Larry King to host his last show - Don't Miss!

On this Thursday night the television history will be made. One of the legends of the small screen will be broadcast his last live show.

Veteran CNN talk show host Larry King hangs up his famous suspenders Thursday, after a quarter of a century of interviewing the powerful and famous.

The 77-year-old, who will be succeeded by former British journalist Piers Morgan, is finally retiring from "Larry King Live," the show he has presented on the Atlanta-based news network since 1985.

During more than two and a half decades the famous show seen as its guest celebrities and world leaders, sportsmen and business executives, in a word all prominent and powerful from all spheres of life.

Those big names were drawn from the worlds of politics and entertainment. In politics his guests included Margaret Thatcher, Vladimir Putin, Yasser Arafat and every US president since Richard Nixon.

Other highlights included Playboy founder Hugh Hefner with a bevvy of Playmate girlfriends, Mike Tyson interviewed inside the boxing ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

Tributes have been flowing since he announced he was leaving the show. "We will miss Larry's giggle. We will miss Larry's stupid suspenders," said Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes.

"We will miss the way he, at times, has no idea who he is interviewing. There will never be another like Larry," she added.

King's last show, broadcast from CNN's Los Angeles offices on Sunset Boulevard, will air at 6:00 pm Pacific Coast Time (0200 GMT) Thursday, and CNN says it has "a bunch of surprises for him."

Armin Only Kiev - Mind-dazzling Show!

Wow! No, even WoooooW! Honestly, it's difficult to put it into words! It was magical! 8 Hours flew like a second immersing yourself into atmosphere of pure Trance!

That only symbols coming to my mind after yeasterday's magical performance by the Armin van Buuren in Kiev! To say that it was the best ever musical, lighting or atmospheric show I ever been is to say nothing! I saw people from all over the world came to see the show for the first, second and even third time!

 From Twitter I found such a comments: "@Armin - I had visited your 3 performances in Kiev before and it was the the greatest." And that's true! I still keep my bracelet pass - still can't believe it was real!

What strikes me the most is how Armin radiate energy throughout whole 8 hours set and keep people magnetized every second. It was the feeling that all became a one integral essence connected like Avatars.

Especial thanks to Armin crew to Susana, Aria Criado, and of course to unbelievable Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Christian Burns and others! You're the best! The best team! The Best Show!

 

Apple vs. Flash - can we peace them together?

The fight between two giants Apple and Adobe over Flash on the iPhone OS has all the trappings of a major industry rift. With its leader at the helm Apple is on the mission to destroy Flash from the horizons of modern world.

However, what might seen as a war between two old rivals, which battle takes its roots from early days of the Mac actually can harm to development of whole Internet future, especially mobile Internet. Flash, for all its flaws, is ubiquitous to the Web and essential to rich interaction on a huge number of sites. Were it not barred from the iPad and iPhone, it would be one of the shortest paths to creating rich Internet applications that run across multiple mobile platforms.

Many experts believe such technology dissection could lead to an Internet future of multiple, non-compatible platforms, which will hamper to the development and innovation.

The role of community

While the roots of this long-standing battle take its origins back 1989 when Adobe and Apple fought over scalable font technology, which Adobe jealously guarded the role of community and users of their technologies has never been such an important and deciding.

The Internet and Social Media have proved to be a great communication and leverage platform for people to speak out, to stand for their believes and to contribute or prevent things they favorite or disapprove. Latest presidential Election in US, and in Iran, earthquake in Haiti, rescue operation in Chile, and many other prove that we move closer and closer to community driven media, not corporations.

The recently coined term "social authority" gain significance. The community respond has seen many victories such as Facebook policy changes. So I wonder if the community power is already powerful enough to contribute to the peace between Apple and Adobe for the good of all!

By barring Flash from the most popular and exciting mobile devices in existence, Apple denies developers and users an opportunity to create and consume applications that can provide a consistent user experience across platforms. Moreover, this war might lead to further division between platforms and standards, which is not good for both developers and users.

InfoWorld already proposed its plan to reconcile the two. The four-point plan for peace could allow Flash on Apple's mobile devices. Here is its explanation. There are some others initiatives from conscious organizations. So, all we wonder if it has a chance to work? and how we can make it work?

Share your views, join LinkedIn discussion on this issue here

Thanks!

The World's Best Presentation - SlideShare Contest

Slideshare has started a regular contest, “The World’s Best Presentation,” where lots of presentations around the globe will be competing for the bunch of good prizes. The contest is sponsored by 3M and there are some great prizes, including the 3M pocket projector and Macbook.

Prizes for World's Best Presentation Contest 2010 winners

1st Prize MacBook (worth $999) + 3M™ PocketProjector MP180
2nd Prize iPad (worth $499) + 3M™ PocketProjector MP180
3rd Prize iPod Touch (worth $229) + 3M™ PocketProjector MP180
6 Category Prizes iPod Shuffles (worth $49)

The contest uses a hybrid model of crowdsourcing – popular vote and then review by a panel of judges.

Guy Kawasaki is one of the best known authorities on presentations and social media.
David Armano is an expert on visual communication with several very popular presentations on SlideShare.
Carmine Gallo is the author of Presentations Secrets of Steve Jobs and Business week columnist on presentation & communication.
Jane Hart is the founder of Center for Learning and Performance technologies and an expert on social media in the educational space.
Beth Kanter - named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the most influential women in technology and one of Business Week’s "Voices of Innovation for Social Media."


