to tie Twitter and Facebook together in a nice tidy webzine. Webzines were popular in the 80′s  90′s. Well, the 80′s 90′s are back.

[*I am corrected by a loyal Twitter friend, webzines were really more in the 1990's.... and I agree. In 1994, I took a Basic programming class in high school, but the course was limited to programming principles. In retrospect this was probably a big reason I ended up in a profession marketing technology. A couple of years later I was learning Pascal from a local community college (making up for high school science credits). As proof of the web's embryonic state, the course was available via television but I thought that was pretty cool, and much preferred to sitting next to the distractions of being in class.

Last night on the news, I saw a piece on computer-based distance learning programs. They were highlighting a family home schooling their 3 children. I have also seen these programs, especially for math, being used in public and private schools. Teachers have to be excited about this, because it places some of the responsibility back on the student and parent where it should be. Parents must be excited because they have a window into what and how the student is really learning.]

The Search Engine Optimization Honeymoon

The SEO Honeymoon

Search engine optimization techniques are no more industry secrets. Web sites, and even blogs, use keywords to enjoy higher search rankings. The term ‘SEO honeymoon’ was coined to emphasize a specific phase during a web site life cycle when SEO strategies bear maximum results. Basic understanding of SEO techniques can earn you an exciting honeymoon period, in terms of user traffic and search engine ranking.

How to Enjoy Your Honeymoon With Search Engine Optimization?

The duration of your honeymoon with search engine optimization depends entirely on the quality of content and user experience. However, adhering to the basic SEO fundamentals will also help in achieving better search ranking and extend this happy period in time.

Here are some simple tips to enjoy your official honeymoon with search engine optimization:

• Spend time on keyword research. Select the most relevant keyword as per your specific business requirements.
• Optimize your web page title tags with the most relevant keyword.
• Use Meta description tags.
• Include a Site Map in the website to help search engines with indexing the pages on your site.
• Generate high quality content and semantically display the content on every web page.
• Use ‘Alt text’ for all images and videos. Accessibility is important for those who don’t or can’t view your images.
• Focus on inbound and outbound external links.

To measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategies, include a keyword and user traffic analysis tool in your website. Such a tool will help you in understanding which keywords are paying off and which webpages are attracting greater traffic.

When Will Your Search Engine Optimization Honeymoon End?

According to experts, search engine optimization period ends soon for most of the websites. After achieving good search rankings for the initial months, you may start feeling that your SEO efforts are not paying off. Does this mean your SEO honeymoon is over?

Since SEO fundamentals are employed by most websites, search rankings are bound to differ over a period of time. However, by developing a long-term SEO strategy, it is possible to extend the duration of SEO honeymoon period. Such a strategy should focus extensively on inbound external linking and social media integration. Capitalizing on these two areas is certainly a daunting task. Hire an SEO expert to guide you through these troubled waters.

Virtual Volunteer Efforts

Virtual crops and other virtual goods from Zynga are just one way to help those people who must face the recent earthquake in Japan.

A related article from tonight:

Posted (on ABC Action News): 11:12 PM
Last Updated: 28 minutes ago

By: Kristal Roberts

In the wake of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that has pummeled Japan, relief teams from all across the world are stepping in to provide relief to the tsunami victims.

The Red Cross, the U.S. Navy, faith based agencies and countless organizations are contributing to search and rescue missions as well as food and shelter efforts, but there are plenty of ways for individuals to get involved and lend a helping hand.

Mashable.com has compiled a list of seven legitimate ways that people can donate and help these relief efforts.

Text a donation
When Haiti’s earthquake struck in early 2010, the Red Cross was able to raise over $20 million by people donating through text, and they are using the same strategy a second time around.

To donate to the American Red Cross for “Japan Earthquake Relief”, text ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999. Each text puts $10 towards the relief efforts.

Buy virtual crops to provide real help
Buying virtual digital crops can help children affected by the earthquake. Zynga, the world’s largest social gaming company, has joined forces with Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Emergency Fund to get its users to donate money through the purchase of virtual goods in CityVille, FrontierVille, FarmVille and its other games.

All of the money from the sweet potatoes purchases in CityVille, radishes in FarmVille or kobe cows in FrontierVille will go towards Save the Children’s efforts to provide relief in the Pacific.

“Like” The following Facebook Page
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to donate is to hit the “Like” button for the “Dog Bless You” Facebook page.
Explore.org is donating $1 for every like that they get, up to $100,000.

For the complete list of ways to help, click here .

