Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Be Prepared for Social Media

10 year old cub scout who is selling PopCorn to help feed hungry kids through Feeding America. He was entrepreneurial and created a website PopCornforKids.org . Beth Kanter asks "What advice would you offer this budding ten-year philanthropist? Is there a merit badge that needs to be on the list so your nonprofit can be prepared for social media?"I am also thrilled that the kid used ImageCafe Network Solution's Website builder that I product managed before becoming the Social Media Swami :)

read more | digg story

Sunday, September 28, 2008

DC Metro Riders : See what you are Missing

My son loves trains and today we were watching this video. COmpare this to the Washington DC metro and realize how spoitl we are. In Bombay the traisn carry 7k passengers on a train that was built for 1.4 k passengers and yet there are never 10 minute delays. In DC 10 minute delays measn the trains are on time :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Blog World Expo: Buzz Gain Twitterati who attended BWE08 43% Female

I was reading Mukund Mohan's post on Buzz Gain  and found the stats very interesting:
  • 43% of BlogWorldExpo attendees are users of Twitter.  ( 43% female and 57% male)
  • 2848 photos (as of last night) were shared on Flickr, Facebook, Zooomr and SmugMug
Read the rest of the post here http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=51

Meeting Guy Kawasaki at Blog World Expo

Blog World Expo 2008

Guy Kawasaki is one of the most down to earth guys when you meet him in person.I met him previously in Miami and Charlotte where we had several impromptu tweet-ups with bloggers and twitterati and Guy joined in and joked and added a lot to the conversation.

I missed his keynote and want to thank him for the interview the gave Network Solutions on tips for Small Business.

How I became a Social Media Swami at Network Solutions.

Cross posted from : SolutionsArePower

Everytime I give out cards , I raise eyebrows, For speaking opportunities the organizers call me back just to confirm that I am not playing a prank on them with my title Social Media Swami of Network Solutions.

The story is that I moved from Product Management to setup this listening post in the Social Media for Network Solutions. Now there is no precedence and I pondered on what the title would be.


So the first step we took was to ask our employees , now we didn’t do it in a official email all employees way but started spreading the word through friends and “microwaving lunch” conversations. Here is the entire list of submssions.

CPO, Chief Propaganda Officer
Director of Social Networking Development
Director of Social Media Development
Alternative Media Director / Manager
Bang Bang director
Blogmaster
Buzzmaster General
Director of Social Media Awareness
Director of Social Media Strategy
NetSoulMan
New Media Participation Manager
New Social Media Spider
NSI Media Mogul
Senior Strategist, Social Marketing
Shashi Snippet Man
Shashi 2.0
Social Butterfly
Social Coordinator
Social Director
Social Disinformation Propagandist
Social Marketing Senior Strategist
Social Media Analyst
Social Media Cruise Director
Social Media Czar
Social Media Senior Strategist
Social Media Strategy & Planning Manager
Social Media Swami
Strategist, Social Media
The Dean of Social Media
Web 2.0 Product Manager
Manager, Social Networking
New Media Manager
Corporate Blogger
“SNAG” – Social Networking Authority Guru
New Buzz Director
SM Specialist
CCA - Chief Customer Advocate
Manager, Social Networking
The Social Media Guru

Can you think of other titles that would fit the bill? Feel free to use any of the titles and submit your own in the comments here. Who knows I may just poll the folks here to ask if I need to change my title ?

Update :Guy Kawasaki : Chief Evangelist

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Blog World Expo 2008 : Tall Blondes with a heart of Gold

At the Blog World Expo I got this rare picture. i thought I knew only one fantastic tall blonde 6 foot heart of gold lady Liz Strauss and the at Blog World Expo 2007 I met Mari Smith and here they are - Tallest women at blog World Expo and both with a heart of Gold.

It was awesome to meet both. Liz for the 4th time and Mari for the first time.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Swami meets Mike Shinoda Linkin Park

The story of this picture is that Mike Shinoda actually took this picture of both of us with my camera. What a great sport.

After his keynote speech he had a huge line of fans waiting to meet him. I was almost the last and since we didnt see anyone else who could take the picture Mike said he could take it an is an expert at it. And he is ! Just look at the picture. :)
He gave the Keynote at the Blog World Expo along with Tim Ferriss and Rohit Bhargava
Bwe08 : Mike Shinoda and Shashi Bellamkonda

Friday, September 19, 2008

South West Airlines - Turbulence at the Gate

I love South West Air and enjoy flying them. Today I think there was a screw loose in the giant clog that operates the airline and for a period of time turned from a raving fan to a ranting fan. I am blogging about this for 2 reasons - maybe there is a lesson learned and also that raving fans will expect things to never go wrong.