To learn more about contest please click here

Now technology allows to work anywhere - but do we need it?

I always ask myself what does freedom mean? Does it mean do whatever you want to do, be whatever and whenever you want to be? well seems like today technology can help you to become more free.

Recent article "Technology allows digital nomads to work anywhere" by BBC tells the stories of those who chose to live on the road. Sharing their personal experiences most of them agrees that before they saw it differently. "People romanticise the lifestyle, thinking it is all on beaches and we gad about the globe, but it can be really challenging" - tells Lea Woodward who upped sticks three years ago for a life on the road.

First business aspect - "A lot of people are often so keen to hit the road and do the travel bit, that they forget the business aspect. It is really hard to cram everything in, including business, travel and sightseeing." Lea warns that being location independent can make it difficult to get a business going. Even with today's technologies when you are working on the road you do not have an office, you do not have a desk to sit at and you do not always know what the internet connection will be like.

But in this article I want to mention another aspect of this lifestyle. I always dreamed about opportunity to work from hammock lying on the sunny beach with laptop in one hand and glass of cold drink in another. But after having a chance to do so, even for couple of weeks I ascertained myself about irreality of such lifestyle. The matter is not even in the problems with your concentration and devotion as you should do business and relaxing simultaneously which is completely opposite by the nature. It's about the concept of life.

It is known that about 15 percent of population live near the sea, and those are considered to be the happiest among other, well is it? Here is my example to disprove it - recently I spent a holiday in Turkey when met some guys who actually live near the sea in Russia (Sochi). First it was strange to see them in Turkey, but it's another story, so back here, while we spent almost all holidays pleasing ourselves with the warm sea and sunny beaches they never showed up on the beach nor put their limb into the sea.

On my question - why you just don't go with us to swim? they replied "there is nothing interesting for us" - they were bored with sea. Hmm..and they're the happiest people on our planet - not for this time though I thought. In the end it turned out that on average they spent less time on sea during the year than other people who live far from sea.

I picked this story because sea resorts usually associated with holidays and relaxing time, surely those guys have so much other things to please themselves with, but I bet they were jealous of us taking pleasure from each precious day, exactly "precious" - this is the right word! It came to me that we appreciate something when it precious not abundant - recalling that famous phrase "anything, even the best not appreciated if it's in abundance" - agree?

That said I think our holidays is exactly that precious time that we work all other time for, as well as for our dreams, family, love ones etc. so it's better to have such an incentive which drives you to work hard to achieve your goal, to make someone happy to visit your favorite destination. Trying to combine those things you can deprive yourself of such a pleasant and precious time, so this time technology is not good, at least for me :) However, maybe I'm wrong!


Thanks

Google Mail - un-send your e-mail during 30 seconds

Just came across one interesting post-guide on how to enable very useful feature in Gmail allowing to correct what seems to be uncorrectable. Gmail unsend feature.

No stranger to mistakes, Google is now lending a helping hand to its users. Earlier this month, the search engine giant extended the time users can take before deciding to cancel a message. When Google introduced the undo feature in 2009, it allotted only five seconds for users to pull back a message.

But as of this month, Google will now have up to 30 seconds to scream mulligan on their latest message.

How's it possible, you might ask, to cancel a message if it's already been read? Well, the geniuses of Mountain View are actually testing a feature that enables users to set up a built-in delay before a message is actually sent.

Here is a guide to set-up the undo feature:

1. Log in to Gmail and go to Google Labs. If you've never gone to Labs before, click the word "more" in the very top left corner, then scroll down and click "even more."
2. In the column on the right, click "Labs." It's next to the icon of a beaker filled with green stuff.
3. Click "Gmail Labs" in the column on the right.
4. Scroll down almost all the way to the bottom until you see "Undo Send." Click "enable" and the feature is now on. Then scroll the rest of the way down and look in the bottom left corner for the "Save Changes" box. Click it.
5. Now, go back to the main Gmail page and click "Settings" in the top right. You should also see your green Labs beaker icon there now -- this will let you go straight to Labs from now on.
6. Scroll down to "Undo Send" -- it should be right above "My Picture." Your default should be set to 10 seconds. But you can use the drop-down bar to stretch that to 30 seconds.
7. Scroll down and hit "Save Changes."
8. To undo an email, just look for the box at the top of the screen that will have the words "Your message has been sent." After that, you should see the "Undo" option. Click that and you'll be sent back to the e-mail's draft form, where you'll have 30 seconds to edit or delete it before it goes out.

For TweetDeck Fans - how Buzz can help to write longer tweets

Dear TweetDeckers :)

All we know that Tweetdeck is a great tool for your Social Media activity, it's like your TwiBuzFaceLiSquare mission control center which allows you to be in all mentioned online venues simultaneously.

Now Tweetdeck can became your guide to the world beyond established by law 140 characters by uniting forces of Twitter and Buzz.

Cross-posting is what can help you. If you have something to say, but you cannot fit it all into 140 characters, why not cross-post your update to Google Buzz?

