Social networking has finally become something valuable for brick-and-mortar businesses. Smartphones and location-based social networks allow users to interact, share, meet up, and recommend places based on their physical coordinates. This real-world connection to social media can mean more foot traffic and profits for business owners. So-called “lo-so” networks like Foursquare , Loopt , and G...
Chris Allison is a social media strategist at NeboWeb , where he helps clients make the most of the social web. You can follow him on Twitter as the voice behind @Neboweb . As social media marketing becomes more widely practiced, the questions of the day are less frequently focused on the benefits of social media and more often focused on its implementation. Justifying social media to superio...
Amybeth Hale is a Talent Attraction Manager with AT&T’s Interactive Staffing team. She uses social technology to help drive awareness of job opportunities as well as interact with candidates. Connect with her on Twitter at @researchgoddess . As conference season is upon us (including SXSW , of course), I began thinking about all the things one might need to survive and stay connected with...
We certainly wouldn’t advocate turning your office, cubicle or home office into some kind of over-the-top dork theme park, but a few witty items carefully placed here and there can brighten up the dullest work space with some geek chic. Having an office gives you the chance to display things you might not get away with (or indeed, want to get away with) at home. From magnificent magnets to clev...
We certainly wouldn’t advocate turning your office, cubicle or home office into some kind of over-the-top dork theme park, but a few witty items carefully placed here and there can brighten up the dullest work space with some geek chic. Having an office gives you the chance to display things you might not get away with (or indeed, want to get away with) at home. From magnificent magnets to clev...
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. As a business owner, you know your product, service, market and customers. But sometimes one of the most challenging aspects of operating a business is employees. Not because the employees themselves are a challenge b...
I’m thinking about doing these link posts a little differently, and I’m hoping that the change will benefit all three parties involved (this blog, the linked blogs, and the readers). Over at FeelingNegative.com , we’ve been posting noteworthy links one at a time with additional commentary rather than just a list of links. The posts really don’t take much time to put together, but they’re so mu...
You’ve clearly made an educated decision in choosing the Firefox browser, so why not make further decisions about how it looks? As you may know, Firefox can give you a totally personalized browser experience, with plenty of options to customize its look and feel. We’ve trawled the plethora of available add-ons, themes, and features to bring you ten great options to beautify your Mozilla-made br...
While some people may amass large numbers of porcelain figurines or miniature replica cars, we’ve got five far cooler collectibles for those of a more geeky nature. From vinyl to plush, we bring you five social media-, online- and tech-themed items that will not only show your affiliation to all things geek, but who knows, could end up being worth something in years to come. Peruse the list belo...
The Android Market may still lag behind the iPhone App Store in terms of variety and quality, but there is something to be said for the Android operating system’s extremely tight integration with existing Google products, and the wide choice of devices and carriers. There’s no question that the iPhone has many wonderful apps, but Android’s smart syncing with existing tools, interesting Android-o...
Twitter fundraising has steadily been on the rise in the last two years. Twitter has been used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and charitable causes, and has been used to spread awareness about social issues. But it takes more than posting multiple tweets a day to get the job done. We talked to a few Twitter fundraising pros about what they’ve found to be the best pra...
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Just when you thought you had social media figured out, Google has shaken things up with a new entrant into the market: Google Buzz . It’s integrated into Gmail , which means right out of the gate it potentially ha...