I arrived at the airport about 2.40 minutes earlier found my gate and settled down to do some work and converse on Twitter. Chatted with a lady who sat next to me about how good South West was. About an hour before the flight @stevenfisher came and we sat chatting. about 30 minutes before the flight I went up to the counter to ask if I can use miles to upgrade. The counter person saw my boarding card and said the biz class seats were all full.

Now 15 minutes before the flight out of the corner of my eye I see flurry of activity from a group of people saying 'They changed the gate and didn't tell us" I look at Steve who is like " What else did you expect from South West" . We rush to the Gate A8 and see another 10 or 15 people follow us one of them in a wheel chair. Now surprisingly there is no one at Gate A8 , by no one I mean no staff. We wait and wait. One young fella rushes out , doesn't talk to us , types away at this console and disappears. One of the group waiting with us can't stand it any longer , ventures into the walkway and tries to get some attention. One of the South West staffers comes out and again no explanation and closes the door. By now my imagination is running wild. All the time all of us standing at the gate are discussing just one thing - Why didn't they make an announcement that the gate has been changed. My Hospitality experience tells me that all of our anxiety would have been resolved by one of the staffers taking responsibility to just tell us what the situation was. I start tweeting the situation to @southwestair ( I consider them as friends)Our group starts speculating - people go to the windows to see if the plane is in fact still there, some of us are discussing if they had boarded the standby passengers and so they may not have room for us, is the aircraft smaller so did they decide not to announce the gate change .

In a few minutes - the only friendly face we have seen so far- the captain walks out. he is the first person to tell us that they are making some rearrangements . The group is calmer now.  After a few minutes the entire team walks back and takes care of the wheel chair passenger first and then we all board. I sheepishly go back to the gate as I have carried my food and left my laptop bag behind. The smiling captain remarks to me " You have your priorities right, at least you didn't forget your food. AS we are the last to board we obviously dont get any aisle or window seats. I am always thinking positive so I think " atleast I dont have to sit next to Steve" ( sorry Steve !)

Inside the aircraft the South West Magic comes back. The cabin crew is very friendly , they say sorry , we always try to do things right but sometimes this happens. The captain cracks a joke about taking 11 days to reach Las Vegas. I love the way the cabin crew do their improv. Do they get a book of funny lines? Do they have comedy classes ? What ever funny bone training they got, my mood is much better.  I will still fly SouthWest ( I can't vouch for Steve)

I am writing this blog post on the plane and will publish it after I land.

Lesson learned : It was critical for the SouthWest gate person at A9 to have made the gate change announcement. I am willing to bet the monitors were showing A9.  A supervisor or someone should have been at the gate A8 to tell people that they would be boarding soon.

High expectations from companies that you love : People loved Jet Blue but the one day that wintery day in New York affected them .

What do you think? Do you think people want more from companies they love. You don't think too much about a bad experience from a company that is not known for its service and may be more forgiving.

Twin Tech 2 - Peter Corbett organizes a giant cocktail party

Bringing 600 to 700 people together is a gigantic task. Peter Corbett of iStrategylabs did it at the Avenue , 649 New York Ave in DC. With 3 floors it was enough space except for the din of at least 200 to 300 conversations going on at the same time. I am used to that since I was born and brought up in India.

At a networking event I try to say hello to every one who exchanges eye contact and usually it has always ends in a good connection. At the same time I like to spend time talking and getting to know the person so I have at least one takeaway about the person or what they said. I met Steven Fisher, Jessie X ( always a pleasure to meet her), Jill Foster ( roving journalist at the DNC and utterli caster and finance at http://www.jillforster.name), Rachelle lacroix ( She wants to be the top Rachelle lacroix on Google so help with link love) Ryan Sphan ( Sleep.fm), Hank Dearden ( Capcabal.net) , Anthony Lafauce ( FaceTime Strategy), Shirin Aka 'Digital Sista", Paula of the Panda fame, Craig Stoltz 20really.blogspot.com, Joe Loong, Raj Malik ( Remember the phrase " Take the Lawyers to lunch") , Dean Hua, Sam Gonsalves, Mohammed of GeniusRocket, Frank Gruber, Kim Hart ( She will be moderating a panel on Social Media at the Tower Club in Oct) , Eriak from the Towerclub - awesome as usual, Joyson Cherian of w2comm.com, Danielle Gaines - reconnectingthecircle.blogspot.com, Mike Tillman who came to the Network Solutions Trademark event, Jack London - have not seen him since the Jeff Pulver dinner, Mark Drapeau,- always a charming guy, Leslie of Jess3, missed actually saying Hi to Nick O'Neil - I heard his SocialAd conference went extremely well and a little bird told me thay even had a sushi chef in attendance. I could not go because of the Trademark event I was organizing,

Among the new rockstars I met and spoke to are:

Rob Pregoraro - Rob is someone whose consumer technology column I follow very avidly in the Washington Post. As i went to the 3rd floor of Avenue he was the first person I met. I wish Washington Post printed the blog address of the reporters on the business card too.