With both a Buzz AND Twitter account selected, you can continue to type way more than 140 characters. When you send the update, the full message will be posted to your Buzz account and the tweet will contain the first 116 characters with a link to the full update on Buzz.

Even if you don't want to use Buzz for anything else, adding a Buzz account in this way is a great method of sending longer tweets than normal without having to leave your TweetDeck.

Just remember that Buzz posts via TweetDeck are all Public, so it's best not to use this method for DMs.

The power of LinkedIn - real example!

Dear Readers!

I'd like to share with you my extremely pleasant feelings about the power of social networks in general, and LinkedIn in particular.

Being inspired by incredible attempt of fellow LI member to reach all his connections here on LinkedIn I decided to embark on my personal journey to personally get in touch with all people to whom I have an honour to be connected.

I decided to test the power of Linkedin, to find out more about my network and see what's the potential and common interests we share with my connections. To my greatest amusement and satisfaction I found that not only people in my network, but fellow group members friendly reacted on my appeal. More than 100 responses across the groups during first days, and this figure is growing fast.

Thanks to this little, still undergoing experiment I'm not only reaching out my friends, but getting the new ones as well, very interested and socially active people. That said I'd like to call for being more socially active, be open and welcome. By doing this we not only can enhance our personal experience and opportunities but contribute to the development of the LinkedIn as well.


Thanks to all of you reacting on my appeal! Special thanks to fellow member in the following groups for being so welcome.

1. Health Informatics Technology (HIT)
2. Information Technology Contracting
3. CIOs.com: Chief Information Officer Network
4. ThoseinMedia
5. On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs


P.S If it happens that reading this message you connected to me through 1st-2nd-3rd degree please respond with simple comment - here is my public profile

Hey Linkedin - Need a Social Media Strategy to reach Milla Jovovich

I know it might sound crazy, but sometimes we all think about crazy things, aren't we :) So, my crazy idea, actually it might be not so crazy, in fact many colleagues in Linkedin expressed their support and courage in this social endeavor :)

So, let me explain, recently I created a very short and clumsy Youtube (didn't find more appropriate word for it) presentation with tribute to Milla for her spectacular role in Resident Evil franchise on the premiere of four part: Afterlife.

Being a social media enthusiast my believe (proven by practice in business world) is that social media can help you to reach almost everyone, almost everyone, if he:

1. Participates in SM himself - not through agents
2. Not political, military, UFO-scientifical special department agent....bla bla bla
3. Know what is the Internet

Applying my passion to Social Media in my work I saw incredible results in getting in touch with people who was unaccessible otherwise, so full of optimism I started discussion on Linkedin.

Is Social Media powerful enough to help me reach Holywood star?

In which I asked other professionals if Social Media has enough potential to help me realize this "crazy" aim. To my surprise I found quite a positive reactions, with quite a realistic agendas on how to implement it.

But still, I think it's not so easy...and will take a lot of efforts, reasonable efforts (excluding rains of messages and status updates). I need a strategy - real-word practical strategy!

Started from analysis I found that Milla or her authorized profile on Twitter being a Ukrainian-born doesn't have any Ukrainian she follows, she has a Russian - popular comic guy Ivan Urgant (who I like as well) and one more, but no Ukrainians, so I wrote her about it :)

Question: do you give any chance for my Twitter soon being followed by Mila?

I would be extremely glad to know opinion of other colleagues as for the feasibility of this "crazy" idea and steps that can help me.

Here is the tribute itself, hope it makes you smile at least once :) Thanks!

LinkedIn Discussion - DirectAds VS AdWords - Keywords VS Demographics - my experience

Recently I took a part in Q&A debates on "What network would you choose to place your business ads if you could afford only one? LinkedIn, Google Adwords, Facebook or smth else?".

While there is no golden option, and each marketer should fit the platform according to his specific needs, target audience and many other parameters I decided to consider this question in terms of comparison of targeting approaches. From one side Google with its predominantly traditional (keywords) targeting versus demographic targeting of those social phenomenas Facebook and LinkedIn.

Without much knowledge of Facebook ads, except that fact that they appear on the right place, right time and in the right format, and in the right quantity. (Although, I have nothing against Google AdWords with their 10-11 ads per page, the Facebook format is less crowded therefore more convenient for advertiser)I would like to focus on LinkedIn and its Direct Ads.

There have been much said about Pros & Cons of this systems, so I'd like to give my personal opinion, if you don't mind :)

What strikes me most in Direct Ads is their targeting system, no keywords, no placements, just aimed fire at the category of people you think represent your target audience, brilliant isn't it :) With more than 70 mln professionals from 240 industries and sectors, as well as almost entire corporate hierarchy it offers you unbeatable targeting possibilities, although I love Google and it's still my major ads platform, I think this system is the future, sorry Google, unless you preparing something similar, hope you are :)

During first two weeks of my campaigning on DirecAds I saw the real power of LinkedIn, so did my wallet :) Let me give you a brief overview of bidding options on DirectAds, first you can go with Pay-Per-Click model - quite popular and accepted model throughout all networks, second is relatively new Pay-Per-Impression model, when you pay your bid per 1000 impressions.

