How Influential Are You?
June 30, 2011 by Angela Shupe | Uncategorized
A part of an online presence for any business is maintaining awareness of your own popularity. Are you influencing the people who follow you or does your business need a new look?
Business Standard recently reported about a system that a search engine marketing firm has created to help determine Internet influence.
Wondering just how influential you are in the online world? Log on to sites like PeerIndex and Klout to find out.
These sites use algorithms to measure overall online influence, using data from popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
This month, an Indian search engine marketing firm, Pinstorm, generated a list of a few hundred people or brands of Indian origin on Twitter, added their Klout and PeerIndex scores and, after securing the approval of the users, published an average of the two scores on its site. “It’s a work in progress. The rankings are updated daily at nine am. We receive around 1,000 entries daily,” said Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm. The Dalai Lama tops today’s list (and has maintained his leadership position online for the last few weeks), with around 1,950,000 followers. He is followed by actor Salman Khan with around 800,000 followers. Deepak Chopra, with around 550,000 followers, tops the list of non-resident Indians, while espncricinfo is the leading Indian brand, with around 127,000 followers.
How does Pinstorm determine ‘influence’? Murthy says much depends on how a person participates in online discussions. For instance, the Dalai Lama had 553 tweets today. UB group chief Vijay Mallya (handle: TheVijayMallya) has 456,000 followers and 336 tweets. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is ranked 11th, with around 224,000 followers and 475 tweets.
Photo by Steve Garfield
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Tags: Social Media
Paypal: The End of the Wallet By 2015
June 30, 2011 by Dane Carlson | Uncategorized
Paypal believes that the time of the wallet is ending. By 2015, they predict that digital currency will be acceptable anywhere, including your corner store and Walmart.
They’ve also announced that more than 100 million people have active Paypal accounts. Does your business take Paypal? Maybe you should.
If you’re not familiar with Paypal, it’s an easy way to pay without disclosing your financial info to a merchant. You simply link your credit card, debit card or bank account to a Paypal account and pay with that.
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Tags: Ecommerce, Money
Billing Your Doctor for Your Wasted Time
June 30, 2011 by Dane Carlson | Ideas
There’s a great business idea in here, somewhere!
CNN:
Elaine Farstad got antsy as she waited for her doctor, who was late for her scheduled appointment. Then she got downright impatient. Then, as nearly two hours passed, she got mad. Then she came up with an idea.
“I decided to bill the doctor,” she says. “If you waste my time, you’ve bought my time.”
When Farstad returned home, she figured out her hourly wage working as an IT specialist at Boeing in Everett, Washington. She doubled it for the two hours she’d spent in the waiting room, and mailed the invoice to her doctor.
“It’s ludicrous — why would I wait for free?” says Farstad, who is now an engineering graduate student at North Carolina State University. “Like we all learned in kindergarten, it’s about respecting each other.”
In years gone by, doctors would likely have scoffed at the suggestion they reimburse patients for time spent waiting. But Farstad’s doctor sent her a check for $100, the full amount she requested, and some tardy doctors tell CNN they give patients money (or a gift) before the patient even asks.
Photo by opensourceway
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First Aid For Fashion
June 30, 2011 by Angela Shupe | Uncategorized
Who do you call when your dress begins to slip? Elaine Popove, of course. She is the founder of Miss Fix Fashion Products, which is the home to Fashion-Aid. Her roll-on adhesive helps keep strapless dress from slipping too low, reports Campbell River Mirror.
Popove’s Fashion-Aid product is a liquid fashion adhesive designed to secure slipping bra straps, low necklines or strapless dresses.
“Fashion-Aid is approved by Health Canada, hypoallergenic and water-washable,” said Popove. “It moves with your skin, rather than pulling it, leaving you feeling comfortable and confident.”
The product first hit shelves in spring 2010 and since then, has retailed at more than 210 Canadian stores.
The invention was born on Popove’s wedding day while struggling with her strapless gown. She realized all women worry about their clothing unintentionally slipping, shifting or falling down. Now a mom to a 14-month-old son, she is chasing after her toddler while building her business.
Logo from Fashion-Aid
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Tags: Clothing, Fashion, Mompreneur
Farewell To Weed Eater Inventor
June 30, 2011 by Angela Shupe | Inventions
Ever wonder about the origins of the weed eater? What the device does is pretty basic, but it helped change the way that people cared for their lawns.
The man who started the brand, George C. Ballas Sr., recently passed on at the age of 85, but not before he could leave behind his one-of-a-kind creation, reports Chron.
Ballas got the idea for the Weed Eater while sitting in a car wash. Watching spinning bristles clean his car, he wondered if the same principle could be applied to trimming grass and weeds around trees and in corners of the lawn — areas that could not be reached by a lawnmower.
Returning home, Ballas began experimenting with fishing wire poked through holes in a tin can, all attached to the rotary of a lawn edger. He soon found a format in which the spinning wires handily sliced through grass. Voila! The Weed Eater was born.
Ballas founded his Weed Eater company here in 1971, and TV promotion sent sales of the product skyrocketing during the subsequent decade.
When he sold Weed Eater to Emerson Electric, part of the agreement was that he would never disclose the amount he was paid, even to his family.
Photo by IrishFireside
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Tags: Death