Kevin Anderson - Kevin works for the Guardian a Uk Publication and is going to e travel in a Rv across America to write about the elections. When I mentioned Jill Foster he said he had already met her and Andy Carvin. He did hint about a meet-up on the night of the elections which will be interesting. I introduced him to Kim Hart from the Washignton Post.

Mark Feldman

James P Broady of Beltwayrealestatesolutions.com who is a school buddy of Jessie X

Jennifer Schwed web designer extraordinaire and Network Solutions customer. We have to interview her for SolutionsArePower about her success story of artfulpresentation.com and jensworld.com

Catherine Andrews of the Washingtonian - Confessed that I try to keep continuing to subscribe to the Washingtonian at $12 . I love Washigntonian and read it at the library. I picked up the two issues they were giving away at twin tech and also the stressbuster.

Cathy Porter - We were at the Maryland tech Council event where I spoke about Social media role in a company's communication strategy.

Mary Conley Eggert - was a absolutely delightful person who is Chicago based and works for techimage.com

Jasmine Sante - santestrategies.com consults on website content management and it was great meeting her

David Kidd was taking everyone's picture so I desided to take his. Fantastic photographer ( he took a picture of me and Mary Eggert)

Lisa Colten of Knowledgebank.cc gave me suhc wonderful insight about HR services for small businesses who are not ready to have a HR person yet.

Jeff Crites - brickandclickconsulting.com who was interviewed on our blog SolutionsArePower

Jason Crawford of Environicspr.com

Jud Cairns former software company COO (TREEV LLC) looking for the next opportunity

Limor Schafman of keystonetechgroup.com

Katie Pregoraro of Arlington Department of Technology Services

If I missed meeting you its entirely my loss. If I inadvertently left off your name pls feel free to send me a few bricknbats in the comments and they will spur me into action to update this post.

One thing I have to say about those tech events - Dude! Where's the food. ? DO geeks and suits only drink and not eat?

Others who covered the event:

Josh Greene

Peter Corbett

Amy Augenblick

Craig Stoltz

Diditz

Jean Luc

Catherine Andrews of the Washingtonian

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Trademark 101 Streaming live tonight 7 p.m

By popular demand I will be doing my first live ustream today.

URL : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/solutionsarepower

Hope to see you there.

Details of the event.

hanks for the support for this event from:

1piazza.com

SomewhatFrank.com

EastCoastblogging.com

DC Web Women



Trademarks are an important business asset. Businesses rely on their trademarks to identify their products or services and to distinguish them from their competitors. Trademarks must be protected or they may be lost. The loss of a trademark denies consumers the opportunity to identify preferred brands and destroys the owner’s investment in its asset.



Come out to Network Solutions to meet our CEO, Roy Dunbar, and talk to intellectual property experts from Ballard Spahr about tips and best practices for names, brands and trademarks for your products and services.

Capital Area Food Bank needs your help for Ike victims

Please read Mike Chapman's post on how you can help the Texas Hurricane victims. Connie Reece created a special page on Chipin where you can donate http://austinfoodbank.chipin.com/capital-area-food-bank or you can use the widget below to start your donation now.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Anyone can blog

Mystery poster on my cube

This poster appeared on my cube today. Often my friends and colleagues at Network Solutions will play a prank on me ( They know I am a good sport :) ) This picture is several years old and if I remember right was taken in Nainital, UP in India and found its way to one of my friends probably on the design team.

I really appreciate their enthusiasm in providing this strong message that "Anyone can Blog." including me :). The second message is that I seem so comfortable in "grassroots"

Do you think pranks actually help a community feeling ? What kind of prank did you experience ? 

Of course the prank I wrote about in a previous post needed a lot of time :)http://readythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/02/cubicle-pranks-and-productivity.html

Monday, September 15, 2008

How many times do you Tweet a Day ? Twitter

Just got alerted to TweetRush by @robynjay http://robynjay.wikispaces.com/. Enter your Twitter Id and it tells you how many times do you tweet a day and a weekly average.