Having experience with both models in Google Adwords my decision was to test them both here as well. Results - well, PPC brought me fifth times more clicks that PPM costing twice (or third) times less. (more details below)

In overall Linkedin DirectAds appears to be more expensive delight for marketer than Adwords with relatively similar exposure. Reasons:

1. Bids - Linkedin assigns higher bids for both PPC and PPM models, the suggested rate for IT sphere is 4-5 USD/click, or 3-4 USD per impression. However, there is such thing as minimum bid which stays at 2-2.5 USD per click/imp, so I advise to take something between, at least for me it works.

2. Clicks/Impressions - what amazed me particularly in DirectAds is the amount of impressions, it's just stunning!!! on average 60-80K per day, to compare in Adwords the figure is 30-40K per day for relatively broad targeted campaign.

3. Limiting Options - You can set a limit for your campaign (min 10$ per day) and LI should automatically stop running when campaign reaches its limit, but in practice LI stops it with 20% surplus. IMHO - AdWords works more accurately

To summarize: LinkedIn DirectAds has an astonishing targeting approach, allowing you to reach precisely your target audience, moreover your ads circulate in the environment of extremely active and business oriented people, which is a big benefit comparing to Search Engine Ads Networks. But this opportunities are not cheap, if you going with DirectAds your bill will be 20-50% percent higher than one with Adwords, so if you new to this I persistently recommend to sharp your skills with Google Adwords - The Ads network by default for everyone.

What is LinkedIn

Blog & Website - do we still need this differentiation?

With blogs and blogging software making such a substantial progress over last years it became difficult to distinguish modern blog from a website, and vice-versa.

Of course, in essence each blog is a website indeed, but the purpose used to be different. However, today it seems that each website should have a supporting blog, while each blog should provide more than traditional two-column divided information. Today I see many web venues combines these functions in one medium.

From other side I see leading blogging platforms, such as Blogger and Wordpress provide more and more website features for their blogs, including design and structure customization, dynamic elements and many other features making it really easy to create almost full functioning website on the basis of your blog. You can create customized design, add flash elements and pages, so when thinking about establishing your web presence you have a very viable alternative to full-featured coding website. You can pick a unique domain name as well.

That said, I'm thinking of why do we need to this division anymore? And what is your forecast for the future of blogging and blogging software? Will we see CMS for blogs? or maybe anything else?

Does your brand have its own story? How to tell your personal brand story - tips from the expert

Being recently inspired by an amazing article "30 Minutes To Craft a Remarkable Personal Brand Story" by Lana Kravtsova in her Daring Clarity blog I decided to tell my own story while retelling her advices to help you create yours. So below you can see what is the result of this.

First of all, I want to give credit to the author as her personal story in about section has inspired me to embark on this creation work and help spread those great tips she kindly provided.

So, lets clarify, why you need your story? - according to Lana your story can set you apart. Make you stick in your customers’ (readers, followers) minds. Motivate and inspire your employees as well as ignite emotions, dialogs and call to action - exactly what you need from your customers, readers, followers to take.

There is almost nothing to add, except that fact that your story will give a personality to your brand or service. The Humanization of the Brand is what will drive people to learn more about you. In many cases we usually find that the existing architecture leads people from a very vibrant and interactive experience (social networks) to a static dead end (our web sites, ads or materials). In order to stand out in this environment we need to become social architects, and build the roads necessary to lead customers to a rich and rewarding network, full of valuable and interesting information - and your story, personal story, unique story is what should be at core of this architecture.

Lara starts her guide from simple question - do you tell your story?

Too often people focusing on what they do.

I sell great custom made dresses. I sell great soaps made from organic ingredients. I am a great life coach. I am a great social media expert.

But probably most people, not specifically looking for that service will forget about you in two minutes if all they saw on your website is focused on “what”.

You need to tell your why. Tell who you are. Tell your story.

Don’t try to be someone you are not. Take time to find your story. We all have one.


Your story generally consists of 3 main elements:

1.Your values and beliefs. In other words your “whys”
2.Your experiences
3.Your personal unique characteristics

Let’s take 30 minutes and write your story.


You might add more to your story later as more things surface. Self discovery is a never ending process. But let’s start now.

Take a blank sheet of paper. Answer the following questions. Don’t think or over analyze. Just answer. Write whatever comes to mind.

1. What do you do?

What comes to mind when you hear that question. Write it all down.

My example: I help people to improve their marketing communications, increase their presence online and facilitate conversations on popular information platforms. I also strive to raise an awareness about Ukraine, it's people and culture through the social media channels and platforms.

2. What are you attracted to?

Concepts, things, people etc.

My example – creativity, personality, people, stunning web experiences, favorable dialogs and unique design concepts.

Yours?

3. What do people praise you for the most?

Inspiration, enthusiasm, authenticity, creativity. What about you?

4. Why do you do what you do?

This is the most important question. Why do you think the world needs what you have to offer?

5. What are your goals for the future?


6. Three words that describe you.

This are essential questions you should ask yourself while essaying, however you can add some more, something like

What are you passionate about the most in your business (career, vocation)? What makes you feel alive?

What did you learn for years being in business? How has it changed your attitude over time?

Or any other question that springs in your mind during essaying

Now look at your answers and tell me your story.

See what’s appropriate to include and what’s not. See how you can incorporate your values, your experiences, your personality traits that make you unique into your story.

Play with it.