Social life in a petri dish

I’ve spent the past three months thinking about life sciences, and it’s place on the web. Business social networks are forming and growing each day, and with it comes the need for valuable, meaningful, and useful, relevant resources.

There are communities, for sure, and forums too (which I despise), that try to offer industry news, or white papers, or groups which quickly grow to sizes hard to keep up with, it’s hard to cull through all the updates to find something you need.

Twitter offers lists, which are great for reading a certain group or subsection of people interested in something, but they are hardly two-way conversations. Twitter I see more of a “find out about new software”, “find a good video link”, or receive an “unmanageable amount of inline and inbox spam”.

Facebook offers groups and pages, not regularly attended by any group of people though of course it is a community — but I don’t think of it as a place to meet professionals, especially if they’ve seen my Facebook page, a mix of my personal and professional life, scattered with pleas for response from companies I was frustrated with, a string of pages set up for places I’ve consulted or worked for.

LinkedIn, though 10th in line for popularity of social networks in the U.S. (Marketing Charts, 12/10) is the closest thing I’ve found to finding serious professionals, those who could mentor or further your career. In only a handful of the top segments in life sciences, there are 3 million LinkedIn members.

Which is why the company I’m consulting for, Executive Mindshare, partnered with LinkedIn when we released a site this past December called BioMindshare. Industry thought leaders and quality curated content, with the promise of premium services like reports, event coverage and recruiting coming online this year.

In the meantime, I can assure you though my research, that life sciences, biotechnology, and similar industries are growing fast. For those looking for a job in this field, I’ve brought along a list of science jobs I found through one of my groups on LinkedIn (also if you’d like to connect with me on LinkedIn, my email address is lisa@communicate.io). You can also follow me on Twitter or add me on Facebook.

Science Jobs from LinkedIn:

Academia Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704584
Analytical Chemists: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119465
Biochemistry: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119484
Clinical Research: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105081
Cosmetic Science: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3411042
Chemical Engineers: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3150497
Dental: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3411411
Engineering: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2449309
Finance: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2428987
Freelance Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704789
Hospital: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2118586
Health Economics: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105103
Internship Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704733
IT & Computer Science: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2428898
Laboratory Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105093
Lab Technician Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704701
Logistics & Supply Chain: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3493102
Marketing & Med Comms: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105009
Medical Devices: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3493389
Medical Engineering: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3492475
Medical Information & Drug Safety: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105197
Manufacturing: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105110
Medical Writing: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2104990
Microbiology: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119480
Molecular Biology: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119492
NGO & Charity Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704569
Nursing: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2118972
Organic Chemists: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119473
Part Time Jobs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704714
Pharmacology: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119518
Pharmacy: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119506
Physicians: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2118944&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Quality Assurance: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105043
Regulatory Affairs: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105043
Sales (Medical/Pharma): http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2105057
Sales (Science): http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119498
Statisticians: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119515
Toxicology: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2119518
Translator Jobs Network: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3704670

Happy hunting and happy new year!

Lisa

Describe lisap in three words!

threewords.me is a service that allows people to sum other up with three words. I like the idea. we need more simplification in software.

You can try it here:

How would you describe Lisa Padilla in three words!. – via threewords.me

A quick pitch for Joomla versus Drupal

Not too long ago, I interviewed Jeff Robbins, CEO of Lullabot about Drupal, and the powerful websites being built with it. Since then, Communicate.io, my marketing agency now into year 10, has become partners with Lullabot to utilize and find expertise for our own customers suited for Drupal integrations. Many agencies and web developers choose to support either one or the other, Drupal, or it’s commonly associated competitor, Joomla. We happen to do both, seeing their individual strengths and staying flexible for our clients. Having a difficult time choosing? Here are some recent reasons for using either.

On Communicopia’s blog, a discussion started recently for beginners about these two platforms:

http://www.communicopia.com/blog/joomla-versus-drupal

I added my own commentary here: http://www.communicopia.com/blog/joomla-versus-drupal#comment-9435

They are both “fruit”

Submitted by Lisa Padilla (not verified) on June 25, 2010 – 1:04pm.

Apples and oranges/pears/pineapples, whatever you want to call it, Joomla and Drupal each have different structures and expansion requirements. I think it depends on which add-ons/modules/additional functionality are required for the website.

Some Joomla suites of software are just the right thing. If something essential is missing and a client must stay on Joomla, a CSS specialist is needed, not just someone who can figure out Joomla. Once the CSS is tight, a relatively technical marketing resource could realistically manage the site.