Can business really learn from Politics ? Ask Brent Leary - www.barack20.com

In the Web 2.0 world we must learn from the experience of those who have  implemented a successful strategy. What better example of success using social media than the campaign of Barack Obama. When Brent Leary told me this and mentioned his presentation-turned-into-website http://www.barack20.com  , I could not wait to get back to my desk and check it out. I met Brent Leary  first at the Small Business Technology Summit in NYC in February of this year.( See my prev post ) Very impressive speaker and has a great knowledge of CRM and how these tools can be used by businesses. Brent also has his own Radio show BusinessTechnologyRadio.

Small Business Technology Summit 2008

In observing and studying the Barack Obama campaign Brent saw that a parallel can be implemented by Small Business owners. his presentation Barack Obama's Social Media Lesson to Small Businesses is availablel on the website Barack20.com and also on on slideshare.net. It is freely downloadable. I remember Brent used the word " Google Quotient" at the Small Business Technology Summit. Do you know your Google Quotient? The site also haa lot of interesting podcasts .Brent is Atlanta based and is a huge resource on small business and technology.

I have to add this link to my presentation http://blog.networksolutions.com/2008/american-independent-writers-association-and-podcamp-philly-presentation/

Sometimes life brings brilliant people your way to inspire you to perform better than you thought you were capable of. Brent is one of them. The next step is to use what you learn to make someone else's life better. I look forward to meeting him in person again soon. In the meantime our conversations will be on Twitter , facebook and sometimes email :)

Sunday, September 14, 2008

"48 Hours in Mumbai" National Geographic Traveler, October 2008 By Monica Bhide

Monica Bhide is a DC area author and food lover who writes food and travel articles for several International and US newspapers. http://mbhide.typepad.com/about.html. I met her at Indique heights a few weeks ago at a gathering to welcome Sanjeev Kapoor a TV celebrity Chef and well know author of several cookery books in India. Monica was looking forward to her article '48 hours in Mumbai" appearing in the National Geographic Traveler in October.

The October Issue of National Geographic Traveler has come out today and has some fantastic pictures of Bombay ( aka Mumbai) Online at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/photos/mumbai0810/mumbai_gallery.html > When you have a chance please read the article and provide feedback here or on Monica's blog http://mbhide.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/48-hours-in-mum.html

 

On another note I was reading the National Geographic magazine today and it has an extensive article ' Fast Lane to the Future" on the GQ i.e Golden Quadrilateral which is a highway project connecting Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras (Chennai). The two things I will quote from the article:

DON BELT the article's author:  "To cross a busy intersection is to catch a glimpse of the Indian character : enterprising, creative, pushy, energetic, relentless and surprisingly good-natured"

In another place the article quotes Martii Salomaa  a Manager at Nokia " India has the most amazing workforce in the world. People here are creative, driven, full of energy and new ideas.You don't need to push them, because they push each other relentlessly; the challenge is channeling their incredible energy"

Sounds familiar ?

Twitter Timer is great for absent minded Tweeters

My daughter alerted me to a blurb in the print edition of Popular Science on Twitter. This was the first time I had heard of @timer. If you DM timer , timer will tweet you back with a reminder.

Here is how the Timer website explains the process :

Timer is a Twitter bot that helps you set an alarm for things you need to remember. Want to give it a try? It’s easy:
If you’re not already a Twitter user, register for a free account.
Add timer as your friend.
Send a direct message to timer. If you’re sending a direct message via SMS/Twitterific, use the format below (if you’re using Twitter’s direct message interface, you can leave off the d timer bit. More info on direct messages can be found here.):

d timer [# of minutes until reminder] [your message]

Example: d timer 60 check parking meter (will remind you to drop a quarter in 60 minutes)

Note: 5 minutes is the minimum amount of time that you can set. In addition, if you forget to put a time, that’s what you’ll get by default.
Timer will then tweet you back after the specified number of minutes has passed. Please note, though, that it is not an accurate timer; many factors, including email, SMS, and Twitter delays may slow delivery. That said, it’s usually not off by much more than a minute. Keep this in mind when you’re using timer to cook macaroni (please don’t hold us responsible for soggy noodles).