Your story is the most important part of your brand. Use it everywhere you go. About page, which is mostly associated with the story is one of the most visited pages on blogs and small businesses’ websites. Align your story with your corporate message and use this tandem exponentially throughout your communication channels.

Linkedin Discussion - Gmail Priority Box

In the beginning of the week Gmail launched a new feature Priority Box, which is an algorithmic solution to email overload. It automatically processes your email by factoring in variable such as who the email was sent by, how many people it was sent to and the keywords included in the subject and body of the message in order to determine which email is important. Emails that fit to the category (which you can set by yourself) appear in the dedicated box.

Seems like the feature is something very useful, but to find out if it proves useful on practice I decided to start a discussion on Linkedin. Here are results:

1. Many respondents found this feature very useful for those who deals with abundant correspondence

2. Learning Curve not so steep

3. Automatic recognition is seen very helpful


Among the main features there are:

1. Prioritize Filters
2. Customize Sections
3. Start With a Clean Slate
4. Use Your “Inbox” for Folders
5. Test Priority with Multiple Inboxes


To see the full discussion on Linkedin please follow this link

Testing the power of LinkedIn - reaching my connections!

Being inspired by incredible attempt of Barry Wills - a proactive networker and distinguished editor at Minerals Engineering to reach all his connections here on LinkedIn I decided to embark on my personal journey to personally meet with all knowledgable professionals to whom I have an honour to be connected.

I decided to test the power of Linkedin, to find out more about my network and see the potential and common interests. So, if it happens that you reading this message and connected through 1st-2nd-3rd degree please respond with simple comment on Linkedin - here is my public profile

LinkedIn Community - Can we do better?

Today I came across one great article “Getting the most out of LinkedIn”, where one well-connected and knowledgeable professional speaking about LinkedIn as a huge virtual conference, exhibition or gathering attended by millions of professionals directly or indirectly related to your sphere. He calls Linkedin as a place where you can find familiar “virtual coffee breaks”, chats, new acquaintances and discussions in specialist subject areas.

I can say it’s hard not to agree with all above said as Linkedin is a real one-stop-shop for today’s business networking and interaction, especially in those IT enabled areas, curiously enough but the person I was talking about belongs to the mining industry and boasts more than 500 connections and 2 million (other in 2nd, 3rd degrees) professionals in his network. I’ve been seeing people from other areas joining the network, so it means that Linkedin spreads to more sectors and already covers 150 industries around the world. With the expansion of LinkedIn to more language and geographical areas it might became truly international business communication platform.

According to the statistical data Linkedin demonstrated a faster growth that Twitter in the first half of 2010. LinkedIn sits in 56th place in the list of most visited websites with 1.7 billion monthly views. LinkedIn has over 75 million members in over 200 countries and each two weeks website adds more than 1 million new users. The figures are stunning, and it seems to be an amazing success, so I just was curious can it be better.

With this question in mind I decided to look at things from perspective of those leaders in today’s web, guess who came first :) exactly! Facebook, eternal competitor, maybe not direct yet, but very serious. I clearly realize that there is no reason to compare websites as they mostly serve for different purposes, again yet, as Facebook unequivocally shows his intentions to come on Linkedin territory, anyway most people still differentiate them from each other. So I found some interesting statistics with regards to them.

Not covering the user base, traffic and newcomers (for obvious reasons), nevertheless I found some areas, where the best business social networking website can do better! Here they are (comments below):

1.People spend half an hour on Facebook but only 5-7 minutes on Linkedin -

not sure if it can be comparable, but it seems that Linkedin, with it’s meaningful discussions, polls and business interactions should at least not to give up in time spent on website, but figures suggest otherwise.

2. According to opinions if you are looking for a job, Linkedin has a much more formal jobs database but, if jobs come through personal connections then Facebook may be your answer -

that’s honestly strange, isn’t LI is referred as a best recruiting-through-connection website?

3. Linkedin is 57% international while Facebook is 70% international

As I mentioned LI is on the right way to spread the world, however much work should be done, not only by site, but its members as well, Facebook and Google actively involve their members to help translate their websites, and it’s good!

4. Load time - Facebook 0.118 seconds, Linkedin 2.516 seconds

no comments

5. Annual Growth: Facebook + 159.60%; Linkedin +86.58%

Not bad for both, but LI has a bar to aspire to :)

What I found interesting is that the two websites features very close demographics (according to stats):

Facebook - 25-34 years old, Female
Parents, Some college

Linkedin 25-34 years old
Female, Parents, Master’s degree

So there is no way to say that Facebook deals with extremely proactive youngsters, while Linkedin serves busy-with-other things middle-aged people. During the last years I saw many business people joining Facebook, and on the other side many graduates took first steps in professional networking.

What I found, instead is that for both sites critical success factors are community, participation and trust. These are main foundations that make both Linkedin and Facebook what they are today - best business platform, and a life-style and most visited website over the web. That said, I truly believe that we, the Community can make our favorite virtual business venue even better! Having a solidary community, especially one where membership is unified with the common purpose (as my example is spread the word of Linkedin among friends, colleagues and other people) will be a huge bonus and main driver for further growth and perfection!!! Do you agree?

Join the discussion on Linkedin here

Will advent of AutoCAD to Mac & iPad mark the new era in design and architecture

Autodesk introduces its flagship software AutoCAD to Mac, iPhone and iPad! What seen by many as a logical step might present a start of new trend for developers of architectural, design and other professional software.