I have seen Drupal stop companies in their tracks once they realize they can’t figure it out with their existing IT, or worse yet marketing, team. So, you hire an (expensive) Drupal specialist who brings you up-to-date, but then need to rely on them to upgrade or implement a new module.

The scaling issue is mostly about hosting the content of the site and making requests for information to a server (hopefully in the cloud, where all of our heads should be by now). That server however, could reside underneath your friend Neal’s desk somewhere, but with a cloud partner like Amazon you have technical support, tiered expansion and costs and let’s face it, Neal sleeps.”

By writing a full-featured description of your desired website functionality before getting started, and assess the skills of your internal team before starting with either.

Save Face, careful what you fan

This afternoon I received a message from a Facebook friend (not a ‘real’ friend, I’ve never met this person.) It was an invite to become a fan of a Facebook page for Target (or a Target affiliate.) I’m not against fanning, but some fan pages on Facebook are misleading and in fact, can quickly and easily damage your reputation with the social network you’ve built up.

Here is the invite, it sounds pretty good, right?

The invite generated by Facebook.

Of course it does. I can’t leave Target without spending over $80.00, so this would come in handy for me. I am the target demographic. Mother, with little time need an all-in-one stop, bargain shopping consumer. So far, so good. Clicking through, with faith, I see deeper.

Step 1 is shown...

I am trusting. Too trusting. I click the button that says “Become a Fan”, thinking already about how I will be spending the $500.00. Then, ….the gotcha!

They made me a fan, and gave me nothing in return

Now the stipulation is revealed. “IMPORTANT: If you do not invite all of your friends you may not be eligible.”  With several hundred friends (I respect) on Facebook, I would be weary of sending them this invite. How horrible to have them feel the same feeling I just did, and associate that feeling with my name, my company, my brand, my product and so on. Clicking Step 1 made me a fan, so I will have to go unfan the page now.

Careful what you click. As far as I’m concerned, whoever started that Fan page owes me $80.00 for my help in pointing out poor business practices surrounding them.

Careful what you click.

Anticipatory web services

The Anticipatory/Predictive/ Intention Web

We all have silent little conversations with our computers, don’t we? Admit it. “No, that’s not what I meant.” “Go back.” “Are you still alive?” We talk to them like they are pets. We hope they will understand a few words we give them, knowing we will have to remind them again and again to get down off the couch, to stop eating slippers, to sit. We talk to other things too, lots of things, that don’t talk back with us.

Computers (software, web services), however, enable more complex discussions and as technology is taking hold of more and more of our time, there exists the early inefficiencies of any major change. The creation and distribution of information online, your information, and that of everyone else remains for the moment at a pivot point, balancing between traditional media control and a rising of consumer-driven content. The time is ripe for a significant advancement* in the “anticipatory web.” A change in the user experience is about to come.

Sit. Stay. Good Web.

It’s fair to say I have spent a lot of my life on computers, on software development, and the marketing of each. Five years ago, my attention centered on connecting companies with their customers primarily by paying for lead information, casting test advertising nets into the Internet ocean, and mitigating their adoption concerns (i.e. understanding why they wouldn’t buy.) Now, working on our own software (finally) at Grabbit I am thinking more about the intelligence of software to understand a user’s needs, preferences, patterns, etc. (all without endangering their trust.)

The complex equations of algorithms combined with the implicit behavior and data given to us by the user will help developers create next-generation software systems that anticipate more fully who you are and what you want from an end-user perspective. We’ve seen baby steps in this direction for many years online. Auto-fill forms, “keep me logged in” buttons, and so on. But software can take a big step — a step that produces interaction.

Companies can address product or service concerns, or open public discussions about other issues concerning their customers and by doing so, anticipate what user’s want (importantly) based on use AND explicit feedback, for instance. In turn, customers can offer – by way of behavior or explicitly-given feedback – additional information about themselves. Also, because of periodic down economies, lack of capital and simple software that provides basic information, many software companies (especially internal divisions of large corporations and underfunded start-ups) circumvent market research, focus groups and other comprehensive testing techniques for the web services and pay for it in adoption or poor press.

* The term Anticipatory web is not in any way a ‘new’ term. Q. Why now? A. Product and service providers have conglomerated into several the major categories. They have matured enough to offer partner programs, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and support for these. Concurrently, web service developers are creating sophisticated programs to anticipate consumer behavior, therefor unlocking revenue for many of the software companies who will have otherwise failed. Happy customer. Happy company. Happy investors.

Have an example to share? I’d love to hear about it!