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Kiruba's List : Indian CEOs who tweet regularly

Kiruba Shankar @kiruba is compiling a list of Indian CEOs who microblog for an article he is writing.. See the list at http://cerebrate.in/wiki/index.php?title=Indian_CEOs_who_twitter
Who Qualifies CEOs of Indian origin. They could either be in India or abroad. Expat CEOs of companies based in India. (example: CEO of Hyundai India) Size of companies doesn't matter. Startups with employee size 1 are as good as Microsoft. CXO's are in too. Top mgmt folks who are COO, CTO, CMO, CIO are good. Founders of organizations (who may not have a CEO title) are good too. (Example, Vijay Anand, Founder, Proto.in
I am glad some of them are in my contacts including my good friend Mukund Mohan

Sarah Cooley's Web 2.0 for the masses

Thats a tall order explaining Web 2.0 for the masses. Sarah Cooley did a good job on her first post at http://www.whatsitallaboutweb.com/. She takes you through the basics and newbies to Twitter will love it. Great job Sarah.



How would you explain WEb 2.0 to the masses? What tools should be the starting toolset for novices? Head on over to her blog and give her feedback.

Facebook Saves Washington Post Date Lab

I was thrilled to read the Washington Post magazine Date Lab today http://tinyurl.com/63hxcr. Both the subjects listen to NPR. Then after the date Jay loses her card (oops !) and luckily for him Mary sends him a FaceBook message. Pity they are both not on Twitter. Of course it's all good - otherwise they would have spent the entire date Twittering to their followers !

Friday, September 12, 2008

Robert Scoble to Give away free Seagate Hard Drives in NYC Times Square

Just realized the ways to generate WOM and Buzz are limitless. Bottom line if you work near NYC and have a few minutes to spare you may want to walk On Tuesday at noon Eastern to the Kodak sign in New York City’s Times Square (on side of Marriott Marquis hotel). More details http://scobleizer.com/2008/09/12/use-twitter-or-friendfeed-and-win-a-new-seagate-drive/

Well even if you don;t win the drive it will be good to say "Hi" to Robert Scoble. He is a nice guy.The top of the post says that SeaGate is a sponsor for the blog so thats transparent enough.

For those who don't win I hope Robert has arranged for Donuts or hot dogs.
Gnomedex Seattle Robert Scoble and ShashiB

DC Concierge Relaunched - Shana Glickfield throws a great party

DSCN4143

I met some real people last night at DCConcierge's relaunch party at Spaces . I was enjoying myself so much that i did not take out my customary camera and shoot tons of pictures. I let Nahum do that, after all he is a master of photography.

Jared-goralnik-awayfind-picture of me and hankdearden J

Photo courtesy Jared  Goralnik( head honcho of a cool timesaving tool - AwayFind) who took some great pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancingwithwords/2849381457/ .

I talked to Cheryl Taragin, Paul Worsham, Jim long (newmediajim), Sam Gonsalves,Rick Dassler,  Dean Hua, Hank Dearden, Jimmy Gardner, Shirin "digital Sista" , Amanda Sena , Aaron Brazell, Anthony Lafauce and many other wonderful folks. Missed meeting Paul SIngh, Nick O Neil and Ryan Moede.

 

DC Concierge is a great concept and I am happy for Shana. I only hope she comes to the "burbs' sometimes specially when we have a networking event in Herndon Like this one : http://blog.networksolutions.com/2008/network-solutions-to-host-progam-on-trademarks/

Bottom line if you want any question on entertainment and cool places in DC head over to http://dcconcierge.com and ask away.

Hurricane Ike Google Maps & Other Hurricane Widgets

The Hurricane Information Center is a volunteer-driven effort that's pulling together a number of widgets containing maps, user-generated content, news and government alerts related to Hurricane Ike.I am glad Network Solutions sponsored the hosting for the Hurricanewiki.org which can be used for any future hurricanes too.

read more | digg story

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Twitter Grader

A few months ago we had the Tweeterboard that had its own moments of glory. Becky @B_E_X tipped me off to Twitter Grader. Go to http://twitter.grader.com/ and enter your Twitter user id and it will give you a score. My Twitter id is @shashib and Iscore 98/100 and my rank among top user is 252.

The Twitter Grade measures the relative power of a Twitter user. It is calculated as a percentile score. A grade of 79 means that the user scores higher than 79 percent of the other user profiles that have been graded.

Your grade is calculated using a combination of factors including:

* The number of followers you have
* The power of this network of followers
* The pace of your updates
* The completeness of your profile
* ...a few others.

 

 

Check it out and post your score in the comments below.

Getting people excited about Native American cultures!

A few weeks ago I met Danielle Gaines and we chatted about Social Media and how she decided to take the summer off. Now if anyone takes the summer off I presume they head to the beach and relax. Danielle used the time to continue her work for an organization Reconnecting The Circle ("RTC").

