A A
RSSEMAILiPhone

Archive | Web 2.0 News

Full Archive

Thursday, December 6, 2007

0 Comments

Inside the World of Outsourcing

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

0 Comments

I recently read an interesting NY Times article on the new trend that finds even small businesses and individual entrepreneurs outsourcing specific tasks to a “virtual assistant” or personal assistant.

It makes the point that Web 2.0 technology allows for just about anyone, anywhere in the world to handle many of the tedious tasks that a small business owner would love to outsource.

You may not have hired a personal assistant because you were thinking traditionally and were worried about a $15 hourly rate or perhaps the mind-numbing paperwork that comes with being an employer.

However, what if you could outsource in a matter of minutes for $5 - $7 per hour to capable people experienced in your business niche? Different scenario altogether, right?

Of course, it’s not THAT simple… However, I am determined to find out the real story.

Tomorrow, I will be interviewing a gentleman by the name of Ritz with PegasysSoft.com. His company, located in Michigan and India, provides virtual assistants to large and small businesses as well as solo entrepreneurs here in the US and abroad, many of which utilize his VA’s expertise in social media marketing and content creation.

__________________________________________

Listen to the interview with PegasysSoft manager Ritz now

Read the NY Times Article

TagSpace and Listas - Microsoft Invests Big in Social Media

Sunday, October 28, 2007

0 Comments

Microsoft flexes it’s social media muscles by hatching 2 targeted Web2.0 services from Microsoft Labs.

TagSpace and Listas may prove to be robust enough to join the big guns of social media like Technorati and Squidoo.

TagSpace is a straightforward social bookmarking service. You can create a personal profile with one backlink to your blog or profile page and add other tidbits like a list of interests or an info block which is something like an email signature. So, tag away, add your bookmarks to TagSpace and claim your space on what may be an influential link list.

Listas is really an interesting little twist on list sharing. Here’s how Microsoft describes it:

From your personal things to your friend’s lists, it is all easily accessible in My Lists. Subscribe to other people’s feeds, edit wiki-style lists, add favorite users and lists, and even use tags to organize and filter your lists. You can make lists public so others can read them, or even edit them wiki-style. Argue about favorite songs, plan a night out with the girls, let people RSVP to your event, or make a family Christmas list for Santa”

To me this sounds like a great place to establish some living, wiki-style “linkbait”. Create valuable hyperlink lists or information bullets that your niche would love and share it on what could become a powerhouse Web 2.0 service.

So, given the ubiquity of Microsoft and their deep pocket promotion power, it stands to reason that these two services will gain in popularity and SERP strength. So, all you Social Media Marketers out there, add these to your list of Web 2.0 services to watch.

Web 2.0 Style Meets Personal Finance - MINT.com

Sunday, October 21, 2007

0 Comments

Recently, this savvy little startup secured $4.7 million in Series A financing from group of investors including First Round Capital as well as Ram Shriram (early investor and founding board member of Google, Inc.).
A quick look at it’s offerings reveals why. It is a free service that is beautifully simple and useful to anyone who has cash in the bank and even more useful to those who don’t. Forget Quicken or Microsoft Money, Mint makes personal finance taste better!

My Mint.com Experience
After a long, ostrich-like hiatus of financial denial, I took to Mint.com along with the 50,000 others who’ve joined since it’s inception in mid-September 2007 and love it! The Web 2.0 style design, including the visual information displays (such as the chart below) and the intuitive input fields and tracking make it utterly simple.  Accounting for my my social media marketing expenditures and assets has never been easier.


The Sweetest Part of Mint.com
But, by far, my favorite feature is, ironically enough, the offers feature. Here’s why…As you can imagine, everyone’s financial “portrait” is unique, some and tall-dark and handsome, others have one eye, a crooked ski-slope nose and yellow teeth projecting from thin, cracked lips….yuuuck!

Regardless of how ugly your “Money-Me” may be, Mint.com helps you give it a makeover by suggesting “SmartSave” options. This may be in the form of a fantastic interest rate on a credit card you never heard of or a sweet deal on a mobile-home-DSL bundle that AT&T “forgot” to mention to you.

The “offer” pops up automatically, not intrusively however–based on your personal accounts (see example below). To me, that’s what Web 2.0 technology is all about - free services that don’t just save but MAKE me money while saving my time.


Here’s how Mint.com describes this feature:

“Mint does the work for you. Based on your personal spending patterns, Mint finds the credit card that will pay you the most money. It even considers those minute little details like maximum rewards, balance transfer fees, and 0% introductory rates that expire six months from now.

Mint also helps lower your bills. If Mint notices that you spend $150 each month on phone, TV, and internet, it might suggest an AT&T Triple Play bundle for $99.

Mint only shows offers that are calculated to save you at least a hundred dollars. Offers are also prioritized by value - the one calculated to save you the most is shown first.

Mint’s algorithms typically find $500 - $5,000 in annual savings for each user. The average was $1,800(or $150 per month) We could all probably use an additional $150 in our pockets each month.”

The traditional personal finance software “solutions” like Quicken and Money fell short for me. I resorted the hands-off method for a while but now, with the help of Mint.com and it’s Personal Finance 2.0 prowess, I expect my “Money-Me” will soon be dating Oprah Winfrey.

Social Bookmarking on Steroids: Tag and Ping 2.0

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

0 Comments

In his next video, Sean Wu explains how to take social bookmarking to the next level and apply killer tag and ping 2.0 strategies.

Advertise Here
Asides
  • Check out our new web video partner! Video Production Tips

  • Thanks to Blogburst for recognizing our Wordpress SEO post!

  • Tell us… What do you think about the new subscription icons?

Advertise Here

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
Read the rest of this entry »

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video