This step presents even a big deal for Apple, as it gives it's tabled a much-needed validation of a productivity tool rather than a pure media consumption device.

While the Mac version of AutoCAD will get full version and support multi-touch gestures from trackpads and the Magic Mouse, and iTunes-style cover flow for browsing design files, the one for iPad will allow users to edit, review and share their design files.

Even though AutoCAD iPad app won't have the full functionality of its desktop counterpart -- it is free software and provide much greater portability and flexibility. The idea behind the AutoCAD iPad app, and a similar app for iPhone and iPod Touch, is that users can carry a lot of design files in a small package, which can be easily presented, reviewed or modified from the road without dragging around a Macbook or printing out a mound of pages.

These might facilitate the new wave of tablets and software designed to create small-scale tablet versions that make their desktop counterparts more useful.

Will the Cloud computing displace traditional IT outsourcing?

Browsing through the web last week I found an article with quite a strong title “The end of outsourcing?!”, written by my friend and fellow IT outsourcing expert. In the article he argued about the prediction made by the head of the outsourcing practice at consultancy A.T. Kearney. In its report “The End of IT Outsourcing As We Know It” Mr. Arjun Sethi states: "In the next five years, outsourcing as we know it will have disappeared." Well, I would say rather bold prediction, especially taking into account recent predictions about the “upcoming golden age of outsourcing”, nevertheless let’s try to find out the probability of such prediction.

There have been much said about the future of IT outsourcing lately. From the Cloud dominance to global shift in delivery and governance models to reverse sourcing and protectionism. Myself, I conducted several works and started a number of discussions here in LinkedIn with the relation to the Cloud computing and its potential affect on IT outsourcing industry. While I saw many experts predicted growing trend for pay-per-drink model there wasn’t concordance and obvious verdict for the shift inside the industry anytime soon. Of course there are some obvious benefits of this model, such as costs, agility and focus which can provide a whole new set of opportunities for both business and individuals. But for the corporate sector, bread and butter of IT outsourcing, all they don’t outweigh security, reliability and ownership of proprietary systems yet. Moreover, investments made by corporations into the existing infrastructure slow down adoption in the sector.

In his forecast, however Mr. Arjun Sethi associates massive reconfiguration of IT ousourcing industry, that according to him should take place in the nearest future precisely with the rise of the Cloud computing. The new era will be driven by Google, Amazon and bunch of new players, while powerhouses such as HP, Accenture and Xerox are in peril to lose their leading positions, and boutique Indian outsourcers poised to disappear at all. Well, it is quite truth that we are moving away from large multi-year full stack contracts towards more specialized, smaller service agreements, but with the current massive consolidation many of those specialized providers will be under umbrella of those big ones.

I also agree that the Cloud brings huge opportunities for highly-configurable systems that might fit needs of many sectors and industries, but standardization which, according to Sethi will feature the revolution in industry is unlikely. Although, today all major software houses and providers include cloud computing offerings in their portfolio, most of them just contemplate their core offerings with the Cloud options, even Microsoft - the company that announced a company-wide refocusing on cloud computing still fully relies on its software installed in physical assets. It will take more than a year or two or even three to change their model.

Although cloud computing experienced a phenomenal growth during last years, it's still in its infancy in corporate sector - cash cow of IT outsourcing industry. No doubts it will grow, grow fast, especially in SME sector, but it will take a good amount of time to make this transition to fully based pay-per... model. And still much should be done before we can signify the new era - meanwhile, forgive for my prejudice I don’t see end of traditional outsourcing.

Will be glad to know other opinions. Please join the conversation in Linkedin, click here.

During contest of recortadores raging bull leaps into stands injuring 30 spectators

A 10-year-old boy was in a serious condition with stomach wounds while another spectator was gored in the back according to Spanish media.

Most of the injuries were minor and were treated by medical staff on site but five were transported to hospital for further attention.

The incident comes at a time when the country is split over whether bullfighting should be completely outlawed.

Last month Catalonia became the first major Spanish region to ban the deadly sport after heated debate that pitted animal rights against a pillar of traditional culture.

The ban will take effect from 2010 in the northeastern coastal region whose capital is Barcelona.

Support me in developing digital industry in CEE

It was my honor to be invited as a member of Webit CEE Most Influential People online project commissioned by Webit Honorary Ambassadors Board. The Webit Ambassadors Programme is committed to facilitate the development of digital industry in Central and Eastern Europe.

Through the influence of each proactive person the project aims to raise the standards in digital industry of CEE and to endorse the most influential to work together on raising the awareness and developing the digital industry in Central and Eastern Europe.

The project is about Influence and motivation. It is about our impact over your network. I joined the project to give my support, so please help me fulfill my mission share my link http://bit.ly/bj1N1m

Enjoy and find out how influential you are online :)

What other business social networks (XING, Ecademy) you're active on?

I know it might be not the best place to ask such questions, don't get me wrong, LinkedIn is a paramount social media business tool for me.

However being a social media strategist it might be stupid to exclude other services and not to revisit your strategy from time to time. Several years ago I have been active on another business network called Xing, former OpenBC network and some others which were known as a good place for social networking in their respective regions.