Reconnecting The Circle ("RTC") encourages people to learn about Native American people and cultures, and seeks to develop a more meaningful and complete perspective on Indian Country. (e.g., the collective reference for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.)

I applaud her for the good work and now she is actively looking for a Business Analyst position and she has loads of experience as a User interface wiz.

I am thrilled that she has her own blog now http://reconnectingthecircle.blogspot.com/ . Good luck Danielle ! ( seen on the left in the picture below)

Summer Bash with Gary V and Robert Scoble

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

TCM Social Media Seminar : Meeting MD Tech Council Stars

Md Tech Council Social Media Seminar Sept 2008 - Craig Stoltz

Meeting Craig Stotlz is like a lucky charm . He blogs at http://2ohreally.wordpress.com/. I had the previlege of talking to Robert W. McGlotten From the Department of Business and Economic Development . The Department has a easy to remember URL Choosemaryland,org. I took a quick Qik Interview and he was very sporting to consent. I am impressed.


 

Mark Glazer, Rick Harris of the MD tech Council are always great to talk to. Mitch Arnowitz is a awesome guy.

Md Tech Council Social Media Seminar Sept 2008 Rick Harris

I met new Twitter friends  @SarahMorgan, @RFerrier, @creativemichael . My good friend @prestovivace. Jeremy Epstein was an awesome speaker. I discovered that Gabriela Cadena is a fellow member of the DC Media Makers.

A whole list is coming tomorrow. If I missed the opportunity to say "Hi" to you I hope you will reach out and say hello email Shashib (at) networksolutions [.] com
Twitter (@shashib) http://twitter.shashi.name
Facebook Http://fb.shashi.name
Linkedin Http://linkedin.shashi.name

TCM Social Media Seminar Johns Hopkins University

Jeremy Epstein Started the show with some great real life examples at the Tech Council of Maryland’s FIRST Web 2.0 seminar called Growing Your Business Through Social Media .

As I started to write this post I saw an awesome recap of the event by Robin Ferrier at the Capital Communicators Group Blog .

Her notes were accurate and so I am reproducing them here :

-- More important to listen to what others say about you than what you say about you.
-- Listen first. Find out who is talking about you. Where talking about you. What saying.
-- When people realize you're listening, goes from frustration for customer to willingness to provide feedback.

The other things that I recollect from the panel talk are:

I wore pink and that helped to show support for the Komen for Cure program :)

Companies may debate where Social media should live - Marketing, product or PR

Engagement not sales should be the goal of social media

Blogger Relations tab on your Corporate page is a must

Your news release can come back to talk to you in the new media.

Very important to answer even when people are posting negatively.

Marc Hausman made a great point which we follow at Network Solutions thorough our blog http://www.solutionsarepower.com which is that every company has such great potential to create useful content that will be appreciated in the Social Media. His company has been doing some great work in that arena.

Alice Marshall got a huge applause when she said how freedom is the underlying principle and shutting down Facebook and other social networks from employees is not good.

I got the chance to use my line " Take the lawyers to lunch " - What I mean by that is talk to the legal folks and ask them for suggestions on how you can achieve what you want to achieve. The lawyers i come across have been very business oriented and social media savvy. Maybe I am hanging with the right crowd:)

Flickr pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/drbeachvacation/sets/72157607223759437/

Other Fantastic people who wrote about the event:

Chuck Kramer : http://www.remarksontheworld.com/2008/09/md-tech-council-social-media-seminar.html

I have some handouts and my presentation here http://solutionsarepower.com/2008/american-independent-writers-association-and-podcamp-philly-presentation/

Monday, September 08, 2008

Learning a cool LinkedIn tip from Oliver Picher at Podcamp Philly

The old adage is that you learn everyday of your life from birth except for a short break in school.( I think George bernard Shaw said this)

At a Podcamp Philly 2008 session "Personal Branding" that Matt J McDonald I got a great hint from Oliver Picher on Linkedin. If you notice most Linkedin profiles have the words "My Company", "My Blog" , "My Portfolio" in the section labeled "Websites". If you want to customize this you can edit it by changing the drop down to "Other" which gives you an option to add your own text label to the URL.

See how I did it on my profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/sbellamkonda

Why is this important. if your profile gets spidered it may be lost in a sea of "My Blogs" versus you can use the text box albeit limited space to think of a innovative /catchy name for your blog

Interview With Chris Penn At Podcamp Philly 2008

We are doing a full fledged interview with Chris for SolutionsArePower . I was thrilled to meet Chris again in Philadelphia and as we hung out waiting for the doors to open I used my N95 to get a quick interview.

I have a kid going to college in a couple of years ( yes I am sure I don't look like that)

and I am reading up and listening to Chris Penn's Podcasts at http://www.financialaidpodcast.com/

Help a Reporter Out

I have been a subscriber for this newsletter that comes out 3 times a day. It is a collection of forthcoming story ideas and projects that reporters, bloggers, free lance writers are looking for. Last week one of the requests that caught my attention was a  Cheese making woman from the DC area or PA. I twittered the request and in a span of 5 minutes I had a couple of leads. I passed them on to the reporter and hope she connected with them.

 

You should check out the site and also subscribe to the newsletter whether it is for you, your company or if you are looking for people to interview for a project/article.

 

Peter Shankman
Tell a friend: www.helpareporter.com
http://www.shankman.com
http://www.twitter.com/skydiver for urgent queries

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Podcamp Philly : Meeting Awesome folks

As I  reached Podcamp Philly the doors were not open yet but a lot of folks had arrived and waiting and getting ready to start the knowledge gaining.  Whitney Hofmann @ldpodcast was ready, energetic and welcoming. Met Chris Penn and took a video Interview of him uploaded here http://qik.com/video/278401 . He is awesome and writes the Financial aid podcast. Also met Suki Fuller, Jonny Goldstein, Li Evans, Geoff Livingston, Chris Abraham, Thursday Brahm,  and many more favorites

Other great people I met:

Cynthia Wallace : http://www.mediastory.us

Christophile Konstas : Http://www.youtube.com/christophile

Michelle Wolverton @chelpixie :http://chelpixie.com/blog/

Adam Weiss : http://www.podcastconsultant.net

Geri Weltz : http://www.beyond.com (She will be starting a wiki on defining social networks for novices) I am writing for her to get on Twitter.

Nancy Dowd: http://themwordblog.blogspot.com . She is interested in hearing your ideas on what kind of podcasts would you like to listen from librarians.  My answer was book recommendations with their opinion on the books.

Christine Cavalier : @purplecar http://www.purplecar.net/ I forgot to check if her car was purple. She has a great sense of humor :)

Brennen Lukas : http://www.uwishunu.com http://gophila.com

Lisa B Marshall : http://www.publicspeaker.tv Please visit and give her 3 things she can do to improve her podcasts

Cathy Larkin : WebSavvyPR.com

Daniel Krueger : www.abrahamharrisson.com  http://www.dan.krueger.com/

Matt J McDonald : http://www.mattjmcd.com/ ( I sat on his great session on Personal Branding. if you want to know how he dressed see his Facebook page )

Rick Wolff : http://www.rickwolff.com

August Jackson : http://www.augustjackson.net/blog

Danielle Kozich : She is going to be the pioneer for Social media in her company. Good luck to her.

Oliver Picher : http://www.FunWithNetworking.com

Gloria Bell : http://redstaplerconsulting.net/

Jennifer Lannolo : http://www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Powen Shiah : http://flickr.com/photos/powen/

Howard Greenstein : http://www.howardgreenstein.com/blog

Bill Rowland :

Jimmy Coffey:  http://www.jchtv.com

Amber Santos

Char : I just came along and learn

Thursday, September 04, 2008

"My Documents" Replacement Comes to the Web

Docstoc launches MyDocs and Sync, the fastest way to preview your documents, and the easiest way to keep your documents sync’d online.If you have a press release, white paper or any content that will be useful for others you should upload it here. You can then embed these documents all over the web. Try it out at http://www.docstoc.com

read more | digg story

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

HP Laptop Recovering from a Bad_Pool_Caller Blue Screen of Death

Use these instructions with caution. I am not an expert but just giving you my experience of the problem and how i solved it. IF experts see this post please add your comments to make this better.

Problem: I have a HP5237 Laptop that I bought from Costco over 2 years ago. All of sudden yesterday the laptop would not boot and showed me a "blue screen". As my laptop was set to auto reboot on recovery all  I could quickly grab  from the screen was " Bad_pool_caller. I did figure out how to set it not to auto reboot but that's another story. In the interim I did consider moving to an macbook and would have done so id i had not solved the problem.

Solution: All the forums I checked advised using the recovery disks to reinstall the operating system. I spent a day searching for my recovery disks and used them. There is a way to do this without the recovery disks which is to hit the "F11" button as soon as you switch on the laptop. This does the same things that the recovery disks do. Choose the option "R" which keeps your data and only reinstalls the OS ( Windows XP). This should usually take you through to reinstall and all the info that you needed when you first bought it.