Since then however, Linkedin gained so much of everything and became one-stop-shop tool for business social networking so I almost lost pulse of those networks, just rarely spending some maintenance time and checking inbox. I think it was not the best thing to ignore them, but LinkedIn grew with such a pace :)

Recently I spend some time on my Xing profile and found some good things about it, including it still close geographical orientation on Europe, that's actually was always known about Xing. Also, I found it more alive and dynamically these days, with discussions, questions and active groups.

Taking into account the expansion of my geographical preferences towards Europe, Xing might be a good supplementary force to social media strategy. But before jump into I would appreciate opinion of other professionals.

What other than LI networks do you appreciate enough to invest your precious time?


Please leave your opinions in comments to these post, or join respective discussion on Linkedin here

Technology reached Zombies - City Quest Games - Zombiland Series

This weekend I took a part in City Quest - Zombiland Series. Amazing Experience!!! Don't even think how cool it could be!!! Adventure in its pure form with marvelous entourage. Look at these charming guys on the left !!! They were not only so kind not to take a part of your body from the first glance, but even showed their gentleness and respect to ask your name before jump on you. However, this post I'll be talking not about zombies themselves, but about technology and its bearing on all of us, including zombies :)

Just look at the first picture in the column, seems like that gentlemen was chatting with some pretty Zombi lady. I mean seriously there wasn't a moment without excessive use of technology during the quest game. Passers with heavy imagination or under the bearing of alcohol or drugs might have been confused to see a zombi with laptop, iPhone or other modern gadget, something wrong with zombies these days :) kidding, but it might be a good idea for boutique companies such as Apple, "Look even Zombies are easy to go with our amazing interface and touch-screen" - :)

Although having played for the first time, I didn't feel pinched, maybe this day it's not as essential to have a real practical experience or knowing much about city or place you're playing in as it used to be, maybe it's more about your equipment and geeky skills, as many tasks we've mostly done online, through Google search, Maps, Wikipedia and other resources. And I felt really offended when the battery on my HTC Desire went down in the last series of challenges. I wasn't prepared properly :(

No, of course I admit that technology wasn't the key to the victory, as being equipped quite well we took just 24 place from 35. There were many other parts of challenge requiring your intelligence, skills, know-how, agility and other crafts, but what I found is that technology played a key role in team agility. Technology also incredibly changed the pace and quality of game itself as all instructions, interactions were done online. So, technology seems to be great, well except the fact that it also make us in some way zombies :) Thank you for reading! Cheers!

Google Social Circle - How to use it?

Apparently you already noticed the new section in the bottom of Google search results, called "My Social Circle", which provides social activity of your connections relevant to your query. You can also look at how much Google knows about you and your online connections through the next to social results "My Social Circle"

You'll marvel when first look at the list of your social circle, mine was just tremendous! The page also provides information of your circle online destinations and Google - NonGoogle services your connections use.

The list contains people you talk or chat with using Gmail or Google Talk, plus your social networking connections from a Twitter and other services. For each person in your circle, it then shows the services they use, and also their blogs and other streams. Quite a lot of information from the first glance, so how to use it for your benefit. Here is some good ways:

1. Check what you're sharing and who you share with - Social Circle allows you to see all connections you're making public on your Google profile, so you can check if there are connections you don't want to be associated with, you can easily filter them.

2. Find new connections through 2nd degree - There is a "Secondary connections" section on top. Like in LinkedIn you can find new interesting people to follow through your first connections.

3. Find new information, blogs, and services - there are many interesting people within your network, so it might be a good idea to look at what services they use, and what they write about. If you follow a Social Media guru on Twitter you can also check his blog and buzz thread.

Hope we can find more use of Social Circle, and Google it wouldn't abandon it as it did with Wave!

Is Inception the Sci-Fi Film of the Year?

I went to see Inception this weekend, and my experience with it was incredibly quick, 148 minutes run with such speed you never feel the length of this dream-pursuit.

Being incredibly familiar with an idea of Wachowski brothers and their Matrix, this dream-noir knockout stands completely on its own.

With an average score of 8/10 and favorable reviews by most critics the film grossed $21.7 million during its opening day, while Inception’s opening weekend gross of $62.7 million made it the second highest-grossing debut for a stand-alone science fiction film, falling behind Avatar’s $77 million opening weekend gross in 2009.

Rotten Tomatoes ranks Nolan’s mind-crime movie at 87 percent fresh calling it smart, innovative, and thrilling rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually. Some reviewrs even called it as possibly best Sci-Fi Film of the Year.

Even though, personally I loved this film very much and would welcome a chance to watch it again, I'm just thinking is it real success of the Nolan's idea and great performance of the outstanding cast, or it has something to do with Marketing and Social Media and Warner Bros. has spent $100 million marketing the film. I mean there are many other great examples of Sci-Fi mind-blusing masterpieces such as K-Pax, Vanilla Sky, Matrix and others, why there weren't so much buzz and early calls for best film ever .

Your thoughts?

P.S would also appreciate your TOP3 of Sci-Fi films. Here is mine

1. K-Pax,
2. Vanilla Sky
3. Inception

Web CMS market trends - Moving to Cloud or Consolidation?