More problems : If you still have a screen that tells you ""The system is not fully installed" here are tow pages that will tell you what to do. I am reproducing the steps from the HP page in case the link changes.

Microsoft : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320279

HP Support page : http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00024476&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=71747&rule=915

This document pertains to all HP and Compaq Desktop PCs with Windows XP.

After completing the initial setup process the PC will not start into Windows. The PC displays the following error:

System not fully installed. Please run setup again.

This error is typically caused when a recovery or the initial setup process is interrupted and not allowed to complete.

NOTE:
Certain LCD flat panel monitors may prevent or delay the inital computer software setup. If you are using an LCD flat panel monitor, try attaching a conventional CRT monitor to perform the setup. Once the setup has been completed and you can use Windows, reconnect your LCD flat panel monitor.

NOTE:
If this error occurs after perfroming a recovery, to prevent this message from re-appearing in the future, make sure that Windows Setup has finished. In some circumstance it may take several hours.

Resolution: Performing a Recovery

This error is best resolved by recovering all software using the recovery process. The recovery process may take a long time to complete, but it is the easiest method to resolve this issue. To start the recovery process, turn on the PC and press F10 repeatedly when the first screens appear. For more information about HP System Recovery, refer to HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows XP .

CAUTION:
Performing a Destructive Recovery will format the hard drive. This will delete all the information on the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP and the original software that came with the PC. Be prepared to reinstall software that was not originally included with the PC. You will also need to reconfigure an Internet Connection and obtain all critical Windows Updates, Virus definition updates, and anti-spyware updates.

Alternate method: Resetting System Setup

If you do not want to perform an HP system recovery, you can use the following steps to resolve this error:

Step 1: Opening a command prompt

Use the following steps to open a command prompt:

  1. Turn on the PC.

  2. Press the F10 key repeatedly at the first screen until a System Recovery screen appears.

    If a Welcome screen appears, click OK to continue.

  3. Click Advanced Options .

  4. Press the Alt + D keys to bring up the command prompt window

Step 2: Loading registry hive

Use the following steps to import a registry hive:

  1. At the command prompt enter the following: regedit

  2. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE .

  3. Click File , and then select Load Hive .

  4. Select the main drive letter (HP_Pavilion or Presario) from the "Look in:" dropdown field at the top of the Load Hive window.

  5. If a system32 error appears, click OK to continue.

  6. Browse to \windows\system32\config and double-click System .

    NOTE:
    If the system32 folder is empty, type the following into the File name field: \windows\system32\config\system

  7. In the "Key Name" field, type the following: temphive

  8. Click OK .

Step 3: Editing SystemSetupInProgress value

Use the following steps to edit the value:

  1. In the registry editor window, double-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE , and then double-click temphive .

  2. Select the Setup key.

  3. Double-click the SystemSetupInProgress value in the right window.

  4. Change the "Value data:" field to a numerical zero "0" and then click OK .

Step 4: Unloading the hive and saving

Use the following steps to unload the hive and exit:

  1. Select the temphive key in the left window.

  2. Click File , and then select Unload Hive .

  3. Close the Registry Editor and type the following at the command prompt: exit

  4. Press Enter , and then click Back in the Recovery screen.

  5. Click Quit to exit and restart.

    If this error occurred after installing software (not a recovery and not first time setup), you are finished.

Step 5: Resuming the PC setup process

Use the following steps to start the initial PC Setup process again:

  1. After Windows opens the desktop, click Start , Run , and enter the following into the Open field: c:\hp\bin\firstboot.txt

    The firstboot.txt file opens in Notepad.

  2. Click Edit , and then select Replace .

  3. Type a quotation mark ( " ) into the "Find what:" field.

  4. Click Replace All .

  5. Delete the following text: [Commands]

  6. Click File and then Save As .

  7. Type firstboot.bat in the File name field.

  8. Make sure that path ends with the bin directory, and click the Save button.

  9. click Start , Run , and enter the following into the Open field: c:\hp\bin\firstboot.bat

  10. Click OK and do not touch the keyboard or mouse until the "Please Wait" screen closes

Who is the World's Richest man?

Did you say Bill Gates ? I thought so too but Forbes magazine has a story that makes interesting reading and after a straight 13 years of being the world's richest man Bill Gates has moved to give way to Warren Buffet. Way to go " oracle of Omaha. REad the full story here http://tinyurl.com/5otuoq.

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