Web Content Management market has seen many turns for the last years. I still remember Gartner saying not so long ago that Web Content Management would stop existing as an independent market. However, in 2009 Gartner changed his opinion and promoted WCM market back to Magic Quadrant Status.

According to other analysts WCM market is estimated at $635 million in 2009 and predicted to become $1.5 billion by 2014. With the changing role of company's web presence and WCM marketing channels the market shows a positive dynamism.

Despite general economic stagnation leading WCM vendors such as Sitecore doing rather well both financially and otherwise introducing new offerings and possibilities of their flagship solutions. As content consumption patterns shift from traditional web pages to a more multi-channel personalized content ecosystem new integrated solutions come to the scene, such as real-time personalization and analytics provided by Sitecore online marketing suite. As such vendors might continue to leverage specified solutions and packages.

Another factors are consolidation and integration. New environment dictates WCM to go beyond the literal management of Web content as companies look for the one-stop-shop to handle all information management and manage its Web Presence, especially in marketing, e-commerce & media. Growing content needs quick & easy means of integrating into widgets, apps, iphones, android apps so API's and SOA for content services will be critical as well.

And, of course the main buzzword of the decade is Cloud, seems there is no tech industry escaping this invasion. As budgets become tighter and capital expenditure endures greater scrutiny some traditional vendors might turn to the Cloud to enable their solutions to quickly be installed and setup within these dynamic infrastructures. However, there are many reasons why industry will not move quickly towards the Cloud, such as issues with integration with CRM & back office systems.

Social Media has changed the way we travel for good. What other industries transformed by Social Media most?

In his note National Geographic's editor Keith Bellows admits that today's travel tours matured and now offer much more than ostentation to tourists. Today's the trip is not longer only about luxury it's more about connection. The trip is not long an end game, it's just a beggining of a bigger journey. The education, the excitement, the relationships formed during trip and continued long after the trip ends, particularly with the advent of social media.

Tours became more innovative and experimental aimed at developing lasting connections between people. Greasing the wheels of this is social media. Tour companies and travelers are building communities through Blogs, Twitters by posting their reports, connecting trip-mates before and after journey, sposnoring contests and raising funds for volunteer trips. All this has completely changed travel experiences and process itself.

There are many examples of how social media complemented various industries and spheres of our lives, but definitely some industries have benefited most from the advent of technology, so wondering what are those industries?

Please express your opinion here in comments or join respective discussion on Linkedin

Linkedin Discussion - Moving to an open-space office - Pros & Cons

I have mixed feelings writing this post. One part of me trumpets "finally we've moved" - even though the moving process wasn't as hard as it seemed, while another conservative part of mine truly regrets to leave my cozy private room, even admitting it was to silent sometimes.

Anyway, it's my first day in the new environment and will start to benchmark all Pros & Cons that were mentioned in the great Linkedin discussion on this subject.

Thanks to all LI members, who took a part in the discussion and pointed out not only to well-known disadvantages (noise, no privacy, etc) of the open-space facilities, but opened my eyes on many benefits I wasn't aware of before. Among them enhanced coordination, collective thinking and information exchange - as many experts still argue that face-to-face interaction is much more productive and genuine than any IM chat/ video conferences. So seems like there will be a scaling between noise and privacy from one side and straightforward communication from other. Just have to work and see, so will keep updating you on that.   


Sergey

Twitter capitulated to the Dutch along with Brazil

Just wanted to share the result of probably the best game on this World Cup, but was stopped by message on TweetDeck - Twitter Api is not available, as opposed to Brazilian players didn't want to give up and went to Twitter page, wasn't lucky again with message - something goes wrong, please visit later, so decided to post my emotions here :) Viva Netherlands, Viva Robben!

Introduction

Uhh...finally the first post on my personal web-blog-site :) Having managing more than a dozen of industry-specific resources and participating in various social initiatives for the last several years I finally started my own. Great, isn't it. So welcome here, in the place where I'll try to do my best to keep you up-to-date with latest trends, developments and interesting facts on the areas such as Internet Marketing, Social Media, SEO, Web Presence and Management, Outsourcing and many other areas that fall under the broad IT umbrella.

As one fellow blogger wrote it's nice when people introduce themselves, so you can see if there is any common interests so reader can find something useful among the tons of other symbols. So I decided to tell my little story to make it easier to understand who I am and what this blog is about.

To begin with, here is my little story. Being a social enthusiast and technology addict I decided to embrace Information Technology to bring these two passions of mine together. After acquiring an experimental specialty of Economic Cybernetics in one of the leading technical Universities in Ukraine I started my IT career in one small web-agency. Having worked several years, I decided to explore new horizons and move to one of the oldest IT outsourcing centers in Eastern Europe, which subsequently has been acquired by the European IT Service Network Levi9 Global Sourcing. Managing the work in marketing department I mostly focus on design and implementation of interactive marketing and social media corporate strategies and communication channels. My immediate plans include establishing a viable social ecosystem and building a strong web-presence for the company. That's about me.

From other side it'll be really great to hear more about you, the way you came to your business, your areas of interest and what you are looking for. I think it can help improve my blog and share things that might be really interesting to you. So if you like please drop a comment to this post. Thanks!


Sincerely Yours, SL!

Simple Rules for Social Media Success in 2010

Simple Rules For Social Media Success In 2010

View more presentations from Sergey Lesnikov.